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!
