For reasons beyond my understanding the text of this post vanished when I uploaded it, so I have added an abridged version today (March 12th)
The 7th was a quiet day, most of it spent sorting music files. In the evening we joined friends at Nexus for a meal and a drink in Wallisdown. There is a regular ‘bar-night’ every Wednesday, but we only occasionally attend.
Nexus bar night
On the 8th I birded two areas in the morning, Sherford Bridge where I hoped in vain to find a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (a species I have heard but not seen this year) and later Swineham where I saw several newly arrived Chiffchaffs at least two of which were in song. One was a brown and white type that had been found the previous day and tentatively identified as a ‘Siberian’ Chiffchaff. This bird sang briefly, giving a sppeded up warble as well as a couple odd chiff chaff notes. I am no closer to understanding what constitutes the boiundary between Common Chiffchaff and ‘Siberian’ Chiffchaff. On the way back ther was a flock of Fieldfares feeding on the rugby pitch.
Fieldfares at the Rugby Club.
A 'Siberian' type Chiffchaff
On the 9th Paul Morrison and I travelled to Farlington Marshes near Portsmouth in the hope of seeing a Green-winged Teal, the north American equivalent of our Common Teal. We arrived at 0815 but didn’t find the bird for four hours. We think it flew in on the rising tide as it was not present on our first circuit. Unlike the spring-like conditions of yesterday it was a cold and grey day but we were glad we managed we went and found this rare visitor from the Neartic.
Farlington Marshes lies alongside the very noisy M27.
Brent Geese are the most obvious species on the marsh. The pale tips to all the coverts show this a first year bird.
The sea wall that separates the freshwater marsh from the estuary is in need of repair.
We searched through many hundreds of Common Teal....
... to find the bird with a vertical stripe on the flanks.
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