What-a Pipit! What a Lark! Saturday 4th February 2023

It had only been three months since we'd seen some Shore Larks in Norfolk and even less since we'd year ticked a Water Pipit at a foggy London Wetlands Centre. Even though we weren't going mad for a year list this time around, I'd long wanted to see a Water Pipit close up and to have a chance to gain some reasonable photos of one. So I'd been watching news of one gracing the beach at Bowleaze Cove near Weymouth during the previous fortnight with much interest. However, those reports were quite sporadic so I hatched a plan to travel to Keyhaven Marshes on the Solent and see a long staying Shore Lark there, while waiting for news that the Pipit was present before travelling further along the south coast to Weymouth.

We'd only been to Keyhaven once before and didn't stay any longer than it took to eat an ice-cream because it was ridiculously busy with holiday-makers. When we pulled up this time on the adjacent road at eight o'clock on Saturday morning, the only other people there were camper van owners that had obviously chosen the convenience of free parking to spend the night. We recognised one of the vans so called our mate Mark (The Early Birder) and told him his cover had been blown. We also wanted to know if he'd found the Shore Lark since, once again, we didn't want to spend too long in the area. At that point he hadn't found the Lark but was looking for it. We geared up and began the walk to the start of Hurst Spit and towards Hurst Castle which lay at the far end of the mile long bank of clay, pebbles and rocks. The Spit is a man-made protective ridge that protects a salt marsh and provides a safe haven for boats from the Solent and sea beyond. On the seaward side it faces the Isle of Wight, a few miles offshore, and it consists of shingle and rocks which attracts little except people and their dogs. On the inward side however, is a rich habitat which is home to much bird life and thankfully doesn't offer the same draw to people and dogs.

The walk starts by crossing a bridge over a fast flowing and shallow stream. Here there are lots of birds that take advantage of peoples generosity. Black-headed Gulls, Mallards and Mute Swans all wait for, and squabble over, the copious amount of bread that is dished out daily. I don't believe in feeding bread to birds so they all gave me a disproving look when they realised I was a meany. Another species that is attracted to the free handouts is the Turnstone and by the edge of the stream there were maybe as many as a hundred of them. I learned later that they are supplementarily fed seed by the bend of the road, in much the same way as the Twite were at Knott End (which are covered in a recent blog here).

Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

We began the walk down the spit which stretched away in front of us for almost as far as we could see in the first light of the morning. The walking was easy along the flat vehicular track on the top, not everybody has to walk here, and we had a good all round view of the marsh to our left. The Shore Lark if present, would be feeding amongst the vegetation at the bottom of the ridge and even though the bird would be well camouflaged we should be able to find it. I gave Mark another call. He'd walked all the way to the Castle and hadn't seen the Lark. He was now walking back but paying more attention to the marshy area. I could see him away in the distance. In the meantime as we walked towards him, I spotted another bird that I'd been hopeful of finding while by the sea, a fine Grey Plover stalked the edge of the marsh. We often struggle to add Grey Plovers to our year list, we don't get too many in Oxfordshire (incidentally we only saw our first last year, well into September at Port Meadow in Oxford), so to see one this early in the year felt like a good bonus. In fact we found three of the robust birds, as well as hundreds of Dunlin, a few Redshank and Oystercatchers, and a couple of Curlew.

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)

Duck species were well represented on the marsh, we could see good numbers of Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler as well as a couple of Shelduck which were our first of the year. Over a hundred Brent Goose were also present and there was much toing and froing up and down the marshy creeks.

Brent Geese (Branta benicla)

Back to the matter in hand though, to find the Shore Lark, and as it happened we didn't have to because Mark had found it for us. He was waving his arms in the air and pointing to a spot at the bottom of the spit. We were still a few hundred metres away so I called him again to get confirmation. Five minutes later we were watching the Lark pick about for food in some stranded seaweed. It felt sweet to add the species to our year list early for a change instead of waiting until a visit to Norfolk in the autumn.

