I'm not sure if this really counts as a vacational trip report, but I can't think of anywhere else to put it (it wasn't a 'birding day, it was a two day trip with overnight stay, and it was in more than one county, so I can't put it in a county page).
Early morning last Friday (8th March) saw me starting the long drive down the M1 towards Hampshire. My original plan for the weekend had been to drive to Hampshire for the red-breasted goose and the glossy ibis which are long-stayers there, then to drive to Glastonbury to stay the night before spending Saturday looking for the pied-billed grebe at Ham Wall. But the lack of any reports of the pied-billed midweek made me change my plan, and I booked into a hotel in Alton instead, deciding to stay in Hampshire and try for secondary targets; ring-billed and iceland gulls and hawfinches.
The weather was not encouraging as I drove south from Sheffield. It was raining heavily, and the visibility ranged from very misty to so foggy you'd have trouble seeing the ducks you were feeding in the park.
I arrive at Farlingham Marshes just outside Portsmouth about midday, after an unintended detour to Sainsury's where I bought petrol, lunch, breakfast and tried to figure out where the hell the car park for Farlingham was. I finally figured that it was that car park overlooking the sea the is actually accessed off the main roundabout on the dual carriageway. There were about a dozen cars in, so I figured this should be easy. Plenty of birders, so someone on the bird, right?
What I hadn't figured out was that most of the cars belonged to joggers and dog-walkers who were making use of the tarmac path running parallel to the A27. There were no birders on the sea wall, and it soon became apparent that if I was going to see the bird I was going to have to find it myself. The pager said that the red-breasted goose had been seen at 1030, from half way along the east side sea wall. So I headed towards the east side.
The weather had improved; it was now only misty, not foggy. However, it was still throwing it down. There's a theme here. Every time I go for a red-breasted goose it throws it down steadily (as at Loaningfoot in Dumfries and Galloway last spring). The other theme that has so far been true of my search forred-breasted geese is that I don't find them! Would this continue to hold true?
I walked down the eastern sea wall. I looked at the geese. I reached the far end where the path turned along the western side. I tried looking for the spoonbills that had been reported 'on the island off the tip of the marshes'. There were about 6 islands. Most of them were pretty much invisible in the fog. I walked back down the east side. I looked at the geese. They remained resolutely determined all to be brent geese. The rain carried on falling, apparently having failed to read the part of the weather forecast which said it would be dry in the afternoon. Itworked its way down the neck of my waterproofs and down the wrists of my waterproofs. My boots soaked through. The optics got wet. I dried them on a cloth. They got wet again. The cloth got wet. Using the optics was becoming a non-starter.
It was two o'clock, and I was getting nowhere. I set off along the west wall, simply because it was the shortest way back to the car park. I decided to try again the next day, and move on to another site for now. As I walked, I stopped to look at each group of geese I passed. I was about half way back to the car park when I raised my bins to look at another group of brents...and there, only about 40 feet way, grazing happily beside the sea wall, was the red-breasted goose. I've seen plenty in wildfowl collections, but seeing one like this really makes you appreciate their beauty. Even if you are soaking wet.
Tick number one for the year list. Rarity and lifer. Back to the car, somewhat dealyed by three other groups of birders who were in the car park and wanted to know directions to the goose. Where were they when extra eyes would have made things easier? |
|
Farlingham Marshes also held large numbers of pintail, wigeon, teal curlew, lapwing and shoveler (it's basically all wet grazing meadow surrounded by a sea wall), while the sea had merganser and the mudflats the usual wader suspects in the form of dunlin, redshank and oystercatcher.
Although it was now 2.30pm and time was moving on, I thought it would be best to visit Warblington, which was only a couple of miles away, and had a long-staying glossy ibis. I consulted the print out of past sightings from the bird news information service. It told me the ibis was down 'the obvious path'. I looked around the area of the church. No path was obvious; several roads/tarmac areas were.
Fortunately, a council emplyee who was tending the graveyard saw my binoculars. "You looking for that bird?' he asked. I confirmed that I was, 'Down that road, into the cemetary extension, far corner, look over the hedge,' he told me. I thanked him and headed off. 'It's called a glossy ibis' he explained helpfully ,as I headed off.
