Category: July 2021

It’s been a good year on Venner for ducks some of whom are not common breeders in Hampshire. A second Pochard pair have at least 2 small chicks and the original female now has five almost fully grown ducklings. The lovely blackish Tufted Duck ducklings, seven of them, were following the female everywhere. There were 39 Gadwall resting on Venner with at least 17 off spring ranging from small chicks to almost fully grown ducklings. There were 60 and 44 broods of Tufted Duck and Gadwall reported across the whole of Hampshire in 2019, around 20 broods of Shelduck and Pochard was only confirmed as having bred at three sites.

There has been an influx of Teal since Sunday with seven on Venner and 16 on Black Water. 13 Curlew and nine Black-tailed Godwit, previously out of view, flew up from behind the island and over my head towards Black Water. The Egyptian Geese were walking their eight youngsters to the water’s edge from Wigeon Fields and the eight Shelduck chicks were still on De L’Orne flood.  

Little Grebe haven’t bred at Needs Ore for a few years and so I was glad to see a juvenile on Black Water, he showed remnants of some head stripes and a reddish patch. I was at the De L’Orne screen and very distant, hence the poor quality record shot. An adult was also on Black Water but keeping an eye out from a distance.

A juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over Venner Island as I was leaving.

On my way back from the hides I reached the boardwalk and checked an egret which was in the trees on Venner. I’ve done this hundreds of times before but this time it was a stunning breeding plumage Cattle Egret with an orange bill and orange patches on the head and chest. I headed back to the screen at Venner and enjoyed some closer views. A patch tick. Soon afterwards the equally stunning summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe appeared from behind the Island.

The gorse was popping in the heat and there were plenty of butterflies on the wing with lots of Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Small and Large Whites, a handful of Marbled Whites and several Small Heaths. There were three or four Purple Hairstreaks drifting across Warren Lane as I had a drink back at the car. A Comma pausing on brambles near the Pullen Hide was new for the patch. 

Dragonflies were also evident with plenty of Common Darters and Black-tailed Skimmers, a lovely male Ruddy Darter near Pullen Hide and a female Migrant Hawker alongside the flight pond at Great Marsh.

I headed on to Gravelly Marsh and it was obvious that the Black-headed Gulls, who had left the rafts at De L’Orne, had now relocated to Great Marsh, the noise levels had certainly gone up a few notches.

New migrant waders included an adult Dunlin and two adult Greenshank. The juvenile Redshank had been walked over from Gravelly Marsh and so too had a young Lapwing. I flushed a wader from the short causeway at the eastern end of the flight pond. It looked like a ringed plover species and the ‘teeuu’ call and lack of wing bar confirmed it as Little Ringed Plover. A little later I found one of the two juvenile birds on the same island as the Dunlin. The juvenile birds are pretty independent now and I couldn’t find the second bird.

The first returning Turnstones, seven of them, rested below the new groynes at Park Shore.

As I walked back from Great Marsh nine Swallows flew overhead and they included seven juvenile birds with their shorter tail streamers.

A Field Grasshopper showed nicely near the Pullen Hide. Not an adult yet as you can see from the very short wing buds but the markedly indented pronotum and hairy underside are diagnostic.

A lovely juvenile Stonechat flicked up to the top of a gorse bush in front of me in the beach scrub south of Pullen Hide, a Hobby dashed over the cottage pines and a female type Marsh Harrier drifted towards me from Black Water.

It was approaching high tide and the Oystercatchers were gathering together on Inchmery, there were at least 75 in view from where I sat at the Warden’s Hut. At least one of the juveniles was still present in amongst Sea Lavender near the sluice gate.

Flowers I’d noticed for the first time included the frothy vanilla flowers of Meadowsweet mainly along the track just after the entrance gate and the strangely named Sneezewort over on Great Marsh.

During the afternoon I saw the Cattle Egret in flight three more times, once heading west over Great Marsh, then over Pullen Hide and finally returning back towards and then landing in the trees on Venner, back where it started.

One of the first birds of the day was a distant Hobby perched on the beach fence line near Wheatear Corner. I had been walking down Warren Lane and so doubled back to walk the path along the fence for a closer view. Unfortunately the Hobby had flown before I could get any closer.

Having walked to the beach it was good to watch a Brown Hare dashing along the shingle.

On Gravelly Marsh there were two Lapwing chicks, an intermediate sized one and an almost fully grown one. A large flock of 36 Gadwall took off from Great Marsh as I approached. I could only find one of the juvenile Little Ringed Plover today although Adam later saw them both. A summer plumaged Greenshank at the back of the scrape was probably a returning migrant.

Halfway along the path to the hides a newly emerged Gatekeeper was new for the patch. Other butterflies today were a couple of Marbled Whites near the Weather Station, several Meadow Browns and a single Small Heath.

Soon after watching the Gatekeeper two waders flew over Three Fields East, they were silent but I could see they were my first Green Sandpipers of the year and a sign that autumn is on the way. On the flooded fields the single fully grown juvenile Avocet remained although now on its own. All of the 24 adult Avocets appear to have left the reserve and there was no sign of the three other chicks I saw with them last Sunday. It looks like just one juvenile was raised from the 12 or so pairs.

