Photo's from Normandy Marsh

Yesterday, 19th October, we wrote our blog on our group walk at Normandy Marsh, Lymington.  Andy has sent in a few of his photos taken on the walk.  All photographs © Andy Copplestone.

Above a record shot of the Osprey, intriguingly it seems to be trailing something which we didn't notice when we were watching it.

Another raptor with a splendid male Kestrel

This Little Egret kept to the creek and not at all camera shy

However this Meadow Pipit above was not so happy to be snapped, nor the Reed Bunting below.

Finally, a friendly Wren sitting out and enjoying the sunshine.

Late summer migrants at Normandy Marshes

This morning our group were birding round Normandy Marsh, Lymington.  Walking along the path to look over 8 Acre Pond, a Grey Wagtail was seen on the edge of the pond, the usual Little Grebe and Mallard on the water.  Redshank and Little Egret in the creek and a Kestrel was very active hunting the fields near us, while a Wren cursed us from the hedge and two Swallows flew over.

Looking over Maiden Dock/Oxey Lake on the islands of seaweed were a good variety of waders including Lapwing, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and several Curlew that then took off and flew over to the fields.  Teal also seemed to be enjoying the islands, feeding and resting among the weed.  Then Nick noticed seven waders flying away which turned out to be Bar-tailed Godwits.  On the fields behind we had our first of many Stonechats of our walk, also at least four Reed Buntings.  Nick picked up three Golden Plover flying over which continued on.

Greenshank - Normandy Lagoon

Now looking over Normandy Lagoon with a few Black-tailed Godwit, Redshanks and more Teal.  We then found our first of at least seven Greenshanks and then Nick found two Spotted Redshank.  We then added Wigeon, Oystercatchers and a couple of Shelduck.  Then Chris said he had a bird of prey coming in behind us, we all looked round and to our surprise it was an Osprey, it flew round and headed back towards Pennington.  However about 15 minutes later it was back and actively hunting and hovering over the water looking for fish giving us even better views than before.  It was unsuccessful and eventually it disappeared off towards Lymington and beyond.

Back to the lagoon and looking back through the waders we had Dunlin with a single Grey Plover, though later on a few more flew off the outer marsh and away eastward.  A Green Woodpecker was found on the edge of the lagoon and Skylark were heard overhead.  A Cormorant stood next to a Great Black-backed Gull which seemed to make it seem quite diminutive!  Then two Kingfishers flew down the channel, round the back of us and back over the lagoon.  Looking out over the Solent were a few Brent Geese, Great Crested Grebe and a few Pintail.  Now we were at the end of the saltmarsh where Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were feeding, then Joe found a single Wheatear, another late migrant.  A little further on we came across a few Snipe before Nick called "Peregrine"!  We watched the Peregrine causing a little disturbance but it seemed uninterested and just went on its way.  As I watched it I spotted another raptor high up, a Buzzard soon joined by a second bird.   Moving on we came across a flock of about 60 Linnets, a juvenile bird sat and allowed us to admire it for quite a while.   

Walking through to Normandy Lane a Cetti's Warbler burst into song as we past, soon after we added our fifth bird of prey for the day with a Sparrowhawk.  Along the lane we added Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tits, Song Thrush and heard a brief call of Bullfinch.

View across Normandy Marsh © Jackie Hull

Portland Bill & Weymouth birding

Sunday 9th October

While waiting to meet Helena, Anna and Steve at Portland Heights Hotel three Ring Ouzels flew low over the hotel, just the start of a great birding day. After a quick coffee and chat we were off to Portland Bill, checked what was around first then walked over to the Obs Quarry, where the Little Owl was already sat out. In the quarry itself were several Chiffchaffs as well as the usual Robin, Dunnock and Wren etc. Over the fields were a large flock of Linnets, a few Skylarks flew overhead while Swallows were swooping low over the crop.

Moving back to the road there was a small group of birders gathering round the Crown Estate Field where the ringing nets were. We were treated to a superb male Bearded Tit sitting up giving brilliant views, he came even closer to us, shame we didn’t have our cameras but amazing photos can be found on Portland Obs blog at http://portlandbirdobs.blogspot.co.uk/search. Moving up the top fields a Kestrel was constantly hunting over the fields, a couple of Ravens flew over and of course there were plenty of Meadow Pipits also Pied/White Wagtails. A few Stonechats were seen, probably migrating through as well. Our raptor tally went up with a Sparrowhawk dashing through and a soaring Buzzard. 

