Author: chrisbutton1

Our Peregrine monitoring was from 8am -11am and the forecast was for thundery showers. I arrived at around 6:30am so that I could check Gt and Gv Marsh first. The female Little Ringed Plover was safely on the nest and the water levels for the Avocets looked good although no chicks yet.

A new colour-ringed Avocet (Green/Blue-Lime/Black) has appeared. He is a 7 year old male ringed as a chick at NO in July 2014. Over the next few years he moved between Titchfield Haven, NO and Poole Harbour before first being recorded breeding at Normandy Marsh, Lymington in 2019 and 2020. He spent the subsequent winters there before preparing to breed again this year. In mid-April, however, a predator or human disturbance caused several pairs of Avocet to abandon the site. Green/Blue-Lime/Black tried Pennington Marshes first but then returned to NO. There is still time for him to breed here and I’ll keep an eye on how he gets on.

There was an encouraging seven Lapwing chicks on Gv Marsh with at least three looking old enough to look after themselves. Lapwing have a very poor productivity rate and even getting seven chicks away from the 23 pairs on the reserve would be an OK return.

Lapwing chicks

Shortly before meeting up with Ian I relocated the 1^st summer Little Gull on Gt Marsh. Soon afterwards we had to shelter under trees in one of the most violent bursts of rain and hail I can remember. Having got so wet we retreated to the cars for a coffee and a dry out. We then headed off for our Peregrine monitoring.

The male Peregrine spent the first two hours sitting on the black barrel in sporadic heavy rain looking a bit miserable, the highlight being when the adults switched over on the nest and we saw the female for the first time. We did a bit of sea-watching while we watched the Peregrines and the first highlight on the sea was a Razorbill heading east.

At just before 10am Dimitri excitedly called out an unfamiliar seabird heading east and we quickly got onto it. A pale phase skua and on first glance very powerful looking with a heavy breast enhanced by a prominently marked breast band. It seemed larger and less maneuverable compared to the bouncy Kittiwake flight of the Arctic Skua. We were therefore surprised to see that it didn’t have the characteristic spoons of a spring adult Pomarine. It chased after a Common Tern and truly dwarfed it, I would say it was close to Herring Gull in size. No doubt a Pomarine Skua but with the spoons lost or being moulted out.

After the Peregrine monitoring we headed back to MMs for some extra sea-watching. The same Little Gull, or another, flew out to sea over our heads to join the feeding gull and tern flock. We then picked out a Little Tern amongst the Common Terns and Sandwich Terns.

A quick walk around the hides and Dimitri found the White-tailed Eagles perched on the fence at the back of Wigeon Fields.  

A day affected by heavy showers. I started by sea-watching in promising conditions with moderate south westerlies and poor visibility which often brings birds closer to the shore. There was a good passage of Common Terns and Sandwich Terns with a single Little Tern. A female Eider was close offshore and six Common Scoter headed east before settling on the sea. What looked like an Osprey appeared to be heading over from the Isle of Wight. My view became obscured by branches as I was nestled in the hawthorns to shelter from the wind and rain, unfortunately, when I moved position I couldn’t then relocate it, very frustrating. The sun came out, visibility increased, the Isle Of Wight appeared from the murk and seabird passage dried up, no skuas today.

I headed off to check the Little Ringed Plovers and was pleased to see the female on the nest incubating. Over on Gv Marsh there were still four Lapwing chicks. On Gt Marsh water levels weren’t quite so high as Adam had removed a sluice board earlier this morning. There were 10 Avocet with five of them sitting on eggs.

The Garden Warbler was still singing in the beach house scrub and I managed a few record shots.

Garden Warbler

I decided to head back to the car through the gorse bushes. I don’t usually go this way as you pass a Larson Trap and it always has a Magpie in it. It was to be a good decision as I flushed a female Nightjar from near Gv Mire, a really unexpected highlight and a patch tick.