Cemetary. Far corner. Hedge. Twenty feet away, over the hedge, poking about in the muddy grass by a little streamly, one glossy ibis. Also a curlew. Second tick of the trip. Back to the car.
At this point, the pager beeped. I took a look...the pied-billed grebe was back in Somerset. Evidently it had not left, it had just spent the previous day hiding in the fog. Since Ham Wall had a good (for me) supporting cast, plans changed. Forget the hawfinches, I could get them at Cromford. But if I was goinf to get 'Britain's mos reliable ring-billed gull' than I had better hurry to Gosport. I was already 3.30pm. If I could get to Gosport by 4 I would be in with a chance.
I reckoned without the rush hour traffic coming out of Portsmouth. It was half past four when I got to the car park for Walpole Park, and the light was already going. I scoped the grass round the boating lake; no ring-billed gull. I tried offereing bread bought during may Sainsbury's trip. The black-headed gulls loved it (and I felt a childish delight in the way they swirled round me). So did one common gull and two herring gulls. Some large mute swans took matters into their own hands and tried to mug me, having a go at wrestling the loaf from my hands and pecking me. It was probably too late and too wet...and the fact it was close to low tide probably didn't help either.
Oh well, on the other gull, the iceland. This was 'coming to roost on the single bank near the Explosion! museum'. It was usually seen at half-past five, so I was hopeful...till I saw the shingle bank. It was far too far away for my scope (which was not stellar to begin with and has since had its objective lens sand-blasted on more beaches than I can count) in the poor light; the gull roost was no more than dots.
Time to give up and find the hotel (which took nearly an hour, as I was looking for a place called 'The Swan' on the High Street, rather than a place called 'One Course 5.95!!' on Drayman's Road. And when I did find it the car park was full
Next morning I checked out early (to the bewilderment of the staff who seemed unable to get their heads round the idea that I wasn't waiting for breakfast) and headed for Glastonbury and the Ham Wall RSPB. Fortunately I was early enough for parking not to be TOO hectic, and walked along to the viewing platform.
Ham Wall is an excellent reserve, though it could do with a bigger car park. It is apparently old peat workings, now a large area of readbed and open water belonging to the RSPB. There were plenty of common birds to watch; jay and song thrush, wrens and long-tailed tits showing at close quarters and reed buntings perched in the sun. On arrival there were a number of birders present, who told me that the pied-billed grebe had last been seen an hour ago, and had now disappeared into the reeds.
So I waited. Two bitterns took it in turns to bellow at each other across the marsh. Cetti's warblers sang territorially, and I was able to watch two of them in the leafless bushes (my third year tick as I hadn't yet had a sight record this year...they aren't as common in Yorkshire). The pied-billed started calling...right from the back of the reed bed. More waiting. More calling; the bird was moving left. Another pause. More racket from the pied billed (I'm glad I don't live near an american marhs if they make this racket!), still moving left. More waiting, and then the bird came out into full view and started upending with its feet sticking out of the water. Tick numer for, third rarity, second lifer of the trip.
Time to walk quarter of a mile further on to the area where the ring-necked duck had been seen. My luck held; no sooner had I arrived than one of the birders waiting there hoping for the fudge duck which was also present put me on to it. Not the best view I've ever had, half-hidden in the reeds, but I saw the flank and bill patterns very clearly, and was satisfied. Tick number 5.
I didn't need fudge duck, as I'd had one in Bedfordshire a a few weeks ago, so I headed 'next door' to Calcott Low NR. Well it's next door as a bird flies (about a mile) but an awful lot further and harder to find by car!
Again my luck was in; both the great white egret and, more distantly, one of the spoonbills, was showing when I arrived. The former was visible from the car park, fishing in open water, and the latter was visible in the distance, preening near the reeds. Both were year ticks, and completed my tally for the trip at 7 year ticks, putting me on 155 for the year. As icing on the cake, as I was watching the spoonbill, another birder found a water pipit very close to the hide, feeding about 15 feet from us. We watched it for some time, and it gave me a good chance to brush up on my pipit ID.
