ACRES DOWN – LYMINGTON AND NORMANDY MARSHES – KEYHAVEN MARSHES
WEATHER; a cloudy start with a light breeze, clear later with plenty of sunshine. Top temp 21C
The early morning excursion saw us arrive at Acres Down car park at 6:15, just 5 of us in attendance. Bird song from an English Country Garden rang out from all corners of the woodland. Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Chaffinch, Wren, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. We saw a few of those plus Dunnock, Stock Dove, Wood Pigeon and a Magpie. Up on the heath we had three target species and the Cuckoo being one of them was calling from a distance, a very far away distance, we never saw it.
Woodlark
A Tree Pipit was performing its song-flight display and landed at the top of a nearby tree, we got it in the scope, target 1 in the bag. Linnets, Stonechats, Meadow Pipits and Goldfinches were all seen before we heard target number 2 singing, the Woodlark.
We caught up with it in the top of a tree and later it also performed a song-flight whilst singing, it didn’t go up too far before dropping down onto another bush.
Back in the woods a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew off the ground ahead of us and disappeared before most of the group had a chance to see it. Jean then found a Common Redstart, in fact, she found a pair of them. They were collecting food and bringing to a nearby tree, we had to move further away because they were holding back and not feeding the chicks.
Common Redstart
After breakfast we set off for the coast at Lymington and Normandy Marsh in particular. We took a circular walk around the marsh after parking near the boat-yard. The sun came out and it really warmed up, a nice cooling breeze came off the Solent.
Normandy Marsh
Along the approach track we past some reedbeds and found Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, a Common Whitethroat, Greenfinches and a few Linnets.
For the next hour we had a great time watching all manner of birds, the tern colony was of particular interest, my group all wanted good views of Little Terns, of which they duly had.
Ringed Plover
Redshanks, Turnstones, Dunlin, Avocets and Greater Ringed Plovers entertained us around the muddy fringes to the marsh, we also watched Mediterranean Gulls and a pair of Kittiwakes, an unusual sighting for this habitat. Out in the bay we saw a single Bar-tailed Godwit, a few turnstones and 3 Eider Ducks, two of which were males.
my magnificent 7 - all ladies and raring to go!
The last part of the walk was along a quiet lane where we saw a few butterflies: Red Admiral, Small White and Meadow Brown.
We ate lunch in centre of town at a lovely café in the High Street, the pasties were excellent. For the afternoon we drove to Keyhaven and parked very close to the quay, the tide had come in and was at its highest. Our walk along the sea wall gave us views of the Solent, the Isle of Wight and Hurst Castle. We had a clear blue sky all afternoon and a lovely temperature.
Little Tern
On the island out in the bay we watched a large colony of Sandwich Terns, we found a single Curlew, Mediterranean Gulls came over us and a marsh harrier drifted over the marshes.
In the lagoons around the marshes we found a flock of Grey Plover (13 of them), also more Dunlin, Redshanks and Ringed Plovers. Very few ducks were around and the same goes for geese.
distant view of the Grey Plovers
Our best sighting was of a pair of Dartford Warblers, they were busy dashing about in the gorse but very close to us. The male sat out a few times in full views and just a few meters from us, it was incredible and the group were thrilled to bits. Unfortunately, Barbara, who most wanted to see this bird, had stopped walking to rest on her portable stool, she missed the warblers.
Dartford Warbler
Common Stonechat
We heard news of a Glossy Ibis back in Keyhaven, some of the group went to find it whilst four of us stayed by the bus. We saw a green woodpecker flying across our bow, then a Sparrowhawk circled above us and a Cetti’s Warbler was seen by myself, twice!
a view across to Hurst Castle and Lighthouse from the sea wall at Keyhaven with the IOW in the background
The Ibis did not show for the rest of the group. We made our way back to the Hotel arriving around 5:45pm.
After dinner, at 9pm, we set off in the bus to look for Nightjars, it was perfect night for them, no wind, a clear sky with a lovely sunset. As soon as we got out of the bus we could hear a Nightjar ‘churring’, we walked a short distance and Jenny found the bird. It was sitting on a large horizontal tree trunk at the edge of the wood, it stayed for a short while before it flew into the wood. It was only 9:20 and hardly dark!
Two more Nightjars called, we tracked one of them down and saw it briefly in flight, the next one did not show. Then they all stopped ‘churring’ and the show was over. We returned to the hotel at 10pm, well pleased with our sighting and glad to away from those pesky insects.