Keyhaven and Pennington Marshes

27 Sep 2009

Eleven members of the VWH Local RSPB Group met in the car park at Keyhaven for the first of this season’s outings. It had been a chilly autumn morning (7°C) when we had began our journeys, but on arrival the sun was shining brightly, and with only a slight breeze, a fine day promised.

House sparrow, pied wagtail, collared dove and wood pigeon were all seen before we had left the car park. The pond next to the car park held wigeon, coot, cormorant and little grebe. A couple of jays flew over and a buzzard was seen in the distance. A Cetti’s warbler was heard singing in the adjacent reedbed, the first of several heard throughout the day. The tide was high and there was no sign of the turnstones that usually frequent the little inlet.

Once on the path around the southern edge of the marshes we noticed that the air was full of swallows and house martins. We tried hard to find sand martins amongst them but without success. The yaffle of a green woodpecker rang out and the bird was seen flying low over the mud, pursued by angry house martins – something none of us had seen before. A solitary clouded yellow butterfly put in an appearance. All the usual species of wader were busy feeding out on the mud, and the missing turnstones were found feeding on the strand line.

Wheatears were expected but were very elusive. We found just one. A single whinchat was a nice find to compare with the more numerous stonechat.

The water level in the freshwater lagoons was very low, not surprising considering the lack of rainfall during September, but there were some interesting birds to be found, notably curlew sandpiper and pectoral sandpiper. The latter species is a very long distance migrant that breeds in the tundra of North America and north-east Siberia, and winters in South America, and is a regular vagrant to Britain. [This was a new tick for me, the 34th addition to my Life List this year]. Unfortunately we did not find the little stint that was rumoured to be about, but a water rail showed well in compensation.

While we sat enjoying our packed lunches, several butterflies were also making the most of the warm autumn sunshine.  Wall, common blue, and a beautiful small copper butterfly were observed. On a mud bank a group of grey plover included a few birds still resplendent in their breeding plumage. Great crested grebes were diving for food in the sea, but no sign of any other species of grebe or mergansers.

There were very few geese about. In fact we only saw two, one each of Canada and Brent species. Several thousand Brent geese usually overwinter on the Marshes, so the one that we saw must have been an early arrival.

We returned to our cars along the lanes behind the marshes, adding several “garden” species to our day’s list, which finished on a total of 65. A splendid day.

The Bird List

Mute Swan	Canada Goose	Brent Goose
Wigeon	Gadwall	Teal
Mallard	Little Grebe	Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant	Little Egret	Grey Heron
Buzzard	Kestrel	Peregrine
Water Rail	Moorhen	Coot
Oystercatcher	Ringed Plover	Grey Plover
Lapwing	Knot	Pectoral Sandpiper
Curlew Sandpiper	Dunlin	Snipe
Black-tailed Godwit	Curlew	Greenshank
Redshank	Turnstone	Black-headed Gull
Common Gull	Lesser Black-backed Gull	Herring Gull
Woodpigeon	Collared Dove	Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker	Swallow	House Martin
Meadow Pipit	Pied Wagtail	Wren
Dunnock	Robin	Whinchat
Stonechat	Wheatear	Blackbird
Cetti’s Warbler (h)	Chiffchaff	Long-tailed Tit
Blue Tit	Great Tit	Jay
Magpie	Carrion Crow	Starling
House Sparrow	Chaffinch	Greenfinch
Goldfinch	Linnet

The Butterfly List

Clouded Yellow	Wall	Common Blue
Small Copper	Speckled Wood	Red Admiral
Comma	Peacock