It was a good start to the walk for there were Turnstones in Keyhaven Harbour, several still in breeding plumage, rummaging in the seaweed. Back, once more, from their breeding sites in Scandinavia and the Arctic.
Turnstone - adult © Chris Robinson
As we walked along the sea wall we heard (and saw) a few Curlews and Oystercatchers and Little Egrets were present. There was a lone Wheatear and, on the Solent side, several Eider and Great Crested Grebes. Two Wigeon flew past heading west, the first taste of the winter duck influx.
Wheatear © Chris Robinson
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| Eider - female and drake in eclipse plumage © Chris Robinson |
I have never seen Fishtail Lagoon so dry or so devoid of birds! Butts and Jetty Lagoons were also very dry but in the puddles that remained we saw the long-staying juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper, as well as Common and Spotted Redshanks, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and juvenile Little Stint, Knot, and Curlew Sandpiper.
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| Pectoral Sandpiper - juvenile © Richard Smith |
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| Common Redshank - juvenile © Richard Smith |
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| Knot - juvenile © Chris Robinson |
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| Curlew Sandpiper - juvenile © Chris Robinson |
Of the small birds we expect to see on the Marsh only a couple of Pied Wagtails, a few Linnets and the odd Stonechat were present. Those at the front caught a glimpse of a Reed Bunting and there were Swallows and Sand Martins overhead. CR
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| Pectoral Sandpiper - juvenile © Chris Robinson |
Additional notes on Pectoral Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpipers breed north of the Arctic Circle mainly on the coastal tundra of Canada (west of Hudson Bay) to Alaska with fewer breeding in Siberia west to Taimyr Peninsular. It is a regular annual visitor to the British Isles mostly in the Autumn. The great majority of Pec Sands, as they are more affectionally called by birders, winter in South America from Peru to southern Argentina.
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| © Chris Robinson |