On a Whim! Stanpit Marsh, 1st October 2019

I was on my own at work and felt like chucking it in and going off on a twitch but I'm in business to at least survive so needs must and I worked like an eager beaver for the morning but managed to make it home by half past one. "Fancy nipping out?" I asked Mrs Caley. "Where to?" she replied. "Oh I don't know, maybe Christchurch?" I suggested cheekily. "Where's that?" she asked. "Not far!" I fibbed. Christchurch and more accurately Stanpit Marsh is just over a hundred miles from home and around an hour and three quarters drive. We'd never been there before so would be breaking new ground in our quest to add another bird to the Old Caley year list.

The drive south along the horrendous A34 was a near nightmare, at times barely passable, owing to several bands of torrential rain. The section between Newbury and Whitchurch resembled a river and I feared aquaplaning a few times. I was reminded of a time when I drove home from working near Winchester in similar conditions and came across a couple of Mute Swans on the northbound carriageway that must have mistaken the wet road for a river. Fortunately there wasn't the amount of traffic and certainly wasn't any continuous convoys of forty ton trucks in those days so myself and my colleague were able to herd the birds into a nearby lay-by where we waited for assistance from the police. As far as I know the Swans were rescued none the worse for wear.

The weather had improved considerably by the time we reached Christchurch although the sky was still rather foreboding. We togged up in the Stanpit car park and took the track out towards the marsh. The whole country's coastline is experiencing very high tides at the moment and a lot of the marsh was covered in water and the sea had even inundated parts of the path. We were looking for a juvenile Grey Phalarope that had been present for a few days and had been showing particularly well close to the visitor centre which we now walked towards. At least twenty Little Egrets were feeding in the shallow water by the path but naturally moved away as we drew closer. The marsh was alive with birds, hundreds of Redshank, a smattering of Curlew and Black-tailed Godwits, lots of Black-headed Gulls and many others but there was no sign of the Grey Phalarope in any of the pools and creeks. We walked on and momentarily got excited when we saw a chap earnestly taking photos of something  but it turned out that the object of his desire was another Little Egret. When we asked him if he knew the whereabouts of the Phalarope, he confessed to not knowing what a Phalarope was! Another couple approached and we asked the same question, this time getting the more useful information that the Grey Phalarope had been showing extremely close to the path by the visitor centre just a half hour ago. They assured us that if it wasn't there now, then it would return before long.

A tour group came walking along the adjacent heath with the leader barking out loud and clear directions to many of the birds for his followers and everybody else to hear. Mind you he alerted us to some Brent Geese out at the waters edge which I hadn't spotted while scanning for the Phalarope. A Kingfisher whistled past which got the whole group extremely animated. We walked back towards the visitor centre where we'd wait for the Phalarope to hopefully reappear. But patience wasn't required at all since I spied the little wading bird no more than ten metres away from the path and where we'd first looked for it! I took a quick record shot, as I always do, just in case the bird exited stage right or left never to return. The Grey Phalarope notched the Old Caley year list up to #268.

juvenile Grey Phalarope, Stanpit Marsh, Dorset, 01/10/2019

In my experience Grey Phalaropes are very confiding in nature and will often feed quite happily within reach of their onlookers and this one was no different. We positioned ourselves at the edge of the path and watched as the Phalarope edged closer and closer to us. It was really nice to see one swimming about a vegetated marsh rather than our usual views of them swimming alongside the concrete apron of an inland reservoir such as Farmoor. The more natural setting amplified the pleasure felt in seeing such a lovely little bird. And of course, the photographic opportunities were much better since the bird was set in amongst natural grass and plants rather than algae covered concrete!

At times the dainty and beautifully plumaged bird was just metres away and at one point I had to back off in order to get the lens to focus. We even had some sunny periods too in which to enjoy the bird, a far cry from the awful weather that we'd driven through on our way to see it.

The juvenile Grey Phalarope very busily fed on insects and flies mainly garnered from the surface and sometimes from the plants that it swam through. At times it upended in Mallard fashion to grab an underwater titbit.

For the next fifteen minutes or so I took many photos of the Phalarope until, while I was looking at some of the images, it suddenly flew off calling. In fact everything on the marsh flew off with alarm but I never saw whatever the threat was.

We were entertained whilst the birds were gone by a cute little Robin that seemed to demand food from us. Unfortunately I didn't have any to offer though so tried to make amends by scuffing up some mud in an attempt to disturb some invertebrates for it. The Robin duly pounced immediately on the disturbed earth and looked content enough.

We waited in the same spot for maybe another ten minutes and then a few Black-headed Gulls returned to the pools. It wasn't long before I noticed the Phalarope flying quickly back towards us but it landed on a strip go grass about 50 metres away. It was obvious by the fact that it was swimming ever closer that it wanted to get back to the shallower water by the path and soon it took to flight again, this time setting down much closer. I managed to grab a few flight shots but only one was any good.

The Phalarope was so photogenic that virtually all of the photos were, unusually by my own average standards, keepers! I could easily have inserted a hundred into this write up but have somehow restricted myself to just twenty or so. The reasonably flat and calm water allowed for many reflective poses.

After showing so well for nearly an hour in all the Grey Phalarope was startled, along with most of the other birds, once more and this time I could see the cause of the consternation as an Osprey flew over the outer reedbeds. Obviously birds haven't done their homework since if they had they'd know that Ospreys are fish specialists and don't usually chase after other birds for food. But I guess any raptor shaped bird in the sky gets the others going. The Osprey didn't linger either, flying straight through over the marsh.

Osprey

It was time to go anyway, we had got our year tick and I'd obtained my best set of Grey Phalarope photos ever and one of my best sets of the year so far. On our way back to the car I took a few hurried shots of some of the other birds that were on offer.

Black-tailed Godwit

Little Egret

Mallard & Grey Phalarope (showing how small the wading bird really is!)

Wigeon

We ended the day by having a fine fish and chip supper in the marvellously named Cliffhanger Cafe at nearby Highcliffe. As we ate the rain resumed again but at least we were in the dry. Indeed we'd been very lucky to pick a window in the weather to watch the Phalarope.