Slimbridge WWT - 2nd January

Sarah and I made a short visit to Slimbridge while staying in our cottage in the Cotswolds today. There were large numbers Golden Plover, Lapwing, Wigeon and Teal present and 120 Bewick Swan. We spent quite some time just watching the sheer spectacle of so many birds. These were regularly hassled by either a Peregrine, Goshawk or Marsh Harrier putting all the birds into the air in a massive swirling mass. As we left a Glossy Ibis showed well on the approach road.

Lapwing - Slimbridge WWT, Gloucestershire

Lapwing, Wigeon and Golden Plover - Slimbridge WWT, Gloucestershire

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT, Gloucestershire

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT, Gloucestershire

Glossy Ibis - Slimbridge WWT, Gloucestershire

Glossy Ibis - Slimbridge WWT, Gloucestershire

Slimbridge WWT - 23rd December and 4th January

The Christmas and New Year period has been a whirl-wind for me this year with little time for birding and much time wiped out by Tonsillitis such that all I could eat for a good few days was raisins - so, low on energy, feeling rubbish and with social commitments my time in the field and time on this blog has suffered.

We were in Gloucestershire for much of the period with short visits back to Romsey and over to the Isle of Wight at New Year. I made two short visits to Slimbridge on 23rd December and 4th January. I spent much of my time in the hides along the eastern side of the reserve overlooking Tack Piece and northwards across towards the River Severn. There were huge numbers of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon on Tack Piece forming quite a wildlife spectacle. Highlights were two Peregrine, Marsh Harrier, 22 Ruff, 12 Common Crane, 103 Bewick's Swan, 85 Barnacle Goose, 112 White-fronted Goose and, a good record for Slimbridge, a single adult Dark-bellied Brent Goose.

Common Teal were in full display on the Rushy Pen - Slimbridge WWT

Some lovely views of Pintail were had, nice to see the finely vermiculated plumage up close - Slimbridge WWT

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Dunlin - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Lapwing - Slimbridge WWT

Common Snipe - Slimbridge WWT

Pochard - Slimbridge WWT

Common Crane - Slimbridge WWT

Wigeon - Slimbridge WWT

Shoveler - Slimbridge WWT

Smew displaying in one of the collections - Slimbridge WWT

Pennington Marsh - 28th September

The day was something of a change to the summer like warmth of recent late-September days, a cold front had pushed south overnight bringing with it a cold north-east wind and a fall in temperature from the mid-twenties to the mid-teens - the day had a definate late autumn feel to it. My time was limited and so I walked a swift loop around Jetty, Butts, Fishtail and out to Keyhaven Lagoons and spent a little time around the Old Tip area. It was fairly slow going but the Temminck's Stint showed well in the gloom on Fishtail Lagoon and the Grey Phalarope from recent days was still present but did not show particularly well. Also on the lagoon were three Spotted Redshank.

Numbers of wader and wildlfowl are starting to climb with 65 Grey Plover, 175 Teal and 55 Turnstone present. Summer migrants were poorly represented with just eight Swallow, single Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, Wheatear and Blackcap and four Yellow Wagtail. A flock of 69 Lapwing flew in very high from the north and looked like they may have been arriving migrants.

Temminck's Stint - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Temminck's Stint - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing - Arriving high from north over Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Grey Plover, Knot and Turnstone - Butts Bay, Pennington Marsh

Curlew - Off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Pennington Marsh - 4th September

As I drank a coffee at the corner of Lower Pennington Lane on a very still early September morning it was evident that there were large numbers of hirundine overhead, I scanned the flock which comprised mainly House Martin moving at some altitude. There were small numbers of Swallow and Sand Martin present but numbers were overwhelming dominated by House Martin. Until around 09:00 the hirundine constantly chattering overhead was a constant feature of the morning and as I reached the seawall at the jetty and scanned back north the numbers present were uncountable, probably several thousand birds present seemingly mainly feeding but with a general westward drift of birds. But, at around 09:00 the wind slowly gathered pace from a north-east direction and the majority of birds vanished with only small numbers left feeding low over the reedbeds and lagoons. I was not sure whether this was a movement of birds as such or whether these represented birds that had roosted in the reedbeds before dispersing - certainly Portland had nowhere like these numbers while at Hengistbury there were 430 House Martin counted.

