Another cold frosty and sunny morning. We had some snow overnight at Four Marks which took some time to clear, but by the time I drove through Ropley there wasn't any sign of snow at all just a cold outlook in the sunshine.
It was a little warmer when I reached the sea wall car park at Lower Pennington Lane. I was here for the recently reported Lesser Yellowlegs and I was to be in luck as it had already been reported as showing well.
You had to view from the Ancient Path which was going to be a problem as the sun was low and would be directly behind the pool. When I reached the spot I could see the bird, slim with a fine bill and feeding in a similar fashion to a Spotted Redshank, but maybe with a little more phalarope thrown in. The photographs were only going to be a little better than a silhouette in the sunshine.
It was possible to make out the yellow legs and the underside showed no streaking or marks unlike the marks seen on the Greater Yellowlegs. The bill was short and quite fine as it pecked at the surface of the water. There have been 17 records in Hampshire, the last seen in 2014 at Titchfield Haven.
Clearly I wasn't going to get a better shot so I decided to come back later when hopefully the sun would have moved or the clouds built up. I set off around the sea wall, it was quiet, the water levels high once more. On the Jetty Lagoon there were roosting Shoveler and Pintail.
I walked on with little about aside from Wigeon and a Great Crested Grebe on the sea. As I turned the corner at Oxey Marsh I saw a small Grebe on the sea just off shore and as I got closer I could see it was a Slavonian Grebe. Once it had dived I edged down the bank of the sea wall and waited until it appeared.
Ian and I had a similar encounter last year in the same spot, but today the light was marginally better.
Much better views than those I had at the Weston Shore last Saturday.
Once it dived I edged down on to the beach to try and get at water level.
It spent some time head erect and I thought maybe it would fly off, but it settled back down.
Eventually it dived and I decided to move, stopping though for this pair of Wigeon on Oxey Marsh.
I saw a Spoonbill fly up from the back of Oxey Marsh and it flew towards Normandy. There was though little else.
Just before Eight Acre Pond there were two Egyptian Geese.
A Cormorant was drying and preening the wings on the island on Eight Acre Pond.
At Normandy Marsh there were very few waders, the islands dominated by Lapwing. Looking hard there were a few Ringed Plover and Dunlin around the edge of the islands with Turnstone in amongst the Lapwing.
It seemed strange to only see two Spoonbill in the middle of the lagoon.
Alongside the Spoonbill were fifteen Avocet.
As I started to leave I found a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers and a drake Goldeneye.
On Eight Acre Pond there were several Little Grebe showing nicely in the winter sunshine.
I walked back and on the approach to Moses Dock there was a male Dartford Warbler in the gorse that showed on and off. I made my way to the footpath that crosses the marsh towards the Night Heron Pond. Coming around Lower Pennington Lane towards the car park there was a good number of Golden Plover on the marsh.
The first half of the flock.
Probably about 200 present.
After some lunch I walked back to the sea wall to view Fishtail with the sun behind me. I did stop though for this Tufted Duck that was showing off some good hair as it preened.
The Yellowlegs was on a pool on the other side of Fishtail, but from the south west corner you could view through a gap in the bushes where there is a path, but you can't access it. I could see my first Greenshank of the day.
A Redshank had some others claiming the Yellowlegs, but I managed a brief view as it disappeared behind a clump of grass, at least the legs were visible and the brown upperparts.
It didn't show so I decided to walk back around the Ancient Path, maybe the light was better. As I set off I noticed Reed Buntings in the bushes taking in the sun.
Another male with the head markings becoming a little darker.
As I walked by Fishtail a flock of five Pintail took off and flew around the lagoon.
They came in to settle on the lagoon, but changed their minds at the last minute and continued to fly around the lagoon.
Then they headed out over the saltmarsh and away out of sight.
My walk around to the other side proved fruitless, the Yellowlegs did not show, but to be fair the sunlight was still very bad and the shots would not have been much better. AI gave it thirty minutes but it never showed so I headed back to the car and home.
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