Ibis, Herons and Spoonbills

I decided that a visit to relatives down on the South Coast was long overdue and therefore myself and my birder's wife made our way down to the Southampton area on Friday night.

In order to not bore my birder's wife too much, I decided to get up early the following morning to tick off some of my wanted species and found myself at Farlington Marshes at 6:00am.  I had the Marshes to myself besides some workmen from the Environment Agency and a fellow birder who obviously had got up far earlier than myself, as he was finishing the circuit just as I was starting.  Farlington Marshes is a reserve I have popped by many times but not actually walked round and I cannot believe that I had not made the effort until this weekend.  It truly is a fantastic place with many habitats, from marshland, bushes, grassland and coastal mudflats which offer lots of exciting birds to view.  I immediately hooked up with the first of my wanted species, a Little Tern, which was fishing very close to shore.  I then proceeded round the reserve and soon arrived at the "Deeps" (two small pools of water sitting in the grassland) which have hosted a Glossy Ibis for the past couple of weeks.  Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Ibis but there were plenty of loathing Blackheaded Gulls, Little Egrets and a Bar Headed Goose associating with some Canada Geese.  I consoled myself that I had at least seen the Little Tern and continued on with the circuit.  As I approached the hut that lists recent sightings, I caught a glimpse of something black on the pool behind and lo and behold it was the Glossy Ibis which was looking absolutely resplendent in the early morning sunshine.  I tried to digiscope the bird but unfortunately could not hold the camera still due to the strong wind and only just managed the above record shot.

I then headed back to wake up my birder's wife and we headed out again but this time towards the New Forest.  Our first port of call was Pennington Marshes, where I thought we could try out for the Night Heron which had been seen there briefly earlier.  To be honest, I was not holding out much hope as I have had problems with this species in the past, especially with the bird that appeared in Warwickshire last year, which I finally managed to see after spending many hours waiting.  This time proved to be far different, after a 10 minute wait looking across a fishing pond at a heavily vegated island, I spotted a heron flying towards us which was the bird in question.  It proved to be very obliging and landed in a nearby tree and posed for us for a couples of minutes allowing me to obtain a great record shot (far better than the Ibis).  We then decided to walk out to the sea front, where the tide was in and the wind very strong, both conditions not that condusive for many birds and the only thing we spotted were some Little and Common Terns resting up from battling the strong gusts.  We decided to break for lunch before making our way into the New Forest to try for two more of my wanted species, Firecrest and Dartford Warbler.  After a brief look at Hawkhill Inclosure and Beaulieu Road Station, we finally found a Firecrest at Bolderwood but it took a fair bit of hunting.  The Dartford Warblers were hiding away from the strong wind and would have to wait for another day.

The following day (Sunday) we made our way to the Purbeck Peninsula to stay for one night and after quickly checking in at our hotel, we made our way to Langton Matravers which is the start of a walk to the "Dancing Ledge" on the "Jurassic Coast".   After 20 minutes of walking we were on the "Ledge" looking out to sea, with nothing between us and France except for "blue", my phone certainly thought so anyway, as it picked up a french network.  The "Dancing Ledge" is an excellent place for sea birds and before long, during which a bold little Rock Pipit fluttered round us , we had good views of Puffin, Razorbill and Guillemots (further species notched up).    As the weather began to close in we made an uphill dash back to the car and found somewhere to eat in nearby Corfe Castle.

Today, we decided to venture forth to Durlston Country Park for some further sea bird action and during our 2 hour visit managed Greater Black Backed Gulls, Lesser Black Backed Gulls and Herring Gulls, Guillemots, Razorbills, Gannets and one Manx Shearwater moving eastwards.  Birds in the bushes and on the cliffs included Rock and Meadow Pipits, Black Redstart and young Kestrels.  As time marched on, we started to make our way back home via Arne RSPB reserve where I was hoping to see Dartford Warblers which had so far eluded me during the weekend despite many efforts to try and see one.  Again, I was not fortunate and I had to contend with another year first instead, two fine looking Spoonbills and Simon King, who was apparently visiting the Reserve on one of his Nature Holidays that he leads.  We walked round the heathland twice but just could not find any Dartford Warblers, plenty of everything else, including Woodlarks but not the pesky Dartfords.  On the way back to the car we decided to broaded our horizons and watched the Dragonflies and Damselflies on the bog pool and even managed to capture an almost decent shot of a Four Spotted Chaser.

Alas, our time was running out and we started the long journey home.  I decided to make one final pitstop in the New Forest and while I left my birder's wife in the car finishing off her coffee,  I took a walk down a path with gorse on each side and finally managed to catch up with a very bold Dartford Warbler singing from the top of a bush (finally the last of my weekend target birds seen but only after hours of searching).  A great few days away, with good company, good weather and great birds.