Portland, Lodmoor and Pennington Marsh - 25th September

I had planned to go to Portland today but the weather forecast was bad with rain until 08:00, heavy showers thereafter and a F7-8 west wind. I was hesitant until in the car at 06:00 and semi-committed to the journey, rain lashed the car as I drove and the trees were being thrashed by the wind. It was my Birthday today but I struggled to find any optimism that I would find a rare bird - always my aim on my Birthday. 

Arriving in the car park at the Bill at 08:00 I began the morning with a seawatch, large numbers of Gannet were offshore, around 25 Kittiwake passed, there were good numbers of Razorbill and Guillemot and a single male Common Scoter passed east. I gave it around an hour but there was little to excite. I then wandered around the Bill area and out to Culverwell. I recorded 17 Wheatear, 35 Swallow moving west, around 75 Meadow Pipit moving west and a single Chiffchaff at Culverwell. It was very slow going and the wind was not abating. At 11:30 my parking ticket was about to run out and I decided to head to the east coast of Portland where I birded the Pen Castle and Church Ope area but saw little but for a couple of Goldcrest and a Yellow Wagtail passing south. I decided to start heading towards home via Lodmoor. 

Comma - Church Ope, Portland, Dorset

Raven - Portland Bill, Dorset

Common Kestrel - Portland Bill, Dorset

I spent around an hour at Lodmoor where there had been a long staying Long-billed Dowitcher but I had no luck with this bird. I wandered along the west path there were three Great White Egret, five Yellow Wagtail, a couple of Sandwich Tern, 25 Mediterranean Gull, 15 Black-tailed Godwit, five Dunlin and a white headed Ruff.

Sandwich Tern - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Ruff - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Mediterranean Gull, a first winter bird less advanced to winter plumage than the 

next two birds - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Mediterranean Gull, first winter - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Mediterranean Gull, first winter - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Mediterranean Gull, second winter - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Mediterranean Gull, second winter - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Great White Egret - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Great White Egret - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

It was 13:15 and I decided to head back to Hampshire and spend an hour or so at Pennington before collecting Tobias from school. I walked from Lower Pennington carpark out past Fishtail Lagoon, along the southern edge of Butts and Jetty Lagoon and back past Shoveler Pools. It was very quiet, I saw 10 Lapwing, a single House Martin and nothing much else. The lagoons were devoid of birds. I called it a day, headed for a coffee, collected Tobias from school and chilled with Sarah for the evening.

Cheesefoot Head and Fishlake Meadows - 8th-9th April

Time has been very tight of late and it appears that the spring is slipping by without me being able to get into the field to enjoy the migrants arriving.

On 8th April I popped to Cheesefoot Head to the east of Winchester where two Dotterel had been present since 6th April. At times the birds had been showing well but I arrived just as the birds had flown and it took some time to relocate the birds, when they were relocated they were just about central within a large wheat field and views were distant through the heat haze. The female bird was just gaining some black on the belly and rufous on the underparts, the male was rather drab. Also here was a single singing Corn Bunting, several Yellowhammer and good numbers of Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

Distant Dotterel in the heat haze at Cheesefoot Head, the female is the left hand bird.

The Dotterel were in the middle of this large field

Cheesefoot Head

On 8th and 9th April I popped into Fishlake Meadows Hampshire Wildlife Trust reserve on the northern outskirts of Romsey. This reserve is only a few minutes from my house but I rarely visit, as previously access has been difficult away from the canal path along the eastern edge of the reserve and a path along the northern edge or one had to lurk, dubiously, behind a bus shelter to view the areas of open water. Now that the reserve has been taken over by the Trust there are hard surfaced paths and viewing screens - its really quite a pleasant reserve.

Over the couple of days that I visited I had great views of a pair of Garganey (unfortunately my camera had run out of juice), three Great White Egret, a Glossy Ibis in a pony paddock to the east of the reserve and my first Sedge Warbler (3), Reed Warbler (1), Swallow (6), House Martin (4) and Sand Martin (25) of the year. Also here were good numbers of Pochard, Shoveler, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting and Cetti's Warbler.

Great White Egret - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Chiffchaff - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Grey Wagtail - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Cetti's Warbler - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Great White Egret - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Glossy Ibis - Fishlake Meadows, Romsey

Pennington Marsh - 20th August

On a beautiful still mid-August morning, after a Friday and Saturday at the Birdfair followed by Warwick Castle, I needed a wander on the marshes before a lunchtime social event. It was warm and still and there were good numbers of birds around. I first wandered out past Efford Lagoon where a few Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler and Whitethroat called from the scrub while Yellow Wagtail and Tree Pipit called overhead - the latter two species being my first of the autumn at the site. Wandering out past Shoveler Pools I disturbed a Green Sandpiper which flew high to the east calling not giving me a chance to see it on the deck. At the seawall there were large numbers of Meadow Pipit feeding on the track and seawall and I picked out a single crisp Tree Pipit amongst them. A scan of Oxey Island into the sun produced a tern which even in the poor light and at considerable distance I was convinced was an adult Roseate Tern so after a brisk walk along the seawall I set-up my scope again in time to see it fly off to the west but I had sufficient views to confirm the identification. Fortunately the bird was seen by others for the nest our or so until it was pushed off the island at hightide. As I turned to walk back west a Great White Egret pitched into Jetty Lagoon to be quickly chased off by a Grey Heron.

