Keyhaven - 29th October

A sunny and warm morning. Highlights were Little Owl, Kingfisher, Golden Plover, Wheatear, Little Stint and Peregrine.

Before we left the car park a Grey Wagtail flew over, but the birds really started showing as we looked over Avon Flash from the road. There were several Teal by the reeds and out on the water were a few Mallard, Pintail, a Little Grebe and a Shelduck. A small party of Long-tailed Tit flew past the bushes in front of us. We walked on to the reedbeds by the pool further on. No Bearded Tits as we had hoped, but we heard Water Rail and Cetti’s Warbler and some people saw a Kingfisher on a wire, spotted by Julie. There were also Mute Swans, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Black-headed Gulls and Little Grebe here. Jays kept flying over the reeds too. John searched out a pair of Little Owls around a derelict barn in the distance, but we got good views through the telescope.
We started walking along the sea wall seeing a Redshank very close, a few Turnstone roosting on a boat and a good view of a Rock Pipit. A large flock of Black-tailed Godwit were a wonderful sight as they flew over too. In the bushes a couple of Stonechat flitted around and another Jay flew over. A little further on, by some gorse bushes we saw more Stonechat, some Goldfinches, a Dunnock, good views of a Goldcrest, some Meadow Pipits and a brief view of a Green Woodpecker. Derek and Lyz found a large flock of Golden Plover with a few Lapwing on the estuary near a Cormorant and Pat found another Little Grebe on the sea. Further on still and a Greenshank flew out of the marsh while a Kestrel hovered over and we got a better view of the Green Woodpecker. Where the gorse bushes give way to an area of short grass there was a Wheatear. From here we looked out over the estuary for waders. Curlew, a few Grey Plover, plenty of Wigeon, Little Egret, 3 Canada Geese and a Kingfisher spotted by Lyz. Then John found a Peregrine flying nearby. It flew out over towards Hurst Spit, circled a few times and then came back over towards us giving quite close views.
We walked on to Keyhaven Lagoon. Lots of birds here as it was high tide and they were roosting. Many Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing with a few Redshank and Dunlin. At the far end we saw 5 Shoveler. We walked on and actually made it to Fishtail Lagoon. Brent Geese, Shoveler, Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, a Heron, Little Egrets were all seen. On the island we were pleased to see that there were 2 Little Stint. As we walked back a couple of Swallows flew over.
Simon Curson