3rd December - Pig Bush, New Forest and Farlington Marshes, Hampshire

Once again, both Ian and I had been watching the reports through the week, Ian had also spent last Saturday, in vain, searching for the Great Grey Shrike that has been present around the Pig Bush area for well over a week.  There have been some very nice photographs circulating, so our plans were agreed early in the week.  There was some concerning news towards the end of the week, no reports of the shrike, but the weather wasn't conducive for moving on surely. 

I got my timings all wrong and arrived in the dark at the Pig Bush car park in the New Forest.  I settled down to wait for Ian and was startled by an inquisitive pony looking into the car.  Ian arrived and we set off through the trees and out on to the heath.  Fortunately we had met up with Graeme who had the information on where the shrike has been and the tree that it was using as a larder.  We scanned the tree tops as you do with Great Grey Shrikes, looking for the pale shape on the top of the trees.  There was nothing.  There had also been reports of a Hen Harrier so we were on the look out for that as well.

Even after the set sun rise time it was gloomy and quite dark.  On reaching the area there was no shrike and very little bird life at all.  As we stood scanning Fieldfare and Redwing flew over.  We decided to check the larder tree, there was nothing impaled on what were very sharp thorns of the Hawthorn bush.  For the record this was what we were looking at, the larder tree just to the right of centre.

Could it have moved somewhere else close by?  We decided to cross the railway line (by bridge) in to the Shatterford area.  It was quiet here too, but we warmed up when a Sparrowhawk flew low along the stream and then was mobbed by a Carrion Crow.  We walked to the other bridge, crossed back towards Pig Bush, but then went under the railway and retraced our steps back to the Pig Bush car park.  Not one photograph was taken with the camera.

We decided that we needed to see some birds so decided on moving to Farlington Marshes where there was the potential for a couple of year ticks and maybe a Short-eared Owl.  On arrival we had lunch.  The tide was low, probably at its lowest point and we could just make out Avocet on the mud.

We set off out across the marsh to circle the reserve in a clock wise direction.  Walking through the bushes we could see a Marsh Harrier above the reeds and a Kestrel on the top of the hawthorn bushes.

There was very little on the stream, but just past the information hut was a group of Brent, in the fields on both sides of the path.  There were good numbers of juvenile birds, identified by the lack of white on the neck.

Looking across the marsh there were hundreds of geese, Canada and Brent grazing, hopefully one of the year ticks were hoping for was amongst them.

Along the eastern sea wall was my first Rock Pipit of the winter, flushed from the sea wall it moved to the exposed wrack on the mud.  The weather hadn't brightened up at all, in fact it was getting even gloomier.

A birder told me that the White-fronted Geese we were looking for were in front of the old pill box, we made our way there and sure enough the family party of five were present quite close in.

These are Russian White-fronted Geese as opposed to the Greenland sub species.  The Russian White-fronted Geese, of the race albifrons and Greenland White-fronted Geese, of the race flavirostris, differ in a number of ways. The Greenland White-fronted Goose, in all plumages, looks darker and more "oily-looking" than the Russian White-fronted Goose, both at rest and in flight.

The Adults have a large white patch at the front of the head around the beak and bold black bars on the belly. The legs are orange and Russian birds have pink bills, while Greenland birds have orange bills.

Only found here in the winter. Birds that nest in Greenland spend the winter in Ireland and the west coast of Scotland, while those from northern Europe and Siberia come to southern England for the winter.

A message then came in that the other bird we hoped for, the Grey Phalarope was also present so we made our way to the Deeps.  The Brent Geese were moving between the harbour mud and the marsh, crossing over us in large groups.

With monochromatic conditions black and white can be very effective.

On reaching the Deeps we found the Phalarope, it was right at the back of the pools and was not going to allow us to get any spectacular shots, we were left with digiscoping with the phone, and hoping the camera could produce something.

Digi-scoped

Using the camera:

The Grey Phalarope was very busy moving back and forth across the water and going out of view behind the islands.  As we watched it I heard a Dartford Warbler call.  It appeared very quickly at the top of the bracken, but then dropped into cover with this the best view I could get.

We were then told that there was a Black Brant, the North American sub species of the Brent Goose in the field next to the information hut, we must have walked past it!  We decided to make our way back, despite being a sub species both Ian and I had never seen one.

Walking back the Russian White-fronted Geese were still showing well amongst the Brent and Canada Geese.