Avocets are relatively long-lived and they can afford to have poor breeding seasons. Bad years can be caused by predation from gulls, crows, herons and foxes but also from cold and wet weather at the wrong time, when the adults are on eggs or the chicks are very young. Disturbance also contributes as the adults constantly leave the eggs and they can cool.

I arrived at the viewing screen on Venner and raised my binoculars for a presumed Little Grebe which was drifting this side of the island, I was delighted to see that it was in fact a stunning summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe! The first I’ve seen in the summer anywhere in the UK. A lovely matt black head and neck, yellow ear covert whiskers and an incredible red eye.

I spoke to Keith Betton and he commented that “Black-necked Grebes are rarely seen in summer in Hampshire but have bred twice – in 1987 at Winchester Sewage Farm and in 2004 in the Avon Valley. Odd birds do occur in some summers and are presumably failed breeders from elsewhere – perhaps France. Gatherings of up to 30 are seen around the Somme Estuary in the summer – 220km from Needs Ore. The most recent mid-summer sightings have been of singles at Blashford Lakes in June/July 2017, and prior to that another on the coast between Hill Head and Hook-with-Warsash in June 2015”.

Black-necked Grebe

One of the Green Sandpipers had landed on Venner and showed distantly resting in the north-west corner. There have been eight or more Tufted Ducks on Venner all summer but until now no evidence of breeding, it was therefore great to see a female with seven dark brown chicks following.

Seven Shelduck chicks had followed their parents over from De L’Orne scrape along the flood, past the boardwalk bridge and onto Venner. There were still at least eight almost fully grown Gadwall ducklings. House Martins, Sand Martins, Swallows and Swift were all feeding over Venner and the Ravens which favour this area put in an appearance again.

At the sailing club a Whimbrel called and then landed on the edge of the now flooded creeks. There was a juvenile Oystercatcher near the sluice gate and another directly out from the sailing club.

The water’s edge and the islands created by the rising tide were covered in carpets of Sea Lavender, attracting bumblebees, this worker is probably Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

At the Point Bushes I flushed a passerine which flashed a red tail at me. Thankfully it perched up nicely and then showed really well on the log in front of the Warden’s Hut. Redstart is a patch tick and this bird was actually a young juvenile with the gape line still showing. Given the early date this will be one of the first dispersing birds in the county, they breed in the New Forest.

juvenile Redstart

A Hobby dashed over Warren Lane as I was heading home.

I saw three different inland Common Terns this morning all carrying small fish back to young birds somewhere. The terns were all heading west and the nearest colony I’m aware of is Keyhaven where there were 115 pairs in 2019. This is nearly eight miles away and so perhaps there may be nearer breeders. Graham later mentioned that this species nests on the saltmarsh on both sides of the Lymington River. The saltmarsh on the eastern side, some of which extends towards Tanners Lane, is not that far from Needs Ore.

Dimitri found a Small Skipper near the water trough near Shore Hide, a patch tick for me. Also nearby, in a sunny interlude a Purple Hairstreak descended from the oaks along Warren Lane before disappearing out of sight into the oaks on the other side of the lane.

Lady’s Bedstraw was flowering at Wheatear Corner and Centaury was newly flowering along the hedge trail.

From the screen at Venner the female Pochard was still being followed by her five chicks. The 13 Gadwall chicks were of different ages and with four or five adults close by I think this may be a mixing of broods, the male eclipse Gadwall looking very like the females. Gadwall and especially Pochard are good breeding records in Hampshire. There have also been over summering Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck and Wigeon but no breeding noted for these species.

At De L’Orne flood a large flock of Avocets had gathered together. I later saw that all of the birds from De L’Orne scrape and Great Marsh had disappeared and that these 28 Avocets were clearly a post breeding gathering. There was a fully grown juvenile bird with them, probably the bird from Great Marsh. There was also an intermediate sized chick and two small chicks. With the Avocets were eight brightly coloured summer plumaged adult Black-tailed Godwits.

A Little Ringed Plover was again on the nearby shingle bar. I’m pretty sure that this is one of the Great Marsh pair. It was flushed by an Oystercatcher who landed nearby and I heard the Little Ringed Plover calling as it headed back in the direction of Great Marsh.  Half way back to the hides I saw a Meadow Pipit with food again but this time we saw at least two newly fledged juvenile birds.

It was great to see a pair of Little Tern feeding together in the river from the Sailing Club. I was hoping that one might catch something so that I could watch it return to a nest somewhere, they may be nesting on the shingle beach. Unfortunately before they had caught anything they were lost to view up the river.

Little Terns

There were two Oystercatcher chicks from different broods on the saltmarsh and also a 2nd brood for the Pied Wagtails in the eaves of the Sailing Club.

On Gravelly Marsh there were two fairly young Lapwing chicks and at 2:15pm I heard a Nightjar churring for about five seconds. There is a pair nesting here and it is believed there is also a spare male. 

I relocated the two juvenile Little Ringed Plover at the western end of the flight pond in the north-west corner of Great Marsh. They stayed quite close to each other and they both flew short distances. On each of my last four visits I’ve only seen one of the adult birds with them and this perhaps supports my belief that the other adult wanders around the eastern end of the reserve spending lots of time in the De L’Orne area although I’m still not sure why he would be doing this.