Medmerry Trip Report

Five people joined myself for a guided birdwatching walk at RSPB Medmerry on an early-September afternoon.

Whilst gathering in the car park, signs of a bird-filled afternoon began. A bare tree and a hawthorn bush contained many small passerines, the most numerous of which were willow warblers. Amongst the willow warblers were a couple of chiffchaffs. An unusually obliging lesser whitethroat made an appearance, munching on the hawthorn berries. It’s larger cousin, the common whitethroat, was skulking just a few feet away. A robin and a blue tit were also occupying the same area and engaged in several chases with the travelling willow warblers.

Still from the car park but in areas outside of the bare tree and the hawthorn, up to 40 yellow wagtails were flying to and fro around us. A common buzzard glided over the nearby hedge scattering the yellow wagtails. Many hirundines (sand and house martins, swallows) were feeding overhead. A kestrel was hovering in amongst them. A large gathering of mixed corvids alerted us to a cream-capped marsh harrier that was unfortunately being relentlessly harassed by the angry mob, although the harrier engaged in similar activities itself later on!

Leaving the car park…

Once on the reserve ‘proper’ the first bird of note was a young green woodpecker that nicely gripped onto the side of a dead poplar tree. Its speckled underside blended itself with the lichens and the greys of the wood. In the nearby creek a splendid greenshank was probing for food and caught a few rather large worms. Four black-tailed godwits were feeding further out amongst numerous gulls and an increasing number of teal.

Moving slightly further along, suddenly every gull out in the reserve was taking flight and after a bit of searching an osprey was spotted in amongst the melee. We excitedly viewed the osprey when another large bird appeared alongside it, apparently not happy with the osprey’s presence. The harasser this time turned out to be a marsh harrier, quite probably the same one that was being mobbed by corvids earlier.

The osprey was lost from sight and all settled back down. However shortly after the marsh harrier put in another appearance and unsettled the gulls once more. The action didn’t die down there as shooting from right to left was a hobby, no doubt hoping to find a snack in the many hirundines that were still up high.

The next area in the reserve produced many house sparrows and three chunky corn buntings sitting atop a scrubby hedge.

The stilt pools held a large flock of canada geese, two greylags, two bar-headed geese and two barnacle geese or probable barnacle hybrids. Many dabbling ducks were mixed in, with mallard, gadwall, teal and a few beautifully coloured eclipse wigeon. Waders were represented by a single dunlin, common sandpiper and redshank as well as several lapwings dotted around. A little egret was very actively hunting by charging through the water with wings slightly splayed out to the sides.

Along to the beach we saw a few wheatears, a large flock of linnets and a peregrine falcon resting on a brick hut out in the middle of the reserve. A few mediterranean gulls were moving over the sea.

On the return walk we saw a charm of 20 goldfinches. A sparrowhawk gave an exhibition and flew past us at close range, it appeared to have its eyes set on the goldfinches but the flock moved away unscathed. A mixed flock of small brown birds contained many meadow pipits, a few linnets and two reed buntings. Further along a particularly attractive male yellowhammer sat perfectly for us to admire his colours. A bright green adult green woodpecker flew by in typically undulating fashion.

It was an excellent afternoon with 58 species of birds seen in total, 7 of which were raptors. I don’t believe I had previously seen interactions between an osprey and a marsh harrier; it was interesting to see that the harrier did not take at all kindly to the osprey! I am informed that on a previous evening in the local area a marsh harrier was observed mobbing an osprey. Perhaps this is a common behaviour between the two species, but seeing them both together is certainly not a common occurrence around this area currently, hopefully that will change with the conservation successes that have occurred, and are occurring, with both species.

If you are interested in attending a guided walk such as this one, then check out the events page by clicking on the ‘Events’ tab on the home page. Or to receive news of upcoming events prior to them being published on this website you can join my mailing list by emailing me at: baggaleyhugh@gmail.com

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Hugh