I met up with Dimitri and we headed off to the hides. As we were approaching B Water Gate I saw the White-tailed Eagle flying low over JV. Dimitri shouted there’s two of them, I wrongly assumed that he was mistaking a Buzzard as a 2nd eagle and was amazed to see there were indeed two eagles in the air! They began to circle over JV island and so we headed down the track towards JV. They weren’t on show when we arrived but we soon picked up one flying low on to Wigeon Fields and the second bird soon joined it.

White-tailed Eagles

For the next 30 minutes they loafed in the sun while a brave Carrion Crow pulled at their tail feathers and the Greylags wandered dangerously close. They are G408 and G393. G408 is a 2020 male and G393 is the eagle we have been seeing regularly around the Gs area and which I first saw six weeks ago. The now ‘resident’ G393 is a 2019 male and may well have established a territory here.   

I collected some footage from a Trail Camera I’ve set up. I’d captured a female and male Roe Deer, the male walking 20 seconds behind the female.

Roe Deer, male following the female

On DL’O there were 8 Avocets of which six appeared to be sitting on nests, including Gt Marsh this makes 11 sitting birds altogether. There were six Black-tailed Godwit on the scrape and a late Grey Plover called overhead. The eagles made another brief appearance dropping into land on what appeared to be the fence line near the Black-headed Gull rafts on DL’O lagoon.

I pulled over at the Reedy Ditch and watched 20 House Martins and 10 Swallows before I headed home.

A Cuckoo was calling as I walked over to MMs. It was the 7^th time I’ve heard one since 18^th April which makes me wonder if it may be one or two individuals on territory. I later saw it flying over Gv Marsh with its flickering wings never going above the horizontal.

I checked MMs and could only find one Lapwing chick. From there I walked to the beach house to see if the Little Ringed Plovers were ok, which they were. The female was on the nest and the male was nearby.

The water levels at Gt Marsh looked a little high and some of the Avocet nests looked perilously close to the water. It started to rain and in the strong breeze I decided I needed shelter which I found in the lee of the hut. From there I noticed a wheeling melee of feeding gulls just off shore. The gulls at the front kept peeling off and circulating to the back of the line like time trialers do in a bicycle race. It was difficult to watch any particular gull for long, there were Sandwich Terns, Black-headed Gulls, Common Terns, Herring Gulls and a single Mediterranean Gull. I was hoping for a Little Gull and I was delighted to find a first summer bird loitering at the back of the group although it soon disappeared.

Towards the Isle of Wight a couple of Gannets headed west and a flock of seven Sanderling headed east, a mix of summer and winter plumaged birds.

The Garden Warbler was still singing in the beach house scrub as I headed back to Gt Marsh where I found another 1st summer Little Gull resting and preening on one of the tiny islands. I was much closer here and got a few better shots. The amount of black in the head suggests that this bird and the off shore bird were different individuals.

On nearby Gv Marsh I was pleased to see all four of the Lapwing chicks and a pair of brown hares resting in the warm sun.

After a coffee in the car I headed to the hides. An adult Spoonbill on DL’O flood was the first I’ve seen for more than five weeks. A mixed group of four Black-tailed Godwit and three Bar-tailed Godwit were feeding on DL’O scrape and a Whimbrel was in the grass alongside them. From the new viewing screen I was pleased to find a smart Hobby, probably newly arrived sat on the fence line which separates Three Fields East and Centre Field.

When it’s cold and windy you don’t see Butterflies and Dragonflies but the hardworking bumblebee is out in all weathers. My first Early Bumblebee of the year was collecting pollen from Sea Campion out on the point gorse bushes. Given the weather I thought another hour or so sea-watching might be worth it and so I headed back to MMs. On the way I found a Ringed Plover nest with two very young chicks, perhaps a day old. The second chick is underneath the breast feathers of the adult.

The gull and tern flock had disbanded but there was still a small passage of Sandwich Terns and Common Terns all heading east.

