Following last Saturday's glorious sunshine the weather turned extremely cold through out the week. Locally we did not get the snow that areas in the east of the country experienced, the snow in Hampshire being manly a dusting, with flurries continuing throughout the day until Wednesday. Then came the blue skies and sunshine but biting easterly wind. The cold snap was due to end this weekend, but as I turned the ignition in the car at around 6:30 am the outside temperature was minus six degrees centigrade. It warmed as I headed south and pulling up on the sea wall at Hill Head it was just freezing, but stepping out of the car I was hit with a bitingly cold wind.
The tide was on the turn and heading in, but there was plenty of beach exposed. Oystercatcher and Turnstone were on the beach and in the shallow waters there were thirteen Bar-tailed Godwits feeding, two more than the reported number in the week. As I prepared to go down to the get closer to the godwits a pair of Eider flew past, quite close in.
Braving the bitterly cold south easterly wind Ian and I walked down on to the beach where the Bar-tailed Godwits were feeding in the tide line.
Brent Geese flew past heading east after being disturbed on the beach at Brownwich.
We edged closer to the godwits, unsure of how they would react. We also wanted to have what light there was from the sunrise behind us.
The Brent continued to move.
And more Eider.
The sun then managed to break through the clouds sending a fiery glow across the sea front in Lee-On-The-Solent.
Bar-tailed Godwits only seem to come through in numbers during the spring passage and then it is hit and miss if you catch up with them. Single birds are normally seen at Pennington, but this bird is normally well off shore and you have to get by with a blurry record shot. Having thirteen birds close by was something of a luxury and Ian and I were determined to make the most of it. We edged closer as the light was still not that good and the images we were getting were a little grainy, to start with.
They had now moved from the tideline and were working a wet patch of the beach using their long bills to push into the sand in search of lug worms.
Sometimes it was necessary to push the head into the sand and water as well.
They were proving to be quite successful at catching the worms and this was attracting the attention of the Black-headed Gulls and as the godwit pulled the worm from the sand the gull would pounce. The gull chasing the godwit across the sand in the hope of the godwit being forced into dropping the prize worm.
The godwits were so focused on feeding they appeared not to be concerned with us and we were able to drop low to the beach and then let them walk to wards us.
The wet patch also attracted one or two Ringed Plovers.
It was now clear that the godwits were accepting us as they fed on the beach, we were then distracted by a different looking gull that was just off shore on the water. It had all the features of a Herring Gull, but had a black eye, not what you would expect to see.
I have never been a fan of gulls and spending the time on the similarities of age and sub species, this though struck me as being different. We had to see the leg colour and after a quick bathe it took to the air, revealing pink legs.
It would have been nice if the legs had been yellow, but they were pink and now I had no idea. I went back to the car and checked Collins. The only gull with dark eyes was an Armenian Gull, but the adult has yellow legs as it is closely related to a Yellow-legged Gull. The black eye made the gull look less aggressive as yo see in a Herring Gull. I decided to capture the back of camera image and put it out on the Whats App group. It took a while but then the mystery was resolved. Thank you Mark Francis.
It appears if I had seen the other eye this would have been typical Herring Gull. This individual has a damaged eye, hence it appears black, seen from the other side it was a Herring Gull. We did catch up with it again by the Sailing club, at that time we hadn't heard from Mark but even then I could only see a Herring Gull.
After sending the message out I went back to the beach and the Bar-tailed Godwits. The common godwit around here is the Black-tailed Godwit and although it is easy to distinguish the two in flight, they are very similar on the ground.
On the ground shape and structure are important. The Bar-tailed is a shorter necked, shorter legged and all the more stockier bird than the Black-tailed Godwit and the bill is shorter with an upward curve that really becomes more prominent the closer you are. The black-tailed are longer legged and more elegant in appearance
In winter plumage the Black-tailed is much more uniformly smokey grey on the upper parts while the Bar-tailed has strongly variegated upper parts with pale feather fringes, looking more like a Curlew. Finally the Bar-tailed has a longer, more pronounced supercilium.
In spring the male "Bar-wits" being a uniform chestnut red on the under parts while the females remain mostly winter like with pale underparts. In both the Black-tailed and Bar-tailed the females have a longer bill by up to fifteen percent.
By getting down low the godwits would walk towards us before realising that maybe they did not want to get too close.
The Bar-tailed Godwit is a more northerly breeding species, its summer range extending from Scandinavia east across the Russian Tundra. Western breeders normally winter in Britain, and the numbers here can be increased by bad weather movement of birds from the Wadden Sea in the Netherlands. With the freeze this week it could be that these birds were dispersed from the frozen conditions in the Netherlands this week.
Those breeding in Siberia take a long migration down to West Africa and it is these birds that make up the eastern passage along the English Channel in April and early May, about a month after the wintering birds in the UK have made their way to their breeding grounds.
The "Black-wits" wintering in the UK are mainly of the Icelandic race islandica and in summer they have a more orange breeding plumage than the darker continental race. It is this latter bird that does breed in eastern England in small numbers, this race winters in West Africa too. Since the 1930's numbers of Black-tailed Godwits wintering in the UK has increased significantly.
So it was time to make the most of the "Bar-wits" today as there might not be a similar opportunity for sometime.
On returning after checking the gull identification the godwits had moved to the tide line which brought a different perspective. Fortunately we were able to stay on the dry sand as the water moved around us.
