The Deskbound Birder: Pennington Marsh

Thursday, 20 September 2018

Pennington Marsh - 19th September

After a Hazel Dormouse survey at Bedwyn Brail during which the only rodent I recorded was Wood Mouse, I headed down to the Pennington Marsh before collecting Tobias from school. It was not until I reached the coast that I realised the full force of Storm Ali, the first named storm of the autumn sweeping south-west over the UK. In the woodland at Bedwyn Brail the trees were swaying and leaves were falling but on the coast it was difficult to walk and the sea was lashing the seawall.

I headed to Efford Lagoon and tried to gain some shelter from the wind behind the thorn bushes of the Ancient Highway, scanning across the lagoon there was little to be seen. There were good numbers of Gull sheltering and I managed to pick out a single juvenile Yellow-legged Gull. I headed out to Fishtail Lagoon and managed to find some shelter behind the seawall. There were good numbers of birds on the lagoon with around 75 Black-tailed Godwit, 50 Dunlin, 20 Ringed Plover and a single Spotted Redshank. I spent some time with these birds scanning through them and hoping for an American wader but it was not to be, still I enjoyed watching these birds and taking a few snaps. There were still at least six Yellow Wagtail and 10 House Martin flew through heading west into the wind. Other than this there was little to be seen but birding was very difficult in the extreme conditions.