Pennington Marsh - 21st February

On a bright sunny morning I had a few hours to spend at Pennington Marsh. It is sometime since I had been down to the marsh and so I was looking forward to my time here. I walked a pretty standard route taking in Butt's Lagoon, Fishtail Lagoon, Jetty Lagoon and out to Oxey Lagoon. As expected there were excellent numbers of waders and wildfowl to be seen on the falling tide with highlights being 250 Golden Plover off Pennington Lane, four Ruff, Peregrine, Marsh Harrier, the long staying Purple Sandpiper on the mudflats just east of the jetty, two Slavonian Grebe off Oxey Lagoon and also a Red-necked Grebe off Oxey Lagoon. Also just off Oxey was a seal, I didn't see it very well but I think it was a Common Seal, and a little more surprising was a recently dead Common Dolphin, see here.

After a couple of hours on the marshes I headed into the New Forest and spent an hour at Denny Wood seeing little but for the standard resident woodland species many of which were in full territorial song. A Red Kite soared overhead, still a relatively uncommon species in the forest.

Purple Sandpiper - By the jetty at Pennington Marsh

Roe Deer sporting fine fresh velvety antlers - Pennington Marsh

The Lapwing are just starting to display on the marshes - Pennington Marsh

A fine male Pintail - Pennington Marsh

Red-breasted Merganser - Oxey Lagoon

Red-breasted Merganser - Oxey Lagoon

Red-breasted Merganser - Oxey Lagoon

Red-breasted Merganser - Oxey Lagoon

Red-breasted Merganser, male displaying to the female - Oxey Lagoon

Red-necked Grebe - Off Oxey Lagoon

Slavonian Grebe - Off Oxey Lagoon

Brent Goose - Pennington Marsh

Red Kite - Over Denny Wood

Treecreeper - Denny Wood

Coal Tit - Denny Wood

Mistle Thrush - Pig Bush

6th and 13th August - Pennington Marsh

A free Saturday morning on 6th August and I couldn't resist the pull of Pennington Marsh but a few beers the night before meant a slightly later start so I wasn't in the car park at Lower Pennington Lane until 08:00 by which time the dog walking hordes had descended. I wandered a short way along the Ancient Highway to view Efford Lagoon where three Common Sandpiper, six Swallow, 10 Sand Martin and a single Swift were the highlights. Gulls are loafing here in good numbers now with at least 12 Lesser Black-backed Gull, five Great Black-backed Gull, 60 Herring Gull, 250 Black-headed Gull, four Mediterranean Gull and a couple of Common Gull. I then walked out past Shoveler Pools where a Green Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper were present with three juvenile Little Ringed Plover and a single Yellow Wagtail, my first of the autumn. Cutting back along the north edge of the old dump there were good numbers of juvenile Willow Warbler (c.10) and Whitethroat (c.15) in the scrub.

Juvenile Reed Bunting - Ancient Highway, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Willow Warbler - Pennington Marsh

I spent the best part of an hour scanning over Fishtail Lagoon, there are a lot of birds here and it is worth spending the time watching the comings and goings. The Wood Sandpiper from Shoveler Pools dropped in, around six Snipe, 125 Black-tailed Godwit, 30 Redshank, 25 Dunlin, two Little Ringed Plover were the best on show.

Roe Deer - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit dropping into Fishtail Lagoon - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit dropping into Fishtail Lagoon - Pennington Marsh

I then went out to the point of Butts Lagoon and spent another hour or so here. The conditions were fantastic, absolutely still and brilliant sunshine. Little Egret chased fish fry in the shallows and on the mudflats were c.200 Dunlin, 45 Turnstone, 15 Grey Plover, one Sanderling, six Whimbrel, eight Curlew, 30 Ringed Plover, 25 Sandwich Tern and 30 Common Tern. After such a still morning it was amazing how the wind suddenly picked up from the west. I decided it was time to make a slow move towards home - another quick scan of Fishtail Lagoon failed to produce the hoped for mega, maybe next time.

Little Egret chasing fish fry off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Little Egret chasing fish fry off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Little Egret chasing fish fry off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Little Egret chasing fish fry off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Dunlin and Ringed Plover off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Black-headed Gull, Turnstone and Dunlin off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

13th August and another free morning so back to  Pennington Marsh. Today I completed the full loop, out past Shoveler Pools, back along the north edge of the Old Dump to Fishtail Lagoon then out to the point at Butts Lagoon, then out past Keyhaven Lagoon and around the Quay and back along the Ancient Highway. It was pretty slim going. The highlights of the morning were the first Ruff (2) of the autumn on Fishtail Lagoon, Wood Sandpiper on Fishtail, Tree Pipit (1), Yellow Wagtail (1)and  my first Wheatear of the autumn at Keyhaven Lagoon 

Reed Warbler - Efford Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Reed Warbler - Efford Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Reed Warbler - Efford Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Reed Warbler - Efford Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

A distant Ruff, the first of the Autumn- Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Sandwich Tern - Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Sandwich Tern - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Wheatear - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Pennington Marsh - 23rd May

On 23rd May I popped to Fishtail lagoon again to spend a couple of hours with the Stilt Sandpiper after all its not every day you have a one on your patch. The bird was showing fairly distantly again on the floods at the back of Fishtail but was in better light than yesterday but my photos are still shite but I guess an improvement on yesterday. The bird fed in the open water of the lagoon rather than amongst rushes like it did on my visit yesterday and it remained solitary not mixing with the nearby Dunlin.

Up to the end of 2014 there had been 33 records of Stilt Sandpiper in the UK with one previous record from Hampshire at Pennington Marsh from 21st July to 3rd August 2002. Most records of the species occur in July, August and September with 76% of all records being of adult birds. The species winters in South and Central America and in the spring migrates north, largely following routes along rivers in the interior of the USA to its breeding grounds in north Alaska, north Canada and around the coasts of Hudson Bay. Birds begin to arrive in their breeding grounds in late May.

Here is a cracking image of another Stilt Sandpiper that has been in the Netherlands recently, I considered whether this may be the same bird as the Pennington bird but the patterning of darker feathers in the upperparts of the two birds differs. 

Above images all of the Stilt Sandpiper on Fishtail Lagoon

Reed Warbler

Roe Deer - A young male feeding on grassland behind Fishtail Lagoon

Hurst Castle and Lighthouse

 

A short wander around the Old Tip and then out to Jetty Lagoon produced around 60 Swift feeding in the area and two male Garganey sleeping on Jetty Lagoon. It was time to head to the office.

That's it for my patch this May, off to Alaska until mid June now.........