A report during the week of a Spotted Sandpiper at Farlington Marshes had me heading there Saturday morning to meet Ian just before dawn. The skies were clear and it was a beautiful start to the day, the golden hue away to the east a sign of the sun rise to come. As we sorted ourselves out in the lower car park a Kestrel hovered high above the bushes and wondered what it could see from such a height in the pre dawn light.
Across the ground in front of us a couple of Magpies sat at the top of a hawthorn bush waiting for the first rays of sunshine to warm up. Two for joy were my thoughts, would we be successful this morning?
We walked through the bushes, the grass covered with a heavy dew, but no sign of any actual frost. We came across a group of cattle settled in a hollow that held some mist, slowly they pulled themselves up and slowly moved away from us. We were walking east and the distant trees on Hayling Island were silhouetting again an orange red sky. A large flock of birs passed over the trees, it was impossible to identify them.
I watched a Grey Heron come low over the reeds and again a perfect silhouette as it made its way with slow wing beats towards the stream.
Finally at a bout 7:15 the sun appeared behind the distant trees and the proceeded to rise quickly. I am always amazed at how quickly the sun rises above the horizon and then as it climbs in the sky, slows.
We crossed the field, walking past a large flock of Canada Geese on the stream that included the white farm goose and its mate the Barnacle Goose. Going through the gate we walked on towards the visitor hot, the rising sun reflected in the large pools of water on the main track.
There was a good number of cattle in the hay field and with them we could make out two of the Cattle Egret that have been present here for a while. Coming up onto the sea wall the tide was still low, with plenty of mud still visible and the calls of waders could be heard across the water and accompanying islands.
There was quite a bit of activity in the bushes with Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and a few Reed Warblers catching insects woken up by the warmth of the sun's first rays. Robins were also present their ticking contact calls being heard and also one or two in full song.
The Spotted Sandpiper had been reported as elusive, but last seen around the old block house on the east side. The bird was present for three days before finally confirmed as a juvenile bird. Spotted Sandpiper presents no identification problem in its
breeding plumage. Immatures and adults in winter plumage, however, are widely
held to be indistinguishable in the field from similarly aged Common Sandpipers.
With this in mind I started to scan the ditch that ran east to west from the sea wall and a wader appeared on the edge of the water on the right hand side. The light was poor and it was difficult to discern any real detail, but the bird was bobbing as it moved and was a sandpiper. Here a digiscoped image.
Finally I got Ian on it and a coupe of birders arrived to, the bird kept moving in and out of view. The default view for me at the time was its the right place as reported, its a sandpiper, is it the Spotted Sandpiper?
As pointed out the difference between the two species, common and spotted is very close. Markings on the wing coverts are a feature of both Common
and Spotted Sandpipers in juvenile plumage, though in the Spotted they tend to
be a bit more 'contrasty', and those on the median coverts stand out more due
to the fact that the greater coverts on the Spotted are only barred toward the
tips in a juvenile Spotted.
In addition, Spotted Sandpiper has a shorter tail,
projecting very little, if at all, beyond the tertials. In the Common the tail is prominent. Most birds would show a paler bill base,
ghosting the bill pattern of adults, and I a juvenile Spotted to look slightly greyer
brown above than a juvenile Common Sandpiper.
But as the bird waded out in the open and the light improved it became clear there was no "collar" a feature seen in both species. What we were now looking at was neither, it was a Green Sandpiper. Another digiscoped image, note the Wheatear in the bottom right.
It was now down to trying to check all the gullies and ditches which was not easy with much of the ditches hidden from sight across the marsh. We walked down to the Deeps and scanned as did the birders that had joined us. There was nothing, no waders on the deeps and very few if any across the marsh. We were told that those who had seen it had spent hours sitting and waiting, not something Ian and I are good at.
However we walked slowly, stopping to scan with bins and scope. From the middle of the marsh a large flock of Wigeon took off, upset by something. Like all duck they have been in eclipse plumage but many are now beginning to show signs of the stunning breeding plumage as they flew overhead.
The only birds on the mirror like water of the Deeps were these Teal.
Expectations were very low now and we turned our attention to the small birds in the bushes and bramble, a Willow Warbler.
On the other side of Point Field there were several male Blackcaps fly catching from the hawthorn bushes.
We could see quite a few people at the viewing point over looking the lake and with the still and sunny conditions they were probably there hoping for some views of the Bearded Tits. Truth be told the light was not that good with the reed bed being back lit by the sun. The Bearded Tits had also not read the script and were keeping a good distance away from some of the long lenses that were hoping for the killer shot. Fortunately I had mine a couple of weeks ago so was not so disappointed, this was the best I could do today.
The view across the lake was stunning the autumn sunshine ensuring the deep blue sky reflected well in the shallow waters.
Plenty of teal were lining the edge of the reeds, snoozing in what was now quite a warm sun, other ducks were out on the water, mostly in eclipse plumage still. A pair of Pintail came quite close, the female below the male
Here the male showing signs of the beautiful brown and white breeding plumage, but there is still probably a couple of weeks to go.
the pair together showing the distinctive long neck and pin tail.
This drake Teal appears to have completed the transformation from drab and dreary duck to spanking male breeding plumage.
