The Deskbound Birder: September 2018

Saturday 29 September 2018

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

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

Thursday 27 September 2018

Isle of Wight and Pennington Marsh - 25th September

It was my birthday and as with previous years I planned to go birding for much of the day. I had a survey to complete on the Isle of Wight so I booked the earliest ferry from Lymington to Yarmouth at 05:30 to give me time at St. Catherines Point before my survey. The alarm went off at 03:45 but I had actually been awake since 02:00 and as I stepped outside I was greeted by darkness and a glowing harvest moon. I was on the island by 06:00 and stopped above Freshwater Bay as the sun was rising to enjoy the moon over Tennyson Down.

Harvest moon over Romsey

Moon over Freshwater Bay and Tennyson Down

Arriving at St. Catherine's Point I began the morning by standing to the west of the lighthouse and watching the visible migration. There was a steady stream of Meadow Pipit, a few Pied/White Wagtail, Linnet, Chaffinch and Siskin. Hirundine passage (mainly Swallow but a few House Martin) was fairly dramatic with a trickle of birds initially but then for around 30 minutes a flood of birds with approximately 150 birds passing east every minute. However, by 08:00 this pulse of birds again eased off to a trickle. At 08:15 I gave up on the vis mig, which had all but stopped and headed to the bushes. First, I birded the East Fields before heading along the slope behind Knowle Farm, up through Hanging Valley and back through Wood Warbler Valley. It was fairly slow going, there seemed to be good numbers of Chiffchaff and Blackcap but little else. I watched a Hobby chasing Hirundines over Wood Warbler Valley and a Spitfire performing loop-the-loops but the birding had pretty much tailed off. After a coffee watching a Red Squirrel at the top of the Lighthouse Road I headed west.

Visible Migration Totals (06:30-08:15, all birds moving east):

Hirundine - 362 up to 07:30 then approx. 4,500 through between 07:30 to 08:00.

Pied Wagtail - 32

Grey Wagtail - 1

Yellow Wagtail - 4

Meadow Pipit - 217

Chaffinch - 3

Linnet - 65

Siskin - 9

Totals from my walk around:

Hobby - 1

Blackcap - 22

Whitethroat - 5

Chiffchaff - 25

Stonechat - 8

Wheatear - 2

Weather: Early wind NE F2-3 25% cloud cover and chilly. By 09:00 wind SE F3-4 and warm.

Chiffchaff - East Fields, St. Catherine's Point

Blackcap - Hanging Valley, St. Catherine's Point

Carrion Crow dwarfed by two Raven - Wood Warbler Valley, St. Catherine's Point

Juvenile Hobby - Wood Warbler Valley, St. Catherine's Point

Carrion Crow and Buzzard - Wood Warbler Valley, St. Catherine's Point

Spitfire KJI SM520 over St. Catherine's Point - More information on this plane can be read here

Red Squirrel - Lighthouse Road, St. Catherine's Point

Birding the pools along the Western Yar at Mill Copse was pretty slow going, a flock of 55 Mediterranean Gull, three Sandwich Tern, 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 15 Golden Plover and a single Spotted Redshank was all that I recorded. I decided to head to my survey and get an earlier ferry home to get to Pennington Marsh so that I could at least see something of a little more note on my birthday.

Mediterranean Gull (1st winter) - Western Yar, Yarmouth

At Pennington Marsh I only had 1.15 hours before collecting Tobias from school so I headed straight for Fishtail and Butts Lagoon. My first scan of Butts Lagoon produced the Temminck's Stint feeding on the north shore. Also here were 15 Dunlin and four Snipe. I then headed to Fishtail Lagoon where a Grey Phalarope showed down to seven metres on the channel between Fishtail and Butts Lagoon - what a stunning little bird. Finally, on Butts Lagoon were three Spotted Redshank and a Curlew Sandpiper. After such an early start I was knackered and it was time to collect Tobias and head home for dinner and some wine.

Here are a few images of the Grey Phalarope on the channel between Butts and Fishtail Lagoon, I first saw this bird on 22nd September, its becoming like an old friend!

