Slimbridge WWT, Hayling Island, Denny Wood and Pennington Marsh - 17th - 24th April

With the last days before my next foreign trip, work and family life have been hectic. The glorious, warm sunny Easter weekend of 19th April was spent decorating at home with some time on the beach with friends and family and enjoying the garden. Birding of late has been confined to a few short jaunts when time allowed. On 14th April we were at Cowley and so I spent a couple of hours at Slimbridge WWT reserve while Sarah was with friends. Highlights were six Sand Martin, two Willow Warbler, a single Swallow, Sedge Warbler and a few left over Wigeon, Pintail and Teal.

Avocet were showing very well from the Rushy Hide with 29 birds present - Slimbridge WWT

Avocet - Rushy Hide, Slimbridge

Black-headed Gulls were looking fine - Slimbridge WWT

After a breeding bird survey near to Bognor Regis on 17th April, where the highlights were my first Whitethroat, Wheatear and Yellow Wagtail of the year as well as good numbers of Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler, I stopped for a short walk along the Billy Line to the Oysterbeds on Hayling Island. The highlights here were three Whitethroat, 12 Whimbrel and Willow Warbler. I spent some time at the Oysterbeds enjoying the hundreds of nesting Mediterranean Gull and Black-headed Gull and my first Sandwich Tern of the year.

Whimbrel - Hayling Island

Whitethroat - Hayling Island

Nesting Black-headed and Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Sandwich Tern and Mediterranean Gull - Oysterbeds, Hayling Island

Later in the day on 17th April I popped to Denny Wood where there were good numbers of Redstart on territory. Its always a great pleasure to see these stunning birds in the fresh green, spring leaves of Beech and Oak at Denny Wood.

Redstart - Denny Wood, New Forest

On 18th and 24th I spent a couple of hours at Pennington Marsh, on 18th I walked the Ancient Highway and back around the seawall to Jetty Lagoon and back to the car park. On 24th I walked out past Fishtail Lagoon and back to the carpark. There were many Reed Warbler and Whitethroat on territory as well as small numbers of Sedge Warbler. Up to seven Ruff were present including a stunning rufous necked bird. On both days there were up to six Spoonbill on Fishtail Lagoon. There appear to be two pairs of Little Ringed Plover breeding on Fishtail Lagoon this year. Other highlights included two Common Tern, two Little Tern, a partial summer plumaged Spotted Sandpiper and a stunning summer plumaged Turnstone. 

Ruff - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Turnstone - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Time in the garden produced my first Holly Blue of the year and a couple of Orange-tip but despite scanning the skies over a few cold beers while revising for my trip there were no fly-over migrants.

Orange-tip - Romsey

Pennington Marsh - 28th September

The day was something of a change to the summer like warmth of recent late-September days, a cold front had pushed south overnight bringing with it a cold north-east wind and a fall in temperature from the mid-twenties to the mid-teens - the day had a definate late autumn feel to it. My time was limited and so I walked a swift loop around Jetty, Butts, Fishtail and out to Keyhaven Lagoons and spent a little time around the Old Tip area. It was fairly slow going but the Temminck's Stint showed well in the gloom on Fishtail Lagoon and the Grey Phalarope from recent days was still present but did not show particularly well. Also on the lagoon were three Spotted Redshank.

Numbers of wader and wildlfowl are starting to climb with 65 Grey Plover, 175 Teal and 55 Turnstone present. Summer migrants were poorly represented with just eight Swallow, single Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, Wheatear and Blackcap and four Yellow Wagtail. A flock of 69 Lapwing flew in very high from the north and looked like they may have been arriving migrants.

