Northney + Farlington Marshes- 26/08/25

 With reports of Pied Flycatcher the previous day still in the Northney area, I had an early start and biked to the area from Havant train station.

At first, I walked along the sea walk north of Northney to see if anything was there. A field held a few Cattle Egret, but nothing else was seen.

After spending another hour or so checking a few sites and walking along the footpath where the Pied Flycatchers had been seen, there was no sign of anything- not even any Spotted Flycatchers. 

So, with seemingly not much point staying here, I biked to Farlington in hopes of seeing a bird that I've somehow managed to avoid so far in England...

After arriving at Farlington, I immediately went towards the visitor hut, going through the gate along the stream, heading for the bench. A few birders were there, and they said that the bird had just flown off- and hadn't come back. After a bit of waiting at the bench and no sign of anything, I walked to the lake to see if it had dropped in there. 

On the lake, half an hour of searching revealed two Curlew Sandpipers, a few Dunlin, four Ruff, a few Little Egrets, and a large group of Redshank.

Still no sign of my target, though. 

I headed off back towards the bench, and a birder I passed mentioned that it was back on the stream. With a slight spring in my step, I made it back to the bench, but a quick scan didn't reveal anything. Then, a small, a tiny, a miniature wader on the edge of the water grabbed my attention. There was no doubt. 

This was the Little Stint I had been hoping to see. 

Although I did see one in Spain briefly last summer, I haven't really been able to admire this species properly, and although by no means rare in Britain, I have managed very well to avoid them, picking up Least Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper before the Little Stint- but finally, I had set my sights on one of these wonderful birds.

A Lesser Whitethroat put in a brief appearance- a long-awaited Hampshire tick for me.

A Sparrowhawk flew through, and the Little Stint started heading away, so I moved positions to the path.

I was really enjoying myself, but sadly, the train home wasn't going to wait.

So although the trip hadn't quite gone as planned with an impromptu trip to Farlington, it had ended very well with a Hampshire tick and a British lifer- can't complain with that eh!