Wednesday 26 September 2018

Pennington Marsh - 24th September

This morning news broke of a Temminck's Stint at Pennington Marsh on Jetty Lagoon, this was a patch tick for me and so I was keen to see it. Fortunately, at 16:30 I had to pick-up Tobias from school and so I headed off a little early to give myself time to pop in and take a look. By the late afternoon the bird had settled onto Fishtail Lagoon and on arrival it was feeding in the eastern end of the lagoon moving between the islets and the main bank. It was very flighty and at one point seemed to head out onto the saltmarsh before returning being pursued by Swallow's. After feeding on the main island for a short while it then flew to the west end of the lagoon before vanishing. It was then relocated in the south-west corner of Butts lagoon where it showed well in the early evening light.

Temminck's Stint - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Following my views of the Grey Phalarope on Fishtail Lagoon on 22nd September there were now two birds present and both showed very well along the southern edge of the lagoon. It was interesting to note the subtle differences in the plumages of the two birds 'Saturdays' bird (the lower of these two images) was far more buff around the front of the neck with a more elongate dark ear covert patch, more extensive buff streaking in the crown and a more extensively dark bill although they were at a similar stage in their moult sequence.

Also during my short visit there was a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper on Fishtail Lagoon, six Yellow Wagtail and an impressive movement of several hundred Hirundine's, mostly Swallow, heading slowly eastwards.

Grey Phalarope - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Grey Phalarope (the same bird as on 22nd September) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Sunday 23 September 2018

Pennington Marsh - 21st and 22nd September

It was the second storm of the Autumn, Storm Bronagh, which passed over the UK just 24 hours after the passing of Storm Ali. Bronagh seemed to be a more subdued affair with maximum wind speeds around 30mph lower than Ali, mind you when I arrived at Pennington around seven hours after the passing of the peak of the storm it was still exceedingly windy. I had very little time and decided to head to Fishtail Lagoon which is proving to be superb at the moment with water levels ideal. I spent some time here scanning the Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Ringed Plover looking for something a little more unusual but the highlight proved to be a fine juvenile Little Stint that flew in from the east with a Dunlin flock. I headed on to Keyhaven Lagoon which was almost devoid of bird life but for a fine juvenile Ruff which showed well. I then headed back along the seawall past Butts Lagoon and past Jetty Lagoon before cutting back to the carpark. It was tough going in the wind and I saw little but for five Swallow and a Water Rail. Back at the car I dumped my scope and wandered along the Ancient Highway seeing 12 Sand Martin over Efford Lagoon and 30 Wigeon on the balancing pond at the western end of the Ancient Highway.

Juvenile Ruff - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Storm Bronagh (windy.com)

On 22nd September, Sarah and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary and so while Sarah was having a treatment at the spa I dropped Tobias at a friends for a play date and then popped to Pennington Marsh. I had no more than two hours and so decided to spend the entirety of my time at Fishtail Lagoon. Scanning from the Old Tip there were clearly good numbers of waders on the lagoon and after picking up a distant Curlew Sandpiper I decided to head to the seawall to get closer. It wasn't long before I picked up a fine juvenile Grey Phalarope feeding on the north shore of the lagoon. I spent virtually all my time with this bird and it wasn't long before it made its way across the lagoon to feed on the southern shore and gave superb views down to around 5m or so. The two recent storms have displaced many Grey Phalarope with at least 100 being reported around the UK with many inland records. The weather was pretty fowl and the rain became progressively heavy and so my images are perhaps not as good as they could have been but I was happy with the views of the bird that I had obtained. There were also five Knot, 120 Black-tailed Godwit, 250 Dunlin, one Spotted Redshank and 15 Ringed Plover on the lagoon - surely its not long before something really good shows on the lagoon? Also while here I recorded single Wheatear and Whinchat, six Yellow Wagtail and a moribund Arctic Tern on the mud of the lagoon. It was midday and time to head off to meet Sarah for a celebratory lunch - I was chuffed with my couple of hours at Pennington.