After dropping Tobias at school I had a couple of hours to kill before a bird survey at Marchwood so I popped to Pennington Marsh in beautiful sunny conditions. I spent a fair bit of time at the corner of Lower Pennington Lane before heading to the car park and walking to Efford Lagoon before heading out to the seawall, past Butts Lagoon and back past Fishtail lagoon. There were a lot of birds around especially on the Pennington Marshes floods with 100's of Teal, Wigeon, Lapwing, Shoveler and Pintail. High up was a flock of around 500 Golden Plover, these put on a spectacular show as they dropped in overhead and onto the marshes. Judging by their height I guessed that they had probably travelled a great distance to get here. On the grasslands at the campsite was a flock of around 200 Brent Goose which showed well in the beautiful morning light. Along the seawall the tide was very high and the wader roost on the saltings was inundated forcing the multitude of Dunlin, Knot and Grey Plover to fidget and lift in spirals of swirling birds. Two Bearded Tit flew over the reedbeds high to the west pining as they went. It was a lovely morning and I wished I could have stayed longer.
Brent Goose - Pennington Marshes
Brent Goose - Pennington Marshes
Brent Goose - Pennington Marshes
Brent Goose - Pennington Marshes
Lapwing - Pennington Marshes
Cormorant - Pennington Marshes
Golden Plover - Pennington Marshes
Golden Plover - Pennington Marshes
Golden Plover - Pennington Marshes
Golden Plover - Pennington Marshes
Golden Plover - Pennington Marshes
Golden Plover - Pennington Marshes
Golden Plover - Pennington Marshes
Golden Plover and Lapwing - Pennington Marshes
Snipe - Pennington Marshes
Snipe - Pennington Marshes
After my bird survey a drove up Marchwood Lane in Marchwood and noticed a flock of Little Egret in the field. I swore that one had a yellow bill but at 40 miles an hour it was hard to be sure so a quick U-turn and I was watching my first ever self-found Cattle Egret feeding with a flock of 12 Little Egret. I was pretty chuffed with this despite the species becoming progressively more common as the years pass.
Cattle Egret and Little Egret - Marchwood, Southampton
Cattle Egret and Little Egret - Marchwood, Southampton
Cattle Egret and Little Egret - Marchwood, Southampton
Cattle Egret and Little Egret - Marchwood, Southampton
Cattle Egret and Little Egret - Marchwood, Southampton
