Author: chrisbutton1

A Grey Wagtail called as it flew overhead on Gravelly Marsh, my first since January.

I spent an excellent morning watching Graham and Tara ringing with mist nets. There was loads of insight into ageing and sexing birds by looking at moult contrast between feathers and the colour and wear of feather edgings. Also assessing fat reserves and the start of body moult by checking the birds undersides. Every species we ringed seemed to have a different strategy for dealing with moult and migration.

The undoubted highlight was a Nightjar caught before sunrise and a treat to see up close. Early on there were lots of Sedge Warblers and then Willow Warblers, also Reed Warblers and a re-trapped Garden Warbler that Graham had previously ringed in June 2019 when it was breeding in the scrub about 150m north of where we were sitting! A re-trapped Whitethroat had been ringed here on this exact same day last year when it was a juvenile, it’s easy to forget that it’s been to Africa in the meantime.

A control Sedge Warbler was originally ringed as a juvenile on 1st September 2018 at Belvide in Staffordshire. Assuming it wintered in somewhere like Senegal that’s well over 15,000 miles of travel since then. Other species caught included Bullfinch, Linnet, Goldfinch and Greenfinch but thankfully no Blue Tits as these are, apparently, a menace of a bird to hold.

On the walk back to the car I looked for Heath Bumblebee in the heather but instead found my first cuckoo bumblebee on the reserve, a Field Cuckoo-bee (Bombus campestris). They parasitise the nests of the Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum). The reserve misses some heath specialists like Keeled Skimmer and so perhaps Heath Bumblebee may be absent here although the coastal heather and gorse strip did produce a Silver-studded Blue a few weeks ago.

There are a lot more Migrant Hawkers around now and each time I hope that one might be a Southern Migrant Hawker but to identify one I really need them to perch, but they rarely do. Until then I’ll need to develop my photographing flying dragonflies technique. Common Darters were the commonest dragonfly and it was nice to be able to compare a young male with a mature male.

Common Darter mature male left and immature male

There was a Wheatear on the flooded fields shingle bar and two more on the beach from Wheatear Corner. The number of Shoveler on Venner was up again to eight and a Barnacle hybrid drifted into view with a group of Canada Geese. Compared to a genuine Barnacle Goose there was too much black in the face particularly on the lores and it also lacked the black demarcation between chest and the flanks which should be paler. Also it was a little too big overall and the bill slightly too large.

Bird of the day was a lovely Curlew Sandpiper, virtually the only wader on De L’Orne scrape. A striking moulting adult summer bird. I would have loved a better photo but the heat haze was awful. The adults arrive before the juveniles and amazing to think that this bird will have been in the Arctic tundra a few days ago.

Curlew Sandpiper distantly in the heat haze

On the beach at Mary Monts a Sanderling was picking through the high tide line with three Turnstones for company. A Green Sandpiper was in its favoured spot on the Flight Pond and a second bird was on De L’Orne lagoon later.

We met up with Philip Hack as a Hobby flew overhead towards Gravelly Marsh. I had previously mentioned the Curlew Sandpiper to Philip which he later saw and he reciprocated with news of a Little Stint also on the scrape at De L’Orne.

We dashed over and after a nervous ten minutes the stint appeared. It had been hiding behind the grass at the front of the scrape but thankfully walked across the gap and then disappeared again on the other side. It was probably hiding in this way when we were watching the Curlew Sandpiper earlier. The Little Stint was an adult bird lacking the juvenile tramlines, the juveniles follow later in September and October. The Hobby went over again at 4pm putting everything up and we didn’t see either of the waders again.

As I headed back to the car one of the Shore Hide toilet Swallows settled on the beach fence line and a Little Ringed Plover flew over the Shore Hide as I was writing up my sightings in the book.

A miserable wet and windy day which brightened up a little in the afternoon. The highlight was the first returning Spotted Redshank on De L’Orne. I last saw one on the 1^st April flying over De L’Orne calling ‘chew it’ with trailing legs extending beyond the tail. Today’s bird flew out of sight presumably to land on the De L’Orne Roosting Stones which are only visible, very distantly, from Two Bridges Gate or from the Sluice Gate. It was close to winter plumage with just a few black summer feathers on the underparts.

There were also five Greenshank here, I heard a Green Sandpiper calling nearby and a Wheatear was a slightly unusual sight on the scrape. An adult and juvenile Shelduck flew across to land on the lagoon in front of De L’Orne screen. I hadn’t seen this juvenile before, it’s a lot older than any of the chicks I’d seen previously.  

There were five recently arrived Shoveler on Venner, my largest count since April. The powder blue forewings were obvious as they flew around from behind the island. A juvenile Hobby also flew across in front of the island before landing in one of the trees. I’ve seen adult Hobbies on six occasions this summer and I’d imagine this young bird is from a local nest on the estate.  

The fully grown Pochard ducklings which were raised on Venner had moved to Pullen with the female. On Great Marsh a group of 10 Mediterranean Gulls were resting on the scrape and I saw a Green Sandpiper at the far end of the Flight Pool. It’s an apt location name as birds are often very flighty on this stretch of water. The Green Sandpiper didn’t flush but only because I was half expecting there to be one and kept myself hidden behind a gorse bush.

