Nine of us met at the Keyhaven Bird Observatory including 2 new members who we delighted could join us. There was a Little Egret fishing close to the hide and a Marsh Harrier sitting on a bush at the far end of the pans which was viewable with binoculars.
As we walked out along the coastal path, we looked out for the red breasted goose among the brent geese, but sadly to no avail. However, we certainly got our money’s worth as far as birds were concerned as you can see from the list below.
When we reached the far side of Fishtail lagoon, where we saw 4 Avocets and 2 Ruff amongst others, as we had suspected, the path was flooded so we continued a little further along butts lagoon to what we call grebe point – and sure enough, thanks to a a couple of kind birdwatchers we saw a Slavonian grebe through their scopes. 2 of us also went up to the next lagoon and found the Scaup we had heard was there.
A rather faster return to the observatory as it began to drizzle a bit, but a very enjoyable walk, both socially and ornithologically.
List of Birds identified along the walk.
| GreenFinch | Slovenian Grebe | Black Headed Gull |
| Herring Gull | Lesser Black Backed Gull | Little Grebe (HO) |
| Cormorant | Turnstone | Lapwing |
| Teal | Shoveler | Mallard |
| Mute Swan | Widgeon | Brent Geese |
| Little Egret | Redshank | Curlew |
| Oyster Catcher | Stonechat | Robin |
| Blackbird | Carrion Crow | Shelduck |
| Coot | Great Crested Grebe | Kestrel |
| Avocet | Ruff | Dunlin |
| Marsh Harrier | Merganser | Tufted Duck |
| Spoonbill |