Lots to see!

Friday, 04 December 2009

High tide 12:16 (4.8m) Low tide 17:54 (0.8m)

Walking through Bedhampton to Broadmarsh and then around Farlington Marshes led me to see a diverse range of bird species today which included one that has become increasingly rare and yet formally iconic of a fine day on a coastal marsh…

One of the main concentrations of Little Grebes in Langstone Harbour is in the Bedhampton Creek and Broadmarsh area, and it is here that I counted exactly 30 this morning. The slipway at Broadmarsh provides one of the best view points for this area, and overlooks the harbour between here, Southmoor and West Hayling too. After the recent gales lots of goodies are currently making this area home: two each of Great Northern Diver (pic below), Slavonian Grebe and Long-tailed Duck, plus at least six Black-necked Grebes. I saw most of these today, plus lots of the commoner Great-crested Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser and Goldeneye. Three Sandwich Terns were also fishing distantly between Southmoor and Hayling Oysterbeds. Other miscellany here included the first of two Kingfishers, a party of seven Shovelers on the water with some Wigeon, and a fly-over Lesser Redpoll. But, considering I was having too much of a good thing (!) I moved onwards to Farlington, where some more good birds would surely be waiting...

About 150 Redshank and a single Black-tailed Godwit were roosting on the saltmarsh in Chalkdock itself, visible easily from the northeast seawall path at Farlington. The godwit was one of only four I saw all day, the low number probably a result of a mass movement of the late autumn flocks to other favoured wintering sites themselves made more attractive by the recent heavy rains (they especially like flooded fields along river valleys in wet winters). Next up was a juvenile female Merlin which appeared on North Binness Island and gave nice views until it flew further away and re-settled on Long Island. Little Egrets were doing their usual high-tide thing on the saltmarsh, hunting small prey brought in by the tid

e. Shelducks were gathered in three rafts on the water and, together with some more birds later on, contributed to a total of 273 for the day.

The Hayfield at Farlington was covered in Dark-bellied Brent Geese, about 1300 in all, and was one of those predictable things I like about the reserve: after the first cold night for a long time the Brent were feeding in their favoured “frosty morning” field. And, just to confirm again that these birds are so habitual in their choice of feeding sites I quickly located a bird with coloured rings which I have recorded annually since 1998/1999, often in the very same part of the field that it was in today! These really are remarkable birds. It is a 5000+ miles round trip to the tundra on the Taimyr Peninsular in western Russia where they breed, so this one (first ringed in Devon in February 1996) would now have travelled at least 77,500 miles during its life. Given that they can live for over 27 years it will hopefully put a few more miles on the clock and return for a few more years yet.

While I was taking pictures of the geese a smart adult male Peregrine flew low past, chasing something almost into the ground along the track I was stood along, but towered up and away thus abandoning its potential meal. Only later, when I walked further on, did I discover the identity of the other bird: a Common Snipe. I flushed it at close range, unaware that it was crouching beside a bramble bush in some long grass just a few feet away. Common Snipe must be a relatively unusual prey species for Peregrines given that they usually fly to and from their daytime roost sites and night time feeding areas under the cover of near darkness.

Several Stonechats, Reed Buntings and Redwings later and I was overlooking the main reed bed from west of the information building. The Marsh Harrier that has been present on and off during the last month was nowhere to be seen, but Bearded Tits were very much in evidence. At least three groups were calling from within the reed bed, the most easily visible being at the lake where they could be seen alongside a group of Reed Buntings, all feeding on the reed seed heads.

The recent heavy rains have flooded the main stream and lake area so there was no high tide roost of waders in that area except for another 250 Redshank hiding on the scrape. Large numbers of waders were gathered on both Little Binness and Oysterhouse Islands. The former held 32 Avocets while the latter held many thousands of (mostly) Dunlin. The southern point of the reserve was now the place to be. I was told, on arriving there, that I had just missed a Short-eared Owl that had flushed at close range by others from the seawall around the point field but had flown towards the Deeps. I walked to the gate overlooking the Deeps to have a look for it. Fortunately (for me) it was still there, and gave excellent views during the next twenty minutes as it hunted over the point field before it flew out into the harbour. This is the iconic bird I referred to in my introduction. Until the late 1990’s several would spend most winters in Langstone Harbour and passage birds in the autumn and spring were regular. Since that time they have become much rarer and today’s bird is, as far as I know, the first record since the early year. I hope it stays around, as these really are stunning birds and frequently afford great views at Farlington, as this one did this afternoon.

The point field also held two Dartford Warblers, including a bright male associating with a female Stonechat, and at least 70 Greenfinches, which at one stage were mobbing the owl as it hunted over. A flock of 20+ Meadow Pipits and at least 27 Linnets gathered in the field prior to roosting.

The calm water of the harbour, and now grey skies, made seeing birds in the harbour easy and two Common Scoters, both females or immatures, were quickly located. A juvenile Spoonbill, present in the harbour for much of the last few weeks, was just waking up on Baker’s Island, a Peregrine was around, and an adult Mediterranean Gull flew south.