Spent the morning on Hayling Is. The sea was always going to be quiet on a still sunny day so I concentrated on the land side of life. After bumping into Andy Johnson early doors I had a walk around the Sandy Point NR. Birds appeared a bit thin on the ground to start with but on the Butterfly front, I did have a Clouded Yellow by half past eight. Common Blue and Comma soon followed. The former mostly looking pretty ragged after a hard summer. On the other hand all the Commas and Red Admirals I saw looked pristine. Maybe second or even third generation. The majority of migrant birds were Chiffchaff and Blackcap although a couple of Dartford Warblers were nice. Whilst in the reserve a large skein of what I assumed to be Brent geese flew into view heading north off the sea. They were very distant to the east. Probably passing over the Selsey Bill area. After looking at the image later, I was not so sure thinking maybe Wigeon?? The fact though is they must have been rather large as I saw them with the naked eye and as you can see from the 400mm cropped image they are very distant and very high. They do look to have dark wing tips and I would expect Wigeon to show whiter panelling in the wing. Any thoughts please comment.
Common Blue, Sandy Point, 25 Sep 2009
Comma, Sandy Point, 25 Sep 2009
Brent Geese ????
Chiffchaff, Sandy Point, 25 Sep 2009
Long Tailed Tit, Sandy Point, 25 Sep 2009
After Sandy point I first popped into Eaststoke car park to check on the Diver but no joy. However I did catch a Crow with a fish which it was very protective of. I then walked around the golf course area, where I came across a very confiding Skylark along with at least two Wheatear. Another Clouded Yellow was also seen but again not photographed.
Carrion Crow, Eaststoke Corner, 25 Sep 2009
Migrant Hawker, Sinah Warren, 25 Sep 2009
 Skylark, Hayling Is GC area, 25 Sep 2009
 Wheatear, Hayling Is GC area, 25 Sep 2009
Steve Copsey | 
