Author: chrisbutton1

From the Sailing Club I was surprised to see six Slavonian Grebes in three pairs close together on the sea. This is my highest count here and one of the highest Hampshire counts in recent years. The numbers have built up from a late arriving individual in mid-December, then two in late December, four in late January and now six.

Slavonian Grebes

Roughly in the same direction the Pale-bellied Brent Goose was with a group of 100 Dark-bellied Brents just over the creek from the Wardens Hut. I managed closer views by using the hut as a shield. It will be sad to see the Brents heading back to the Arctic Russian coast in the next few weeks. In the far distance towards Inchmery House a single Bar-tailed Godwit was feeding amongst the high tide groups of Dunlin and Grey Plover. This is the 5^th time this winter I’ve seen a single Bar-tailed Godwit in this location, perhaps it’s the same individual. A Pied Wagtail was singing from in front of the Sailing Club. The song is slow and laid back and he sang from the ground for much of the time I was here.  

Little Egret and Pied Wagtail

There were three or four Great Crested Grebes in the mouth of the river and also a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. I later saw, what was presumably the same male Red-breasted Merganser, heading back towards P Shore. Also moving on the sea were several Cormorants in full breeding plumage. While sea watching I noticed a very distant falcon heading straight towards me from the Isle of Wight. The very quick flicking flight pointed to Merlin and as it got closer I could see it was a female type. It landed in a small tree near the cottages and although I was quick with the camera I wasn’t quick enough and could only manage an ‘exit’ photo.

Breeding plumage Cormorant, Red-breasted Merganser and Merlin leaving

Distant divers can be difficult to identify and the diver that I picked up heading towards P Shore was too far out for safe identification. Thankfully it doubled back and came closer. A pot-bellied appearance with huge feet and an indented collar all confirmed Great Northern Diver the commonest diver on the Hampshire Coast. Half a dozen Lapwing were wheeling and tumbling around displaying with their slightly electronic sounding calls. The cat like mewing of Mediterranean Gulls overhead caught my attention, several of them with full black hoods already.

I walked around the wet areas hoping that the thermal camera might help me find a Jack Snipe. I did flush nine Snipe from near the NP hide but no sign of Jack Snipe, I’ve only had one brief flight view all winter. On the walk over to the hides a group of 10 Meadow Pipits posed on the barbed wire fence, today was the first time this year I’ve noticed their cocked tail parachuting display flight. From near where the JV hide used to be I watched three Spoonbills fly over presumably from the flooded meadows behind B Water where I had seen them feeding on Sunday.

Meadow Pipit and Spoonbill

Long-tailed Tits regularly commute up and own W Lane but they are so active it can be difficult to photograph them. I waited and hoped that one of this group would land in a convenient spot and this time it did.

With the warmer temperatures and lots of birds singing it certainly felt like spring. I headed to MM’s, a Dartford Warbler was calling on the walk over. Greenfinches are often tricky to see at NO but today they were displaying, wheezing and enjoying high speed chases. The sea was flat calm and quiet other than a male and female Eider heading west and two of the Slavonian Grebes showing well close in shore.

I headed back for a coffee and as I stood by the car a loud and confident but unfamiliar call set my heart racing. I managed to get onto it, a Ring-necked Parakeet! …or so I thought. The call did seem odd and the bill seemed a little large but it didn’t occur to me that it could be anything else. Ian saw my photos and heard my sound recording and having visited India several times suggested that it was the Alexandrine Parakeet which has been in the Lymington area for a decade although not seen recently. This identification was later confirmed by Nigel Jones.

On the walk to the hides I saw Redwing and Fieldfare and there was a record count for me of 21 Pochard on JV. Two thirds were males, they usually outnumber females in the UK as the females tend to travel further south to winter. There were also 14 Tufted Duck of which 8 were males. Two pairs of Lapwing were calling and displaying around B Water, around 20 pairs normally breed here.

It was low tide by the time I got to the sailing club. I noticed that at least 600 Brent Geese had moved from the estuary and were feeding on the wet grassland around the scrape and the striking Pale-bellied Brent Goose was amongst them. There were five Spoonbill feeding on the flooded meadows to the north of B Water with five others in the area.

A huge flock of Dunlin (photo directly below) were resting directly opposite the Sailing Club. They looked settled and so I grabbed my hand counter, there were 1,066 in total.

