Category: January 2021

I left a bit earlier than normal as I wanted to try and see Woodcock feeding at dawn with the thermal camera. I also hoped to bump into a Barn Owl. An hour before sunrise I pulled over next to the gate 100 yards before the Reedy Ditch. Ian had seen a Woodcock in this field a week ago. Tawny Owls were calling. Through the thermal camera I could see lots of white hot spots including Roe Deer, Rabbits and Red-legged Partridges and another white dot I couldn’t identify. It was difficult to resolve the shape at this distance but when the bird flew it was obviously a Woodcock.

From the beach a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers headed west and a close Great Northern Diver on the sea was followed by another distant bird flying east and then a third also heading east but much closer. This juvenile rounded the corner and into the river mouth and I later saw it very closely from the Sailing Clubhouse.

Also from MM’s a Slavonian Grebe swam west diving constantly and I then saw another 100 yards away. At first I thought it must have moved without me noticing but I was then pleased to see that there were definitely two in what has been a meager winter for Slavonian Grebe on the Hampshire Coast.

Great Northern Diver, Mediterranean Gull and Slavonian Grebe

A Dartford Warbler called from MM’s grounds and a juvenile Sparrowhawk powered through the trees close by. On the walk back a mobile Long-tailed Tit flock contained a couple of Goldcrests and a Treecreeper struggling to keep up.

Goldcrest and Treecreeper

I finished at the Reedy Ditch and an hour before sunset I was delighted to watch a ringtail Hen Harrier arrive from the east before heading straight over the car and off towards the beach house on P Shore. It looks like an adult female and is likely the same bird that Ian had seen yesterday and which appeared to fly to the Isle of Wight.

Hen Harrier middle photo by Ian Williamson (harrier heading to the Isle of Wight)

A bitterly cold day made even colder by a brisk north-easterly wind. There seemed to be few passerines around, I saw very few tits, pipits or finches.

In contrast the Peregrines were very active. I saw one or both of them in four different places including displaying and calling over the S Hide, dashing towards B Water, jostling with the Marsh Harriers over the DL’O scrape and even coming in off the sea. From MM’s the pair of wintering Sandwich Terns commuted back and forth but there were no grebes or divers here.

Dad joined me at the sailing club where there was no sign of the Pale-bellied Brent. We could see a distant female Eider on the sea diving with wings half open and a Great Northern Diver was fishing in the mouth of the river. Seven Avocet were roosting way up the river on the far bank.

There’d been a notable arrival of thrushes with at least 50 Song Thrushes and similar numbers of Redwing. Fieldfares were in double figures along with a handful of Mistle Thrushes. A Green Woodpecker near the JV hide was only the second I’ve seen at NO.

Kestrel, Reed Bunting & Wigeon photos by Ian Williamson

After lunch we headed to P Shore to check the geese flock at the top of P Lane. The 1,000 strong flock of Dark-bellied Brent Geese contained the four Russian White-fronts and as on my previous visits they were very distant but we managed some record shots. After a much longer look and with the light fading I managed to relocate the Pale-bellied Brent Goose towards the back of the flock.

As on my first visit every month I made a concerted effort to record every species I saw with my previous best day totals being 74 in both November and December. I met up with Ian after lunch.

Highlights were the four Russian White-fronted Geese (three adults and a first winter) again at the top of P Lane and 35 Mediterranean Gulls together in the adjacent field.

A Great Northern Diver flying east and 20 Great Crested Grebes grouped together with a single drake Pochard from MM’s. 15 Avocets and a Spoonbill on the scrape. Firecrest, Treecreeper and Marsh Tit all at the Reedy Ditch. 149 Grey Plover in the high tide roost on the shingle ridge opposite the cottages. A Water Rail briefly on the edge of the footpath near DL’O hide and all five thrushes including high counts of Song Thrushes.

Pintail and Rock Pipit

I finished with a healthy 81. Ian beat me by 1 with his list including Barn Owl, Woodcock and Goshawk.