An enjoyable walk round Keyhaven on sunday evening. Was going to title this entry "Who let the ducks out?" as the first couple of lagoons had a few dodgy specimens including 2 Black Swans, 2 Speckled Teals, and the usual not quite pure mallards!
However, by the end of the walk had seen a good number of Waders and one or two surprises.
In addition to the Speckled Teal which I had never seen, or indeed heard of before, there was also a Little Egret with completely yellow legs, and a male Stonechat with a virtually black breast. however, I'm happy they were "just" a little Egret, and "just" a very worn Male Stonechat!
A Dartford Warbler popped out of the gorse bushes for a few moments, and a Willow/Chiff gave an all too brief view to determine what species it was. A Rock Pipit feeding along the shoreline gave a much better view. Most of the usual Keyhaven species were present and showing well. 15 Little Terns was a good scope full, but no Sandwich Terns today.
Waders are returning in good numbers now, with higher numbers of Dunlin and Redshanks since my visit a month ago. Also saw 2 Common Sandpipers, and 3 Greenshanks. Of the 20 or so Black Tailed Godwits, most were in superb summer plumage, one was in non-breeding plumage.
Returning back to the car in the fading light was the most eventful part of the day, the last lagoon had an abundance of Ringed Plovers, Lapwings, Oystercatchers, Redshanks and Dunlin, plus plenty of wildfowl. All very nervous as a Fox stalked the bank. I dropped below the horizon so not to distract them further, and sneaked past without causing any additional disturbance. The Godwits in particular were very vocal. in the distance, a Roe Deer with a Fawn nervously made her way out into the marsh. Once out of earshot of the roost, I heard a Nightjar Churring which was a total surprise! With the high wind it was impossible to determine which area the churring was coming from, and the bird had stopped by the time I got to another, potentially closer viewpoint to listen from. Driving out of Keyhaven village, a Tawny Owl showed well perched on a telegraph pole.
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