Keyhaven, Hants.

I went for a walk along the south coast at Keyhaven in Hampshire on Sunday afternoon.  It was cold and windy but I saw some fantastic birds and some of them were firsts for me. 

There were lots of waders including, dunlin, redshanks, ringed plover, godwits, curlew and turnstones.  The turnstones were brilliant to watch as they tossed the seaweed up or turned stones over to look for food and they are so attractive.  There was a little flock of five that weren't in the least bothered by me standing there taking photos of them.  They were far too busy grubbing about in the shingle.

Turnstone

Curlew - what an amazing beak!

There were lots of my favourite geese flying about and then settling down on the mudflats to preen.  These were brent geese and I love their sooty black heads and necks.  They look very smart. 

Brent goose

I also saw shelduck, tufted ducks, shovelers and a new one for me - pintails.  I tried hard to get a photo but even though I kept my finger on the shutter button all I got was headless pintails.  That is, I got lots of photos of their tails but very few of their heads as they spent the whole time feeding under the water.  They only came up to snatch a quick breath before they went under again. 

Pintail ducks

As I was walked along suddenly two little birds flew across my path and dropped down at the bottom of the bank.  I couldn't see where they were at first but I crept nearer and suddenly found myself about ten feet from two reed buntings.  I had never seen one before and was so pleased.  What lovely little birds! 

Reed bunting

I also saw three pipits (or maybe one pipit three times!) I thought it was a meadow pipit and was very surprised to see one on the beach.  I had assumed that one would only see them in the countryside but on checking my RSPB handbook later I discovered that this is normal behaviour at this time of year.  However...

Edit: On seeing my photos seymouraves kindly identified it as a rock pipit.  Excellent!  I had never seen one of these before.  Thank you S.

Rock pipit

I saw about ten mute swans, a few mallards, gulls (various), a grey heron and a little egret.

Edit: On seeing my photos, seymouraves identified one of these gulls as a Mediteranean Gull. It's the one on the left with black head and red legs and beak.  I hadn't seen one of those before either - Thank you again S.

 The sun did try to come out for a short while but it didn't last long and it was soon hidden behind clouds again. As it started to rain and with the tide almost in I made my way back to the car.  I had a brilliant day and can't wait to go again.

SB