22nd April - Keyhaven - Lymington Reserve, Hampshire

The week had seen quite a bit of warm and sunny weather, more like you would expect at this time of year.  However there was a stark reminder that winter was not done with us this year as I scraped frost off the windscreen of my car first thing in the morning.

I was meeting Ian at Keyhaven, there had been a pair of Black-winged Stilts present on Friday and we anticipated there could be a few people trying to park in the sea wall car park, so we were walking from Keyhaven.

It was very still first thing we had arrived just before sun rise which was around 6:00 am, an early start.  There was very little wind and a mist over the sea and marsh, overnight the skies had been clear, not a good sign.  Walking past the Avon Floods it was misty but there were signs of the sun burning through.

We walked around the sea wall.  The tide was out a long way, with plenty of marsh showing, as we walked we flushed several Whimbrel from just below the path.  On the pools on the other side a couple of Black-tailed Godwits were feeding.

A little further along three Roe Deer were feeding in amongst the gorse.

On reaching Keyhaven Lagoon there were at least ten Whimbrel on the mud on the sea side of the path.

We were hoping to find the stilts on Fishtail Lagoon, but as probably expected there was no sign of them anywhere.  There were good numbers of Avocet, around mostly in pairs.  There was also a Little Ringed Plover flying around in display.  It continued flying these loops over and over again.  A second bird was on what is now a very small island in the middle of ther lagoon.

Daintier than the Ringed plover, the Little ringed plover has a black bill, pale, creamy-brown legs, and a bright yellow ring around the eye. It is sandy-brown above and white below, with a black chest-band and black bridle markings on the head.

Little ringed plovers first nested in the UK in 1938 and have successfully spread through England and Wales. This colonisation has been attributed to an increase in their preferred gravelly habitats - man-made flooded gravel pits, reservoirs and quarries have provided them with just the right breeding grounds.

Little Ringed Plovers are perhaps most striking in flight, appearing small and narrow winged with, unlike Ringed Plover, no or at most a very faint hint of a wing-bar. They are vocally very distinct, and indeed are often picked up on call – a high-pitched and far-carrying pee-ooo.

There was still low cloud over the Solent, but in places the sun was able to break through.

In Butts Bay a Greenshank was feeding on the mud close to the sea wall.

The presence of Whimbrel, meant we were probably going to find Bar-tailed Godwits as the two seem to move on spring passage at this time of year.  So it wasn't a surprise to find one on the mud, what was a surprise the vivid summer plumage.

We came across several more "Barwits" out on the mud but they would move away from us as we got close and the photographs were mostly of their backs.

It was a very cold start and it must have been this that had subdued the bird song, We had heard Reed Warbler but little else.  But as we came to Oxey Marsh there was a Whitethroat sing, initially in and around the bramble.

It was more than happy to sit on the branch and sing away, it seemed to be oblivious to our presence.

Not sure if the image of puffed up is due to the effort of song or just the cold.

A classic pose of the "nettle creeper".

Just as we were about to walk on it flew from the bramble to branch that was above all the bushes.  From here it delivered the song and again was not concerned about us allowing some great views with a lovely bocum created by the bushes in the background.

I was also very pleased with the performance of the camera, I am now getting to understand how best to use it.

We left the Whitethroat and walked on, coming around the corner there was a female Eider quite close in, diving for crabs in the shallow water created by the low tide.

Apparently there has been a pair around, but he male was no where to be seen.  Later from Normandy we could see both the male and female in the same place, oh well.

In the last lagoon on Oxey marsh before the dock there were three Bar-tailed Godwits, at last we were able to get some decent views of this wader in its stunning summer plumage.

The adult Bar-tailed Godwit has blue-grey legs and a long, tapering, slightly upturned bi-coloured bill: pink at the base and black towards the tip. In the summer breeding plumage the neck, breast and belly are unbroken brick red and dark brown above.  Females breeding plumage is much duller than males, with a chestnut to cinnamon belly.

The Bar-tailed Godwit is a large and strongly migratory wader.  All bar-tailed godwits spend the Northern Hemisphere summer in the Arctic, where they breed, and make a long-distance migration south in winter to more temperate areas. 

Bar-tailed godwits nesting in Alaska travel all the way to Australia and New Zealand. They undertake the longest non-stop migrations of any bird, and to fuel they carry the greatest fat loads of any migratory bird so far studied, reducing the size of their digestive organs to do so.

In the same lagoon there was a pair of Avocet and there was some lovely reflections in the still waters.

On the mud on the other side of the path, there was a Whimbrel standing amongst the sea weed washed up on to the tide line.

The whimbrel is a migratory bird wintering on coasts in Africa, and South Asia into Australasia. It is also a coastal bird during migration. It is fairly gregarious outside the breeding season. It is found in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and it breeds in Scotland, particularly around Shetland, Orkney, the Outer Hebrides as well as the mainland at Sutherland and Caithness.

The whimbrel is very similar to the curlew, but a little smaller. It is a streaky, greyish-brown wader, with long, blue-grey legs and a long, downcurved, grey bill. It can be distinguished from the larger curlew by its shorter bill and strong head pattern: a dark crown, a pale stripe down the middle, and a dark eye-stripe. When they fly, Whimbrel show a white wedge on the back and tail.

