A breezy morning on Farlington Marshes.

Saturday 19th March 2022.

This 'Light-belled' Brent Goose among the 'Dark-bellied' Brent was our first for the Winter.

I really did not want to go too far from home today as Becky and I were on Grandparent duties today and  so I decided Andy and myself would give Farlington Marshes a try this morning. The weather looked promising with a clear blue sky and virtually sunshine all day, however, we did not count on that nagging blustery cold easterly wind. Even when we were walking up to the viewing platform by the main Lake, two ladies passed us by and said it would have been a  beautiful morning if it wasn't for that wind!

Several Curlews were out in the harbour, west of the reserve.

Brent Geese and wildfowl on the Lake.

The tide was slowly rising within Langstone Harbour, but it wasn't for another couple of hours before high tide and so the exposed mudflats to the west of the reserve only held a handful of Curlews of note. Thankfully, there was a lot more activity on the main Lake where I counted at least 20 Avocets feeding in various areas of the Lake. Other waders present were a tight flock of resting Redshanks at the far end of the Lake, keeping close to the reedbed and out of the wind. More birds continued to fly on to the Lake to join them plus a small group of three Greenshank.

Redshank keeping out of the wind on the main Lake while an Avocet carries on feeding.  

My Swarovski telescope is still being mended and so I could not find any other waders hiding by the reeds and that included any possible Little Ringed Plovers on the north side of the Lake. While checking out the birds here, that included good numbers of Teal and Brent Geese, soon everything went up as a passing Common Buzzard flew high over, heading south west and hotly pursued by a Carrion Crow that would not leave it alone.

An Avocet, Redshank and Greenshank at the back of the Lake.

A passing Common Buzzard put up all the birds on the main Lake.

Eventually we made the decision to make our way anticlockwise around the reserve, but the ‘eye-watering’ wind was a real pain. I could clearly see the storm damage from Storm Eunice  around the southern part of the reserve, with vast amounts of seaweed strewn across the fields and even buckling one of the barbed wire fences. I honestly thought we would bump into a Wheatear or two, but despite checking the fields thoroughly and along the sea wall, we did not come across a single bird. In fact, there were hardly any reported today along the south coast and probably due to that wind putting them off crossing the Channel.

Sunny but cold around by the Point Field.

An adult Mediterranean Gull cruises over the Deeps.

Brent Geese numbers are reducing all the time as reports of large flocks passing Hayling and Selsey have been reported; though Farlington Marshes still held at least 4 to 500 birds at least grazing in various sized flocks throughout the reserve. It was when we took one of the small benches to have a coffee from Andy’s flask, that I picked up our first ‘Light-bellied’ Brent Goose among the ‘Dark-bellied’ birds. It really stood out like a sore thumb among the other Geese, with its much paler flanks ‘glowing’ in the bright sunshine. Also from here, a male Reed Bunting briefly perched on a nearby bramble and out on the Deeps area, vast numbers of Black-headed Gulls jostled for territory on the Tern rafts and around the Deeps itself. I checked the Shovelers, Wigeon and Mallard here for any early Garganey, but to no avail.

This 'ringed' male Reed Bunting showed well while we had a coffee by the Deeps.

We found the remains of this wing which we believe belonged to a Redshank.

After our refreshments, we carried on walking around the perimeter, but there was little of note until we reached the bench overlooking the top of the main Stream, near the Information Centre. Bearded Tits were our main quarry here as we had yet to add this species to our year list. From the bench, there were a further three Avocets asleep by the water and up to 9 Black-tailed Godwits close by. A pair of Lesser Black-backed Gulls also rested by the water and a few Moorhens were busy swimming up and down on the water in front of us. At least we were out of that awful wind for a while and with the sun on our backs, it was simply nice to be out. A Cetti’s Warbler sang occasionally behind us and I think we even caught a glimpse of it as it flew overhead and into the reedbed.

Avocets roosting on the top of the Stream.

Some of the Black-tailed Godwits are going into summer plumage.

Walking between the Stream and the Bushes area, we soon came across a singing Chiffchaff within the ‘Double-ponds’ area, but the bird remained elusive and so we carried on towards the main Lake again. Despite the wind, I did hear a Bearded Tit called in the reedbed and eventually, I spotted a bird flying east low over the reeds, but Andy failed to get onto the bird. However, he soon spotted his own bird flying low over the reeds and so Bearded Tit happily climbed on board our year list; my 157th species for the year so far.

A large gathering of Starlings were seen throughout the day, feeding on insects, but had to be on their guard from raptors.

This female Shoveler posed nicely in the sunshine by the Deeps.

While checking the large number of Gulls on the Stream, suddenly everything flew up again and this time it was a superb and very close, male Peregrine coming into hunt. The bird flew some 20 metres away from us as it twisted and turned after some poor hapless bird, but it looked as though it came away fruitless as it hurried off eastbound and out of sight. That was to be our last notable sighting for our trip here today as we made our way along the seawall back to the car park. Another Chiffchaff was heard singing deep within the Bushes area again, to remind us once more that all those Spring migrants are on their way.