Blimey.. No update for nearly 2 months! I blame it on my decision to support the local pubs..
Autumn Migration is officially on... and today me and Joe hit Farlington Marshes.. A large area off of Langstone Harbour, situated East of Fratton, Portsmouth and south of the M27.
Targets were Osprey and Little Stint.. Both listed in the last few days.. Being 'migration' time and owing to the landscape.. anything could have turned up though.. We were optimistic.
Parking up and hobbling to the Reserve, ( i have a poorly foot and Joe walks at 200mph) the first thing we noticed was a Summer Plumage Grey Plover.. Ive only seen winter plumage birds before and was impressed at how eyecatching they are.. Just as I got the camera out - it disappeared behind a mudflat.. There were plenty of Curlew and Redshank though.
A check of the lake and scrape areas found no Little Stints, but a yearticks in the form of 2 Curlew Sandpipers.. A nice Ruff next to them too. Unfortunatley a Sparrowhawk scared everything off the lake and so we moved on. A Peregrine was also picked up by Joe a bit further on.
Leaving the lake, we headed East along the path to look over the RSPB Island and the search for Osprey or what ever was there. Again, Joe found us one.. flying around the water.. looking to swoop for a fish.. It was a way off, so apologies for the poor picture..
Walking around the Reserve, we searched for any passing migrants.. Whinchat were in good numbers, considering I'd only ever seen 1.. We also saw a Spotted Flycatcher (embarrassed to say that's a yeartick) and the cow field had a few Yellow Wagtail in. Another yeartick (and Life Tick) was the 5 or so Bearded Tit we saw flying around the Reedbeds.. too quick to photo, and to really see properly, but chuffed to tick that one off.
Back to the car and a quick nip down the A27 to the edge of Hayling Island.. Target - a Red Necked Grebe.. No luck, but a dog going out to Sea with a lifejacket on made up chuckle.. As did a boat full of Turnstone..
The day ended with a call in at Crawley Duck Pond.. this place is soooo posh, the Duck House is thatched!! Crawley has a few resident Mandarin Duck, snoozing in the afternoon sun.. I have seen Wood Duck there too, but they seem to have popped out for the day..