Bar-tailed Godwit  © Nick Hull

We moved on to Ferrybridge and a look over the Fleet Nature Reserve from the visitor centre, a few waders could be seen with Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwits, Sanderling and Dunlin. While the Mediterranean Gulls were by far the most numerous species to be seen, in with them were six Sandwich Terns. After lunch in the cafe we moved on Lodmoor RSPB nature reserve, but first stopping at the tennis courts for a look over Radipole lake. Wildfowl included Gadwall, Shoveler and Little Grebe, while the loud song of a Cetti’s Warbler was heard but remained unseen in the bush next to us.

At Lodmoor we walked along Southdown Avenue and immediately we saw an adult female Marsh Harrier quartering the reedbeds. A Stonechat popped up in front of us and a Little Grebe started Whinnying and watched a Little Egret fly over. In the pools were a good number of splendid drake Pochard. We were now near the end of the road and watched House Sparrows and Starlings in the hedges and flying into the gardens on to the feeders. We didn't wait long before a row of five starlings sat on the wires, the bird nearest to us was a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling giving us great close views and comparisons.

We drove round the other side of the reserve and found a few Teal, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and Lapwing near the Tern islands, also a Wheatear on the bank. A Sparrowhawk flew across and we walked on further and came across a few more waders. Stopping to look at a Green Sandpiper and a Snipe, a Bar-tailed Godwit landed in front of us along with a single Curlew Sandpiper. Unfortunately a Lapwing saw then off, we followed them and found a few more waders plus Grey Heron and then finished our day with views of a Water Rail.

Portland Bill © Nick Hull

Boom! Lesser Yellowlegs at Lytchett Patch

On Sunday 18th September it started much like usual, the weather was overcast and we were meeting our group at 09:30 to lead them around our home patch of Lytchett Fields.  We had just assembled and about to start our walk down to the Lytchett Fields, when a car pulls up and its our friends Paul and Shaun, they announce Ian has just found a Lesser Yellowlegs but it's disappeared.  They left to park their car and we walked down the lane towards the pool field, then up the lane by the Arable Field then over the style across the Purple Heron Field.  We checked off many of the commoner species on the way, and a few migrants like Chiffchaff and Blackcap.

As we approach the Sherford Pools there were a number of birders checking through the waders or watching the actual bird.  I quickly set up the scope and Ian pointed me in the right direction to save time, after all this was a Poole Harbour tick as well as a patch first as I missed the last on Brownsea Island in December 2014.  There was no way you would miss it, it was the only active bird walking around and feeding amongst the Teal and Redshank at the back of the pools.  This small American wader that breeds in Canada through to Alaska and winter along the southern states and South America was stunning.  A little smaller than Redshank looking a little more like a very clean Wood Sandpiper with yellow legs. 

Sorry about the bad digi shot but the distant and heat haze was pretty awful it was much better in the scope which says a lot for my photographic skills.  It's easy when you have a rarity not to look at what else is around.  The high tide was flushing birds off the bay onto the pools, there was good numbers of Redshank, Black-tailed Godwits, a scattering of Dunlin and Snipe, lots of Teal, a Moorhen plus a single Water Rail found by Joe.  Looking over French's Pools there was more of the same and a large flock of gulls mainly Black-headed and a good number of Pied Wagtails with the odd White Wagtail mixed in.  Meadow Pipits, Linnets and Goldfinch were all moving around.   After another view of the Lesser Legs we headed off to Sandy Lane heath, a remnant square of heath between the houses and the bay.  It was here we fell in with Shaun again who was ringing and he allow us to watch him ringing a few birds in the hand.  Our first was a Cetti's Warbler, definitely the best and closest views any of the group have had of this super little warbler.   Our next in hand treat was a Meadow Pipit and our last a Chiffchaff, this brought our walk to an end, but what a excellent morning's birding.

Cetti's Warbler Lytchett Bay © Nick Hull

Blashford/Poole Harbour birding

On Saturday, 10th September, we had the pleasure of taking out Mark and Tish from the United States on a birding day.  It was meant to be around Poole Harbour but the morning turned so wet we had to think again. 

After picking them up from their hotel in Poole we popped into Baiter Park, on the field were gathered good numbers of Oystercatchers, Black-headed Gulls with a few Herring Gulls and Pied Wagtails.  Along the shoreline were a few Turnstones, difficult to spot at first blending in so well with the shoreline seaweed and rocks.  Moving on to Shore Road where there was plenty of disturbance from the kite surfers we did manage to find Curlew and four Sandwich Terns.