Here evidence of all thirteen birds.
Once again they started to move closer to us and we stayed low to get a better angle to enjoy the birds.
Then I was able to get one to walk straight at me.
It was really a full "Bar-wit" orgy for photographs.
A distraction in a small movement of Oystercatchers.
Then as we walked away from the water's edge to make our way back to the sea wall a sliver of sunlight cut through the cloud and turned this one Godwit from the grey-brownish plumage to more grey.
Reaching the sea wall a drake Eider flew past close in once again.
There didn't seem to be any need for the godwits to be disturbed on the beach, but suddenly there they were flying past us over the sea.
In flight the "Bar-wit" is a stockier bird once again and the legs barely extend beyond the tail. It lacks the wing bar of the "Black-wit" and shows a white "V" on the back which is probably more confusing with a Whimbrel or Curlew.
They flew over the sea wall and then over Duck Bay and into the reserve appearing to drop on to the south scrape.
We walked to the visitor centre in the hope of being able to see into the scrape from the viewing platform. We stopped at the bridge where there were four Little Grebes and a pair of teal in the reeds.
Across the reeds a female Marsh Harrier could seen quartering.
A large flock of Lapwing is not always a sign of any reason, but as I scanned the Lapwing I picked up a distant Peregrine, which drifted away to the west.
We walked around to the Sailing Club where we checked the gulls for a Mediterranean Gull, but with no luck. Back at the bridge a Great Crested Grebe in breeding plumage was present.
While the Little Grebe had become five birds.
We headed off to walk the cliffs, stopping on the way for a cup of tea. The path was a joy to walk the ground solid with frost and the puddles iced over. The cold weather was also seemingly keeping the hoards away, for now.
Coming up to the second field the sky suddenly filled with Stock Dove, the photograph enabled an accurate count, 96 Stock Dove in this group but it was likely that there were more spread around the field.
We walked to Brownwich Pond, scanning all the posts along the way for a hoped for Merlin, as usual nothing showing.
At the pond the main water was partially frozen and a Moorhen was making its way across the ice.
As we left a Mallard was also sitting on the ice.
We continued the scan for Merlin as we walked past the field at Chilling. Ian though picked up two Golden Plover and we walked out to investigate further. Suddenly from in front of there were calls and Golden Plover burst from the ground. It was not one large flock but various groups which made it difficult to estimate numbers but it must have been well into three figures. They flew around and dropped down towards the field once again.
Once back down in the field they blended into the stubble and grass. Picking out one bird would then slowly reveal that there were others around it, the camouflage is extremely effective.
The sun had never really appeared, the only sign of it was a white ball in the sky amongst the grey cloud. It remained extremely cold though, the wind still biting. On reaching the edge of the field once again Ian stopped me and pointed out a Redwing feeding in amongst the wet and partially frozen ground.
Redwing are normally seen in flocks and are very flighty birds, in this case there was just one and it didn't have its mates around it to alert each other of a possible danger, so we were able to watch it and get quite close.
We walked on, heading towards Hook, passing the sub station and then along Workman's Lane, checking for the Little Owl with out any luck. In the field behind the line of trees were Brent and Canada Geese and Redwing and Mistle Thrush.
We took the footpath past the horse fields where more Redwing and Pied Wagtail were present.
A small pond past the stables was partially frozen and the pair of Egyptian Geese that have been present for the last few days were still there but hidden away under the trees and behind the wire fences.
walking was keeping us warm so we carried on, heading towards Hook passing the parkland area where more thrushes were present along with a calling Nuthatch.
We were heading for the beach, stopping off to view another field where a pair of Herring Gulls were paddling the muddy ground for worms.
On the beach, a single Sanderling was with Turnstone, the Turnstone flying off leaving the Sanderling on the beach.
It was then a case of re-tracing our steps past the substation and then across Chilling Field. A Sparrowhawk was seen upsetting the Blackbirds in the field off the lane and a little further on a Raven flew over calling and then there were flocks of Golden Plover flying around the field as they were disturbed by an increase in the number of people walking now.
Back at Brownwich Pond there was a little bit of sunshine that highlighted the duck and swan on the ice. Close up on the Mute Swan roosting on the ice.
From the other side of the pond the Mallard were highlighted by the sunshine.
And from this side of the pond the Swan stood out on the ice darkened by the shadow of the surrounding trees, the swan reflected on the ice.
As we reached the Brownwich Cliffs a large flock of Linnet were taking the opportunity to drink in one of the puddles where the walkers had broken the ice to reveal some water.
After something to eat I convinced Ian to check out the wader roost behind the harbour. As we walked past we could see the Sanderling, but decided to try and find a Tufted Duck Ian had seen briefly, there was always a chance that the Scaup which had been around was with it.
We couldn't find the duck, the only thing of interest was a Lesser Black-backed Gull showing off its yellow legs on the small island.
Back at the wader roost the Sanderling were gone, well all but two and these didn't stay long. There were Turnstone though and they were taking to roosting on the groin.
But as the waves, whipped up by the south easterly wind, crashed into the groin they had to take evasive action.
The two Sanderling did return on to the beach but didn't stay too long.
Back at the cars it was still bitingly cold and we decided it was time to call it a day. The Bar-tailed Godwits was a real plus today and there are enough images to satisfy until hopefully the spring migration, we can hope!
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