Pennington - 4th June

A sunny morning with some cloud. Highlights were Eider ducks, Little Terns and Common Terns

We met outside the Chequers Inn and firstly walked across some fields. Hedge Woundwort was among the plants growing in the hedgerow. A few Meadow Brown butterflies were flitting about and Jonathan found a Small Heath butterfly. We also saw a Whitethroat singing. Along the lane was plenty of the poisonous Hemlock Water Dropwort and some Rough Chervil. We heard a Mediterranean Gull flying over high with lots of Black-headed Gull, but couldn’t see it. While we looked a Great-spotted Woodpecker flew over, a group of Oystercatchers fed in the field and Wren, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Chiffchaff sang. The wet fields that are full of birds in winter were empty apart from a few Mallard, a Fox and a Roe Deer. As we turned to the path down to the sea Jonathan found another Whitethroat and Derek found a Seven-spot Ladybird. Among the plants here were Creeping Thistle and Spotted Medick.
The path down to the sea didn’t hold much apart from a Blue-tailed Damselfly, a Common Darter dragonfly and flowering Bird’s-foot Trefoil and Scarlet Pimpernel. As we hit the coast we saw Common Terns fishing over the sea and Sea Kale on the beach. A quick look around revealed a group of about 15 Eider on an island with several terns sitting there too. Terns kept flying past fishing and we got good views of a Little Tern that came and fished the pools near us. Walking along the path with the sea on one side and pools and fields on the other there was life everywhere. Shelduck, Linnets, 4 Teal and Mute Swans on the pools. Several Ringed Plover and a Dunlin on the island with the Eider and Common, Little and Sandwich Terns.
We walked back across the fields seeing a Lapwing, Linnets, Whitethroats, Reed Bunting and Heron. Plants we saw include Pineapple Mayweed smelling of pineapples and Hairy Buttercup in the short grass.
Simon Curson