While watching from here a Peregrine suddenly appeared from the north flying straight at me before twisting and flicking to lose height and speed before swooping up almost vertically to land on the Jetty Mast just 30 yards away.  

As I headed home I stopped briefly at the Reedy Ditch where the four Russian White-fronted Geese were still present with the Brents over towards P Lane.

The return of the Beast from the East had been suggested in the forecast. In the end we didn’t get the snow that was anticipated but it was certainly cold. I dusted off my pocket warmers, topped them up with lighter fluid and headed out.

First stop was the Reedy Ditch to check for any Hawfinches leaving a possible roost site, no luck unfortunately although the ringed Marsh Tit was still around. A group of around 10 Mediterranean Gulls were bathing on the shore next to MM’s. A single 1^st winter bird and the rest were adults. Otherwise, the sea looked quiet.

Mediterranean Gulls

Eventually I tracked down the four Slavonian Grebes, they were very distant, almost around the corner to the east. Over the next 45 minutes, however, they drifted on the falling tide gradually moving west until they were directly opposite me and fairly close in shore.

Slavonian Grebes

A male Red-breasted Merganser flew east, he obviously turned the corner into the river as I later saw him close in off the sailing club. A gorgeous bird and much rarer than they used to be, especially here.

Red-breasted Merganser

A Golden Plover gave its plaintiff whistle somewhere overhead but I couldn’t track it down. All day I saw large groups of Lapwings displaced by the cold weather but there were no Golden Plover amongst them. In the distance, almost all of the way to Lepe, I picked up one of the Pale-bellied Brents with its white flanks gleaming in the low winter sun.

Shin-high ice spikes had formed into incredible stalagmite-like features around the edge of JV island and perhaps as a result a dense group of 30 Coot were jostling together on the grass by the edge. Nearby there were 72 Shoveler on the ice free north-eastern corner of B Water.

I saw all five thrushes today including 2 Fieldfare and 4 Mistle Thrush. The biggest numbers were of Redwing with at least 120. There were also migrant Song Thrushes flying high in groups, not their most familiar behaviour and so I may have miscounted a small number of them as Redwing although there were at least 25 Song Thrush feeding together in one field.

At just after 7am and as I was about to get to the right turn next to St Leonard’s Barn a Barn Owl suddenly flew alongside the car and kept pace with me for a hundred yards or so, we exchanged eye contact for a moment, an excellent start to the day.

By the time I got to the Reedy Ditch it was clear just how dense the fog was. A Firecrest appeared close by and a female Goshawk was giving a single note call from the small wood to the south. A Hawfinch called as it went over but I didn’t see it, it does seem very likely that there is a roost nearby.

The fog didn’t really lift properly until 11am which meant a lot of hanging around waiting. Once things cleared I headed off to the hides. A very distant first year Sparrowhawk sporting white back markings was sat on a post in the distance towards De L’Orne and there was a record count of 18 Spoonbills on the scrape.

Lapwing, Marsh Harrier and Sparrowhawk

Another peak count for me was 42 Shelduck split equally between a group on the scrape and the rest dotted along the estuary. Meadow Pipits were calling regularly and I eventually found 25 of them together in a tree. The wintering Greenshank touched down on the flood water near the cattle field bridge.

As I headed to the beach a Dartford Warbler was calling but I didn’t see it despite the warm sunshine and light wind. A slightly unexpected find was a first year Peregrine sat on the shingle beach distantly from MM’s, surprising because the regular pair failed to breed last year due to disturbance. A group of four noisy Magpies headed over NP hide, the biggest group I’ve seen here.

Atlantic Grey Seal and Roe Deer photos by Ian Williamson

It was around midday and the fog had now disappeared and it was fairly warm. I decided to look for one of the White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Wight and within a few minutes I found a ‘flying barn door’ circling around the top of the main mast. Not a truly wild bird but exciting nonetheless.

At the Reedy Ditch I wasn’t quite ready with the camera as the Russian White-fronted Geese came over the car at 4pm heading towards the roost at P Shore. I managed a brief shot as they were heading away.

Brent Geese, Russian White-fronted Geese and Greylag Geese

Also heading to roost were five Little Egrets on the island at JV and as the sun dipped below the horizon I picked out two Black-tailed Godwits in amongst the wheeling Lapwing flocks.