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Wednesday 8th September 2021

8th Sep 20213rd Feb 2022 chrisbutton1

I arrived around sunrise and already there were several Migrant Hawkers on the wing. In fact over the first hour these dragonflies outnumbered the birds. Grey Wagtails continued to be vocal overhead with the odd Yellow Wagtail still moving through.

The early sun had just broken through as I checked the private areas around Great Marsh. I rounded the corner carefully to view the scrape and was pleased to see the Great White Egret feeding close by.

Another place I approach very carefully is the area around the causeway at the eastern end of the Flight Pond. There are often nervous Black-tailed Godwit or Snipe here and today a regular Green Sandpiper watched me suspiciously before fleeing to the other end of the pond.

I headed past the low islands of blackberries and gorse with Whitethroats churring in good numbers. An olive-brown passerine flew across, rather weakly, in front of me. The long undertail coverts and rounded tail gave the bird a tapering pointed look at each end and together with a streaky back it definitely looked like a Grasshopper Warbler.

It dived deep into the brambles. I walked around the other side hoping for a better view and eventually it flicked up briefly before disappearing again. I could then see it deep in the brambles and could see a longish pulled out acrocephalus-type bill with a plain face and a streaked crown confirming the ID. Graham has ringed four Grasshopper Warblers on Great Marsh this autumn but seeing them otherwise is almost impossible and my main hope had been to hear a singing male in the spring.

I didn’t have much time to visit the eastern end of the reserve but did manage to see the Osprey in its favoured tree directly below Calshot Tower as you look from De L’Orne Hide/screen. A distant single Whinchat was perched on the bushes along the edge of Three Fields East.

Friday 3rd September 2021

3rd Sep 20213rd Feb 2022 chrisbutton1

There were lots of Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs and Sand Martins on the move today. On Gravelly Marsh every bird I lifted my binoculars for seemed to be a Whitethroat. Providing a bit of variety a Lesser Whitethroat near the Water Trough was tacking at me from the bramble bush. There was also plenty of slightly harsher tacking from a handful of Blackcaps.

As has been the case all autumn the waders on Great Marsh were all on the Flight Pond, there were two Green Sandpipers and six Snipe and the 12 Black-tailed Godwit were yikkering to each other quietly. A Wheatear was sat on the barbed wire at the back of the pond.

A Tree Pipit called overhead but again I didn’t manage to see it. The grounded pipits I saw were all Meadow Pipits like the one below – bland facial expression, flank streaks as thick as breast streaks, single toned underparts and weakish bill.

The Yellow Wagtail calls are more penetrating and today they seemed to be flying lower and so it was easier to see them looping away overhead.

Yellow Wagtail

I checked the Guides Camp Hedge near the Cattle Grid and watched a Garden Warbler emerge from the brambles. Soon afterwards a pair of much warmer brown juvenile Reed Warblers also emerged. Grey Wagtails are now returning and there were at least two calling during the morning. Their calls are much more penetrating than Pied Wagtails as they often have to be heard above a noisy river or stream.

A female type Redstart showed very briefly in the small tree opposite the Reedy Ditch layby. I leant on the gate to check the clearing in front of Silver’s Copse and a pair of Spotted Flycatchers appeared and perched prominently.

A little further along the lane I checked Flycatcher Tree and found another pair of Spotted Flycatchers.

Spotted Flycatcher photo by Ian Williamson

While there one of the Ospreys floated over Lovell’s West and a Grey Plover called in the distance. In roughly the same direction a Hobby stooped on the hirundines, mainly Sand Martins streaming east.

As I walked back down Warren Lane a superb male Redstart flicked up on to the fence line on the eastern side of Droveway South. In the autumn the bright colours are partly hidden by buffy fringes but at this range it looked really smart, already my fourth Redstart of the autumn.

Near the Shore Hide a Sparrowhawk charged past being mobbed by Swallows with the Swallows diving back in towards it and almost making contact, very brave. Migrant Hawkers were everywhere with at least 100 on the reserve. I saw my first female of the year and then a pair in cop.

A walk over to the hides produced three Whinchats on Whinchat Fence and an impressive 41 Black-tailed Godwit on De L’Orne Flood while the Green Sandpiper crept along the muddy fringe behind them.

The area in front of NFOC hide has been opened up dramatically with all of the reeds removed so that there is a clear 90 degree view and mud has been dragged to create four new islands for waders to drop on to, hopefully. Roosting on Venner Island a young Cormorant showed extensive white underparts.

On De L’Orne Scrape Greenshank numbers were up to nine and there was a new Common Sandpiper. The juvenile Knot was still present, only just identifiable in the awful heat haze. Directly in front of Calshot Tower from the De L’Orne screen the Osprey was sat in a favourite tree. A Kingfisher watched down from a fence post into the still water while a Whimbrel called as it flew over the scrape. On Blackwater Pintail numbers had increased to eight.

It was pretty warm by now and so just before heading home I checked Shore Hide Ditch and was pleased to relocate the Southern Migrant Hawker.

August 2021, Summer 2021

Thursday 31st August 2021

31st Aug 20213rd Feb 2022 chrisbutton1

There had been an arrival of winter visitors with at least 10 newly arrived Wigeon in the Pullen and Mary Monts area and at least a dozen Snipe. Over on Gravelly there were far fewer passerine migrants compared to Sunday which was much warmer. There were also far fewer hirundines moving. A Green Sandpiper remained on the Flight Pond.