Shore Lark (Eremophila alpestris)

Shore Larks are lovely little birds, essentially another so called 'little brown job' but in reality much more than that with a lemon yellow face which in intersected by a black mask giving it the look of a bandit. There is a black collar as well and a narrow black border to the crown. In breeding plumage the males also grow little tufts on each side of the head which give it a devilish look and its alternative name of Horned Lark. They are primarily birds of mountainous areas, breeding above the tree-line but migrate to lower altitudes in the winter and a few spend that season around the coasts of Britain. This bird was actively feeding for a few seconds on a clump of seaweed or marshy plant before choosing another spot. It was moving back towards to our parked car too, if we'd arrived a bit later then we would hardly have had to walk a couple of hundred metres to see it. We had stayed on the top of the ridge so could follow the bird easily as it flew along the edge of the marsh. Whenever the bird stopped to feed at a patch of vegetation, its camouflage worked superbly and it became more difficult to pick out, unless it faced us when the lemon face shone radiantly. Even on the pebbly sections of the lower path, it could be hard to pick out.

We didn't stay long, we had that more sought after bird that we wanted to see. It wasn't worth waiting for news of the Water Pipit still being there either, we'd have to risk it. The Weymouth area is always good for a few hours birding anyway. We bade our goodbyes to Mark and returned the car. At the road we lingered for a short while to admire the antics of the Turnstones which were running around taking advantage of any titbits that were being offered.

Year List additions;

118) Grey Plover, 119) Shelduck, 120) Shore Lark

The drive to Overcombe just to the east of Weymouth took us just over an hour and a half through the busy Saturday morning traffic. Along the way we passed Longham Lakes and relived memories of rare Terns, we've seen Whiskered, American Black and White-winged Terns at the site and all feature on previous blogs. I also have vague memories of Bowleaze Cove and a holiday that I took there with my Grandparents when I was probably six or seven years old. In truth my only recollection of that time is triggered by a few old photographs but I'm almost sure that I can remember the funfair and hustle and bustle of what was, back then, a vibrant seaside resort. Sadly the area is now less salubrious, the huge clifftop Riviera Hotel is dilapidated as is much of the rest of the site. We weren't here for those type of thrills however, so after parking up we made our way to the beach where the Water Pipit had been reported over the winter. The day had turned out to be reasonably pleasant for early February but thankfully there were few other people around apart from the ubiquitous dog walkers and their charges. Nobody else had come to see the bird. If the bird was still there of course.

The beach was bisected by a swift and fairly wide stream which had eroded a gully through the pebbles and shingle. We had elected to wear walking boots so crossing the stream was impossible, even at the sea end without getting a boot full. I knew that because I watched a couple of young women get very wet legs when they attempted to cross, although their attempt created a moment of comedy for them and us! In five minutes of scanning the beach I only found a couple of Pied Wagtails and a single Grey Wagtail which were feeding on the strand line close to the ruined shell of a seafront arcade so I began to fear that the Pipit was elsewhere. Luckily Mrs Caley was more observant and spotted the Water Pipit much closer to us than I imagined it would be, although it was still about thirty metres away and crucially on the other side of the stream. The pale brown and sparsely streaked Pipit was also catching insects in the stranded seaweed, I had probably overlooked it because it was so understated. 

Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta)

I wanted to get closer and to get those better photos of the Water Pipit a species that I'd seen well before, but only through a scope and I had never previously obtained any rateable images of one. So while Mrs Caley sat on a rock next to the stream, I walked back to the car and changed my walking boots for wellingtons. Now I was able to cross the stream although I still managed to stumble and catch a bit of water as I did so. I traversed the stream lower down towards the beach end so that I'd be underneath the strand line where the birds had been feeding and so that I'd be less likely to disturb them. Now I was on the same side of the beach as the birds, my only problem was I couldn't see the Water Pipit! For a few horrible moments I thought that the Pipit may have flown off but Mrs Caley assured me that it hadn't while I'd been changing my footwear, and was still there right up to the time I'd rejoined her by the sea. After a panicky few minutes of checking the entire beach I did find the Pipit again. It emerged from underneath a broken section of decking, where it had either been feeding surreptitiously or taking refuge. Now I was sat down on the pebbles, the Water Pipit felt safe enough to resume its hunt for food although it stayed close to the buildings and the decking. I was half the distance away than I was on the other side of the beach though, so I was now able to get some of those craved for images.

The next fifteen minutes or so were some of the most enjoyable I've had this year so far. Just me and Mrs Caley watching the fabulous Water Pipit feeding amongst the seaweed in full view and at leisure. The views were unrivalled and another of the boxes on my wish list was fulfilled. Like all Pipits, Water Pipits are cryptically plumaged birds, a mix of browns, cream and white. This one looked quite grey at times, like a washed out Rock Pipit which it is closely related to and very similar in looks. I find Pipits a very difficult group of birds to identify so to see the Water Pipit so closely and at length would hopefully help me in the future should I ever find one on a local wetlands.