Gravelly Marsh has supported a good breeding population of Linnets this year and one particular juvenile bird was happy to watch me as I walked past.  

Near the Shore Hide I came across a damselfly sheltering from the wind and rain. This is an immature female Blue-tailed Damselfly, they can have up to five colour forms and violacea is perhaps the most striking.   

Trying to photograph the Sand Martins on Black Water was close to impossible. The camera just couldn’t focus and track quickly enough in the gloomy light with a 1.4x converter. These were the best two photos, nice to see that one of these birds is a juvenile with pale feather fringes, particularly noticeable on the tertials.

Sand Martins including juvenile bird on the left

Slightly easier to photograph was a young Moorhen on one of the posts near Black Water Hide. You can see the paler flank feathers which Moorhen show at all ages.

A Marsh Harrier dropped down below reed height. I believe that the pale and crisply edged greater coverts and primary coverts mean that this is a juvenile bird but ageing is slightly more complicated with Marsh Harriers. Looking back through earlier photos I can see that older birds also show these feather edges although perhaps not as crisply as on this bird. Juvenile birds tend to be darker without a paler breast patch (which this one appeared to have) and any paler areas are gingery as opposed to creamy.

I later spoke to Graham Giddens and he commented – “your Marsh Harrier photo shows a juvenile, which hatched this summer. The head is buffy (an older bird would have a whiter head), the tail tips are buffy and fresh (an older bird would totally lack the buffy tips and probably also show some wear), the wing feathers are all of the same age and all are tipped with buff (an older bird would have done some moult and show different ages of feathers within the wing, and none of the primaries or secondaries would have buff tips). It is unusually pale on the shoulders, most juvs are darker chocolate brown, but a few juvs do exhibit the female-type creamy shoulders”

A very young recently fledged Reed Warbler jumped into the reeds right next to me almost too close for my telephoto lens. They only grow a tail and primary feathers once they’ve fledged so that they can manoeuver in the nest. The adult bird was a little anxious nearby. I’ve seen a lot of 2^nd brood Reed Warbler activity recently.

In the damp area near the pines a male Migrant Hawker settled on a patch of brambles. I tried four different routes to get closer but I had to give up and settle for the initial mid-distance view. The characteristic ‘golf tee’ shape is visible at the base of the abdomen. Migrant Hawkers breed in the south but also occur as an autumn migrant from the continent. Southern Migrant Hawker is much rarer but expanding its range and has occurred at Needs Ore, last year for example.

I heard but didn’t see a Common Sandpiper while at the Sluice Gate and nearby a fresh Painted Lady came around the corner at the Sluice Gate and settled on a thistle.

I managed to get closer than normal to an Oystercatcher by approaching from behind the wooden structure on the slipway at the point. This one still has the full black collar of summer plumage.

The first Willow Warbler of the autumn showed well near the Shore Hide. A typically striking yellow autumn bird with a strong supercilium and eye stripe and compared to Chiffchaff a yellower face and breast with paler legs. I started visiting Needs Ore in mid-September and all of the Willow Warblers had already passed through by then, they migrate further than Chiffchaff and so start earlier.

In the ditch next to the gate at Black Water a family of Reed Warblers were active. One of the first migrant birds this year was a singing Reed Warbler in this exact location. They’re usually elusive but first a fledgling from a second brood showed nicely and then an adult bird carrying food. From laying to fledging it takes only 4 weeks and so there’d be time for lots of broods but they tend to stop at two.  

There were five Greenshank on De L’Orne scrape and a juvenile Lapwing just below the screen.

I looked back towards De L’Orne flood and watched a Green Sandpiper feeding on the water’s edge underneath the overhanging grass. The family group of two adult and three juvenile Avocets were still present on De L’Orne flood and in the afternoon they were joined by another seven Avocets, all adults. 

The seven Shelduck chicks were on Venner again. Laying to fledging can take 80 days, a long process. Only 16% of Shelduck chicks make it two years old and so to have seven chicks at this stage is pretty good.

I saw my third different juvenile Little Grebe on Black Water and later there was another juvenile on Pullen. It’s been a good year for them after several poor years which may have coincided with the presence of Otters in the area.

On Great Marsh Fleabane was flowering and a 2^nd brood Speckled Wood landed on a sheltered leaf but it was quiet again bird wise although it was good to see two juvenile Lapwing on the causeway at the end of the flight pond.

The shingle beach is closed from the 1^st March until the 31^st July and so the No Access signs are taken down around now. There was one left opposite the cottages and so I walked the kilometer to collect it.

On the way I noticed several new flowers – Yellow-horned Poppy, Sea Holly and Restharrow and I also flushed two Wheatear.

There were 25 Common Terns and 5 Sandwich Terns fishing in the Solent and a small party of them came in close and then landed on the beach. I crawled into position and managed to get quite close and it’s always nice to see juvenile birds, there were at least two.

juvenile Common Terns

Friday’s Sand Martins and House Martins were feeding on Venner again and they included at least two juvenile House Martins. The rain started while I was at the Venner Screen just as a group of Starlings landed on the fence line. On this juvenile bird you can see the new first winter greater coverts as well as new inner primaries, a newly grown middle tertial and new 1^st winter breast feathers.