9th August - Hill Head and Keyhaven Marsh, Hampshire

The plan today was to go back to Hill Head early morning to search the tern roost that would be gathering on the beach at low tide.  The weather was much better after the dreary conditions of the previous day, with sunshine and a fresh breeze.  When I arrived there were good numbers on the exposed sand and quite a few fishing off shore.  A scan through the birds on the beach found an adult Roseate Tern, the one I had missed yesterday.  This bird had an almost all black bill and was much brighter than the accompanying Common Terns

Hill Head at this time of year has become a good location to catch up with this lovely tern, but this year with the pair nesting and raising two young at Normandy Marsh, the excitement of finding one here was a little waned.

This bird had a ring on the right leg, and was confirmed as being seen earlier in the week.

We are lucky here in Hampshire to have quite a sizeable tern roost that attracts the less commoner species.

I couldn't find any Arctic Terns this morning and gradually the numbers on the beach dispersed until all were gone.

All that were left was a single sanderling and many gulls, Herring, Lesser and Great Black-backed, Black-headed and this Mediterranean Gull.

Turnstones were working the small pools and sea weed exposed by the low tide.

A report came in of a Rosy Starling at Keyhaven.  This was a bird I always wanted to see but I wasn't sure if the traffic was going to be a problem if I wanted to go.  So rather than dash off I decided to walk around the harbour.  It had been my intention to go to Hook after Hill Head.

There were two Common Sandpiper moving up and down the exposed mud in Duck Bay.

I walked around to the viewing point and quickly picked up a Water Rail, by the edge of the reeds.

A Grey Heron was also working the edge of the water and the rail became aware of it approaching.

For some reason it decided to walk towards the Heron.

But then felt better of it and diverted into the reeds.

It was now time to decide what to do, stick with my original plan, or drive for an hour to Keyhaven for the starling.  I eventually decided to go to Keyhaven.  The traffic wasn't too bad but it was heavier than I would normally encounter.  I parked in the municipal car park and walked around the sea wall.  As I approached the gathering of birders a Raven flew overhead calling.

I reached a clump of bramble and was told the Starling was in the middle feeding on blackberries.  It was possible to get a sight of it as it hid behind the bramble leaves.

The Rosy Starling is a passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae, also known as the rose-coloured starling or rose-coloured pastor. The species was recently placed in its own monotypic genus, Pastor, and split from Sturnus. This split is supported by recent studies, although there are no other related species within its new genus as yet.

It remained elusive.

This bird is unmistakable in adult plumage: a combination of pink mantle, scapulars and underparts and black head, throat, wings and tail gives it a striking appearance. Adult males show a shaggy crest which can be erected when breeding. Females also have a crest, but this is shorter. Young birds are a sandy brown or pale buff colour.

A Little bit more became visible.

The breeding range of this bird is in steppes, semi-deserts and deserts of Central Asia and Southeast Europe. It can be found from northwestern Mongolia via Dzungarei, Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to southern Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Its southern range extends to the north of Afghanistan and Iran. Irregular and rare broods are also observed outside of this area in Romania.

Then at last a much better view, showing off the pink plumage that gives it the name.

The it was gone, it dropped down into the bramble and then a little later it was seen flying from the bramble bush.  

The Rosy Starling is known as a strong migrant, and winters in India and tropical Asia. In the winter in India it often appears to outnumber the local starlings and mynas. The Rosy Starling is a bird of steppe and open agricultural land. In years when grasshoppers and other insects are abundant, it will erupt well beyond its core range, with significant numbers reaching France, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The starling is a summer visitor for northwestern Afghanistan, passage migrants in the rest of the Afghanistan and a regular winter visitor in India.  2020 was a particularly good year for them in Britain.

Eventually it was relocated, but the views were even worse than when I arrived.  Look closely and you can make out the starling in the middle of the image behind the leaves.

Do I wait and see if it shows or d I make my way home in what was now heavy traffic?  I decided I had seen enough and headed home.  The traffic was horrendous both through Lymington and then Lyndhurst, and on the motorway to Winchester.

It had though been a "rosy" day and the starling had the honour of being my 2000th bird on my world list