Darcia came down to visit the reserve. Living in Wiltshire she doesn’t often see the variety of coastal habitats we have here and she was also keen to see a White-tailed Eagle if possible.
Before she arrived I walked out to the beach and had five Lesser Redpoll calling overhead and one of the Dartford Warblers showed nicely at the start of the Beach Gorse.
Darcia arrived at around 8:30am and we headed off to the hides. From the De L’Orne area we enjoyed regular sightings of Marsh Harriers including an adult male, the regular juvenile and at least one female type.
A single Spotted Redshank fed on the islands on the scrape and a single Avocet waded and swam in the deeper water behind. After 90 minutes or so we headed over to Venner and spent another hour or so in Venner Hide. It was quiet here. At around 10:30am Ian who had just arrived with Sarah called to say that an eagle had dropped down on to the saltmarsh on the other side of De L’Orne Scrape.
We headed back to De L’Orne and after 30 minutes or so Darcia picked up the White-tailed Eagle as it came over De L’Orne Scrape being followed by a much smaller Grey Heron. It flew over Three Fields North and then towards Venner.
I called Ian who was in Venner hide and he tracked it across to Gins West where they watched it land in a tree. We headed back to Venner Hide and enjoyed scope views of the eagle in the tree top.
On the insect front a late Common Darter dashed past in the strong wind near Shore Hide, a Migrant Hawker was patrolling in front of De L’Orne Hide and the micro moth Tachystola acroxantha was resting on the inside of Venner Hide.
After a walk to the beach front we had enough time to drive down Park Lane to see if the Cattle Egrets were still near Park Farm. We did see one and the White-tailed Eagle made another appearance drifting towards us over Stagg’s Wood before losing height and disappearing out of sight.
Patch Birding 