Trip reports

Farlington Marsh 19 November

Sunday, 19 November 2006

Four members met on a cold, but bright, morning as the high tide flowed into Portsmouth harbour. There, we quickly found brent geese, shelduck and black-necked grebe. In the bushes were robin, dunnock, fieldfare and redwing. The very still day was perfect for seeing bearded tits at the pools, we were able to watch them as they foraged in the reeds. Also on the pools were avocet, wigeon, teal, and shoveler. We were about to move off when we spotted an agitated wren chasing a bird around a dense bramble bush. The wren won, and the other bird flew to the top of the next bush along the path - a lovely male Dartford warbler giving us an excellent view. Around the path we saw many pairs of stonechats and reed bunting, and on the next pool snipe and water rail. On the sea were seals swimming close by, and the small islands were full of dunlin, lapwing and grey plover. We spent lunch watching a nearby merlin sitting on a fence post. Making our way back to the cars we added meadow pipit, ringed plover, pied wagtail and black-tailed godwit to our list. We finished the day with 47 species. Vic Austin