It didn’t bode well! We sheltered in our cars as rain pelted down just before we were due to start off, but RS has a really clever App on his phone that makes the rain stop (actually a Radar tracker). The sun came out (sort of) and it then didn’t rain again for the whole walk.
From the car park, ten minutes late leaving, we had brief distant views of Marsh Harriers. From the sea wall we saw that there were a lot of Curlew, presumably they had just come in, but even so pairs were ‘pairing’ as though it was Spring. One pair neatly posed to show off that the female has a longer bill than the male (see below). A Raven was spotted sitting on a fence post and out to sea, on a small spit of land were some Eiders and a couple of Avocets.
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| Curlew - male and female © Chris Robinson |
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| Raven © Richard Smith |
On Keyhaven Lagoon there were all the usual winter ducks, and some behaviour I hadn’t seen before as Shovelers were diving to feed. I really didn’t know that they did that, I assumed at first that they were cleaning themselves but some were coming up with ‘food’ in their beaks. You live and learn!
Shoveler - drake © Richard Smith
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| Pintail © Chris Robinson |
On Fishtail, with very a high water level, there were Tufted Ducks as well as a solitary Snipe but only two Black-tailed Godwits amongst a flock of about 20 Oystercatchers. On the seaward side, with the tide coming in, there were plenty of Dunlin, Pintails and Brent geese.
There were quite a few LBJs,
both Rock and Meadow Pipits, Goldfinches, Linnets, Reed Buntings and we were
serenaded by a Cetti’s warbler.
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| Rock Pipit © Chris Robinson |
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| Reed Bunting © Chris Robinson |