South Coast End Of March - 2013

With some time off over the Easter Weekend I got the chance to get back down to the South Coast to Pennington & Keyhaven Marshes hoping to catch up with a few species that I had missed throughout the winter on my year list.

The first big surprise was spotting a Little Egret feeding not to far from the main car park with a bigger white heron like bird next to it, a second look and a scramble for the camera confirmed it as a Spoonbill, a stunning bird not all to common in these parts, and one I have never had the luxury of seeing in closish proximity.

After managing to walk further down the path to get level with the bird some disruption caused it to take flight, circling the marsh and flying back straight over top or our heads. Definitely well worth the 40 mile drive alone.

Plenty of other Little Egrets could be seen all along the marsh, with feeding birds close to the sea wall every 200-300 yards or so.

A fair few Brent Geese remained close in off of the sea wall, and were occasionally joined by the odd group of incoming Wigeon. Oystercatchers drawing our attention with their loud alarm calls, regularly skimmed over top of the waves as we made our way down the seawall path towards Lymington.

On route from the English channel Pennington proved a good spot to see some spring migrants, with Chiffchaff's galore feeding at the waters edge alongside each and every pool around the reserve.
Another surprise whilst watching a Great Crested Grebe feeding off of the sea wall was the emergence of a lone Slavonian Grebe starting to loose its winter plumage.

The Red-breasted Mergansers still appeared paired up in the same spot as where I saw them on my last visit in January, although this time the male took flight from the small spit of land where the female sat. A stunning duck and really streamlined.

As always a small area of pebble and beach was left from the incoming tide and 20+ Turnstone waddled up and down the shoreline feeding.

A species I was keen to catch up with this visit was the Spotted Redshank, having somehow missed the wintering group earlier in January, this time however I was soon comfortable I hadn't miss identified the bird for the common Redshank. And even managed some relatively close photographs as 6 or 7 birds fed on the small shallow lagoon.

Throughout the winter I had been desperate to get close to some or our gorgeous wintering duck species. Usually feeding in large flocks on the flooded ground, getting close without disturbing the group had proved quite tricky and unsuccessful. However I found myself able to view a small group of Wigeon and a couple of pairs of Teal at fairly close proximity.

All winter I have had a fairly good success rate on seeing Goldcrests and also seeing them close up. Today was no exception as we spotted a pair in a isolated bush right next to the footpath. A couple of minutes wait and they both showed them self for some photos.

With some great birds in the bag at Pennington, we headed back across the New Forest to Blashford Lakes a slight detour on the route home. Straight away picking up another new migrant species for the year as 5 Sand Martin hurried across the large expanse of Ibsley Water.

A brief pit stop in the woodland hide showed all the usual resident woodland species and also a couple of rosy looking Common Redpoll, a lone male Brambling and some very smart looking Siskin.

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In A Bit Of A Rut

The plan was to head down to Exmoor for a few days at the beginning of October, with a lot of indifferent weather and reports from elsewhere in the country of a lot of Red Deer action, I was quite hopeful for a few hours with the wild beasts in the Exmoor National Park.

How wrong could I have been, a 5.30am get up and a pretty speedy 118 miles down the A303, 2 hours later we (Girlfriend & I) were tucking into a full english and giving the ordnance survey a good once over. Down through Exford and up and out onto the Moor, Exmoor seems to be the only place I know of in England where the weather can change from Rain to clear skies in the matter of minutes. Rainbows appear and before you can trace them are gone as the cloud disperses. This particular day was no different, with a keen wind, wrapped up we headed off on the path up towards Dunkery Beacon, a place that has never failed in the past to deliver a herd or two.

A slight detour off of the path through the very wet heather brought me my first views of the Red Deer, about 45-50 to be precise, but any hope of some action vanished pretty quickly, as all they seemed to be worried about was feeding. 4 or 5 Young Stags seem to approach the big old boy, but it was all rather tame and friendly, as he didn't at all seem bothered by there presence. And so it remained throughout the next couple of days. We spent about 6-7 hours watching the Deer and in all that time, I only heard a Stag roar twice. I did manage to capture that on camera although a little far away.

Nice to see plentiful flocks of Golden Plover feeding up on top of the moors exploiting the wet peaty soil, however getting close enough for a picture without causing them to take flight proved too much.

The Roaring Big Boy

Think He Winded Me

Another Roar

A Small Number of the Dunkery Herd

I had a couple of stalks in the hope of singling out a nice Red Stag to photograph, one involved stalking for about a mile over and under, through heather and gorse to get within 20 yards of a group of 4 Stags, however when I got to the final gorse bush I was using as cover, I decided to go the wrong side and came out a lot closer than intended. FAIL, ruining all hopes of a shot. 

A lot of people seem to descend upon London's parks during the Rut to capture the bellowing Stags in all of their glory, and although I've nothing at all against that, for some reason I've always thought if I were to do so it would be cheating a little. The Deer always seem a little more tolerant of humans and far easier to get close to. So I have always told myself to keep it natural and keep it wild. Perhaps I should change my views I might get some decent shots. 

My Closest Encounter

Along with the Red Deer, another ever present on Exmoor are the Exmoor Ponies one of our last breeds of wild horse. They unlike the Deer are far more approachable and seem quite happy to pose.

Exmoor Pony

With the route out of Dulverton closed with roadworks, an alternative way up on to the moor was found, along and across the area known has Hawkridge, a road I had never taken before, leading down to a rather photogenic spot called Landacre Bridge giving views up and down the River Barle. On this occasion the weather struck again, in the 50 yards from leaving the car in bright sunshine to walking to the bridge it was pissing it down!

The area of the National Park here prooved a little more productive for bird life, although unconfirmed Im pretty sure I saw a Hen Harrier working low over top the heather, Stonechat could be seen a top the gorse along with the ever plentiful Meadow Pipit, Kestrel, Raven and a rather lost covey of Red-leg Partridge, trundling along the moor top road. And a flock of 12-15 Redpoll which took me a little by surprise, although later reading my bird book explained that it seemed perfectly adequate habitat for such species.

The River Barle From Landacre Bridge

Saturday our last full day out on the Moor, and a natural phenomenon occurred, one that I haven't ever witnessed before. The sky clear of cloud, the sun out and beating down causing heat hazes everywhere, and not a drop of rain in sight! Certainly makes the scenery look a lot better!

View to Bossington - from Porlock Hill

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