Pennington Marsh - 9th October

After dropping my son at school I spent a couple of hours at Pennington Marsh before work, it was a lovely sunny morning and I planned to walk a short loop out to Fishtail Lagoon and back east. When I got to Fishtail Lagoon two Grey Phalarope that had been found yesterday were showing superbly well in the south-east corner of the lagoon and so I spent some time with these fantastic little birds as they fed at close quarters. A Woodlark flew over heading south, a new site bird for me.

The time was pushing on and so I headed quickly out to Keyhaven Lagoon, which was somewhat disappointing as is so often the case, and then headed back east along the seawall seeing a couple of Yellow Wagtail and Bearded Tit.

My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Grey Phalarope - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Grey Phalarope - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Grey Phalarope - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Meadow Pipit - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Yellow Wagtail - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

On reaching home, I checked my phone and to my shock the top message was 'Wilson's Phalarope showing well at west end of Fishtail Lagoon', reported at 11:15 I must have walked right past this bird at around 10:15. Absolutely gutted! I sat at my desk and completed some urgent work, the rest can wait till later and I headed back down to Pennington. After a slightly mad drive and a quick dash along the seawall I was watching this superb and very confiding Wilson's Phalarope as it fed amongst the rush in the west corner of Fishtail - I was made up. A fantastic bird that I have only seen a handful of times before, the last in the UK being the summer plumaged female just across the water at Yarmouth on 21st June 2013.

My eBird checklist and additional photograph's of the Wilson's can be viewed here.

Wilson's Phalarope - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Wilson's Phalarope - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Pennington Marsh - 31st August

Sarah and Tobias were heading for a charity tea-party and knowing that I would find this a bore I was permitted to head for Pennington Marsh for a few hours. I parked up at the bottom of Lower Pennington Lane and wandered out past Fishtail Lagoon - this was almost devoid of birds but for a handful of Lapwing, Black-headed Gull and a mass of Canada Goose. Small numbers of Sedge Warbler called from the reeds and rushes and Whitethroat flitted amongst the Brambles. I headed to Keyhaven Lagoon just as a male and female Peregrine broke away from haranguing a Buzzard to flush all the waders from the lagoon, which mainly appeared to be Lapwing and Redshank. I turned back eastwards and spent some time enjoying the Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and around six Yellow Wagtail which were feeding along the tideline.

On Butts Lagoon there were around 75 Black-tailed Godwit while on the falling tideline there were around 50 Grey Plover, 25 Ringed Plover, 30 Dunlin and a small number of Curlew. Four Goosander worked the tideline and on the Solent were 25 Eider and six Great Crested Grebe but the sea was devoid of any Tern species. Wandering back past Shoveler Lagoons a single Wheatear was present on the marshes, only my second of the year. It was time to collect Sarah and Tobias and predictably I waited for around an hour for them to appear when I could have had longer on the marsh.

Yellow Wagtail - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Yellow Wagtail - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Yellow Wagtail - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Meadow Pipit- Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Meadow Pipit- Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

The Nationally Notable A bee Aster Colletes Colletes halophilus was common feeding on Golden Samphire along the seawall south of Fishtail Lagoon today

Lodmoor RSPB and Portland - 16th September

Sarah was in London with a friend today and so I used the opportunity to spend the day birding. With a Stilt Sandpiper and Least Sandpiper at Lodmoor and a Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Portland it was an easy decision to make. Unfortunately, the 15th bought news that both the Stilt Sandpiper and the Buff-breasted had departed but Least was a British tick so I decided to go for it. I was up at 04:30 and on the road by 05:15 after a few coffees. Arriving at Lodmoor at 06:45 I walked east along the path to the shelter where after a short scan I found the Least Sandpiper crouching on the mud around 100m away. After a while the bird started to feed showing its features, this was a subtle bird and I can easily see why the finder passed the bird off as a Little Stint. The pale legs were admittedly readily visible but the bird was as bright as a Little Stint with lovely rich buff edges to the mantle feathers, the pale mantle tramlines were perhaps a little less obvious than a Little Stint and with close inspection the virtual lack of a primary projection beyond the tertials could just be seen. The bill appears to be slightly longer and more decurved than Little Stint. After 10 minutes or so a Grey Heron flew over and flushed the bird to the far south-eastern corner of the reserve and after walking along the track the bird showed marginally better feeding with Dunlin. It was remarkably agressive towards the Dunlin and despite its smaller size always seemed to get the better.

Least Sandpiper - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Least Sandpiper - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Least Sandpiper - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

After getting my fill of the Least Sandpiper I spent 30 minutes or so birding the southern area of Lodmoor recording Great Egret, seven Yellow Wagtail, 20 Black-tailed Godwit, four Bar-tailed Godwit, Green Sandpiper, 20 Dunlin, three Common Sandpiper, Marsh Harrier and a first-winter Mediterranean Gull. 

