I had a spare Saturday morning so decided that with nothing particular that took my fancy locally, I'd venture further afield to a reserve that I'd not visited before, near Portsmouth. Farlington Marshes is a coastal reserve and mostly popular for viewing wintering wildfowl but also has good numbers of waders at this time of the year.
It was a warm day, and although exposed to the sea, there was little wind and it was a pleasant walk around the 2.5 perimeter of the reserve. Initially I caught up with a small group of female birders who were pleased to help me identify some of the waders on the mudflat which could only be distantly identified with 'scopes although I could see the birds themselves in my binoculars. These included grey plovers, turnstones and a group of knot. I stayed around with the group for a little while as we looked over a small lagoon and some reed beds then decided to move on as I wanted to get round the whole of the reserve in the time I had. Although bearded tits can often be seen on the reserve, we could neither hear or see any today which was a pity.
Other birds of note were about a dozen or more ringed plovers interspersed with a few dunlin, good numbers of little egret and a large group of oyster catchers.
After completing the walk I re visited the lagoon where the rising tide had caused a large flock of grey plover to gather and I could more easily make out their changing plumage. There were also some yellow wagtails to be seen. Altogether I saw 40 species of bird so was pleased with that, including a couple new for the year.
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