With my Peregrine monitoring at 11am I decided to have a good look around Gt Marsh and Gv Marsh first. At MMs I saw that at least two of the Lapwing chicks were still around.  I also saw one of the Little Ringed Plover adults again but I headed off to Gt Marsh without being able to find the 2nd bird.

There were 19 Avocet with 5 sitting but no sign of chicks yet, they have started hatching at Lymington. A colour-ringed bird proved to be a seven year old ringed at NO (at DL’O) as a chick in July 2014. It was seen at Cliffe Pools in Kent in September 2014 and it was then recorded in Suffolk in three consecutive summers (2018-2020) where it was thought to have bred.  

Nearby I heard a singing warbler which I initially assumed to be a Blackcap but soon realised it wasn’t. The familiar Blackcap tends to end up with what I find a slightly disappointing and thinner fluty crescendo whereas this bird was more consistent, richer and fuller. I managed a couple of brief views and captured some audio. Garden Warbler is a patch tick for me. Lesser Whitethroats were also singing with at least five around the reserve.

I headed over to Gv Marsh to count the Lapwing chicks, there were three (four last time) although it wouldn’t surprise me if another one or two were hidden. Finding Redshank chicks is even harder, they rarely emerge from the rushes.

I then decided to spend a bit more time trying to find the second Little Ringed Plover and possibly the nest site as the habitat looked good and I’ve seen them five times since the 3^rd April. Eventually the single adult was joined by the second bird which quickly returned to an area which I subsequently realised was the nest site. She sat down and over the next 30 minutes she didn’t move other than to stand up occasionally, look between her legs and adjust the presumed eggs beneath her. I contacted Adam and he jumped in the car.

Little Ringed Plover pair, female on nest, male and the four eggs

When Adam arrived we re-checked the nest position and walked towards her, she walked away as we approached. We put up nine iron posts and strung the rope around the nest site. It took us around three minutes. I grabbed a quick photo of the four eggs and soon after we had retreated we were pleased to see the female return to the nest and settle. This is the first Little Ringed Plover nest to be found at NO.

On my way to the sailing club to monitor the Peregrine nest I checked DL’O scrape from Two Bridges gate. There were two Curlew, perhaps the two I’d seen the previous Saturday. A handful spend the summer here out of the 100 or so that winter. There were also eight Avocet with three sitting and 10 summer plumaged Dunlin scurrying around, they’re on route from West Africa to their breeding grounds in Greenland. At the sailing club a pair of Pied Wagtails were feeding young in the eaves and a Grey Seal was busy eating what looked like a Cuttlefish and a couple of Gannets headed west off shore.

Just over 30 minutes into my Peregrine monitoring, at 11.36am, Alan found a Long-tailed Skua heading east over the spit at Hurst. He put the news out on the county rarity WhatsApp group. It was heading inland of the Isle of Wight and was likely heading my way! I was at the Wardens Hut and 20 minutes later it came past me, a superb adult bird with a dark cap, no white in the primaries and amazing long tail streamers. It wasn’t seen at various other places to the east where people were ready and looking and so may have taken a shortcut and headed up over the Isle of Wight, it was fairly high already. What an amazing few minutes!

Sandwich Tern and Long-tailed Skua (honest)

After the Peregrine monitoring I headed over to the hides to see if the Common Terns were still on the raft. Unfortunately the raft was unoccupied and there were no Common Terns in the vicinity. I checked the fields – either side of the walking trail, the flooded fields, Venner, Wigeon Fields and the Gins – and I saw only one Lapwing chick. Several birds were sitting, presumably incubating and so there may be more chicks soon but it was still a disappointing return.

The young White-tailed Eagle took off over the Gins giving me my closest views so far and there were 2 Black-tailed Godwit on DL’O scrape. Two Painted Lady butterflies were a patch tick newly arrived after the long run of northerlies had thankfully ended.