As we reached the field a large flock of Brent took off and my heart dropped, fortunately they circled and came down in the field close to the path, we were able to scan the flock as they fed.  

There are three sub species of Brent Goose all of which breed on the high Arctic tundra and winter along the temperate zone sea coasts.

The commonest here in the United Kingdom is the dark-bellied form Brent bernicla. bernicla which is fairly uniformly dark grey-brown all over, the flanks and belly not significantly paler than the back. The head and neck are black, with a small white patch on either side of the neck. With a population of about 250000, it breeds on the Arctic coasts of central and western Siberia and winters in western Europe, with over half the population in southern England, the rest between northern Germany and north-western France.

Looking through the flock I came across a much lighter individual, significantly lighter that the surrounding Dark-bellied Brent..

this is the light-bellied Brent B. b. hrota and it appears blackish-brown and light grey in colour. The body is different shades of grey-brown all over, the flanks and belly are significantly paler than the back and present a marked contrast. The head and neck are black, with a distinct demarcation from the pale belly.  The area behind the legs is white compared with the dark plumage in the Dark-bellied. 

The main population breeds in northeastern Canada and wintering along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. from Maine to Georgia, there are two smaller populations, one breeding in  Svalbard, and northeastern Greenland and wintering in Denmark, northeast England, and Scotland, and the other breeding in the far-northeastern Canadian islands and wintering in Ireland and southwest England.

There is a good possibility of seeing this sub species in the south, but this is the first time I have managed to positively identify one.

There was no obvious Black Brant in the main flock so I walked to the other field where there was a handful of Brent feeding.  The Black Brant stood out in a way I did not expect.

With the huge numbers of Brent Geese that gather on the marshes in Hampshire I have never had the patience to go through them in search of these three sub species, but here today they were being delivered to me.

The Black Brant B. b. nigricans appears blackish-brown and white in colour. This form is a very contrastingly black and white bird, with a uniformly dark sooty-brown back, similarly coloured underparts (with the dark colour extending furthest back of the three forms) and a prominent white flank patch; it also has larger white neck patches, forming a near-complete collar. 

The population breeds in northwestern Canada, Alaska and eastern Siberia, and winters mostly on the west coast of North America from southern Alaska to California,

It fed on its own and if any Dark-bellied came close the Black Brant would be very aggressive towards it.

Here a good view of the broad white collar which goes all the way round unlike the Dark and Light-bellied Goose.

Here I have put all three in one image to clearly show the differences between the sub species.  Clockwise from the top left, Black Brant, Light-bellied Brent and Dark-bellied Brent.

Leaving the Black Brant we headed back around the eastern sea wall, stopping for another look at the Russian White-fronts.

At the back of the field a large peregrine sat on the ground.

The Grey Phalarope was also a little closer.

The geese kept coming, first the Barnacle that has shacked up with a farmyard goose.

While the Brent continued to move between the marsh and the harbour.

This a different take on the Brent, slowed down and in black and white.

A smart drake Pintail was on the side of the many pools around the Deeps.

We headed around to Point Field, where we hoped the Short-eared Owls would show.  Two have been reported and they were seen on Friday.  Out in the main channel were three pairs of Red-breasted Mergansers and a few Great Crested Grebes.  But these were the only birds of note we saw.  The view across Point Field doesn't show how dark it was getting at around 15:00.

It was far to dark for  any serious photography and we decided to call it a day.  Walking back past the Lake Ian picked up a Kingfisher on the shore, perched on the seaweed covered posts.  It was gloomy but we did manage to get some decent photographs.

There were several posts and rocks and it would move between them.  One time it flew away and then returned.

Despite the gloom the colours of the Kingfisher were very bright and vivid.

From the rocks to the mud.

Probably my favourite shot, the bright colours of the kingfisher contrasting with the mud and rocks.

The tide was beginning to rise and this pair of Pintail appeared in the channel.

But back to the Kingfisher where we were able to get a little closer.

It was a female and more than likely the bird we watched a few weeks ago, it had a very similar fishing technique, flying up, hovering and then diving into the water.  She did this three times, the third time coming up with a Bullhead.

Love the Bladder Wrack on which it is sitting.

The Pintail in the open water.

But back to the Kingfisher for the final picture.

We headed back to the car in the gloom that we had started the day in.  We went on a wild goose chase this morning and failed with the Great Grey Shrike.  In the afternoon we had a real goose chase seeing four species and two sub species, both of which were new to me.  Two year ticks as well, something I didn't think was going to happen as we walked through the New Forest!