The fun was interrupted by a couple walking straight through the strand line which caused the Water Pipit and Wagtails to all fly off. Luckily however, the object bird flew straight past Mrs Caley and towards the old derelict pier back on the over side of the beach. I waded through the fast flowing water again, this time managing not to fill my boots with water. I didn't know where the Pipit had flown to but Mrs Caley did, and she directed me to the pier itself. There stood on one of the rusty railings was the bird. I crept closer and took some portrait photos even though I had big trouble in choosing a correct exposure now that the bird was framed by the clear sky behind.

Once the Water Pipit had decided that all was good again in its world, it flew up from the pier and to my amazement because I'm not usually so lucky, it landed on the beach just twenty feet away. I didn't even have to move and just stayed knelt where I was while the Pipit chased small flies that it found amongst the seaweed.

I was now getting even better and closer views than I'd had already. It was as if the Water Pipit was rewarding me for my efforts. While I took photos of the bird I could hear myself quietly chuckling away to myself. Moments like this are the best when birding, a time when I am totally immersed in the bird's world while it did what came to it naturally. All of my hopes for the day up to that point had come to fruition. Who doesn't love it when a plan works out? I know I do. 

A marauding dog broke the spell and the last I saw of the Water Pipit was it flying away back towards the dilapidated leisure buildings. But I'd had more than my fill of a superb bird and I finally had the photos that I'd wanted for some time. Another scarce Pipit species had been seen just a little further down the coast earlier that morning so we decided to give it a bash at connecting with that as well.

Year List addition;

121) Water Pipit

The Richard's Pipit that was next on the wish list for the day had been reported for a couple of days frequenting a horse paddock above the quaintly and mysteriously named Pirates Cove at Wyke Regis. In February, Weymouth is pretty quiet so it only took ten minutes or so to reach the closest road access to the Pipit. We walked downhill towards the Cove along Pirates Lane emerging at the bottom a few minutes later and into a sea of dog walkers and their owners. Pirates Cove itself was a wide, shallow, muddy pool at the back of the vast shingle covered Chesil Beach, and a far cry from the tiny cliff enclosed Cornish style inlet that I'd imagined. The cove acted as a loafing spot for hundreds of Gulls which were resting and bathing there, although they were frequently disturbed by dogs and stick throwing idiots. I'm really beginning to detest some dog owners and their blatant disregard of the natural world and the creatures that live in it.

Most of the Gulls on offer were of the Mediterranean variety and despite the disruption of the barking dogs, I was happy to add the species to my year list. I didn't stay long though, I had already managed to fall out with a woman who was allowing her untethered charges to run amok through the Gulls. Mrs Caley wisely led me away before I said too much. 

Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus)

We could see some birders stood on the brow of a small hill so trudged up the slope towards them. A quick inquiry revealed that the Richard's Pipit hadn't been seen since ten o'clock that morning so our hopes of adding that bird immediately dissipated. We gave it half an hour and gave up, thinking we'd grab a coffee and lunch somewhere before it got too late. There were no further reports of the Richard's Pipit that day.

Year List addition;

122) Mediterranean Gull

Our next stop was made at the RSPB reserve at Radipole Lake in the centre of Weymouth. There we bumped into Rob & Steph Murphy who, judging by the photos that they showed me, had been enjoying some startling views of Bearded Tits just a hundred metres from the visitor centre. In thanks for the tip, I exchanged news of the Water Pipit and urged them to go and see that. They went on to get superb views of the Pipit, we had one quick flash of a Beardies tail as it plunged into a reedbed. Oh well, you can't win them all.

The last destination of the day was at the sister reserve to Radipole, Lodmoor a mile or so back along the coast. Lodmoor is a terrific place where a huge variety of birds can usually be seen. On this visit the site appeared quieter than normal but we had time to add our first Avocet of the year. As happens quite often, after a great start to the day, the later plans had unravelled a bit but we'd still had a brilliant time on the south coast and the Water Pipit experience will remain memorable forever.

Year List addition;

123) Bearded Tit, 124) Common Gull, 125) Avocet