Nothing much
I am of a mind to go and see the Marsh Sandpiper that is on Normandy Lagoon at Lymington Nature Reserve in Hampshire. Do you fancy coming?
Mark being relatively new to birding had never seen a Marsh Sandpiper nor even been to Lymington NR so was naturally keen to go
I'll pick you up at 8am at yours once I know it's still there on Monday.
Monday arrived, slightly wet and dreary with the northerly airflow still holding sway.The Marsh Sandpiper was reported on Birdguides just after 7am, as still being on its favoured lagoon at Normandy Marsh.
I called Mark to advise the twitch was on, collected him from his home and away we went on the two and a half hour drive to Lymington
The journey passed easily enough as we took it steadily down the all too familiar A34 to the distant M27 motorway that would take us westwards and get us near to Lymington.
We eventally turned off the motorway and passed through various congested New Forest villages before following a back street route through Lymington to emerge close to the coast on a narrow lane that ran through pleasant trees to eventually arrive at the open expanse of Lymington and Keyhaven Nature Reserve. We came to rest on a wide grass verge and leaving the car there and after passing through an entrance gate into the nature reserve it was but a short walk on a gravel track and then up onto the seawall that protected the lagoons from the sea. Across the sea lay the Isle of Wight with the iconic Needles away to our right at its westernmost point.
I realised that I had been here a long while ago when I came to see a Long billed Dowitcher.
Any doubt about where to look for the sandpiper was quickly dispelled when we saw a number of birders on the sea wall looking through scopes and cameras at the lagoon nearest to the seawall. A birder pointed out the Marsh Sandpiper when we got to the top of the wall and with some ease it has to be said Mark had another lifer and me my fourth Marsh Sandpiper to be seen in Britain.
Marsh Sandpipers are scarce vagrants to Britain, breeding in open steppe and taiga wetland from Finland and the Baltic States where they are scarce, east across Russia to central Siberia and the Far East. The birds that breed in eastern Europe and Scandinavia winter in Africa mainly south of the Sahara.Those further east winter in India, southeast Asia and Australasia.
The Marsh Sandpiper kept pretty much on its own, wading erratically on long legs in the shallow water although a closely related Greenshank was at times just some metres away.The Marsh Sandpiper is smaller and more delicate than its larger cousin with a long fine bill and very long greenish legs and this was pretty much what we saw on first setting our eyes on it. The two species, here in close proximity, provided an interesting comparison in size, the Greenshank obviously being the larger of the two, and although elegant appearing more substantial and with an upturned bill.
Common Greenshank |
The Marsh Sandpiper wandered through the water, delicately picking off invertebrates on the surface with a rapid jabbing motion of its needle like bill. At first a little distant it eventually came closer but was always just too far away for my camera and lens to do it justice. The morning was still and a strange filtered light hung over the coast, the sun just about obscured by a light cloud cover making everything looked slightly washed out.
There was plenty of company for the sandpiper with Black headed Gulls breeding on the small islands and scrapes in the lagoon and filling the air with a nonstop soundtrack of irritated calls. There were two of the aforementioned. Greenshank and up to twenty Avocets, some on nests at the far side of the lagoon by the seawall. A trio of much smaller waders, on being checked through my scope were revealed to be two Dunlin and, much more exciting, a Curlew Sandpiper that was commencing its moult into summer plumage, a distinct stain of reddish brown breeding feathers appearing on its fore flanks
Mark is quite into numbers and lists especially and was a happy soul as his day list as well as his life list began to increase.
A diminutive tern caught my eye, smaller than the Common Terns that were in a small group on one of the islands.Its movements were quick, snazzy, its flight darting and erratic.It flew up above the still water and hovered, maintaining position with rapid beats of its wings before descending in jerky stages to drop into the water in an attempt to seize a fish.Time and again it tried but always looked to be unsuccssful.
Little Tern |
A cheery whitethroat sang from some brambles right by the track along the seawall and further on a male stonechat posed in classic fashion on some yellow gorse.
Spring, don't you just love it! The charge of energy, the lifting of spirit as nature suddenly burgeons into an unstoppable lifeforce and the promise of renewal.
Beyond the main lagoon was another smaller lagoon populated by more waders, not many, maybe a dozen. Half the number were Common Redshanks but the remainder, split into two groups were Bar tailed Godwits, a mixture of males and females. A male 'Bartail' in its terracotta summer plumage is a joy to behold and we tarried for some time enjoying looking at them as they fed virtually non stop, jabbing their long bills up to the hilt below the water and into the soft mud below.
Bar tailed Godwits |
They have come a long way, possibly from as far distant as West Africa and still have a long way to go yet, as they breed in the Arctic but there is plenty of time and they will be content to wait until the northerly winds cease and they can continue their migration.
We never did find the Spotted Redshank that was alleged to be present but after such a pleasurable time at Normandy Lagoon it did not seem to matter too much