No matter how cool it is bumblebees are always active, in fact they sometimes detach their wings so that they can use their flight muscles to warm themselves up. I’ve only seen one or two Common Carder Bees (Bombus pascuorum) in the last year but today there were four individuals on Bell Heather on Gravelly Marsh. Not surprisingly this was very close to where I saw the Field Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus campestris) a few weeks, the species that parasitise the nests of Common Carder Bee.

After drawing a relative blank at Gravelly and Great Marsh Ian and walked all of the way up Warren Lane past the Reedy Ditch looking for migrants but there was little moving. Finally we were rewarded when Ian picked out a Spotted Flycatcher in the very south eastern corner of Spring Meadow where it backs on to Lovell’s West and Warren Flash. It was joined by a second bird and a Redstart also appeared briefly. This was my first Spotted Flycatcher on the patch.

I walked the boardwalk bridge four times today and each time a juvenile Whinchat was close by and if I gave it some space it always returned to land on the hand rail. On the final occasion I decided to crawl 100 yards to get as close as I could without disturbing it.

The juvenile Osprey appeared over Venner but I wasn’t quick enough with the camera. I later saw it again, very distantly, over the river. At Venner I spent some time helping Adam as he was clearing some reeds to improve the line of sight from the hide. A female type Marsh Harrier drifted over and Adam found what looked like the nest of a Harvest Mouse, the commonest small rodent on saltmarsh.

There were a few waders on De L’Orne Scape including 2 Spotted Redshank out in the open, three Ringed Plover and three Dunlin. Also the juvenile Knot was still around.

On Black Water there were three Pintail, newly arrived winter visitors and on the walk back there were 25 Black-tailed Godwit on De L’Orne flood of which 15 were juveniles. The Green Sandpiper picked its way along the edge of the wet mud.

Migrant Hawkers are the most common dragonfly on the reserve at this time of the year but the occasional Emperor puts in an appearance and the deep red of the male Ruddy Darter is always nice to see.

At the point near the Sailing Club there were at least four Wheatear making a total of 10 for the day.

Back at the car there was no sign of the Southern Migrant Hawker. A Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) was nectaring on a thistle near the Shore Hide. Compared to Heath Bumblebee, which I haven’t seen here yet, Garden Bumblebee has a long face and a long tongue as shown in the photo.

August 2021, Summer 2021

Sunday 29th August 2021

29th Aug 20213rd Feb 2022 chrisbutton1

I arranged to meet up with Ian and we spent the morning on Gravelly Marsh and Great Marsh. As we reached Mary Mont’s Pools it was clear that there had been an arrival of Snipe with at least three here and then another seven around the Flight Pond.

A couple of Yellow Wagtails called overhead before landing on the pools. The most obvious hirundines today were the Sand Martins with at least 25 around the pools here.

Just like on my last few visits I heard another 7am Tree Pipit, this one was near the Gravelly Crossroads. There were plenty of tacking warblers moving through with a handful of Blackcaps, all males and double figures of Lesser Whitethroat.

Ian picked out a Redstart on Great Marsh Scrub, it disappeared for a while but a flash of red saw it reappear and show well on the top of a Hawthorn bush. A Sedge Warbler also appeared nearby.

The regular autumn Green Sandpipers were still around the Flight Pond, three in total. They flushed before we’d seen them but they returned again once we’d stopped moving.

As we were checking the trees around the cattle grid a Painted Lady dropped down to feed on the Fleabane.

The birding highlight of the day was a Great White Egret which appeared suddenly from the bottom end of Pullen before flying past us and on towards the hides, a patch tick.

The two Ospreys were still around De L’Orne and Inchmery and there were at least three Whinchats around the flooded field area. It was nice to see two juvenile Ringed Plover on De L’Orne Scrape. There were eight young Shelduck all probably hatched at Needs Ore, five on De L’Orne and another three on Venner.

Star of the day was undoubtedly the Southern Migrant Hawker which I found patrolling the Shore Hide Ditch. There have been huge numbers of Migrant Hawkers on the wing for a week or more and I’ve been searching for a Southern Migrant Hawker amongst them. This individual was immediately noticeable as being bluer, particularly the abdomen but to a lesser degree also the thorax and even the eyes looked blue in flight.

The thorax lacked the darker bands and greenish yellow patches of Migrant Hawker and it was also obvious that the Southern Migrant Hawker was more aggressive, constantly driving off the Migrant Hawkers. I couldn’t get a flight photo but was still certain of the ID although I was grateful when it did finally settle. This is only the third record for the reserve, a patch tick for me and also a British Tick.

There was a single juvenile Knot on De L’Orne scrape viewable from the Sluice Gate and from here we heard the Kingfisher again and it then flew across in front of us to land on the fence post up the Sluice Channel.

Another highlight was checking an egret which was flying over the Sluice Gate. It was great to see that it was a Cattle Egret, it flew directly away from me before settling on Inchmery Marsh. Ten minutes later it was off again heading towards Lepe. All three egrets in one day, speaking to Ian later it seems that there is a definite movement of rarer egret species here in late August.

On the way home I dropped in at the Reedy Ditch to check for any migrant passerines but it was quiet, I will return again soon but earlier in the day. A Hobby did fly over our heads and an unusual sight was a line of six male Migrant Hawkers draped down from the same branch.