Temminck's Stint - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Temminck's Stint - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing - Arriving high from north over Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Grey Plover, Knot and Turnstone - Butts Bay, Pennington Marsh

Curlew - Off Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Pennington Marsh - 4th September

As I drank a coffee at the corner of Lower Pennington Lane on a very still early September morning it was evident that there were large numbers of hirundine overhead, I scanned the flock which comprised mainly House Martin moving at some altitude. There were small numbers of Swallow and Sand Martin present but numbers were overwhelming dominated by House Martin. Until around 09:00 the hirundine constantly chattering overhead was a constant feature of the morning and as I reached the seawall at the jetty and scanned back north the numbers present were uncountable, probably several thousand birds present seemingly mainly feeding but with a general westward drift of birds. But, at around 09:00 the wind slowly gathered pace from a north-east direction and the majority of birds vanished with only small numbers left feeding low over the reedbeds and lagoons. I was not sure whether this was a movement of birds as such or whether these represented birds that had roosted in the reedbeds before dispersing - certainly Portland had nowhere like these numbers while at Hengistbury there were 430 House Martin counted.

After parking at Lower Pennington Lane a quick look at Efford Lagoon produced 25 Teal, 10 Tufted Duck, two Wigeon, a single Whimbrel and 11 Snipe but little else. I wandered over the Old Tip where in the Brambles were seven Whitethroat, a single Lesser Whitethroat and three Sedge Warbler. There were good numbers of Yellow Wagtail around the cattle with approximately 30 present. From the seawall, other than the hirundines it seemed fairly slow. The lagoons are still remarkably dry although there appears to be sufficient water to entice small numbers of wader. On Jetty Lagoon were a single Spotted Redshank and four Black-tailed Godwit and a single Reed Warbler was 'pished' from the reeds. On Butts Lagoon numbers were higher with 15 Teal, 45 Black-tailed Godwit, 18 Dunlin, single Greenshank, Spotted Redshank and five Snipe. I scanned to sea from the corner of Butts Lagoon for a while, there was a little to be seen but for a female/immature Goosander feeding around the saltmarsh edges and the summering male Common Scoter still present. On the mudflats were 40 Turnstone, 25 Grey Plover and 30 Ringed Plover. While the male Peregrine sat and scanned the saltmarsh from its favoured perch.

Continuing my journey west along the seawall, Fishtail Lagoon was very quiet but for a couple of Black-tailed Godwit including a superb juvenile in fresh plumage and adult winter and juvenile Spotted Redshank which showed very well as they fed in unison in the shallows. A single Sedge Warbler was skulking in the sedge beds. At Keyhaven Lagoon there were 11 Avocet, 125 Teal, 175 Lapwing and my first Knot of the winter, a small flock of seven juvenile birds. It was 10:00 and time to head to work but it had been a very pleasant morning.

 

Adult winter Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Adult winter Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Lapwing - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Moorhen Lapwing - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

There are lots of Goldfinch on the Teasel but they are in heavy moult and looking pretty scrappy - Pennington Marsh

And here are a couple of my favourite autumnal moths which have just appeared on the wing and caught in my trap at our cottage in the Cotswolds over the weekend.

Feathered Gothic - Cowley, Cheltenham

Frosted Orange - Cowley, Cheltenham

Pennington Marsh - 12th January

After dropping Tobias at school I spent my first morning of 2018 at Pennington Marsh. I only had a couple of hours and my main aim was to try to see a patch tick. So after enjoying the spectacle of high numbers of Teal, Wigeon, Pintail, Lapwing, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit and Golden Plover on Pennington Marsh I headed for the seawall. Here, I soon located the Red-necked Grebe off the jetty that had been present for a couple of weeks and while scope views were okay it was far too distant for any photographs, still, can't complain it was great to get a patch tick on my first visit this year. Also here, a single Great-northern Diver flew west and a Spotted Redshank showed well on Pennington Lagoon. The morning had started misty but it soon became quite a pleasant still day and I enjoyed my time at the marsh even though there birds were the typical winter fare.

I was limited for time as I needed to get to a bird survey up the road at Marchwood for 11:20 but after this I headed to Beaulieu Road Station, my plan was to find a flock of Parrot Crossbill but despite playing recordings in suitable habitat I saw none (not very surprising). It was deadly quite and other than a few common woodland birds plus Dartford Warbler I saw/heard very little and then it was time to pick Tobias up from school and head for home.

