Yellow wagtails and a little stint

Thursday, 24 September 2009
High tide 15.31 (4.4m) Low tide 08.42 (1.3m)
F2-3 NW breeze, warm, sunny (but cloudier whenever my camera made an appearance)

I was late in getting out in the field today and it soon looked like it had cost me a good morning for visible bird migration (vis-migging for any birders reading this) as even at eleven o’clock there were Meadow Pipits moving overhead when I arrived at Farlington Marshes. Never mind, it’s not like I haven’t seen it all before….

This was a perfect autumn day in terms of light and visibility. And the sickly-sweet aroma of decaying blackberries everywhere on the reserve was almost overriding the sensual headache of the noisy A27. Well, not quite! Insects were very visible today, notably dragonflies, with loads of Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers making the most of the sunny conditions.

A very slow stroll around the bushes area, mostly to photograph plants, revealed a few migrants. Top billing goes to the male Redstart, but there was also at least one Lesser Whitethroat and three Common Whitethroats plus the usual Blackcaps. The sound of calling Yellow Wagtails near the cattle had me trying out my digiscoping luck. I have always found photographing wagtails to be endlessly difficult and today’s results were little better than previously. The best of my efforts are here:

As the cattle moved close to some bushes, and away from the open area, the wagtails departed over the fields. I thought there were six of them feeding. Eleven flew off!

Kestrels were very active this afternoon and at least three hunted over the reserve. The same number of Common Buzzards, all in one group, drifted over high westwards. Later in the afternoon a trickle of Swallows, 42 in total, belted through north-eastwards; a further hint of missed opportunities this morning.

Chiffchaffs were scattered in the usual “migrant hotspots” including three together in a hawthorn bush at the junction of the farmtrack and east sea wall path. A variety of chats were also new in (obvious increase since yesterday) with nine Wheatears, three Whinchats and three Stonechats. One of the Whinchats posed nicely on a bramble bush in the point field allowing me to take its picture:

Earlier I had discovered a concentration of newly-emerged Painted Lady butterflies – at least four or five feeding on Creeping Thistle and Fleabane in the northeast “slip field” (images below). It was here that I had a close encounter with a very young Pheasant chick which ran over the track I was walking along. Only a day or two old its high-pitched contact calls to its mother (just a few metres away) was the stuff for a Disney cartoon soundtrack (Tweety comes to mind!). Pheasants only started breeding on the reserve a few years ago and less than a decade ago they were a very scarce bird indeed, only just about annual.

Another species of migrant butterfly, a Clouded Yellow, was along the north-east seawall. I have seen this species most days recently so I think they are temporarily resident on the reserve, although random in appearance and location.

I walked around the seawall at high tide and decided to count the Great-crested Grebes: a total of 47 were split between two main areas (Chalkdock 36 and Russell’s Lake 11). There will be others in the harbour though. The only reliable way of getting THE total would be to count birds at a dusk roost gathering – a low-rising tide off Southmoor shore used to be the favoured place. Other notable birds on the harbour water today were few, although 16 Dark-bellied Brent Geese were together, albeit rather distantly visible, off the west side of Hayling Island.

The lake held the usual roost gatherings of waders but it had been disturbed (presumably by a passing raptor) before I reached it so small waders were all but lacking. The Spotted Redshank was lurking with the Redshanks again, and there were 29 Greenshanks together towards the back of the lake. I had previously seen eight of them circling the harbour to the south and, as I left the lake, ten got up and did likewise. I suspect these will depart the harbour tonight. The weather (and date) is typical and perfect for their departure and their incessant calling added to the feeling of imminent migration.

The stream held a juvenile Little Stint (also present yesterday) but time was not on my side to take good pictures so I took some bad ones instead (it's with a Lapwing in the left image):

PS If someone can tell me what the hoverfly is that I inadvertently "caught on camera" in one of the Painted Lady images I would be very appreciative (and impressed!).