Warsash and Solent Shores

Tuesday 31 October 

Leaving the house at 9.15 in lovely sunny weather and a light breeze I immediately recorded a Magpie before making my way down to Warsash harbour to take the coastal path down to the Solent. Once past the slipway a lone Little Egret quickly followed by a foraging flock of 25 Turnstones then a score of Redshank before finding a further 30 of the latter once beyond the School of Navigation (SoN).  Also in this first stretch alongside Strawberry Fields and down to the SoN, I recorded a score of Brent Geese, handful of Carrion Crows and a lone Collared Dove.

Once beyond the SoN and checking what was left of the mudflats between here and the Spit with a rapidly rising tide I found very many Oystercatchers along with many more Redshanks and a few more Black-tailed Godwits not to mention more than a hundred Brent Geese.  Resting in the lee of the Spit about forty Wigeon and as I made my way to the Solent shore a score of Woodpigeons passed overhead and a Chaffinch was recorded in the small spinney on the corner.

Brent Geese Branta bernicla

So on down to the Scrape where just the single Moorhen and Little Grebe along with a dozen Shoveler and over thirty Pintail were noted.  A few Mallard, a couple of Oystercatchers and a handful of Black-headed Gulls were also present.  On  top of a bramble bush to my left a male Stonechat with two more recorded on fence posts at the far end of the Meandering Pool.  Other than a single Black-headed Gull there was no bird present. Making my way back to the Scrape I recorded six Meadow Pipits, a single Sky Lark and a pair of Linnets. At the back of the gorse area a passing Magpie.

Then it was on towards Warsash and home but, with the tide now fully in, I did find nine resting Canada Geese on top of the Spit and a lone Curlew sheltering on the the bank.  A quartet of House Sparrows were flittering around a bush to my right but no other birds were noted.

Birds seen:

Canada Goose, Brent Goose, Wigeon, Mallard, Shoveler, Pintail, Little Grebe, Little Egret, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Sky Lark, Meadow Pipit, Stonechat, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet.

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