AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER Twitch @ Warsash. 02/04/26

It's been a while since I've really been anywhere with a specific target bird, so it was nice to be out and about again with a clear aim in mind. The subject of todays' trip is an American Golden Plover that turned up on Monday, while I was actually out birding on the Selsey Peninsula. Sooo why is there not a blog post about that yet? Well, I've already worked 4 hours on it and haven't got half way, so thought I would do this post first and then finish that tomorrow, or later in the week. It was a great day, but insanely exhausting (walked 20 miles). Great species were seen, and it was an absolute blast, so do check for when it finally comes out:)

So, after waking up at 7:15 and having a pretty slow morning getting stuff ready, with no reports telling me that the bird was gone, I headed down to the station, bought my ticket to Swanwick, and boarded the train. Immediately as I did, a report came through that the bird was still present. Brilliant.

I arrived at Swanwick at 9:26, and made it to Warsash for about 10:00. I started biking up the sea path, heading closer and closer to the pin, and soon noticed a small group of birders looking at something. 

Hopeful...

I made it there, got my camera and binoculars out, scanned the mud, and immediately picked a small, brownish plover out. This was the American Golden Plover- stunning!

It was out on the mud banks around with Grey Plovers, just minding its own business. Such a beautiful little wader!

It was relatively close, just moving around, catching the occasional worm. 

Here it is with a Grey Plover.

Well, number 218 in Britain, and a fifth lifer of the year! A brilliant start to April, with a vagrant lifer coming on just the second day of the month. Brilliant!

The sun soon came out, giving some great light... this was just incredible.

There was quite a lot of other stuff around, including Brent Geese, a couple Black-tailed Godwits, two Mute Swans, and a few Avocets.

The American Golden Plover was still just standing there, before moving to a slightly more vegetated area on the mud banks. 

The plover went out of view, so I took a few photos of a Dunlin.

The American Golden Plover is a scarce but not all too rare vagrant to the UK, with a few reaching our shores every year. Hampshire is definitely not the best county for them, but they seem to turn up once every few years. 

The bird soon came back into view, here are some heavily cropped shots.

After about 15 minutes, everything flew up, and the plover landed very close, giving just stunning views. Wowee! 

It disappeared below a ridge, but seconds later, its head popped up.

It spent a while making its way down the bank before coming into view- what an insanely cool bird this really is! 

It seemed very happy to just feed right in front of us, giving terrific views.

I continued watching it, loving every moment. Now and again I would get up and look at it through my scope, which yielded just mouth-watering close-ups and detail of the bird. I was absolutely buzzin!

This bird was just brilliant. I ended up taking 367 photos of it- in just an hour. That is a lot more than I usually get. Like a lot more. Sometimes birds just require endless clicking of the shutter. This was one of them. 

This was pretty insane. What a stunning bird... 

These views were, and scuse the pun, but these views were just golden.

The tide was rapidly coming in, and with the plover on a small island, it kept on having to move as the water pushed it onto the banks. It soon just decided to stand there and wait for the water to come up to it.

Its island soon dissapeared, and before long, with the water pushing it away, it flew off into the distance, bringing this incredible trip to a close.

Wow Wow Wow. What a day. What a trip. What a bird! I enjoyed that soooo much. It's been great to be able to get back out and about, and what a bird to kick April off! My second lifer plover of the year.. after the Killdeer back in January. It's been a great weeks birding, with the Selsey Big Day happening on Monday, as mentioned before, I will get the post out, but its just taking so long because of all the stuff I saw. That said, this has taken quite a few hours, due to all the photos I've had to edit- 34 to be exact...! Well, I'm going to leave you on that note, as I need to get some sleep. Hope all have enjoyed and will be back at some point soon to read all about the crazy day I had on Monday. 

Good night:)

And of course, many thanks to the finder, A Collins:)

Farlington Marshes 18/03/26

Sun. Sun! Can you believe it... Sun, England, March, not a common trio that goes together. So, when the opportunity arrived for me to be dropped off at Farlington this afternoon, I powered on with school so that I could go. With not too much about and not being able to get out birding too much, I was really looking forward to it. A nice, sunny afternoon on the coast, with spring well on its way. Wonderful.

I arrived at about 13:40, with 2 hours or so to play with. Immediately, a Mediterranean Gull flew overhead, and a few Greenfinches were calling. The tide was going out, but only a few islands were visible out in the harbour. One such island held a few Redshanks, Oystercatchers, Black-Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, and a great 12 Common Gulls.

A Great Crested Grebe was out in the harbour, which I spent a little while photographing whilst I walked up the path towards the lake. 

It swam off, so I made it to the main lake, got myself seated down on the grass, set my scope up, and spent the next half an hour photographing stuff. 

