I was travelling home from Sussex this week so decided that staying overnight in a Premier inn would give me a chance to see a few birds along the south coast, in particular some purple sandpipers which I've never seen before.
After an early start I stopped firstly at Farlington Marshes, just outside Portsmouth where I used a walk around the reserve to add some species to my yearly bird total There were plenty of wildfowl on the marshes, including geese of the Canada and brent variety, and ducks such as wigeon, teal, pintail and shoveler. I also found a nice flock of curlew and a few redshanks.
It does not take too long to circuit the reserve so I was soon on my way to Southsea Castle on the south coast. The old castle stands above the promenade which then has some quite large stones between the promenade and the sea which the public can't access. However it has become a favourite area for some purple sandpipers who feed on the rocks nearest the waters edge. The tide was already receding when I arrived and no sandpipers could be seen at their favourite area below the castle. I walked along a bit in either direction before coming across some other birders who told me that they'd just seen some on some distant rocks at the far end of the promenade beyond where it had been barricaded off for renovation work. Thinking it might be my only chance of a sighting, I headed in that direction and peering around the metal fencing with my binoculars, eventually made out a small silhouette against the water.. Well that was a bit disappointing but at least I could say I'd seen one, couldn't I?
As I walked slowly back along the promenade, carefully scanning the rocks as I went, a flock of about half a dozen small birds flew past and landed in front of the castle - the purple sandpipers were back! I caught them up and watched them against the sea - about seven birds in total. The sun was low in the sky behind them so not ideal for photos, but eventually I managed some, despite them still being quite distant. I guess when the tide is closer the birds will be too but for now I was content to see a new species.
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment