Away From Four Marks: 18th February - Lower Test Marshes and Redbridge Wharf, Hampshire

Leaving Acres Down, we were now heading for the site that had been the intended destination when I set off first thing this morning, the Lower Test Marshes reserve in Totton. I have to admit this is not one of my favourite places, you can put a lot of effort in for very little return, Ian and I can recall many visits here that follow that theme, on one the football score were the highlight of our visit.

never the less we were open minded as we sett off along the path that crosses the Test and opens out to the marshes and a boardwalk. It didn't take long though for the pessimism to kick in as we walked along the boardwalk. Wren could be heard and one or two could be seen disappearing under the boardwalk itself.

Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrest could be heard in the bushes, but aside from a few crows very little else. We scanned the electricity pylons, that tower over the marshes, in hope of possibly a Peregrine that may be perched amongst the grey metal, but there was no luck.

It was our intention to walk a loop, heading out towards the railway line and then taking in the Redbridge Wharf park and crossing the river to return on the western side. As we walked parallel to the railway line a Great Egret flew across the reed bed, a little later a female Marsh Harrier could be seen quartering the reeds.

But that was to be the birding highlight as we left the reserve and made our way to the flyover and junction to the M271 and A35. We crossed and then walked to Redbridge railways station, we crossed the railway and the path then leads onto a small park that runs alongside the Test estuary, the tide was high, a double high tide today. We were here for a second calendar year Iceland Gull that had been present for over a week, apparently showing very well amongst all the other gulls present. The last time I had seen an Iceland Gull in Hampshire was a similar aged bird back in early February 2018 along Lyemore Lane outside Lymington.

We were greeted as we reached the water front with a very high tide and what gulls present we on the other side of the channel!

With the walk we had taken we decided not to lump a scope and tripod, but at this moment in time I wished we had. Fortunately there were benches so we sat down and started scanning and photographing to dismiss what might have looked like contenders.

A Harbour or Common Seal appeared much to our surprise and then duly disappeared again, much as seals seems to do.

A point in our favour was the fact that the tide was falling and it wasn't long until low tide. This seemed to energise the gulls into moving and a lot of large gulls, mostly immature Herring Gulls could be seen bathing in the water.

Several gulls could be seen coming up Southampton Water towards us. This adult Great Black-backed gull looked very smart on the posts, it also seemed to attract attention from the immature Herring Gulls that appeared to want to take it on, they didn't succeed.

There were also a lot of small gulls, notably Black-headed but also a few Common Gulls too.

The Harbour Seal then appeared, this time almost below us and it seemed as interested in us as we were in it.

The Harbour or Common Seal can be distinguished from the Grey Seal by its smaller size and shorter head with a more concave forehead. Common Seals have V-shaped nostrils. They are very variable in colour, from blonde to black, but generally grey with dark spots.

The seals whiskers are very clear here and they play an important part in the seal's hunting ability. A seal has highly sensitive whiskers that enable them to hunt effectively even in poor visual conditions. Their specially shaped whiskers can detect the disturbances left by other creatures moving through the water, even while they are moving themselves.

If you’re a seal, finding food can be a challenge. Harbour seals, for example, live in coastal waters that can get heavily churned up by tides and storms. This makes the water very murky and it can be hard for the seal to see its prey.

These thick wiry hairs are packed with nerve endings at the base, making them very sensitive to any movement. While whiskers can be used to touch and examine something, a marine animal like a seal can also detect vibrations in the water.

When tracking underwater vibrations, the seal pulls its whiskers erect so that they are held away from it face. A swimming fish causes swirling disturbances in the water. A seal's whiskers can detect these hydrodynamic trails and track the fish's path, giving the seal the direction of the fish, distance from the fish and even an indication of the fish's size.

The seal slipped under the water and we never saw it again.

The weather was taking a turn for the worst, it wasn't heavy rain but annoying drizzle and you see the mist rolling in from up river. We had been here for about an hour and if it hadn't been for the benches and lunch I wonder if we may have given up. But now the tide was falling and the gulls were spread out over the water.

I scanned the shore on the other side of the water once again, but this time something stood out. I had mentioned to Ian that we were looking for something more akin in colour to the Mute Swan that was present, a little more creamy than white, the immature Herring Gulls we were looking at were more brown. But on the shore was a creamy looking gull.

It was the second calendar year Iceland Gull and it was searching the tide line for any sign of food. You can see how completely different it looks.

The previous bird at Keyhaven was feeding with Black-headed Gulls in a field and I never saw it fly so I was really pleased when this one took off. It flew from the shore across the water o an area that was being exposed by the falling tide.

The Iceland gull is a medium-sized gull that breeds in the Arctic regions of Canada and Greenland, but not in Iceland (as its name suggests), where it is only seen during winter.

It is migratory, wintering from in the North Atlantic as far south as the British Isles and northernmost states of the eastern United States, as well as in the interior of North America as far west as the western Great Lakes.

It was back up in the air once more, showing the beige to white wings and tail.

First winter / second calendar year Iceland Gulls are a very distinct coffee-brown colour all over with white or beige wing tips. The bill is comparatively short and dark with a pale pinkish base. In many birds, the brown tends to fade towards white in the course of the winter

Here was a very good opportunity to compare the similarly sized immature Herring Gull, seen together there is no issue in identification.

Off again.

The Iceland Gull has been a headache for taxonomists. It is divided into three subspecies, one of which (Thayer’s Gull) was considered a separate species until 2017.

The main difference between the Iceland, Kumlien’s, and Thayer’s subspecies lies in how dark the wingtips are in adults. Some western birds (Thayer’s) have fully dark wingtips; others in eastern Canada and Greenland (Iceland or "glaucoides" subspecies) can have fully white wingtips, and there’s lots of variation in between.

It was then flying once more, this time passing quite close to us.

Then turned and headed across to one of the exposed mud flats in the centre of the channel.

I was really pleased to have seen the gull, it is a very smart looking gull, we don't get that many white-winged gulls here in Hampshire, so this was a treat. After the Sabine's, then this Iceland, what is next?

With the Iceland Gull seemingly intent to stay on the mud we decided it was time to finish our walk, this meant crossing the railway bridge once more and navigating our way through the housing estate and the traffic around the flyover. Finally on the bridge we scanned the river sides for anything but could only find a pair of Little Grebe.

After crossing the river there was a good number of Wigeon grazing on the marsh.

We walked back through the reserve, following the boardwalk, looking all the time for possible Water Pipit, which we never saw. We came across the hide which was for some reason locked, so continued all the way back to the bridge over the river. We decided to walk out onto the main marsh boardwalk one more time. A single Little Egret flew across in front of us.

And a Grey Wagtail was flushed from the pool of water close to the hedgerow. We could see the mist and drizzle closing in so we decided not to walk any further and turned back. After crossing the bridge I decided to check once more the electricity pylons, first those on the south side. This was what I saw (just love the patterns created by the wires and pylons

Zooming in the view was a little clearer, unmistakably a Peregrine perched on the pylon.

We decided to see how close we could get and if we could get a clearer view. We headed back along the boardwalk and reached a position where it was possible to get a clear view.