Reports, with Bird Lists, of our Meetings, Walks and Outings

Only six brave souls ignored the weather forecast and went to Keyhaven on Sunday morning. Three had stayed locally overnight and the others travelled through the showers. Saturday night's storm and a high tide had left the free parking area covered in seaweed. By 9:30 it had cleared up and was a dry, overcast day.

We left the car park and walked along the footpath where we saw Turnstones, Dunlin, Redshanks, Grey Plover and also Rock Pipits.

Looking out towards the Isle of Wight there were Little Egrets, Brent Geese, Curlew, Cormorants and Red breasted Merganser swimming up a small channel.

We walked along the raised path between the sea on one side and lakes and marshland on the other. There were Widgeon, Teal and two Avocets on the lake; a Raven flew over, being mobbed by Carrion Crows.

Just before we turned inland, a Great White Egret landed next to a Little Egret, which was considerably smaller.

Walking along on the grass where cattle were grazing, we saw Shoveler, Pintail, Grey Heron and Linnets. Whilst we were watching these birds the Great White Egret flew over the top of us and we could see how much larger it was than the Little Egret. A fox was prowling the margins of a lake occupied by wary ducks.

As there had been so much rain during the week the fields were very wet, so waders and geese were plentiful. This included Black-tailed Godwits, Ruff, Golden Plovers, Greylag, Barnacle and Canada Geese. A large flock of Black-tailed Godwits were so tame that they were only about 5 - 6 metres away, allowing good photography.

Walking back towards Keyhaven there were Great Black-backed Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls. This area has been reclaimed from being a rubbish tip back in the 1980's. Further along we saw Dartford Warblers. A species not seen before by two of our group. Arriving back at the cars we had all had a good days birding, seeing a total of 58 different bird species.

Four of us then adjourned to The Gun pub before heading off.