12th August - Keyhaven - Lymington Reserve, Hampshire

The Boomtown festival just outside Winchester had restricted my movement through the week, but now that they were all settled into their festival site it was easier to travel west, so at 6.00am with the sun just having risen I was on my way to Lower Pennington Lane where I would meet Ian.  On arrival it was still quite mild with sun and cloud, but there was a freshening breeze from the west that was taking the edge off the temperatures.

From the car park we set off across the Old Tip towards Fishtail.  There were good numbers of Ringed Plover and a single Wheatear on the mud at the back of the lagoon, while on the main water there were four Avocets and a few Black-tailed Godwits.  We set off towards Keyhaven and stopped at the west end of Fishtail where there was a Greenshank amongst six Black-tailed Godwits, the Greenshank sticking to its little area of mud.

As I was photographing the Greenshank, Ian was scanning the hedgerow at the edge of the lagoon and this turned u an immature Redstart.

Although Redstarts breed in the New Forest and we had some great views earlier in they year it is always nice to find them away from their expected habitats on migration.

We were taking the westerly direction first thing for a reason, three Curlew Sandpiper had been reported from Keyhaven Lagoon the day before and we wanted to get to them as soon as possible.  They made us walk the length of the lagoon as they were feeding together in the western corner of the lagoon.

All three were showing remnants of their breeding plumage so it was safe to say these were adults.

When seen like this it is difficult to understand how they can be confused with Dunlin.

Scanning across the lagoon there were more Avocet and a notable Wigeon feeding amongst the Gadwall

Something spooked the Curlew Sandpiper and they flew off together to the back of the lagoon where they were too far away for any more photographs.  We turned and decided to take the easterly route towards Normandy Marsh.  The light on the Solent was as impressive as ever.

Passing Butts Lagoon there was a lone Barnacle Goose at the back.

On the Jetty Lagoon there was a good number of Black-headed Gulls and a single Common Tern, but of more interest was a single Knot.

Again, the presence of breeding plumage ages this as an adult.  They are a very smart bird in full breeding plumage and you understand why they are called a Red Knot.

When the sun came out it really emphasised the bird against the dark water.

There was a family group of Avocet on Pennington Lagoon, three juveniles and two adults, here only one adult, the other away from the group.  Another for the black and white collection

There were two Wheatear flying around, this the only one showing well enough to capture.

Finding the Redstart gave us the optimism to search the bushes across Oxey Marsh rather than walking around the sea wall.  In the corner by the bend there was a family of Stonechats and a good number of Whitethroats moving around.

Unfortunately we were not able to emulate the Redstart find here on Oxey so we walked on towards Normandy.  On reaching the lagoon we dropped down from the sea wall to get out of the wind.  There were Dunlin feeding quite close to us at the edge of the water, and like the other waders this morning they were in their breeding plumage with a nice black belly.

I was just picking out random Common Terns to photograph as they flew over.  This immature bird though was caught in a nice pose with spread wings and I thought it was a good candidate for a black and white image.

There was a good number of Common Terns, both adult and juveniles, on the islands and every so often they would fly up and wheel around.  When this happened it was possible to pick out a couple of Little Terns, their flight so distinctive alongside the Common Terns.

There were several Common Terns sitting on the gravel with fish in their bills, every so often they would fly around with the fish but return to the gravel.  I can only assume that they couldn't find their young, or they were not calling to be fed.

A sharp shower had us shelter on the south bank, this also was a chance to concentrate on the fishing Common Terns over the lagoon.

The juvenile Common Terns can look quite smart in the brown scapular plumage.

As the shower cleared and the sunshine returned we headed back into what was now a very strong westerly wind.  Passing eight acre pond we flushed a Common Sandpiper from the sea wall.  It settled back but was then flushed by a dog.  There was little of interest on Salterns and it wasn't until we reached the Oxey Lagoon that we found something of interest.  A Greens shank showing some of its summer plumage, not something I recall seeing before.

The summer plumage has the scapulars with dark centred feathers that contrast with darker wings, the head neck and breast are coarsely streaked, while in winter the head and breast are much paler.

A male Stonechat showed well along the sea wall.

A little further along a Wheatear came on to the sea wall after crossing the open water.  It settled amongst the grasses on the edge of the sea wall path.

The dark smudges around and behind the eye and the light patch above the eye indicate that this is a male bird in the autumn plumage.

Always a smart bird to see and photograph.

On Oxey Lagoon a Little Egret was sitting on the bank.  What struck me was the way the yellow feet stood out amongst the dark colour of the bank.

The Avocet family was still on Pennington Lagoon and a couple of Black-tailed Godwits.  Another godwit flew in and this was not to the liking of one of those already present and it launched a full blooded attack!

Stabbing with it's bill.

Now pushing the other bird under water.

But finally it was able to struggle free.

And eventually get away.

We walked the east path of the Old Tip and checked the Shoveler Pools, on what looks like perfect wader habitat we managed to find four Little Ringed Plover.  All mere distant at the back of the pool.

Walking back across the Old Tip towards the car park a Swift flew over, sad to think we are now going to record these as unusual as they head back south for the winter.

Over lunch there was a report of three Spoonbill on Keyhaven Lagoon, so we decided to walk the circular route around Keyhaven and then back along the Ancient Highway.  As we walked down to Fishtail we noticed the number of Sand Martin hawking for insects over the water.  You could soon work out their pattern they would come in and fly low over the water and then circle back and do it again, flying into the wind to enhance the chance of picking up insects.  So the challenge was on!

From well over 200 images I managed to get four that were acceptable!  Thank goodness for digital photography imagine using film!

This immature bird was taken on Fishtail, the pale fringes of the feather age it as an immature.

These three were taken on Keyhaven Lagoon.

Finally my favourite.

There were no Spoonbill to be seen, however what was notable was the large group of Great Black-backed Gulls at the back of the lagoon, I counted 63 adults, with others coming in, There were also quite a few immature, but these were not that easy to clearly count.

We walked the Ancient Highway with Holly Blue and Red Admiral the highlight.  At Efford Lake there were more Sand Martin and Swift.

The Spoonbill had now been reported on Butts Lagoon so after dropping off at the car we crossed the tip once more and this time were lucky, two immature Spoonbill were feeding in the middle of the lagoon.

As we sat watching the Spoonbill two wheatears fle across the lagoon and settled out of sight on the sea wall.

Working together they systematically made their was across the lagoon and then back.

Before making their way out of sight behind the reeds.

As we walked back to the car park another Wheatear was on the short grass of the Old Tip before flying off into the bramble at the back of Fishtail.

Not a bad day with some interesting waders, the hope is that things are now warming up, both meteorologically and bird wise.