There were a lot of waders on the lake, at the front were Black-tailed Godwits and Grey Plover, while away to the right was a large group of Dunlin, staying close to the shore in the shallower areas. At the back of the lake in front of the reeds were Greenshank, Snipe in amongst the reeds and another huge group of Redshank.
Un beknown to us a Kingfisher had arrived and was sitting on one of the old weathered posts just off the shore by the sluice. The light was awful, but managed to get an acceptable image by over exposing.
Moving a little to the north to get a better angle.
From the post it flew low across the water to the exposed mud at the base of the reeds, a different kind of light challenge this time requiring under exposing.
It is a female once again the light pinkish blush on the lower mandible giving away her sex.
It then flew across the lake to a post by the reeds on the south side, once again another lighting challenge.
I moved to the other side of the sluice to see if the light was better, but it didn't really make any difference.
From the post it flew to the older weathered posts and a pattern started to develop
From here it dived and caught a fish, then took it to the mud where it was dispatched, then after a break it would return to the post by the reeds and after a short wait back to these posts.
I came back to the north side of the sluice.
From the mud it would disappear into the little bay within the reeds. In one of the breaks this Water Rail appeared at the base of the reeds. We have had quite a purple patch of Water Rail sightings over the last few weeks.
A Sparrowhawk appeared and scattered all the small waders, the large flocks of Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits appeared not to be concerned, the Dunlin though spent quite a bit of time flying around before settling back down onto the lake. The bait ball flashing black and white as they twisted and turned together above the lake.
A Peregrine put in a brief appearance, dropping in to an area amongst the reeds with what appeared to be a kill. There were several Kestrels to be seen and through out our stay a Buzzard remained on one of the fence posts at the back of the reed bed.
Once the Pintail obtain their breeding plumage I doubt very much if they will come as close as they were to the sea wall. This male was quite happy to swim close to us.
But then the Kingfisher was back and it repeated the sequence we had watched earlier.
The vivid blue streak seen as the sunlight catches it on the back.
One of the many low flights across the water to the mud at the base of the reeds
This Kingfisher had a very definite fishing technique, rather than diving from the perch, it would launch upwards and twist at the apex to dive into the water. I managed to catch it at some point in the air before diving.
It didn't spend much time on this post.
Slowly through the morning the light would improve as the sun came around. This now from the north side of the sluice, the sunlight now coming through the reeds.
And when on the posts there was a background that adjust better for the exposure.
My favourite view of the day.
It then flew to the mud and for the first time went from there out and around the reeds and away over the Lake. The Pintail by now was closer than ever. Maybe this drake will be more confiding later in the year.
We decided to call it a day here and walked back to the car park. October is the month of Rig Ouzels in the New Forest and while there have not been any reports we decided to try our luck, somebody has to find them. It was just over a thirty minute drive to the parking place above Black Gutter Bottom and in glorious sunshine we walked down the hill past the gorse towards the stream.
On the ridge on the other side of the valley was the tree, probably the most photographed tree on the horizon. It has been a year so it felt appropriate to record its presence in 2022.
Not once but twice
We could hear Dartford Warbler calling and we were able to find two birds that showed well in the gorse.
These were to be the first of quite a few we saw over the area we walked although these were the only ones to show well, all other sightings were fleeting glimpses as they flitted between the gorse and bracken.
Normally at this time of year on reaching the bottom of the valley we would have to cross the stream. Today we were faced with a bone dry stone filled river bed, the first time I can recall ever seeing this at this time of year.
Up on the Leaden Hall plateau things were also different. Fortunately the Whitebeam and Hawthorn trees were still there but the gorse that surrounded them and played a part in providing cover for the thrushes was all burnt out, black charred stems stood out amongst the orange bracken. There were a few Blackbirds in this area, but there was not many berries on the Whitebeam. There was though plenty of berries on the surrounding hawthorn, so hopefully this will be sufficient for the Ring Ouzel when they pass through (if they do this year of course!).
What we did have in the bracken and around the dead gorse stems were Wren, their scolding calls giving away their presence.
Bursting into song to proclaim their territory for the winter.
We walked across the plateau to view Ashley Hole. The bracken has turned but despite the excesses of the summer the surrounding trees were still hanging on to the green leaves.
There were plenty of birds around, Meadow Pipits appeared to be everywhere, their calls ringing out as they rose up out of the heather and bracken. Stonechats too were in good numbers along with Linnet. A pair of Goldcrests were busy in a clump of Holly.
We made our way back along Black Gutter Bottom, crossing what would normally be a bog to reach it. Not having to worry about where we placed our feet we were able to take in the surround landscape and come up with yet another solitary tree on the horizon.
The view looking east along the bottom of the valley with grazing ponies.
When we arrived we were told by a walker that there had been a Hen Harrier about, there was no sign today and with it being a little early it could have just passed through. With all the Meadow Pipits we also hoped for a Merlin, but it wasn't to be and as we walked up the path back towards the cars we were left with this Linnet.
It also seemed a little early for the Fallow Deer rut. The only sighting of deer was this stag and a younger male racing away. We wondered why they saw the Labrador that was chasing them, and away in the distance the dog's owner frantically whistling to try and control the dog back.
Walking back to the cars a view to the east along the bottom towards the Bramshaw telegraph.
And finally
the tree on the horizon, well I had to didn't I
Disappointment at Farlington, but some compensation in the Kingfisher. The first visit to Leaden Hall also drew a blank but I have a feeling I will be back.
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