Temperatures have plummeted over the last few days and Thursday saw a front move through and where it reached the cold air there was rain, this didn't happen at home but as I turned off the motorway and headed south towards Lyndhurst I passed through the New Forest covered with snow. It stayed that way until I reached Lymington where the temperature increased a little.
With today forecast to be clear, cold and sunny I wanted to make the most of the winter sunshine on the lagoons and marshes of the Lymington-Keyhaven Reserve. Pennington Marsh was flooded in places and some of the water was frozen. Canada Geese grazed around the pools of water.
Walking across the Old Tip the ground was covered with frost.
I headed to the sea wall where the tide was just starting to rise following the early morning low tide. Feeding in the channel alongside the sea wall was a Little Egret.
The early sunshine catching the plumage of the Little Egret as it stalked to water.
On Fishtail Lagoon there was a good number of duck, a pair of Wigeon on the small shingle island.
And of course the Pintail.
A sizeable flock of Goldfinches were feeding on the seed heads of the thistle along the sea wall path.
I walked around to Keyhaven Lagoon and a Marsh Harrier was quartering putting up the duck and Oystercatchers.
I turned back to head east, once again past Fishtail where the Pintail were still snoozing in the morning sunshine.
A single Golden Plover flew over calling, interestingly I hadn't seen any on the Pennington Marsh.
Where the channel meets Butts Bay a Greenshank was so concentrated on water it allowed me to get close.
I walked around Butts Bay the light was stunning on the reed bed of the Butts Lagoon and beyond.
Out on the mud the shingle bars were exposed and there was a good number of waders, these included Grey Plover, Dunlin and a good number of Knot.
On Pennington Lagoon there was a distant Spoonbill feeding, but closer were two Spotted Redshank. One was feeding in amongst Wigeon, while the other was at roost in the shallow water.
By moving the angle slightly I was able to get a different reflective water background.
And finally a nice dark background.
The first bird alert now.
A drake shoveler in the dark water.
At the far end of the lagoon, the Spoonbill flew off towards Normandy and in the fields of Oxey Marsh there was a good sized Greylag flock. Suddenly the geese all took off and flew past me.
A goose that has steadily increased in numbers over the last few years, could they attract something a little rarer?
On the shallow water of Oxey Lake a Curlew was feeding.
And a few Black-tailed Godwits.
Out in the centre of the lake a group of nine Avocet.
That took off and flew to Normandy.
As I walked around towards Moses Dock there were Dunlin feeding on the edge of the mud.
A Curlew walking away from me, while keeping a watch on me.
Walking away from the dock a male marsh Harrier cruised over the marsh.
At the bench on the corner towards Eight Acre Pond there was about 100 plus Dunlin feeding.
A Curlew was preening close to the Dunlin.
A lovely reflection in the still water.
The Dunlin were flighty, taking off and flying around before coming back to the exposed mud.
A lovely shot of the Curlew with almost a perfect reflection.
There was also a good number of Brent Geese calling and preening in the shallow water.
As the tide rises the channels in the mud get filled with water.
In the gorse along the sea wall path a smart male Stonechat.
Two Spoonbill, both immatures flew from the Normandy Lagoon over my head towards Pennington.
Not sure if the turning of the head was to look for predators or to check for a suitable landing spot.
On Normandy Lagoon four more Spoonbill, in amongst the Avocet.
A Pintail flew in from the direction of Lymington.
I decided to walk around the lagoon before heading back. It was very quiet, there was a good number of Tufted Duck, but a lack of waders, probably due to the low tide. I had to walk back, but that will be the story of another post.
No comments:
Post a Comment