Turning towards the Moses Dock there were two Black-tailed Godwits feeding.  Like the Bar-tailed Godwits they were in summer breeding plumage.

The Bar-tailed is a shorter-necked, shorter-legged and stockier-looking bird than Black-tailed, with an upward curvature to the bill that is visible in closer views. Black-tailed is much more elegant, being longer-billed and longer-legged.  The summer plumage is more orange red than the brick red of the Bar-tailed Godwit

At the dock a Cetti's Warbler was singing out in the open.

April is the best time to see this rather elusive warbler, it is establishing and defending its territory with bursts of explosive song and is a little less concerned about breaking cover.

Salterns had a few more Black-tailed Godwits and the Eight Acre Lake fighting Canada Geese.  As we made our way towards the Normandy Marsh the sun was starting to win the battle with the cloud and mist.

There was another singing Whitethroat in the ditch and as we paused to watch we could hear a Lesser Whitethroat singing from the other side of the field.  We walked around to try and locate it it, which we did, but it remained quite elusive in amongst the hawthorn, this was the only image i could get.

At Normandy the water was still and providing some lovely reflections of the waders that were feeding close to the sea wall on the south side.

Avocet as always were looking spectacular and in some instances it was difficult to see what was the bird and what the reflection.

I usually steer clear of Oystercatchers, noisy brash birds, but in the waters of Normandy Lagoon they were transformed, the bright red eye ring and bill standing out.

There were at least three pairs of Common Tern sitting out on the islands in the lagoon and every so often they would fly around calling.  We were searching for a Spotted Redshank, but as i scanned around I was taken by the strange positions adopted by a pair of Great Crested Grebes.  I guessed this could lead to displaying and we watched

They moved from the edge of the island to the deeper water.  Many Great Crested Grebes will already have paired up on wintering grounds. It’s only upon arrival at their chosen breeding lake or reservoir that the couple will truly begin testing the waters of their fledgling relationship. In addition to cementing their alliance, the other reason for their elaborate display is to carve out sufficient aquatic territory to feed their family.

Often the first – and also most common – display component to be observed is when the pair come together, often after having spent a while feeding apart. Facing each other with erect necks, the two birds will begin either alternately or synchronously shaking their heads and extravagant head plumes from side to side. 

This vigorous head-tossing frequently morphs into bob-preening, which entails the birds turning their heads around to flick their back feathers with their bills – almost the grebe equivalent of a curtsy. 

I then got distracted until Ian called out that they had dived, we hoped this would move on to the pièce de résistance: the weed ceremony. Often commencing with a spot of head-shaking and bob-preening, the birds will part, only to then dive below water in search of a green prop.

The two surfaced and indeed were carrying weed, they then rushed to a central meeting point with their heads held low before grandly rising, breast to breast, using their webbed feet to tread water as they elegantly swished the vegetation from side to side.

Unable to sustain this energy-sapping behaviour for too long, after a time the duo settled back down onto the water, winding up their dazzling display with a final bout of head-shaking.

The display over the two birds then proceeded to go about their own business around the lagoon.

For me it was back to the avocet and their impressive reflections.

There had been no sign of the Spotted Redshank in the main pool, so we decided to walk around to the east side and to see if it was hiding in the pools there close to the path, which it was.

The Spotted Redshank is slightly larger than a redshank. In summer plumage the adults are almost entirely black, save for some white 'spotting' on the wings, a white `wedge' on the back showing clearly in flight and a barred tail.  This bird is about half way to gaining the black summer plumage and looks more like its name describes it.

The Spotted Redshank is an elegant looking bird which is an active feeder, often swimming and sweeping it's bill through the water to catch invertebrates

I dropped down from the sea wall to get at eye level now that it was away from the wire fence.

Then it was spooked by a cyclist and dog and flew off to another pool over near the north side of the lagoon.

We stood around in the hope it would return with Dunlin coming in from the open water as the tide rose, but it stayed where it was feeding amongst a few Bar-tailed Godwits.  Eventually we moved on, heading back around the sea wall.  We stopped at the same place we had done earlier and there were two Little Terns sitting on an island directly in front of us.

Of course there were the Avocets.

Which way up is this one?

There was also a few Black-tailed Godwits

And a pair of Greenshank that didn't like each other.

Walking back there was another very smart Black-tailed Godwit feeding by the shore.

There was also a single Whimbrel on Oxey Marsh.

We had seen two immature Spoonbill earlier fly over Oxey Marsh and walking back we found them at the back of one of the pools, happily asleep.

But every so often they would stir and show off the bill.

We then set off on the long walk back, hoping that maybe the Black-winged Stilts had appeared, which of course they hadn't.  We eventually reached the car park and realised we had been walking for over six hours, so it was time for a lunch and a drink!  There had been some amazing sightings this morning and some great photographic opportunities, but as always there was the one disappointment the missing stilts.  So it was time to decide where to go in the afternoon.