Category: December 2020

The morning tide was mid-level and rising and so I decided to head to the Sailing Club first, it was also drizzling and so that would offer me some shelter. It was just after sunrise and with the low cloud and drizzle the visibility was very poor. Soon the rain strengthened and with wind coming from the east I didn’t have much protection. I decided to retreat to the car with the engine on to keep warm as the freezing rain lashed down on the windscreen.

After 30 minutes I ventured back out and while scanning the Brent Geese found a paler individual. I had to wait 10 minutes for it reveal itself properly from the long grasses. I was then delighted to see it was an adult Pale-bellied Brent Goose with gleaming white sides. Two populations of Pale-bellied Brent Geese reach Britain, those that breed on Spitsbergen winter in Northumberland and the Greenland birds winter mainly in Ireland. Our familiar Dark-bellied birds breed in Siberia and winter in southern England largely between the Humber and Exe estuaries.

Pale-bellied Brent Goose

The 14 Avocets and 14 Spoonbill were roosting again from DL’O with the Spoonbills surprisingly active. A Dartford Warbler was churring close by and a distant calling Spotted Redshank was the first I’ve recorded for six weeks.

A brief seawatch produce a fairly close Great Northern Diver but nothing moving and no sign of the Slavonian Grebes. A distant gull with a gleaming white head and dark mantle had me wondering about Yellow-legged Gull but the structure and wing tip pattern weren’t right and I think the dark mantle may have been an artifact of the back lighting.

Brent Geese and Canada Goose photos by Ian Williamson

I decided to head over to P Shore. At the top of P Lane I pulled over to scan a distant flock of geese and after a few minutes I found myself subconsciously repeating a call I could hear ‘jip jip jip’. It suddenly dawned on me that they were Crossbills and luckily I found them pretty quickly, two males and a female. A good record for the site and a patch tick.  

A busy flock of 30 Mediterranean Gull were bathing at P Shore. A Grey Wagtail and a Raven called as they flew over and four Collared Doves were the first I’ve seen in December. I was hoping for a Barn Owl but no luck today.

It was forecast to be stormy but dry and so I decided to spend a few hours watching the sea from the lee of a weathered hawthorn bush near MM’s house. I was hoping for Gannet and Kittiwake but they are rare here and I don’t think it was stormy enough although it was certainly wetter than forecast.

I watched an immature male Eider dealing with a crab and then soon afterwards a Great Northern Diver much closer and also wrestling with a crab. The Slavonian Grebe had become a pair with both birds close together viewable distantly to the east along with half a dozen Great Crested Grebes. A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers flew west and a Mediterranean Gull followed soon afterwards.

I finished the afternoon by heading to P Shore looking for the Russian White-fronts. I found more than 1,000 Brents in a grassy field near the foreshore but there were no White-fronts amongst them. The scrape at the eastern end looked good for waders although I’m not sure if it will have dried out by the spring.

Presumably what was the same pair of Red-breasted Mergansers had now settled on the sea but took off before another squall hit. I headed back to the car, it was good to see P Shore for the first time.    

On Thursday at dusk while at the Reedy Ditch I’d seen, distantly to the west, a very large flock of Brent Geese in front of RP Farm. This morning I decided to try and get closer to them and had in mind that looking north from P Shore would achieve this. I drove past the normal turn into W Lane and then left down P Lane. After a hundred yards or so a panoramic view opens up to the east and I quickly noticed a large flock of Brents in the nearest field.

I pulled over set up the scope and amazingly the first goose I got in the scope was an adult Russian White-fronted Goose! It was with three others, two more adults with their black belly barring and white frontal blazes and also a single juvenile/1st winter bird. The goose flock comprised 950 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 88 Greylags, 45 Canada Geese and the four Russian vagrants. Greenland White-fronts are larger, darker and with a more orange bill (as opposed to pink). I looked for Pale-bellied Brents but couldn’t find any.

They were too distant for decent photos but close enough for acceptable record shots.

