Beaulieu Road Station and Pennington Marsh

Beaulieu Road Station and Pennington Marsh



I had worked a long week despite the Bank Holiday and so on Friday 1st April I finished at 14:00 and headed to Beaulieu Road Station for a walk. I parked at Shatterford and walked south, along Bishop’s Dyke and back via Denny Wood.

Stonechat numbers seemed to be up, with 12 birds seen, returning summer migrants? Then a definite migrant and my first migrant of the year, a male Redstart frantically foraging in the Silver Birch at Bishop’s Dyke.

I think that this is the first time ever that my first spring migrant has been a Redstart. Other than that, four Wood Lark (2 at Denny wood and 2 at Bishop’s Dyke), 2 Redpoll and a couple of singing were the highlights.

Still, it was great to be out on a lovely spring afternoon.

Beaulieu Road Station and Pennington Marsh
Male Redstart – Bishop’s Dyke

On 2nd April I spent a few hours at Pennington Marsh and walked the full loop out past Fishtail Lagoon, past Keyhaven Lagoon, along Iley Point and back along the Ancient Highway taking in the balancing pond to the north of the Ancient Highway. It was a glorious spring morning but with a cold north-west wind.

Three Chiffchaff sang around the car park and called overhead. Numbers of wader and wildfowl and now definitely on a significant decline as birds move north with only around 75-100 the commonest species. I spent some time  overlooking Fishtail Lagoon and enjoyed 5 as they flew in from the north.

Also present here were a couple of Ruff and around 12 Snipe. A short seawatch at the point at Butts Lagoon produced a couple of . At Keyhaven Lagoon my first Swallow appeared with a second at Iley Point. I walked to the fields to the north of the balancing pond where a male and female were my first of the year.

Two Marsh Harrier showed over the reedbed and around 20 fed around the balancing pond. As I walked back along the Ancient Highway my final spring migrant of the day was a which sang from the bramble scrub.

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Chiffchaff – Pennington Marsh

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Black-tailed Godwit, almost full summer plumage – Pennington Marsh

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Mediterranean Gull, calling overhead – Pennington Marsh

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Mediterranean Gull, such cracking birds – Pennington Marsh

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Spoonbill – Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

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Spoonbill – Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

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Male – Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

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Male Reed Bunting – Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

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Little Egret – Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

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– Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

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Black-tailed Lagoon, this bird still in winter plumage – Iley Point, Pennington Marsh

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Female Marsh Harrier – Pennington Marsh

 

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Simon Colenutt

Simon Colenutt

I began birdwatching at the age of nine when living on the Isle of Wight. After obtaining a copy of the Isle of Wight Bird Report from 1976 I realised that Manx Shearwater, Arctic Skua, Pomarine Skua and Black Tern were regularly seen at St.Catherine's Point, only five miles from my home village of Chale Green. To a nine year old these birds were near mythical and so I just had to go and try to see them. Little did I know that these birds were seasonal and after a long winter of seeing nothing I eventually started to bump into other birdwatchers as March drew to a close. It was then that Dave Hunnybun, Dave Wooldridge, Paul Castle, Peter Gandy and Audrey Wilkinson introduced me to the art of seawatching and the joys of bird migration, I have not looked back since.

Simon Colenutt

Simon Colenutt

I began birdwatching at the age of nine when living on the Isle of Wight. After obtaining a copy of the Isle of Wight Bird Report from 1976 I realised that Manx Shearwater, Arctic Skua, Pomarine Skua and Black Tern were regularly seen at St.Catherine's Point, only five miles from my home village of Chale Green. To a nine year old these birds were near mythical and so I just had to go and try to see them. Little did I know that these birds were seasonal and after a long winter of seeing nothing I eventually started to bump into other birdwatchers as March drew to a close. It was then that Dave Hunnybun, Dave Wooldridge, Paul Castle, Peter Gandy and Audrey Wilkinson introduced me to the art of seawatching and the joys of bird migration, I have not looked back since.

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