Friends of Groyne No.4: Pennington Marsh

Wednesday, 11 September 2013

Pennington Marsh

Having had a day out on the Cuckmere and found, much to our dismay, that similar to other locations it was devoid of birds, we decided that a day at Pennington was in order. Especially as my birding companion had visited there some weeks ago and reported that there was a veritable cornucopia of avian life. So, when we arrived we were dismayed to find that the water levels in the lagoons were at a very low level and it was immediately apparent that very few birds were present.

The targets for the day included Black Tern, a possible elusive Long-billed Dowitcher and some close up views of Curlew Sandpiper. Alas, the well laid plans of mice and birders often go awry. Having watched the Dunlin and Ringed Plovers move slowly towards the sea wall as the tide approached, boredom set in and we made our way to the "jetty" on the beach in front of Pennington Lagoon. This was the reported location of the juvenile Black Tern, as we approached all we could detect were a few Turnstones and some obliging Pied Wagtails.

Then, thanks to some local birders, we located two juvenile terns on the poles to the left of the jetty. It was at this point wishful thinking and poor birding skills set in, as in real time we corporately incorrectly identified several birds. My excuse is that they were distant, I only had my bins and that "Collins" was in the car. We knew that we had seen the Black Tern and recorded it, but confirmation of other birds had to wait until post visit analysis could be carried out on the large amount of photographs we had captured.

Anyway, below are a representative set of record shots, taken at long distance. The salutary lessons that I have learned are - never jump to conclusions and that the plumage of juvenile terns is remarkably variable.