10 days off and I don't want to waste a second, so today was an adhoc day out, arranged the night before, but couldn't have been much better.
Bought a new Scope yesterday and wanted to try it out, properly, so managed to organise a trip to Pennington / Normandy with a new Wingman called Grant.
Grant is a great photographer and all round 'good egg' who I met in my time at Rooksbury, Andover - and I asked him of he fancied a trip out to the Mecca that is this South Coast hotspot.
We tried to tempt Joe, repeatedly, but no luck.. So I was the Guide for the day :o)
We parked in Normandy Lane and called in at Normandy Marsh 1st.. It was fairly quiet compared to normal, Greenshank, Redshank, Little Plover and Cormorant were the major players on the water.. but from the side we spotted a Wheatear or two flying around..
Whilst there, we sat on the Sea wall and spent some time looking over the mudflats.. Curlew everywhere!!! and a few Grey Plover.. which I wanted to photo, but the low sun behind - made it hard.Walking back to the car, and through a field of Cows and Horses, we saw around a dozen (i'm not a notebook boy) Yellow Wagtail.. The long grass made it very difficult to get a clear shot though.
From Normandy we drove down to Pennington.. if you know the area, you know how far a walk that is!! As we started walking along the seawall I saw over a dozen Turnstone.. Grant said he would of completely missed these.. and looking at them you can see how well they blend in to their surroundings - which obviously makes photo'ing them quite hard!
Pennington and Butts were actually quite quiet.. Dunlin and L Plovers flying about. No Dartfords this time - which is rare for that part of the Reserve. A few Curlew and Little Egret on the mudflats, Swallows skimming the lagoons, but not much else..
With a few Osprey sightings locally, we did keep one eye on the sky - and after touring Pennington (and a pint in the pub) I suggested we hit Lower Test Marshes at Totton on the way home.. An Osprey was listed there on Monday, but nothing since.. Grant was trying to get a great shot of Egret, and I knew Totton wouldn't disappoint, so we headed there.
Parking next to the Pub that never has customers - we strolled down the track to the Reserve.. Checked every dead tree, but no Osprey.. so headed along the soon to be flooded boardwalk, checking the viewing screens, to the main Hide.
Once inside we were greeted by 4 Grey Heron, perched on the errr Perch... looking for lunch.. Egret everywhere too, mostly flying over, but a rough count (again, no notebook) and we estimated over a dozen Little Egret in the area.. 15 yrs ago, and I hadn't seen 1 in this country!!
Anyhoo.. time was ticking, the Heron had flew, we were about to leave when a female Kingfisher landed on the Heron perch.. Goes to show that patience is a virtue.. :o)
