After not having visited the Lepe and Inchmery area for over nine years it was a case of two visits in five days. I had returned with Ian with information on where to expect to see the White-tailed Eagles. Once again it was an horrendous night with heavy rain and brisk winds and the last few miles to Lepe was through partially flooded lanes. Ian was already here as I pulled into the car park, the tide too was high and so much different from that I had arrived to on Tuesday, the sea was whipped up and already crashing on the sea wall.
We then drove along the lane towards Inchmery and initially stopped at the wrong place, but would have missed this view if we hadn't stopped, it is actually at the end of the beach footpath I had walked Tuesday.
With the rising tide the Brent were already moving about.
We moved on and eventually found the right parking spot, then walked to where there was a gap in the hedge with views out across the saltmarsh and out towards Needs Ore. We were looking for a particular tree and hoping for the eagles to be present.
This is the view and the arrow marks where we hope to see the eagles.
We were prepared to wait it out and this included enduring several sharp showers that passed through, sometimes leaving some spectacular rainbows.
A buck Roe Deer appeared and was spooked as we moved to get a photograph.
It then stopped when it felt it was sufficiently far away from us.
During the ongoing vigil we saw, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and a Peregrine, while out on the water there were Wigeon and Pintail as well as the Brent Geese. We walked along the lane to check other distant trees and walked down to the bottom of the field to see if that improved the view, interestingly here the tide was coming up into the field.
Back on dry land Ian picked up a flock of twelve Spoonbill, that came down the Beaulieu river and circles around the spit of Needs Ore before finally dropping down on to what was probably the lake at Needs Ore.
The view from our watch point some spectacular clouds.
After three hours we decided to call it and return to Lepe. It was a very high tide and as we drove back the sea was coming over the road at the site where we had wrongly stopped earlier.
We parked in the overflow car park where the barrier was up, had lunch and then walked to Lepe point through the country park. On the way we got the information that there had been a Red-throated Diver close in off the point so we sped up on our way across the beach.
The sea was quite choppy with the tide still high and we scanned all around us without any luck. A male Eider flew past quite close in.
Away to the west the sky looked very threatening, even worse on the radar app, we continued scanning for the elusive diver without any luck. What looked to be a very small Cormorant flew in settled on the sea and dived. The leap out of the water immediately made us think Shag and we waited for it to surface to get a better view. Eventually it did surface and confirmed it as an immature Shag.
It wasn't the Diver, but it was something of interest, my first in the county this year. Very slimmer in appearance from the Cormorant and lacking the amount of white around the throat and bill.
We then decided to walk back hoping that the Diver could be back where we had come from. Ian then stopped and exclaimed it was alongside us and close in and of course it dived and we waited to see where it would surface, and that became the problem. The sea was rolling and when it did appear it was so low in the water it was rarely seen above the waves. All I could manage was this view of a snake like head and neck, but the upturned bill was clear.
There were then a few more fleeting glimpses but it seemed to be behind the waves when the camera went off! It stayed underwater for sometime and our frustration was then compounded as the rain started. Very quickly the rain became biblical, blowing in with a very fresh southerly wind. For the second weekend I was soaked and started to try and find some shelter, heading to the scrub.
Ian stuck it out and as I was making my way, he stopped, seeing this I turned back and the rain eased and we continued to scan, but this time without any luck at all.
What to do? Well we decided that it had drifted with the tide that was heading out now and away to the west, we made our way to the car park scanning the sea as we went. From the car park Ian picked it up, now closer to where I had seen it on Tuesday. We waited and it finally showed, all though nothing like the views on Tuesday, the sea was much more of a problem.
It was preening, rolling on the waves.
A classic Red-throated Diver view.
This was the last view before we lost it once more.
we stayed for a while moving up and down the car park but without any sign of it. Eventually with more bad weather on the way we decided to call it a day, as we reached the sluice I saw what I though initially was a Common Gull, in my defence it was gloomy but it turns out it was a Herring Gull, my mistake!
So another day of rain and no eagles once again. I will be back, I am sure, eventually, we will get to see them. Nice to get the Shag though, not and easy species in the county and a close in Eider. For Ian the Diver was a bonus.
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