Out of the wind, it was actually very warm- a perfect spring afternoon. A few Shelduck were about, along with plenty of Redshank, Teal, Mallards, Wigeon, and Canada Geese behind the lake on the fields. The most noticeable thing, however, was the large number of Avocets. Wherever you looked, there were one, two, three, or more dotted around the lake in close proximity. It's been quite a while since I've actually seen Avocets, such a great bird.

A small shape on the mud in front of the reeds formed into a Snipe, and although the photo may suggest it was relatively distant, views through the scope were stunning.

It soon disappeared, so I put my attention back on the Avocets... they were just everywhere, I hardly knew where to look!

A Redshank came relatively close and was picking worms out of the mud. A Mallard came somewhat close as well, so I paid it some attention; they are incredible ducks, really.

A small group of Avocets came relatively close and started squabbling about, well, something or other.

A very smart Pintail swam by, and a Redshank flew in to the bank.

With this, I reluctantly decided to move on; I could've spent all afternoon sitting there. A few Brent Geese flew in as I was walking along the path, and over the field, the all-familiar sci-fi-like calls of Lapwings drifted in my direction. This was absolutely wonderful. 

A Teal was in some water and allowed some photos. Stunning ducks, I really love the patterning on the male's back.

As I walked on, I scanned for a Wheatear to no avail, but this didn't dampen my mood at all. What an incredible spring afternoon. The memories of last spring flooded back into my memory. What a time it is. And just as I felt as though it couldn't feel any more "springy", the song of a Skylark reached my ears, followed by a display flight from a Meadow Pipit. There was action everywhere.

A Moorhen was on a small body of water, and at the back, a Shelduck, Shoveler, and Lapwing were sitting.

A Wren sang from a bush, and another Meadow Pipit flew up, then down in its incredible flight. 

I continued walking along and made it to the lower path through the field, which I took to save a little bit of time. All of a sudden, everything from the deeps seemed to go up and flew in my rough direction, including Shelducks, all kinds of ducks, and gulls. As I searched around for the cause, a Sparrowhawk zipped by. There we go.

Before long, I made it to the deeps and sat myself on a bench. A scan showed there to be huge amounts of Mediterranean Gulls, along with Wigeon, Teals, Shovelers, Mallards, Black-headed Gulls, Redshank, and a few Tufted Ducks.

After a while observing all the action, I noticed how the gulls would always fly off to my right into the harbour. With the sun in the perfect place for photos, I adjusted my camera settings and got ready to try to photograph some gulls in flight- mainly aiming for Med Gulls. After a little trial and error, I finally focused on one. Success.

I've never managed decent Med Gull flight shots before, so I was very pleased with these. I spent another half an hour photographing them, but sometimes just admired the plumage with my own eyes. Stunning birds.

There were such large numbers that I had an opportunity to photograph them every thirty seconds or so. Quite a few Black-headed Gulls were moving through as well, making a lot of noise.

I was enjoying this so much... I say that quite a lot! 

This was probably my favourite photo of all.

I turned my attention to the Tufted Ducks, taking a photo or two, before spending a final few minutes photographing the gulls and moving on.

Just before I started walking, a Meadow Pipit zipped past, not even half a meter away from my head. Wow!

Having spent so much time photographing the gulls, I powered along down the path, stopping briefly to photograph a Crow that was standing on a bench.

A rather good looking Shoveler showed well in decent light, and a few Greenfinch were calling.

I soon made it down from the seawall, and in the field on my right, quite a few Canada Geese were situated, along with some Shelduck and Brent Geese.

A single Brent Goose was in the field by the visitor hut, and feeling tired and in need of a drink, I walked in and sat down for a few minutes.

After a nice rest in the shade and a drink, I went back outside into the sun and noticed a few birders who seemed to be looking at something. I asked if they'd seen anything, and was informed that there was a White-tailed Eagle in the distance. Through some very helpful and efficient instructions, I got onto it very briefly with my binoculars. Unfortunately, it was very distant, but I could see what it was through binoculars. But an attempt to get the scope on it ended with me losing the bird and not being able to find it again. Another incredible species seen, though!

A Mallard was bathing in one of the puddles on the path, so I had to get a photo before realising my time was up, so I headed down the path and made my way to the car park.

Well, what a time it had been. So, so many cool species seen, and such brilliant photo opportunities of the Med Gulls. The sun was in full force all afternoon, with a strong breeze cooling the air down. I had really enjoyed just being out and about, admiring all the common species and some scarcer ones. What a wonderful reminder of how incredible spring is, the volume of birds about just skyrockets from winter. But, it is a reminder that spring can be slightly difficult birding- but in a good way. Too many things to look at is the way I like it, and while it may mean you miss one or two things, you just see so much. Well, here's to a great spring, and the sun continuing to shine (something I very much doubt)!

Hope all have enjoyed:)