While watching the geese flock I heard and then saw a Raven, Lesser Redpoll and Marsh Tit. There have been a handful of Russian White fronts in Hampshire and so I was delighted to find my own.

Ian saw them again the next morning when the Brents had disappeared but the White-fronts and the Greylags had moved closer.

Russian White fronted Geese, right hand photo by Ian Williamson

I then headed over to NO as I was taking part in a synchronised wintering Sandwich Tern count. There were two Golden Plover, six Spoonbill and three Avocet on DL’O. On B Water I saw Mute Swan N7L. She is a 12-year old female ringed as a first year at Christchurch in 2009. She bred successfully on Hythe Marshes with male J5A from 2010 annually through to 2019 and was often seen with cygnets on the eastern shore of Southampton Water. She has now been sighted at NO with a new mate who has lost his plastic ring (K6V) but is an adult ringed in 2014 at Keyhaven. Her old mate may have died in the last year or so.

From the sailing club I noticed the Slavonian Grebe on the sea, it was now further east and level with the wardens hut. A pair of female Eider drifted up the river in front of the sailing club. 20 Skylark fed in the short coastal grasses and 40 Black-tailed Godwit flew in to land in the field below Exbury. Unfortunately there were no Sandwich Terns on show today.

Redwing were calling overhead as I paused at the Reedy Ditch and from DL’O I watched as 14 Spoonbill came into roost landing next to 14 already roosting Avocets. The Avocets move away at the end of the summer. Most head to Titchfield Haven to moult and then disperse to wintering grounds such as Poole Harbour. In mid-winter a few begin to filter back and a count of 14 is typical for this time of year. We then see a big increase in March, as the breeding birds return, along with some on passage.

Back at the car I switched to wellies and headed over to the beach and the wet margins around NP. A large female Sparrowhawk stood on the high tide ridge above the beach. A strong supercilium had me wondering although her proportions and slender legs weren’t right for Goshawk. She powered off in my direction but was quickly lost to sight behind the trees.

I’ve checked the sea off MM’s house every time I visit hoping for Slavonian Grebes and today for the first time I was successful. A lovely dapper Slav showed distantly to the east associating with a couple of Great Crested Grebes. Just behind them a couple of big bruiser Great Northern Divers drifted west against the rising tide. Later I returned to find the Slavonian Grebe closer, just about close enough for some record shots. A patch tick for me. In the last five years Slavonian Grebes have arrived a month earlier than in 2020 – 18th November, 15th November, 25th November, 19th November and 18th November.

Slavonian Grebe

During my visit I counted 19 Linnets at both ends of the reserve and so perhaps it’s one winter flock and they spend their days commuting between MM’s house and the Sailing Club. They showed very nicely and so I checked them all for Twite, just in case…

Ian had seen a Jack Snipe on Tuesday and armed with directions I tried the same wet ditch, unfortunately no luck today. I then did a loop I’ve done many times over the last six weeks and just as I was finishing I flushed a silent and starling sized snipe, he waited until I was six foot away before flying and would have given me amazing views if I’d been checking carefully ahead of me. The Jack Snipe flew back in the direction of the first ditch I’d tried and so it may well have been Ian’s bird. Another patch tick for me.

While walking back to the car I bumped into one of the Dartford Warblers and ended up having great views. This bird was one of the two birds who have rings on their right legs.  As I got back to the car for lunch a mobile tit flock included a sneezing Marsh Tit.

Dartford Warbler

I joined Brian and Val at the Sailing Club and Brian mentioned seeing what he thought might be Golden Plover on the scrape from the sluice gate, he’d only had his binoculars at the time. I headed off and sure enough there were five in amongst the Lapwings, my third patch tick of the day. I got back to the Sailing Club and then picked out another 60 Golden Plover in the fields below Exbury House and in amongst them were 52 Black-tailed Godwits, my largest count to date.  

A brief stop at the Reedy Ditch produced 171 Starlings on the wires and a huge flock of bickering Brents in a grassy field near the farm buildings on P Shore.