All in all, a good weekend: 7 year ticks, 3 rairites and 2 lifers.
Early morning last Friday (8th March) saw me starting the long drive down the M1 towards Hampshire. My original plan for the weekend had been to drive to Hampshire for the red-breasted goose and the glossy ibis which are long-stayers there, then to drive to Glastonbury to stay the night before spending Saturday looking for the pied-billed grebe at Ham Wall. But the lack of any reports of the pied-billed midweek made me change my plan, and I booked into a hotel in Alton instead, deciding to stay in Hampshire and try for secondary targets; ring-billed and iceland gulls and hawfinches.
The weather was not encouraging as I drove south from Sheffield. It was raining heavily, and the visibility ranged from very misty to so foggy you'd have trouble seeing the ducks you were feeding in the park.
I arrive at Farlingham Marshes just outside Portsmouth about midday, after an unintended detour to Sainsury's where I bought petrol, lunch, breakfast and tried to figure out where the hell the car park for Farlingham was. I finally figured that it was that car park overlooking the sea the is actually accessed off the main roundabout on the dual carriageway. There were about a dozen cars in, so I figured this should be easy. Plenty of birders, so someone on the bird, right?
What I hadn't figured out was that most of the cars belonged to joggers and dog-walkers who were making use of the tarmac path running parallel to the A27. There were no birders on the sea wall, and it soon became apparent that if I was going to see the bird I was going to have to find it myself. The pager said that the red-breasted goose had been seen at 1030, from half way along the east side sea wall. So I headed towards the east side.
The weather had improved; it was now only misty, not foggy. However, it was still throwing it down. There's a theme here. Every time I go for a red-breasted goose it throws it down steadily (as at Loaningfoot in Dumfries and Galloway last spring). The other theme that has so far been true of my search forred-breasted geese is that I don't find them! Would this continue to hold true?
I walked down the eastern sea wall. I looked at the geese. I reached the far end where the path turned along the western side. I tried looking for the spoonbills that had been reported 'on the island off the tip of the marshes'. There were about 6 islands. Most of them were pretty much invisible in the fog. I walked back down the east side. I looked at the geese. They remained resolutely determined all to be brent geese. The rain carried on falling, apparently having failed to read the part of the weather forecast which said it would be dry in the afternoon. Itworked its way down the neck of my waterproofs and down the wrists of my waterproofs. My boots soaked through. The optics got wet. I dried them on a cloth. They got wet again. The cloth got wet. Using the optics was becoming a non-starter.
It was two o'clock, and I was getting nowhere. I set off along the west wall, simply because it was the shortest way back to the car park. I decided to try again the next day, and move on to another site for now. As I walked, I stopped to look at each group of geese I passed. I was about half way back to the car park when I raised my bins to look at another group of brents...and there, only about 40 feet way, grazing happily beside the sea wall, was the red-breasted goose. I've seen plenty in wildfowl collections, but seeing one like this really makes you appreciate their beauty. Even if you are soaking wet.
Tick number one for the year list. Rarity and lifer. Back to the car, somewhat dealyed by three other groups of birders who were in the car park and wanted to know directions to the goose. Where were they when extra eyes would have made things easier? |
|Farlingham Marshes also held large numbers of pintail, wigeon, teal curlew, lapwing and shoveler (it's basically all wet grazing meadow surrounded by a sea wall), while the sea had merganser and the mudflats the usual wader suspects in the form of dunlin, redshank and oystercatcher.
Although it was now 2.30pm and time was moving on, I thought it would be best to visit Warblington, which was only a couple of miles away, and had a long-staying glossy ibis. I consulted the print out of past sightings from the bird news information service. It told me the ibis was down 'the obvious path'. I looked around the area of the church. No path was obvious; several roads/tarmac areas were.
Fortunately, a council emplyee who was tending the graveyard saw my binoculars. "You looking for that bird?' he asked. I confirmed that I was, 'Down that road, into the cemetary extension, far corner, look over the hedge,' he told me. I thanked him and headed off. 'It's called a glossy ibis' he explained helpfully ,as I headed off.