After parking at Lower Pennington Lane a quick look at Efford Lagoon produced 25 Teal, 10 Tufted Duck, two Wigeon, a single Whimbrel and 11 Snipe but little else. I wandered over the Old Tip where in the Brambles were seven Whitethroat, a single Lesser Whitethroat and three Sedge Warbler. There were good numbers of Yellow Wagtail around the cattle with approximately 30 present. From the seawall, other than the hirundines it seemed fairly slow. The lagoons are still remarkably dry although there appears to be sufficient water to entice small numbers of wader. On Jetty Lagoon were a single Spotted Redshank and four Black-tailed Godwit and a single Reed Warbler was 'pished' from the reeds. On Butts Lagoon numbers were higher with 15 Teal, 45 Black-tailed Godwit, 18 Dunlin, single Greenshank, Spotted Redshank and five Snipe. I scanned to sea from the corner of Butts Lagoon for a while, there was a little to be seen but for a female/immature Goosander feeding around the saltmarsh edges and the summering male Common Scoter still present. On the mudflats were 40 Turnstone, 25 Grey Plover and 30 Ringed Plover. While the male Peregrine sat and scanned the saltmarsh from its favoured perch.

Continuing my journey west along the seawall, Fishtail Lagoon was very quiet but for a couple of Black-tailed Godwit including a superb juvenile in fresh plumage and adult winter and juvenile Spotted Redshank which showed very well as they fed in unison in the shallows. A single Sedge Warbler was skulking in the sedge beds. At Keyhaven Lagoon there were 11 Avocet, 125 Teal, 175 Lapwing and my first Knot of the winter, a small flock of seven juvenile birds. It was 10:00 and time to head to work but it had been a very pleasant morning.

 

Adult winter Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Adult winter Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Moorhen Lapwing - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

There are lots of Goldfinch on the Teasel but they are in heavy moult and looking pretty scrappy - Pennington Marsh

And here are a couple of my favourite autumnal moths which have just appeared on the wing and caught in my trap at our cottage in the Cotswolds over the weekend.

Feathered Gothic - Cowley, Cheltenham

Frosted Orange - Cowley, Cheltenham

Pennington Marsh - 5th and 9th March

I visited Pennington Marsh on 5th and 9th March and on both days saw much the same. Its a pretty static time of year with winter birds steadily but barely noticeably declining and very few migrants appearing. The Lapwing are now in regular display and are busy making nesting scrapes on the marsh while Black-tailed Godwit are coming into plumage and are at varying stages of turning rusty. Up to eight Ruff were present on the marshes off Lower Pennington Lane and there remain good numbers of Wigeon, Pintail, Teal and Brent Goose as well as the usual waders. There were around 400 Golden Plover on Pennington Marsh on both days, an increase in previous numbers perhaps as a result of the recent cold weather movement. On 5th I counted 34 Bar-tailed Godwit off Butts Lagoon, a higher number than usual, all were still in winter plumage. On 5th a single Spoonbill flew high to the east.

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on head, neck and scapulars - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on head, neck, wing coverts, tertials and scapulars - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on tertials - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on head, neck and scapulars - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with very little sign of moult to summer plumage - Pennington Marsh

Ruff - Pennington Marsh

Golden Plover - Pennington Marsh

Rock Pipit - Pennington Marsh

The Mute Swan were very feisty at the marsh today with marsh territorial aggression - Pennington Marsh

I added a number of sound recordings to this post linked to uploads at the Internet Bird Collection (IBC). With the subsequent transfer of data from IBC to the Macaulay Library the links to these became broken. I have therefore subsequently uploaded these sound files to eBird and the recordings can be viewed here and here.