On a beautiful sunny September morning a spent a long morning birding at Keyhaven and Pennington Marshes. The tide was low so many of the waders were way out on the mud flats so I spent most of my time birding the scrub and bushes hoping for a Wryneck or Barred Warbler - it was not to be. Still, the birding was very pleasant and there were good numbers of Chiffchaff (15), Blackcap (8), Wheatear (12) and Meadow Pipit (c.75). Overhead there were still around 350 House Martin and a small number of Swallow and Sand Martin while three Redpoll flying west were my first autumn passage birds. A an immature Hobby harangued the hirundines before crossing the Solent to the Isle of Wight. Numbers of Whitethroat and Acros' had dramatically reduced since my last visit to the site on 5th September with only four Whitethroat and a single Sedge Warbler. While I only recorded four Yellow Wagtail, one of which gave a rather raspy eastern type call but failed to land.
Chiffchaff in the early morning sunshine
Wheatear - many of the birds seen this morning were feeding on the revetment
Wildfowl numbers were up on my last visit with 175 Teal, 85 Wigeon, 12 Shoveler and four Pintail, the latter two species my first of the latter part of 2015. Waders were in fairly short supply with 15 Grey Plover, 125 Black-tailed Godwit, four Spotted Redshank, two Greenshank and small numbers of the other commoner species.
Wigeon
Meadow Pipit - A nice fresh juvenile bird
Whitethroat - Smaller numbers still lingering on but quite a decline on last visits numbers
Hirundines seemed to be in bathing mood this morning with hundreds dunking themselves
into the lagoons
Black-tailed Godwit - Two juvenile birds
Greenshank - Juvenile against the purple hues of autumn coloured Glasswort
and Spear-leaved Orache
Grey Plover - A moulting adult
Turnstone - Still in, a slightly ragged, summer plumage
Chiffchaff
