 |
Sandpit Marshes |
|
It was a beautiful sunny morning on Sunday 19th March as members of the Waterside Natural History Society arrived at Stanpit Marshes on a field trip to look for sea birds and waders.
Unfortunately the tide was in so we knew we were not going to see as many waders as we had hoped but as we left the car park greenfinches were seen in the trees as house sparrows fed in the sun.
From the hedgerow came the beautiful song of a dunnock and through a gap in the hedge we had an excellent view of a handsome curlew.
With numerous black-headed gulls flying over the marsh, we saw a flock of wigeon feeding on a grassy area with a single redshank running amongst them looking for food, before being joined by a coot. Wood pigeons were much in evidence and we also saw a few feral pigeons and a moorhen disturbed a flock of dunlin over on a bank.Several carrion crows and a solitary pair of teal were seen as a skylark flew above us in the deep blue sky calling.
 |
Teal |
|
As we ventured further we saw a large flock of brent geese and heard the cry of a green woodpecker. There were quite a large flock of shelduck up on a bank resting away from the high tide.
A large group of oystercatchers were spotted and more teal and a very close view of a male wigeon feeding in one of the gulleys on his own. Sitting on the edge of a gorse area and not taking very much notice of us as we passed was a wild rabbit and a large group of cormorants were resting out on the shingle bank in the middle of the bay.
A pair of peregrine falcons were seen on the wing by one of our group as well as a kestrel and a black-tailed godwit on a point at the head of the marsh stretching out into Christchurch Harbour.As we re-entered the woods making our way back after a two hour stroll, we saw a nice display of celandine on the bank by a stream, this pretty yellow flower indicating that Spring is definitely on it's way.
 |
Wigeon |
|
A total of 32 different species were seen during our trip with a magpie, blackbird, great black-backed gull, pair of mallards, mute swan, robin, goldcrest, blue tit and chaffinch completing the list.
At the indoor meeting on Monday 27th March, we tested our knowledge of bird identification with guest speaker Gordon Small showing us some spectacular slides of birds that he has photographed throughout the country.
To provide us with a challenge, Gordon showed two or three slides of varying difficulty of each species, starting with an unusual view of the bird, maybe with it's head under the water or turned away, then a slide showing a slightly better view, before finally revealing the species, so at times to start with we only had a few feathers or a pair of feet to identify!
It was made a little more difficult as some of the birds were shown in their breeding plumage, whereas at the moment we are used to seeing them in their winter colours. We were also amazed to see a few pictures of chicks looking nothing like the adult birds, like the water rail whose chicks are black and fluffy with a very light coloured beak.
With a large variety of birds to identify from a goldfinch to a lesser yellow legs, a visitor from America, we learnt a lot about identifying certain birds, especially how to tell an Arctic tern from a sandwich tern and a common tern.
The Society's next outdoor meeting will be on Sunday 16th April with a visit to Fletchwood Meadows looking for Spring flowers and birds. Meet at Oak Road Car Park, Dibden Purlieu at 10.00am (strong footwear recommended.)
The next indoor meeting will be on Monday 24th April when we welcome Susan Bowser to talk about the Ponies and People of the New Forest. Meet at 7.30pm at the St. Andrew's Centre, Dibden Purlieu. Visitors very welcome at £2.00.
Please phone for further details on either 023 8089 7660 or 023 8084 5883. |
