Back to Normandy, Pennington, Keyhaven, whats it called?

Coming to the end of a week off work and the weather was picking up.
Pennington time!

A long coastal stretch between Hurst Castle spit and marinas and the marinas at Lymington, this area is a brilliant place for a day out with the camera. Easy to get to, free to park, and 90 percent quieter than places like Bournemouth or even Mudeford.
The Solent and mudflats on one side, brackish lagoons and pools the other, it is a birdwatcher / photographers paradise. I love it anyways.
From Lymington to Keyhaven there is always a lot to see, but pack your walking boots!

I've snapped one of the reserve maps, to try and make sense of my ramblings, in both senses of the word. (Click on all the pictures to expand them).

I arrived about 10:30 a.m, a little later than planned, but headed straight to Fishtail Lagoon (You are here on the map) in the hope of snapping one of the four recently listed Spoonbill.   A quick scan of the lagoon - frustratingly couldn't see one..  Hmmm.  A Little Grebe was fishing in one of the outlets, so got a few snaps of that.

 

There was a lot of water. Normally dry fields were flooded, the fields (Pennington Marsh) at the end of Lower Pennington Lane were under water, as was half the campsite on the other side of the road. Spoonbill are big, but this could be a 'needle in a haystack' job.  I spot something tall and white on Butts so head over there for a look....   Egret.

Walking further along the sea wall on to Pennington Lagoon and something looking like a Tufted Duck flies over my head and drops in on the water channel. Boom! Male Red Breasted Merganser! Just a few metres away from me and posing well. I follow it up the channel as it dives for food. Ain't gonna lie, almost had goosebumps at this stonker by my feet. Lots of pictures and videos taken. I'd probably have been happy with just that today.

Leaving the Merg alone I headed back to Fishtail and success, sleeping, but a Spoonbill. A few distance pictures taken whilst I waited for it to wake up. Realistically, this could take a while so I headed up to Keyhaven, whilst checking the rest of Fishtail on the way. Lots of Brent Geese, over a thousand there I reckon, plus the most Pintail I've seen in one location ever. Shelduck, Wigeon still here with Teal and a couple of Ruff at the back.

 Brent Geese

 Sleeping Spoonbill on Fishtail.

 A distant Ruff.

Pintail.

Another sleeping Spoonbill on Keyhaven. Wake up!!!
Keyhaven was big! Lots of water here made the lagoon seem bigger than it probably always is  - and everything was far off. A quick check for Shorties or Marsh Harriers over the reedbeds - none - and back to the closer but still sleeping Spoonbill on Fishtail.

Then, like my Merg moment, a bit of luck.
I always say 'you make your own luck' or 'you've got to be there to see it' etc. And the timing for me was bang on as a Roe Deer runs on to the reserve. Everything takes off including the Spoonbill. Snap, snap, snap..  And then back to its sleeping position but I didn't care. I'd got my pics.

 And back to sleep.

And thanks to the deer that flushed everything.

I normally go to Normandy Lagoon first, don't know why, but today I did it the other way around. Probably itching to get to the Spoonbill.
So, back to the car and drive around to Normandy Lane and park up and walk to the Lagoon. I used to walk it all, but was on a bit of a deadline today, had to be back for the school run. An optimistic check of the fields and grass for any Wheatear. A little too optimistic and early it seems.

Normandy is great. Everything is usually closer as it's a smaller, more contained lagoon. Dunlin, Snipe, Greenshank and Redshank, included Spotted, more Brent, one Ringed Plover and a couple of Black Tailed Godwit. All feeding in the mud.

 Oystercatcher and Lapwing

 Redshank

 Lapwing and a Dunlin

A bathing Black Tailed Godwit

 How's that for 'dont forget behind your ears'!

 A Black Headed Gull buzzing a Greenshank

And Wigeon. I love Wigeon.

Watching all these from the sea defense wall, whilst also checking out to sea for Eider (didn't see any) I notice something in the channel between the sea wall and the mudflats. Small, regularly diving, It's a Grebe, but what kind?  My thought was a Black Necked, but after asking the opinion of some learned friends it appears it was a Slavonian Grebe. A 'life tick' for me. Happy with that.

 Slavonian Grebe

Time to go home.