Purple patch at Farlington Marshes, September 2010

Purple Sandpiper

The lure of a Lapland Bunting took me to Farlington Marshes at the end of September. This Hampshire Wildlife Trust reserve on the north side of Langstone Harbour between Portsmouth and Havant is a great spot...and the site's first Purple Sandpipers definitely made it a memorable trip.

On arrival at the car park (located just off the A27 / A2030 junction), there were great views of Grey Plover, Dunlin and Lapwing on the mudflats and saltmarshes. There are also fantastic views of birds and the harbour from all around the seawall. Find a map here.

On this beautiful sunny lunchtime there were over 300 Oystercatchers, 200 Redshank and 100 Black-tailed Godwits on the western lagoon, plus Curlew, Greenshank, Snipe and Turnstone - quite a wader fest!

Round at 'The Deeps', a pool and creeks behind the seawall, a few of us spent time searching the Mippits and Linnets on the pool fringe in the vain hope of one being the Lapland Bunt. An Osprey overfly distracted for a while.

Eventually, an eagle-eyed birder spotted the Lapland Bunting sat shivering in the lee of a small hummock and I managed a shaky capture through the telescope with the Nikon Coolpix 4500 I was testing.





Rather unwilling to leave, the slow walk back still had some great views and birds to offer. A Wheatear showed well on the fringe of The Deeps and fifty or so Starlings were going to town on the ripe blackberries. But the best was saved for last: two Purple Sandpipers - the first recorded on the reserve - landed on the western seaswall and were quite happy to be watched and photographed at just a couple of metres range. It was a privilege to watch them and I did so for a good half hour before tearing myself away...but definitely a spot to return to. Check out the Trust's Langstone Harbour blog for what is about.

Purple Sandpipers

A Great Park at Windsor, September 2010

How have I managed to live 15 miles away for four and a half years and not visit Windsor Great Park? Maybe it's the part of me that prefers to find my own new places rather than visit well-know spots! Luckily, Heather has been horseriding there over the last few months and persuaded me to make a couple of trips...and it's well worth the visit.

North along the Long Walk to Windsor Castle, September 2010

Covering 5000 acres, the park - which was, for many centuries, the private hunting reserve of the Royals at Windsor Castle - in any case provides plenty of scope for getting away from everyone else, although it's a little more busy in the south, around The Royal Landscape of Virginia Water, Savill Gardens and Valley Garden (map here). My first two visits have concentrated on exploring the western central area of the park from Bishopsgate (OS grid ref. SU 977722), as far east as Snow Hill - a tremendous viewpoint - and the start of the Long Walk up to the Castle and also south to the Cow Pond.

Fly Agarics, in woodland south of Bishopsgate

Bonus: it's fungi season. The park is stuffed full of bright and brown mushrooms; I must admit to some ignoring of the latter these days, they just take too long to identify! Out in the deer pasture towards Snow Hill, delicious Parasol Mushrooms the size of dinner plates hover above the grass. Walking south from Bishopsgate towards the Cow Pond, my planned walk takes a nosedive as I spend way too much time photographing Fly Agarics, Blushers, Blackening Russulas, White Saddles and Common Puffballs amongst others.

Common Puffballs

Eventually, with the sun setting behind the trees, I made it to Cow Pond - a sea of pink waterlillies that must look stunning at the right time of day - too late to get a decent photo (left)!

Heading back to the gate, I snapped a few shots of the sun filtering through the park's amazing trees (like the grove of birches above) and also stumbled across a hidden cache of Blushers in the undergrowth (below). A swift half in the Fox and Hounds pub later, I took the 15 mile journey home, a route I will be retreading back to the park very soon.