Birdwatch Britannia: Oldbury-on-Severn & Keyhaven Marshes

A work appointment at work had been postponed at short notice and so I decided to use another half day of holiday to pop down to Oldbury-on-Severn to see the Alpine swift that had been present there for a couple of days. Kevin Heath (@kev07713) had been the previous day and others had then reported it going to roost that evening, so it should still be there at first light - fingers crossed. I left at 04.20 and was there by 05.50, finding one car already in the car park. I stopped to get my bearings, looking at a map on my phone when another car pulled up, and then another - both were birders, one from Birmingham and one from Swindon. We kitted up and set off round to the footpath between the power station and river estuary.

We arrived to find the owner of the other car in place on the footpath and scanning with his scope (Tom Hines @tomhines10) - another birder and from Sheffield. We waited, watched and had a view of the Alpine swallow clinging onto the structure of the power station - but a view from behind as it faced onto the wall.

We waited for almost three hours before the swift left, preceded by a couple of passes from a peregrine - perhaps influencing the bird to stay put as long as it did. More than twenty people had gathered and witnessed the departure and almost immediately they dispersed, and we regrouped along the path to the car park - and into the car park itself. We were then treated to almost twenty minutes of intermittent views before the bird was lost from view.

I had to get back to work for afternoon meetings and so at 09.45 I was back on the road and heading for home. As I left site, I had a phone call from Adrian Sparrowhawk to say that they had just arrived and "was that me leaving?" - we had missed each other by a couple of minutes ... they stayed and unfortunately never connected with the bird - it had moved on after feeding for just half an hour or so. I was devastated for Adrian and his crew for the day (Jeff Bishop, Bryan Manston).

The following day (Saturday) I picked up Kevin Heath and we made our way down the A34 to Lymington, stopping for breakfast on the way - we had no specific target for the day but as we ate breakfast close to Southampton, we noted that the long-staying Iceland gull had been reported the previous day - we would keep an eye on reports and maybe drop by on the way home.

We pushed on and parked at Normandy Marshes, immediately spotting a sleeping spoonbill and two greenshanks (my first greenshank of the year). Distant but a tick is a tick!

We approached the lagoon and picked out avocet, red-breasted mergansers, pintail, dunlin, ringed plover, black-tailed godwit, Brent goose, and four more spoonbills amongst the many birds on offer. Another year tick was spotted redshank. Continuing to scan we watched as three Mediterranean gulls dropped in and strutted around with black-headed gulls and a variety of ducks watching on - another first for the year - this was turning into a great day and especially as we hadn't really targeted anything at the outset.

We walked around the lagoon and scanned the sea behind, picking out distant curlew, various gull species, cormorants, grey plover, great-crested and little grebes. This is such a special place, and we were just enjoying viewing the birds when Kev had a message from Nick Truby (@old_caley) to say that he had just seen that we were within walking distance of a surf scoter - it had just been reported on Birdguides. I'd never seen one so we relocated over to Pennington Marsh, taking the car so that we could move on from there without having to retrace our steps. We left the car and spotted a little egret perched on the wires above - not seen one do that before – usually if at height they are in a tree or bush. We added better views of pintails on the way to the Jetty Lagoon where the scoter was reported to be drifting south.

We made our way along the shore and looking into the sun spotted what we believed to be our bird, out in the bay – and distant. We could see a birder viewing through his scope from the jetty and joined him, hoping to get the bird in better light. By the time we got there it had drifted back directly in front and back lit by the sun. Soon we made our way along the footpath improving our viewing angle. It was still tricky to capture a photo.

A second lifer in two days. Like buses. We watched for a while, but the bird drifted offshore, diving from time to time, but didn't get any closer. The same could not be said for a small flock of turnstones that seemed more than happy to feed on the edge of the footpath even as people strolled past. On the other side of the path a Cetti's warbler called intermittently and eventually I managed to pick it out as it relocated. Now I knew where it was, I saw it relocate again and then call frantically. As I watched a water rail appeared in the bush beside the warbler, more than six feet in the air ... another unusual sight. As quickly as they had appeared, they dropped from view.

Lunchtime arrived, and we made our way back to the car for a snack and I added some photos of curlew and a lovely stonechat enroute. One of the skylarks did the decent thing and rose into the air, giving it large as it did so.

Off we went to Redbridge Wharf Park, as we’d seen the Iceland gull had not long been reported and so was likely to still be in the area. We had a delay of about 20 minutes crossing the bridge due to ongoing roadworks but pulled up in one of the four spaces in the train station - we saw a gentleman walking his dog and coming our way and so waited and enquired as to whether he knew if there was a parking charge ... there was no sign or machine we could see - there wasn't. He himself had seen the gull through a birders scope and he was happy to walk with us over the railway bridge and onto the water’s edge.

As we approached we were dismayed to see two blokes out in the mud walking around - they didn't seem to be collecting bait and so were presumably surveying - they had specialised footwear to support them on the mud. We scanned the gulls that were there noting: lesser and great black-backed; herring; common; black-headed - but no Iceland. We did however spot a great northern diver in the distance.

We continued searching and were joined by Paul Winter (@pdwinter) who turned out was the original finder and had seen the bird on at least 25 previous occasions - a lucky omen? He was quite positive given the bird had been reported earlier but was also dismayed that there weren't many gulls around given the disturbance. Another handful of birders arrived, and a couple left after only half an hour. A kingfisher perched at distance giving us something to watch as we waited. At least two hours passed with us surveying each passing gull and relocating under pine trees during short spells of rain.

Eventually another small flock came in and landed - I followed a bird that seemed of interest and found it to be what I thought a 2cy Iceland gull should look like - Paul confirmed. A third life tick in two days! - it was also a lifer for Kev. The bird stood looking away from our position and into the wind, preening occasionally. The sun came out and back in - lighting was very tricky. Our best views were obtained through the scope.

After about 20 minutes the bird decided enough was enough and took to the sky and was gone. As is ever the case, I wasn't on the bird in flight until it was distant and from behind.