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 

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