22nd October - Pennington, Oxey Marshes and Blashford Lakes, Hampshire

The forecast for today at the start of the week was good, but overnight it had deteriorated with rain forecast now late morning.  I arrived in some lovely sunshine and it was a little cold as I walked towards Lower Pennington Lane.  Pennington Marsh was partially flooded and there were Canada Geese amongst the cattle grazing.  The whistles of Wigeon sound out across the marsh and it sounded like winter.  

I walked down the west side of the old tip towards Fishtail lagoon.  It became very clear that the water levels were very high once more and as I walked on to the sea wall it was clear why, the sluice was blocked and there was one Hampshire County Council worker, armed with a fork, trying to clear away what was blocking the water from leaving.

Walking along the sea wall there were Goldfinches feeding on the seed heads.

There were quite a few duck on the lagoon, although not the numbers that will likely be present later in the year.  Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler were present and it was nice to see the Pintail in full breeding plumage at last.

The drakes were also displaying in an attempt to secure unattached females.

The duck started to call and the Teal were up and away over the saltmarsh.  The reason then became clear a male Marsh Harrier drifting over the back of the lagoon.

A much cleaner and smarter male than those seen at Titchfield over the last week.

Two Shoveler males disturbed by the harrier.

With the high water levels there were no waders of note on the lagoon, in fact I could only see Lapwing.  Out on the mud on the other side of the sea wall a Curlew was feeding.

On the corner of Butts Bay I stopped to cover my camera as it looked like the showers were to arrive a little earlier than that forecast.  Offshore there was a movement of Mediterranean Gulls east to west.

Then flying west to east were four Spoonbill, here two of them.

I walked on towards Oxey Marsh.  There was very little on the shore or in any of the lagoons.

As the sea wall turns north there were several Redshank feeding in amongst the shallow water and weeds, one gently pecking at the weed as it spun in the water

A little further along a pair of Black-tailed Godwits feeding along the tide line.

As I approached Moses Dock there was a Stonechat that was very confiding on the bushes by the path.

And that was about it, rain was coming and I decided to head back to the car, but this must be one of the poorest visits to this reserve I can recall.  I could either go home or try somewhere else and I decided to head to Blashford Lakes.

On Friday there was a report of a female Ruddy Duck at Blashford.  Back in the nineties Ruddy Ducks were all over the place, when I lived in Essex there good sized populations on Abberton and Hanningfield Reservoirs and I even had a pair on the small lake on my patch at East Tilbury.

Ruddy ducks were brought to the UK in the 1940s and have made this their home. However, reports of this little duck reaching Spain and mating with the rare white-headed duck caused outrage amongst certain bird groups. Their offspring were said to be ‘impure hybrids’, and this sealed their fate.

Calls for a ruddy duck cull began in the political arena, however. It is believed that Spain was feeling under pressure from other EU countries for its lack of action in protecting the Spanish steppes from the ravages of intensive agriculture, the steppes being important for the survival of species such as the black vultures. Spain retaliated to the chiding by demanding action on the ruddy duck, which it claimed was threatening the survival of the now cherished white-headed duck. British conservationists took up the challenge, and the rest – including the £3.3 million of taxpayers’ money, which funded the killing – is history. The reality is that the white-headed duck has been hunted extensively and has lost its natural habitat to human destruction. Yet, rather than remedy the problems, the ruddy has been made the fall guy.

So Ruddy Ducks today are a rarity for those new birders, I saw one at Blashford back in the late half  of the noughties, but this report became quite of interest to many.  Then on Monday came the news that the Ruddy Duck wasn't a Ruddy Duck but an escaped female Maccoa Duck.

The Maccoa Duck is another ‘Stiff-tail’ Duck, which is found in south and east Africa.  So I didn't go on Monday to see it, but with such a poor morning today I decided I would give it a go interested in the differences with a female Ruddy Duck.

It didn't take long to locate the duck, but it was roosting, anchored in some weed on the surface.

But after a time it woke up and showed some of the identification features.  The female has Grey Brown plumage with a dark brown crown, nape, cheek stripe and a ark Grey bill.  Very similar to the Ruddy but with much white pale areas the Ruddy being a little more dirty pale

Very much a stiff tail though, the tail "spiked" up.

here though seen a little closer and in different light, this one a more typical Maccoa pale stripe

While here the light makes the stripe look a little dirty, more like a Ruddy.

There may still be some debate, but for now there are a few disappointed birders that have missed out on a lifer.

Other interesting birds were these two Black-necked Grebes, but as usual very distant.

There were a few Wigeon close to the hide.

There were plenty of distant other duck, Shoveler, Pintail, Teal, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and this female Red-crested Pochard, another escape candidate?  Interestingly no Common Pochard

I went from a walk around the reserve, this Great Spotted Woodpecker at the Woodland Hide

I had lunch in the Ivy Lake South Hide where the only interest was this Grey Heron on a pontoon.

And a distant Red Kite.

There was a Kingfisher around the Silt Pond which added some colour to the day.

before leaving I had one more look from the tern hide where the Red-crested Pochard was a little closer.

Not what I was expecting from the day, but some interesting sightings after all