Pintail - Pennington Marsh

Wigeon - Pennington Marsh

Teal - Pennington Marsh

Cormorant eating a ridiculously large Eel - Pennington Marsh

Cormorant eating a ridiculously large Eel, down it goes - Pennington Marsh

Spotted Redshank - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit - Pennington Marsh

Here is a recording of a flock of Black-tailed Godwit feeding on the grassland just off the Lower Pennington Lane car park. In the background can be heard Teal, Wigeon and Lapwing. The godwits are the 'chuck' calls in the foreground of the recording.

Ruff - Pennington Marsh

Ruff - Pennington Marsh

This is a recording of the general soundscape at Pennington Marsh, here can be heard Wigeon, Pintail, Teal, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Curlew, Blue Tit and Canada Goose plus me fumbling the microphone - its a busy place.

And here are some general recordings from the day, the Spotted Redshank was from Pennington Marsh with the 'pliip' of Teal in the background. The Reed Bunting (with a churring Wren in the background) and Mistle Thrush are from Beaulieu Road Station while the Song Thrush is from Marchwood.

Reed Bunting

Mistle Thrush

Song Thrush - Quite a remarkable difference from the Mistle Thrush with notes over a wider bandwidth (at least 2.5-8.5 kHz compared to 1.5-3.5 kHz in Mistle Thrush) and in far less standardised sequences.

Pennington Marsh - 3rd September

I had a little time on Sunday morning before I needed to do some work so on a rather cloudy and windy morning I was up early and headed down to Pennington. Walking towards Jetty Lagoon from the car park I heard a couple of Yellow Wagtail fly over and then a flock of six Spoonbill came off the lagoon and flew east. On Pennington Lagoon there were around 30 Teal and two Greenshank. The sea was pretty choppy on the rising tide and with the strong winds it was difficult to scan to sea but around 25 Common Tern and six Sandwich Tern were present.

I spent a short while scanning from Butts Lagoon but other than a small passage of Sand Martin and Swallow there was little to be seen as the waves were breaking over the last remaining areas of mudflat. On to Fishtail Lagoon it was evident that there had been an influx of ducks since my last visit with around 55 Teal and a single Pintail present. Also here were three Spotted Redshank, one juvenile and two non-breeding birds.

Onto Keyhaven Lagoon there around 175 Grey Plover on the lagoon with my first Golden Plover of the season, an adult in near summer plumage and a single juvenile Knot, also my first of the season. There were around 125 Teal and my first six Wigeon of the season and a further five Pintail.

Spoonbill - These all appeared to be juvenile birds

Spoonbill - An adult and a juvenile

Stormy skies over the jetty looking towards the Isle of Wight

Curlew - On the foreshore by the jetty

Curlew - Same bird as above, in heavy wing moult

Black-tailed Godwit on Jetty Lagoon hungering down in the rain

Spotted Redshank, two non-breeding birds and a juvenile (left bird) - Fishtail Lagoon

Juvenile Spotted Redshank  - Fishtail Lagoon

Non-breeding Spotted Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon

Grey Plover and three Dunlin - Keyhaven Lagoon

The Mornings Totals

Teal - 230

Pintail - 6

Wigeon - 6

Grey Plover - 250

Golden Plover - 1

Ringed Plover - 25

Knot - 1

Lapwing - 15

Curlew - 30

Black-tailed Godwit - 125

Turnstone - 75

Dunlin - 150

Snipe - 3

Common Sandpiper - 3

Greenshank - 2

Spotted Redshank - 3

Spoonbill - 6

Common Gull - 2

Common Tern - 25

Sandwich Tern - 6

Peregrine -1

Reed Warbler - 2

Swallow - 25

Sand Martin - 5

Chiffchaff - 6

Whitethroat - 2

Wheatear - 1

Meadow Pipit - 25

Yellow Wagtail - 4