Now the rain was too heavy so a quick change of plan and we headed inland to Blashford Lakes and  started with viewing across Ibsley Water from the Tern Hide in the dry.  Before we even got into the hide there were lots of hirundines swooping over the car park and then hundreds of them over the water, with Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins, a wonderful sight.   Wildfowl on the water included Great Crested and Little Grebes, Tufted, Shoveler, Pochard, Mallard ducks, and of course Coots and Cormorants.  On the islands a few Lapwings and eventually a Common Sandpiper came into view and on the far bank a small flock of Egyptian Geese. Moving over the road and sheltering under the lee of the Education Centre we watched the feeders, with Nuthatch, Coal, Blue and Great Tits and under the feeders as you would expect Chaffinch, Dunnock and Blackbird.  Due to the weather there was not much in song except for Wren and Robins.  Finishing our visit to the reserve with a quick look over Ivy Lake adding Gadwall and a single Pochard.

Nearly lunchtime and we need to return to Poole Harbour, we decided to travel across country via Ibsley where a Buzzard sat on top of a pole by the roadside and a Grey Heron flew across the meadow.  We arrived at Arne perfectly timed for lunch, the new cafe is a "must" visit and highly recommended.  Thankfully the rain had now stopped and the sky was brightening perfectly timed to get back out birding.  Our first sighting of note though was not avian, I spotted it feeding on the flowers by the shop, a beautiful Hummingbird Hawk Moth which quite enthralled Mark and Tish.

Corfe Castle

On the track over Coombe Heath a few Meadow Pipits bounced over the heather and a Grayling butterfly flew up from the path and a Migrant Hawker dragonfly was patrolling along the gorse.  Looking out towards Middlebere we could see Little Egrets, Greenshank, Redshank and many Black-tailed Godwits and heard the "squealing" of a Water Rail.   The Osprey platform was forlornly empty but looking round I found the Osprey sat in the more regular dead tree.  Through the scope we had superb views, we were now drawing a small crowd wanting to see the Osprey and it was a pleasure to help them.  Tish spotted a slightly different wader in with the Dunlin, a Curlew Sandpiper and a nice addition to our list.  Nick found a group of 10 Knot and a Spotted Redshank before a a Sparrowhawk cruised across causing the usual movement of waders which had a quick fly around.

Driving by Hartland Moor a bird flew up and onto to some short heath, I was certain it was a Woodlark.  Stopping the car and looking across we eventually found three together, also a flock of Linnets nearby.  At Norden sewerage works we found a small family party of Grey Wagtails, a few Chiffchaffs were flitting through the Holme Oaks, one even starting singing briefly.  A Pheasant called and Rook and Jackdaws flew over.  Our species list for the day was now 63 and we weren't finished yet.  We drove around to Soldier Road, here we added Kestrel from the car and once parked we could hear Raven "cronking" Nick found it atop a silver birch as they walk up the hill to view over the Wareham Channel and Arne Moors.  I stayed by the car hoping to find a Dartford Warbler of a Stonechat. After a short while with us all back together finally a few Stonechats started to appear and we finished our day watching a small flock Long-tailed Tits.

Our final tally for our day was 69 species, which considering the weather seemed a very good tally, some great birds for Mark and Tish and it was such a pleasure to take them out.

Birding Seaton Wetlands, Devon

Though Jackie and I have visited Black Hole Marsh and Seaton on several occasions we have never brought a group so we thought it was about time to change that.  So this morning, Sunday 4th September, we found ourselves meeting in the car park behind Colyford Road cemetery.  While we waited for everyone to arrive we checked a few commoner species off like Robin and Goldfinch.  Then Jackie found a Kestrel perched and Mick picked out a falcon soaring over the marsh, which then turned into two a couple of hunting Peregrines and shortly after we had Buzzard, three birds of prey in short succession, not bad.

Once we were all gathered and introductions completed we headed off to look over Black Hole Marsh, we had to decide which hide to go to first and decided on the Island Hide as the tide was in.  Looking through the screen before walking down the boardwalk to the hide we had our first Common Sandpiper and a superb Ruff.  From the hide we had a good selection of waders with Ringed Plover, Common Sandpipers, Oystercatcher, Lapwings and a small roost of Dunlin.  Jess picked out a Little Stint among the roosting birds, a very smart juvenile.

Dunlin and Little Stint Black Hole Marsh © Nick Hull

Justin picked up a Kingfisher zooming by as they do and we picked out a couple of Curlew and a small flock of Black-tailed Godwits with a few Redshanks.  Two of the godwits were coloured ringed, I recognised one of them as being an Axe rung bird as it has Orange Red Orange on its right leg but the other we could only see the colours on the left, so I took a digi-scope shot to record the sighting and we headed off towards Colyford Common.  The hedgerows were fairly quiet with the usual resident birds and a few calling Chiffchaffs.  By the Discovery Centre we had Swallows with a small number of House Martins swooping round us, one almost flew into Jackie!  A single Sedge Warbler gave brief views in the reeds and Linnets were in the bushes behind the Sand Martin wall.