Cemetary. Far corner. Hedge. Twenty feet away, over the hedge, poking about in the muddy grass by a little streamly, one glossy ibis. Also a curlew. Second tick of the trip. Back to the car.
At this point, the pager beeped. I took a look...the pied-billed grebe was back in Somerset. Evidently it had not left, it had just spent the previous day hiding in the fog. Since Ham Wall had a good (for me) supporting cast, plans changed. Forget the hawfinches, I could get them at Cromford. But if I was goinf to get 'Britain's mos reliable ring-billed gull' than I had better hurry to Gosport. I was already 3.30pm. If I could get to Gosport by 4 I would be in with a chance.
I reckoned without the rush hour traffic coming out of Portsmouth. It was half past four when I got to the car park for Walpole Park, and the light was already going. I scoped the grass round the boating lake; no ring-billed gull. I tried offereing bread bought during may Sainsbury's trip. The black-headed gulls loved it (and I felt a childish delight in the way they swirled round me). So did one common gull and two herring gulls. Some large mute swans took matters into their own hands and tried to mug me, having a go at wrestling the loaf from my hands and pecking me. It was probably too late and too wet...and the fact it was close to low tide probably didn't help either.
Oh well, on the other gull, the iceland. This was 'coming to roost on the single bank near the Explosion! museum'. It was usually seen at half-past five, so I was hopeful...till I saw the shingle bank. It was far too far away for my scope (which was not stellar to begin with and has since had its objective lens sand-blasted on more beaches than I can count) in the poor light; the gull roost was no more than dots.
Time to give up and find the hotel (which took nearly an hour, as I was looking for a place called 'The Swan' on the High Street, rather than a place called 'One Course 5.95!!' on Drayman's Road. And when I did find it the car park was full
Next morning I checked out early (to the bewilderment of the staff who seemed unable to get their heads round the idea that I wasn't waiting for breakfast) and headed for Glastonbury and the Ham Wall RSPB. Fortunately I was early enough for parking not to be TOO hectic, and walked along to the viewing platform.
Ham Wall is an excellent reserve, though it could do with a bigger car park. It is apparently old peat workings, now a large area of readbed and open water belonging to the RSPB. There were plenty of common birds to watch; jay and song thrush, wrens and long-tailed tits showing at close quarters and reed buntings perched in the sun. On arrival there were a number of birders present, who told me that the pied-billed grebe had last been seen an hour ago, and had now disappeared into the reeds.
So I waited. Two bitterns took it in turns to bellow at each other across the marsh. Cetti's warblers sang territorially, and I was able to watch two of them in the leafless bushes (my third year tick as I hadn't yet had a sight record this year...they aren't as common in Yorkshire). The pied-billed started calling...right from the back of the reed bed. More waiting. More calling; the bird was moving left. Another pause. More racket from the pied billed (I'm glad I don't live near an american marhs if they make this racket!), still moving left. More waiting, and then the bird came out into full view and started upending with its feet sticking out of the water. Tick numer for, third rarity, second lifer of the trip.
Time to walk quarter of a mile further on to the area where the ring-necked duck had been seen. My luck held; no sooner had I arrived than one of the birders waiting there hoping for the fudge duck which was also present put me on to it. Not the best view I've ever had, half-hidden in the reeds, but I saw the flank and bill patterns very clearly, and was satisfied. Tick number 5.
I didn't need fudge duck, as I'd had one in Bedfordshire a a few weeks ago, so I headed 'next door' to Calcott Low NR. Well it's next door as a bird flies (about a mile) but an awful lot further and harder to find by car!
Again my luck was in; both the great white egret and, more distantly, one of the spoonbills, was showing when I arrived. The former was visible from the car park, fishing in open water, and the latter was visible in the distance, preening near the reeds. Both were year ticks, and completed my tally for the trip at 7 year ticks, putting me on 155 for the year. As icing on the cake, as I was watching the spoonbill, another birder found a water pipit very close to the hide, feeding about 15 feet from us. We watched it for some time, and it gave me a good chance to brush up on my pipit ID.
All in all, a good weekend: 7 year ticks, 3 rairites and 2 lifers.
