5th September - Oxey Marsh to Keyhaven Lagoon, Hampshire

If it has been awhile since visiting Farlington, it seemed even longer to come all the way to the Keyhaven - Lymington reserve.  To be honest I have been wanting to go for a while now but the fire and closure of the A31 has kept me away.

So this morning I was meeting Ian, not at the usual car park, but this time Normandy Lane.  From there we walked out to the marsh and were greeted with an almost empty Eight Acre Pond.  Where there was water there were Little Egret and quite a few Redshank, plus one Greenshank.

In places the shadows created some dark water so we walked up to the sea wall to try and get the egrets with their reflections.  Ian was watching an egret when it looked up and so did Ian and above us was an Osprey high and heading west.

It drifted away and it was back to the Little Egrets, there were fifteen around the pond, most of them in the water but also some in the trees.

So some time for the reflections.  First in the blue water.

Then in the dark water.

On the other side of the sea wall was a Greenshank.  Th elight wasn't perfect but the greenshank was close enough to overcome any problems from the light.

Feeding around the exposed bladder wrack.

Walking on a Redshank stood on a rock at Salterns again with a nice reflection.

We walked across the marsh in the hope of finding some migrants around the bushes but it was very quiet.  Coming up on to the sea wall there was a lovely scene out in the Solent created by the sun behind a cloud.

All three hirundines were hawking insects along the sea wall over the bushes.  Of the swallows they were mainly immature birds lacking the tail streamers seen in the adults.

A warbler was showing in the gorse, any thoughts on what it might be from this shot?  The long wings might be a clue.

Easier from this view, long primary projection and light coloured legs.

A Willow Warbler.

Offshore there was a single Eider, it looked like a male in eclipse.

The tide was at its lowest, but there was water in Butts Bay.  Turnstone and Ringed Plover fed on the exposed sea weed.  This Curlew moved slowly away from us.

Moving out into the deeper water, but still walking, never swimming.

Fishtail Lagoon was almost completely dry and there were only a few Pied Wagtails on the mud.  Keyhaven Lagoon was quiet with no sign of the recent Ruff,. the only bird of interest being a distant Wheatear.

We came back to the Old Tip and walked through the bushes, again with very few migrants about.  Walking down to the car park there were cattle in the corner by the gate and with them were Yellow Wagtail.

As usual they were feeding amongst the feet of the cattle.

As we were watching the Yellow Wagtail, another birder came up to us and told us that there was an eagle coming towards us from the sea.  Sure enough, there it was at first coming low.

At this point we were willing it to come towards us.

But it then moved a little away from us and started to circle which indicated it was looking to gain height.

There is a lot of feather wear, in the primaries and the tail.  Aging is difficult, but I don't think this was an adult, probably second or third year bird.

Better views of the tail here, its gaining the white feathers that give the eagle its name so maybe it is moulting into an adult.

Great views here of the shape of the huge wing span.  It has the name of the flying barn door.  It is the largest bird of prey found in this country, the wingspan a little longer than that of the Golden Eagle.

Fantastic to watch as it circle above us and eventually became a speck amongst the clouds

We decoded to walk back along the footpath off Pennington Lane and returned to the marsh at Oxey Creek.  A Raven was calling endlessly and eventually it showed with another.  It continued to call as it flew around us.

Nice to be able to get some good flight views of Raven.

This is in blacjk and white.

As we watched the Raven, Ian picked up a Sparrowhawk and it was being mobbed by hirundines as it circled above.  Incredible reduction in size compared to the White-tailed Eagle!

We had made our way back to Oxey Marsh and it feels right to pause the account of the day here, part two will take us from Oxey Marsh to Normandy Marsh.

1st September - Farlington Marshes, Hampshire - Part Two

Part two of my visit to Farlington and a slightly different experience to that first thing but in no way lacking in the quality of part one

The Lake at Farlington at this time of year can provide some very good conditions for autumn waders and this was definitely the case today  There was visible mud and some shallow water, the waders were roosting in the shallow water with a lot of duck occupying the deep water to the middle of the lake.

The one problem is the distance from the sea wall not being that conducive to photography and today matters were made worse by the heat haze.  It was a case of viewing with the telescope, so I settled down in the grass on the bank of sea wall and scanned through the flocks.

There were large flocks of Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank and in amongst them were Dunlin.  The most recent attraction though were the Curlew Sandpiper, but as I scanned through the flocks in search I came across thee two Little Stint, here feeding with a lone Dunlin for size comparisons.  This unfortunately is just a record shot.

I found the Curlew Sandpipers, at one point I counted 15, but there may well have been many more.  Once again they were distant and difficult to get a decent shot.  This flight image was the best I could get of one, again with Dunlin.

At one point the waders were spooked and flew around the scrape, here Redshank, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin and a few Knot in amongst them.

A large flock of Black-tailed Godwits lew around the scrape looking smart against some of the darker grey clouds that had appeared.

I had seen Grey Plover out in the harbour, but a flock of just over sixty dropped on to the Lake, many of them still in their silver and black summer plumage.

One broke ranks and came a little closer.

As the tide was almost at its highest the duck started to move.  I had seen Teal and Gadwall on the water, but not really scanned for anything else.  Flying around the Lake were the first Wigeon of the year and about thirty Pintail.  Here Wigeon and a single Pintail.

The Pintail came head on before breaking away and splitting up.

As everything settled down to see out the high tide I decided to walk back down to the stream.  There was a herd of cattle by the water and I had been told that there were Yellow Wagtail amongst them.  Last year I had my best views of Yellow Wagtail here and by the stream, so I was hoping I would get similar views today.

As I approached the cattle quite a sizeable flock of Yellow Wagtail flew up into the nearby bush that had quite a few dead branches.

A female type.

They soon returned to the ground and started to forage amongst the grass and the cattle.

I was kneeling down and concentrating on the wagtails when I noticed that one cow had become quite inquisitive about my presence.  As I turned to watch where the cow was a Yellow Wagtail flew to the cow nand stopped on the grass on the other side to me, very close.  I could see it through the cow's legs.  This gave me some of the closest views I have ever had of what is normally a very shy bird and normally flies off with any approach.

The Yellow Wagtail finally flew off but almost immediately afterwards a Cattle Egret appeared.  The black bill and lack of any orange brown on the breast and crest show this to be a immature, probably one of this year's fledglings.

So it was back to the Yellow Wagtails and I decided the best way was to kneel down and wait and they would come to me, which they did, through the grass.

Feeding around the muzzle of a cow.

Here a smart yellow male.

They all flew into the bushes once again and as I approached many flew out, back to the cattle, but one or two stayed showing well and sat nicely for me.

There was one below on an ant hill in that lunging pose the Yellow Wagtail uses when hunting for flies.

The last one in the bushes sat at the top of the tree and after preening sat nicely for me.

Once again the cattle at Farlington had brought about a wonderful Yellow Wagtail experience and they were not finished as the Cattle Egret returned.

It made its way to another cow that was close to me and like the Yellow Wagtail earlier appeared between the cows legs.

The binocular set of the eyes give them a comical look.

Inspecting the cows.

And finally my favourite, the egret appearing around the muzzle of the cow, again with that quizzical and comical appearance.

I hadn't been to Farlington for some while and did not know what to expect.  It was a brilliant day with some quality birds and some great encounters.