Yellow Wagtail - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Black-tailed Godwit (juvenile) - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

Bar-tailed Godwit - Lodmoor RSPB, Dorset

At just gone 10:00 I headed to Portland and parked in the main carpark at the Bill. After stomping around in the grassland to the west of the Pulpit Inn I decided to head for the Observatory Quarry where a Wryneck had been present since 6th September. When I arrived the bird was grubbing around  in the grass feeding on ants and I was hoping that it would hop up onto the brambles but it remained very hidden as it fed mouse-like in the grass. After an hour or so I decided to go for a walk and wandered up over Top Fields and down to the main road via Sweet Hill. It was hot and slow-going, I recorded around 25 Wheatear, a Sedge Warbler, three Yellow Wagtail and a handful of Chiffchaff. Good numbers of Swallow, House Martin and Sand Martin were feeding over the Crown Fields. Just as I got back to the Observatory the heavens opened and I took shelter in the bookshop. Once the rains had ceased I decided to head back for another look at the Wryneck and after a short wait it popped up into an Elder and showed brilliantly for 10 minutes as it dried itself in the sun. It was 15:00 and time to head for home after a good day in the field.

Wryneck feeding in the grassland where it was very inconspicuous - Observatory Quarry, Portland

Wryneck  - Observatory Quarry, Portland

Wryneck  - Observatory Quarry, Portland

Wryneck  - Observatory Quarry, Portland

Wryneck  - Observatory Quarry, Portland

Wryneck  - Observatory Quarry, Portland

Pennington Marshes - 17th September

On a grey and dreary September day in a strong north-west wind I had a wander around Pennington Marshes while Sarah enjoyed the spa at the Limewood Hotel before we met to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. It was thin pickings on the marsh with the highlights being five Yellow Wagtail, six Wheatear, one Reed Warbler, one Little Stint and six Sandwich Tern. Wigeon numbers were up to 45 and there was the usual range of waders. A steady stream of Hirundines overhead was estimated at around 250 Swallow with far smaller numbers of House Martin and Sand Martin. I felt a little underwhelmed by the whole experience and was quite pleased to meet Sarah in the Limewood for a glass of Champagne before heading to The Pig for wine and a lovely lunch!

Yellow Wagtail (1st winter) - Pennington Marshes

Whinchat (1st winter) - Pennington Marshes

Little Grebe - Pennington Marshes

Little Grebe a fairly late chick on Jetty Lagoon - Pennington Marshes

Turnstone - Pennington Marshes

Desert National Park and Little Rann of Kutch, India - 13th February (Day 6) - Part 3

The afternoon and evening were spent birding at Nava Talaw (or New Lake) a vast freshwater lake formed by damming and largely less than 2m in depth. Over the last two or three years there has been little rain and the lake today was a fraction of its actual size. Still, there were vast numbers of birds on the lake and I could have spent all day here. Our main target species were seen quickly with nine Dalmatian Pelican and a flock of around 5,000 Demoiselle Crane gathered in the centre of the lake. The Demoiselle were huddled together in near silence and their soft grey plumage, long black 'beards', white eye stripe and long tertials producing a shaggy rear end were stunning in the afternoon light. Ganesh told us that this area is used by the birds as a staging area and that the flock builds at this time of year before departing en-mass towards the end of February or early in March. Other birds here included hundreds or thousands each of Greater Flamingo, Lesser Flamingo, Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall, Wigeon, Little Stint, Ruff, Black-winged Stilt and Common Crane with smaller numbers (ten’s) of Spoonbill, Marsh Sandpiper and Kentish Plover. Gulls were represented by a small flock of Black-headed Gull and a single near adult summer Pallas's Gull.

We headed to an adjacent area of arable fields where we enjoyed great views of two stunning Indian Courser feeding within the sandy, ploughed castor fields and a pair of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse which showed equally well. The Indian Courser were fantastic, possibly one of the best Courser species I have seen - thats a pretty high achievement for such a superb family. Finally, we watched the sun go down over the lake and enjoyed more views of the above species but in particular taking in the vast flock of Demoiselle Crane, a species I had long wanted to see. A short night drive produced a single Syke’s Nightjar which unfortunately didn’t stop for long and I had good flight views only. We headed back to the hotel for 20:00 after the best afternoons birding of the trip.

Ruddy Shelduck - These were the only we saw

Common Crane- Very common around the Little Rann of Kutch area

Common Crane

Common Crane

Marsh Sandpiper - Common on Nava Talaw

Common and Demoiselle Crane

Yellow Wagtail of race feldegg in heavy pre-breeding moult

Yellow Wagtail of race thunbergi in heavy pre-breeding moult

Indian Courser - One of the birds of the trip

Indian Courser

Indian Courser

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse - Male

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse wing stretching

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse wing stretching

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse - The female has very intricate patterning

Lesser Flamingo - Far outnumbered Greater Flamingo on Nava Talaw

Part of the flock of c.5,000 Demoiselle Crane

Demoiselle Crane at sunset

At dusk some of the Demoiselle Crane flew to the neighbouring grassland to forage

Sunset on Tava Talaw

Part 1 of this post can be viewed here
Part 2 of this post can be viewed here

Links to the other days of the trip:
Day 1 - 2 - Background and Travel
Day 2 (Part 1) - Desert National Park
Day 2 (Part 2) - Desert National Park
Day 3 (Part 3) - Desert National Park
Day 4 - Desert National Park and Jaisalmer Fort
Day 5 - Travel from Jaisalmer to Little Rann of Kutch
Day 6 (Part 1) - Little Rann of Kutch
Day 6 (Part 2) - Little Rann of Kutch
Day 7 - Little Rann of Kutch and Travel Home