CR Black-tailed Godwits Black Hole Marsh © Nick Hull

Out on Colyford Common and on the meadows were Little Egrets, Grey Heron and a few Mallard. From the hide we added Pheasant on the distant fields, on the marsh a single Stock Dove and more Curlew and Redshank.  Apart from a Green Sandpiper taking flight with a start our fourth bird of prey, a Sparrowhawk, went cruising through so fast not a single other bird on the marsh twitched.  We also checked off the usual gull species.  At the far end of the Common we found the local Axe Ringing Group and were shown a immature Swallow in the hand and how we could tell it from an adult at this time of year. 

After Lunch we visited Seaton Marsh starting with looking around Borrow Pit where we added a family of Mute Swans, closer views of Little Grebe, a small flock of Long-tailed Tits and several Moorhen.  Walking out to the Seaton Marsh Hide on route we had a Wheatear, from the hide we added little until as we walked back to our car we heard a Yellow Wagtail call but we just couldn't find it amongst the cattle as the grass was too long.

Our group throughly enjoyed Seaton Wetlands and I don't think it will be long before they return, if you have not visited it is highly recommended.

Portland, Sea Watching & more

Sunday (21st) saw Jackie and I at Portland Bill where our group assembled at eight o'clock in the shelter of the Lighthouse.  The sea was pretty heavy and the wind gusted strongly but the flock of Gannets moving west off the Bill just took it in their stride.  It was good to see lots of juveniles and a good number of other aged birds up to adult.

At the start Gannets was all to be seen but it wasn't long before I picked up a Manx Shearwater gliding through the 'Race', an area of rough sea off the Bill created by an underwater rock shelf .  I managed to keep an eye on the bird until it cleared the race and was able to get most onto it as it disappeared into, and then reappeared from, the troughs. After a while we were picking up a steady stream of Manx moving west then the first Balearic Shearwater went through.  There was a little panic as everyone was trying to pick it up with very little directional points to guide people except a bright orange buoy which kept disappearing as did the shearwaters.  By the time we finished and moved on everyone managed to see both shearwater species Fulmar, Kittiwake, Guillemot and Turnstones plus of course the usual gull species.  I managed a couple of views of Storm Petrel but unfortunately couldn't get anyone else on to them in time, though other birders not in our group did manage brief views.  On land we added Wheatear, Rock Pipits, Linnets, Starlings and Swallows, a Sparrowhawk flew in and perched up briefly on a large rock giving us a pretty close view of its rear.

Sparrowhawk Portland Bill © Nick Hull

We moved on to have a quick stop at Chesil Cove but only added another Fulmar and three Mediterranean Gulls to the day list.  Then on to Ferrybridge for our lunch, a short walk first along the beach produced Dunlin and Ringed Plovers, a flight of delightful Little Terns and a couple of Sandwich Tern flew overhead giving their typical grating calls.  We also had a single Wheatear and Common Blue butterfly here.  Time to stop for lunch and when we had finished the tide had started to drop and Dunlin, Sanderling and Ringed Plovers started to fly in to feed.  There was also a good sized flock of Mediterranean Gulls loafing on the water which gave us a chance to go through the plumage differences and ages with the group.   

Juvenile Wheatear Portland Bill © Nick Hull

Just before moving on we heard news that the juvenile Garganey had been seen again at Radipole from the visitor centre so we called in on our way to Lodmoor.  At first we scanned quickly through the duck finding Teal, Mallard, Tufted, Shoveler and Gadwall, but eventually Tony picked out a small duck and asked Jackie to check and she was able to confirm he had found the Garganey which we all enjoyed before heading to Lodmoor.  

Lodmoor was fairly empty at first, it wasn't until we reached the metal shelter that we picked up a few waders, one being a Little Stint looking really diminutive next to the Dunlin it was associating with. An eagle eyed group member found a Common Sandpiper then a second flew in while a Green Sandpiper flew off up one of the dykes landing out of sight. Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwit completed the waders here, but a very scruffy male Marsh Harrier was picked up quartering the reedbed.   Moving around to the south side we were able to add Ruff and more Black-tailed Godwits with both adults and juveniles.  As we were returning to our cars a small flock of Sand Martins appeared with the odd Swallow and House Martin and I topped it off by finding with a single Swift, which will probably be our last until next year.  A good end to a super days birding in excellent company.