Sandwiched between two storms, Friday provided an oasis of calm. The forecast was good, calm winds, blue skies and plenty of the lovely autumn sunshine. I didn't make my mind up until getting up, but settled on a trip to the sea wall car park at Pennington. Coming along the last few metres of the lane the sun was up and the marsh was very wet.
From the car park you get a good idea of how flooded the marsh is.
The conditions were just as I expected and I headed to Fishtail Lagoon where I was looking for some lovely reflections in the water. I stopped to view the flooded area at the back of the lagoon. There were plenty of Pintail showing very well.
Enjoying the morning sunshine, a pair of Pintail.
And the reflections I was hoping for.
Up on the sea wall the tide was rising, plenty of Wigeon in the bay.
Greenshank on Fishtail Lagoon.
A pair of Pintail resting on one of the available strips of land. The clump of reeds providing some background and the scene reminds me of the decoration you get in a case with stuffed birds.
And the Wigeon are now looking very smart.
A Marsh Harrier drifted over the lagoon and all the gulls and wildfowl went up allowing an opportunity to pick up a Pintail fly over.
Reaching the end of Fishtail, Keyhaven Lagoon was flooded.
In the bushes on the corner, Reed Bunting were sitting in the morning sunshine.
Walking back along Fishtail, the number of Oystercatchers was building up, using the strips of land to roost.
The Wigeon in Butts Bay, highlighted by the low morning sunshine.
A view of Fishtail Lagoon.
The tide was rising quickly and as I walked towards the corner of Butts Bay, I picked up a Red-throated Diver heading west and eventually lost to sight as it passed Hurst Castle.
The waders were gathering on the mud as land became a premium with the rising tide, here Grey Plover and Dunlin.
More reflections, this time a Grey Heron on Pennington Lagoon.
I pushed Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits along the sea wall while in the gorse and bramble I would get fleeting glimpses of Dartford Warblers as they moved through the branches.
Turning into Oxey Bay a male Red-breasted Merganser was swimming across the bay.
Lovely colours in the trees on Eight Acre Pond, highlighted by the beautiful sunshine.
On reaching Normandy Lagoon I stopped to scan for the reported Long-tailed Duck. It was picked up on the far side of the lagoon diving amongst Red-breasted Mergansers. I decided to make my way around the lagoon to try and get a closer view. Walking along the south sea wall a Spotted Redshank was feeding close in.
The feeding behaviour is almost frantic, thrusting the head under water and flipping the tail up, spinning around and constantly on the move.
On the east side of the lagoon the Long-tailed Duck was re-found but remained quite a way off shore, it was also constantly diving, almost replicating the behaviour of the Spotted Redshank.
When I first picked it up the Long-tailed Duck was with Red-breasted Mergansers, both male and females. So when I saw two red heads below me I just assumed that they were mergansers, it wasn't until I looked back at the images that I realised they were in fact red head Goosanders!
I scrambled down the sea wall and was able to photograph almost at eye level.
Fishing together in the pair they would dive and surface quite close, an opportunity to get a nice close up.
As they fished they would check under the water before diving, behaviour known as "snorkelling".
Goosander, along with the Red-breasted Merganser and the rarer Smew, are known as "sawbills", they eat mainly fished and have a serrated edge to the bill to help catch and grip their prey. You can see the serrations on this close up.
Dragging myself away a very smart drake Teal was in some dark water.
The Long-tailed Duck was then re-found and this time was closer to the shore on the south side of the lagoon. So it was another trek around the sea wall, but this time I was able to get some good views of the duck.
The Hayling Island Long-tailed Duck was clearly a female, a lot darker than this bird that shows a lot of white and more of a rufous brown colour on the upper parts, very similar to the colours seen in the adult male.
It was diving and came a little closer.
It then started preening and I waited for the eventual wing flap which was duly delivered.
A male Red-breasted Merganser was fishing close to shore.
The same technique adopted by the Goosander, snorkelling first and then slipping under water, no real effort undertaken to leap and dive.
Every so often the waders roosting on the islands in the lagoon would fly up and wheel around the lagoon.
There have been reports of a Slavonian Grebe off shore, but searching earlier hadn't found it. I noticed a group of birders watching something on the sea so scrambled up the bank and did my own scan which produced the Slavonian Grebe alongside three Great Crested Grebes.
There was a report later of five Slavonian Grebes being seen. I doubt this very much. Here the two birds alongside each other and the Slav is significantly smaller, but in this light it is easy to see a similarity, a dark cap and white neck.
The Slav on its own.
Then the two again together.
I decided to make my way back to Pennington, stopping at Eight Acre Pond for the Little Grebe, this one of ten seen on the pond.
Walking around Oxey Marsh I picked up the Slavonian Grebe once again, this time a little further away, but in the light it is possible to see the red eye.
And it obliged with a wing flap.
Stopped at a bench on the corner of Oxey Marsh to have lunch and to enjoy the sunshine. On the lagoon below the sea wall was a Redshank standing in the shallow water.
A lovely clump of reed helping the scene.
The walk back was into the low sunshine, but pleasant without the wind. A female Stonechat.
I disturbed a Kingfisher as I reached Butts Lagoon and it flew across the lagoon to settle on a post. I walked around and managed to get an acceptable view. With the red glow on the lower mandible this was yet another female.
Walking across the Old Tip to the car park all the Golden Plover on Pennington Marsh took off as they always seem to do. My estimate was of numbers between 300 to 400 birds, here a selection of that huge flock.
The sun was dropping low in the sky and was now becoming watery as the storm promised for Saturday was starting to change the days weather. With the moisture in the air there was a glow around the sun and a small rainbow produced by the light being refracted by ice particles in the cirrostratus cloud that build as a front moves in.
Once again the hunch paid off, the conditions producing some lovely photographic opportunities, something that is special to this place. Some nice birds too with great views of Goosander and another Long-tailed Duck, plus the Slavonian Grebe. But for me it was the reflections
No comments:
Post a Comment