Walking back west along the seawall I stopped for a while and watched the Swallow and Sand Martin skimming the marshes and I searched hopefully for a Red-rumped Swallow but no such luck. Four Swift joined the hirundine and showed well as they filled their gapes with some of the thousands of male mosquito that had emerged and had gathered in their courtship dances - this is often a feature of Pennington Marsh at this time of the year. I pondered that these may be the last I will see this year. As I wandered westwards I flushed a Grasshopper Warbler from the scrub on the seawall and had fairly breif views while good numbers of Sedge Warbler were still evident.

Scanning from the seawall at Butts Lagoon produced good numbers of Grey Plover, Dunlin and Turnstone and a handful of Sandwich Tern. The water levels at Fishtail Lagoon are now almost perfect and there were around 150 Dunlin, two Snipe, 25 Ringed Plover, a single Little Ringed Plover and two Greenshank but despite extensive scanning I could not locate a Little Stint or Curlew Sandpiper both of which are expected at the site at this time of year - maybe we simply have not had enough easterly winds to date. A quick scan of Keyhaven Lagoon and surronds produced a single Whinchat, my first of the year but little else. It was time to head for home and get ready to meet friends for lunch after what had been a very enjoyable morning.

Great White Egret and Grey Heron - Pennington Marsh

Great White Egret - Pennington Marsh

Dunlin - Pennington Marsh

Swift - Pennington Marsh

Swift - Pennington Marsh

Dunlin, Grey Plover and Turnstone - Pennington Marsh

The Mornings Totals
Teal - 3
Red-breasted Merganser -1
Swift - 4
Water Rail - 5
Great White Egret -1
Gannet -1
Grey Plover - 85
Ringed Plover - 65
Little Ringed Plover - 1
Lapwing - 30
Curlew - 45
Whimbrel -3
Black-tailed Godwit - 35
Turnstone - 120
Dunlin - 250
Snipe -5
Common Sandpiper -2
Greenshank - 6
Common Gull - 1
Roseate Tern - 1
Common Tern - 45
Sandwich Tern - 10
Peregrine -1
Sedge Warbler - 15
Reed Warbler - 5
Grasshopper Warbler -1
Swallow - 45
Sand Martin - 55
Chiffchaff - 12
Willow Warbler - 5
Whitethroat - 15
Whinchat -1
Wheatear - 2
Tree Pipit - 6
Meadow Pipit - 120
Yellow Wagtail - 11

Fair Isle - 31st May

The forecast from last night came true and I awoke at 05:30 to a sunny morning and a stiff easterly wind blowing. The sun was shining and expectations were high. I bumped into David Parnaby as I left the observatory, David had had the nets open since the first hours of daylight and had caught a Blackcap and a Dunnock, both new birds in so I decided to head off south before breakfast. I birding along the road bumping into a chap at the plantation who was staying at the south light, he mentioned a Great White Egret he had seen at Da Water and we both wondered how rare the species was on the island although both of us assumed that they must be fairly rare so I sent a text back to the observatory and went to have a look at the bird. As I walked around the corner by the school I saw the bird being harassed by Lapwing and almost immediately it saw me it took flight circled above me and disappearing to the south over Malcolm’s Head. I decided to bird back to the observatory for breakfast via the east coast, Field Ditch, Bulls Park and the Gully seeing a couple of Redwing, Blackcap and Raven but little else. Back at the observatory my text had not been received and when I mentioned the egret not only was it the first Great White Egret but it was the first egret of any species recorded on the island, the observatory team dashed down the island and fortunately they had the bird fly north and disappear over Ward Hill. The bird spent the rest of the day commuting between various water areas in the south of the island.

After breakfast I birded Pund, Gilly Burn, Lower Leogh, across to Ha and then back up the eastern road via Da Water. The sky had clouded over and the wind was now a strong easterly and pretty cold to boot and it made birding a little difficult, I certainly got the impression that while the easterlies may have delivered a few birds they were definitely hunkered down. Numbers were low with four Chiffchaff, two Blackcap, a flock of 34 Oystercatcher and that was pretty much it. Huge expectations on an easterly wind but with nothing to show for it.

At 13:30 it started to rain and I had an extended lunch finding it difficult to get motivated after high expectations came crashing down with a relatively birdless morning. The rain got heavier and heavier and there was little motivation amongst the observatory birders. Eventually I headed out in pouring rain at just gone 16:00 and walked from the observatory a short way up the Hill Dyke. The birds that I saw were sheltering on the leyward side of the wall, Wheatear and Twite and a single Whitethroat.

And that was it, an easterly wind on Fair Isle, peak spring season and the highlight a Great White Egret, a first for Fair Isle but not quite what I had hoped for. There is always tomorrow……

Great White Egret - A first for Fair Isle and the first egret of any species on the island

And here are some shots taken on my iPhone of island scenery from the last few days:

Sheep Rock from the Observatory

Hjuknie Geo

North Raeva

South of the Island

Croft Land in the South of the Island

South Light

Buness

North Light from the Mast

See Also:

Fair Isle - 28th May

Fair Isle - 29th May

Fair Isle - 30th May

Fair Isle - 1st June

Fair Isle - October 2014