Pennington Marsh - 12th March

Today Sarah was taking Tobias to a birthday party and so I had the morning to head out birding locally. I headed down to Pennington Marsh early but as I approached Brockenhurst the fog thickened and by the time I reached Lymington visibility was no more than 50m, I abandoned and decided to head back inland to Beaulieu Road Station where the sun was partially shining through the fog and visibility was 100m or so. But, as I parked up and wandered south from Shatterford car Park the fog drew in and visibility declined to 75m or so. A fly over Redpoll, a couple of fly over Siskin and a Water Rail calling from the mire was scant reward. News broke that the Long-billed Dowitcher was showing well at Pennington so I figured it must be clear there but as I approached the car park the fog was still thick and visibility was less than 100m. Black-tailed Godwit showed well in the floods near the car park, a female Marsh Harrier appeared from the gloom, shadows of Snipe and a Spotted Redshank were the highlights. Optimistically I had carried my camera and I managed a murky shot of a Little Grebe and a male Reed Bunting both of which showed at close range. It was all a bit slow going and not particularly exciting so I headed back home, stacked the fridge with beer and settled in front of the Six Nations for the afternoon - result!!

Little Grebe in the fog - Pennington Marsh

Reed Bunting in the fog - Pennington Marsh