Patch Birding

Wednesday 5th January 2022

I met up with Dad for the day. On the way to the beach a Reed Bunting showed really nicely in the early morning sun. This adult male is moulting into breeding plumage by wearing away the brown-fringed head feathers to reveal the blacker colours below.

On the sea a single Slavonian Grebes drifted off shore and a distant Red-throated Diver appeared briefly but was then elusive. I later saw the diver again, it had drifted almost the full length of the Isle of Wight towards Lepe on the rising tide. Even at long range the up-tilted bill and slender flat chested appearance were obvious. Five Red-breasted Mergansers headed west and a single Razorbill was sat on the sea out from the cottages.

A Dartford Warbler was calling again from the bushes near Mary Monts. There aren’t as many individuals as last winter, perhaps three or four this year compared to maybe six or seven last year.

De L’Orne was fairly quiet with rising numbers of Avocet, now 17, and a single Spoonbill. The highlight of the day was managing a decent photo of a Cetti’s Warbler, a difficult species to see well. They do sometimes appear on the edge of the reeds, cocking their tail and showing well for a few seconds, thankfully we were ready in Venner Hide. You can see the long, dark centered and pale tipped undertail coverts. You can even see that Cetti’s Warblers have only ten tail feathers and also very short primaries typical of short range migrants.

A Jay flew along Warren Lane, one of the common species we missed on Saturday’s bird race. We headed over to Park Shore to see if we could find any Crossbills. They start getting active much earlier than other breeding birds and I’d seen and heard them in December and January last year in the small pine copse at the top of Park Lane. No luck today. It’s also a good area for Coal Tit here but again no luck. Thankfully the Cattle Egrets were still around Park Farm although the cattle appear to have been taken in now. The egrets were hanging around the horses near the farm. This one showing just a hint of summer plumage on the crown.

In the grassy fields on the walk to the beach there were at least 25 Redwing and off shore there were another two Slavonian Grebes. Three Mediterranean Gulls were roosting on the sea with the Black-headed Gulls.

After Dad headed home I decided to walk the spit however with the tide at 2.8m there were still waders roosting and the tide was still close to breaching the shingle close to Teal Point. On a falling tide the saltmarsh inside the shingle beach is also flooded to a greater degree than the same height of tide on a rising tide. This is presumably because the saltmarsh holds water temporarily even as the tide falls. In any case I decided that there were too many wildfowl using the saltmarsh and too many waders roosting on the spit for me to walk out.

Instead, I walked to the cottages and looked through the wader roost from there. 112 Knot was my highest count to date although I noticed that more than 400 have previously been recorded on WeBS for ‘Beaulieu/Lepe’. I’m not sure where these birds roost.

Saturday 1st January 2022

Just like in 2021 Ian and I attempted to see as many species as possible around Needs Ore on New Year’s Day. Last year I saw 81 and this year we seemed to be well ahead of track all day and I finished with a roosting Kingfisher along the ditch near the sluice gate. I saw 97 species which is amazing and makes me think that 100 may be possible next year especially as we missed Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Jay, Firecrest, Eider, Great Northern Diver and Treecreeper.

Highlights were three Glossy Ibis found by Ian going over the Reedy Ditch at 8am, also 4 Brambling calling here. Sea Watching produced Kittiwake, Red-throated Diver, Razorbill, Guillemot and Slavonian Grebe. Also the Scaup on Black Water and a Nuthatch calling from Silver’s Copse.

Brambling calling over the Reedy Ditch

Highlights December 2021

On the 4^th a Red Kite drifted over Bergerie Farm. Virtually all of my Red Kite sightings have been in the spring and so this was a little unusual. At the same time my first ever wintering Black-necked Grebe was spending the 4^th and 5^th off Mary Monts and a Gannet was also in the Solent on the 5^th. Later that day at Park Farm a pair of Redpolls flew over calling.

One of the adult Peregrines was seen on the 5^th on Gull Island but there have been no subsequent sightings of adult birds since then. A juvenile female Peregrine was subsequently seen most days. It may be that the recent failed breeding attempts and the presence of the White-tailed Eagles have persuaded the Peregrines to move on.

Three Velvet Scoter were found from the Sailing Club during our WeBS count on the 5^th and the same group were seen in a similar area on the 8th, the first Velvet Scoter record for two years. The wintering flock of Grey Plover totaled 209 on the 5^th and included a single Golden Plover on 4^th.

The undoubted highlight of the month was a flyover Lapland Bunting from the Sailing Club on the 8th. This is the fourth record for Needs Ore after one in 2012 and two in the 1960s. I didn’t see the bunting well but a sound recording enabled me to eliminate the very similar sounding Snow Bunting.

Lapland Bunting calling over the Sailing Club

70 Redwing were feeding in Wigeon Fields on 11^th but the only Fieldfare during December was one heard near the Beach Gorse on the same day. 21 Eider were offshore on the 11th and a Goshawk powered over the Reedy Ditch on the 11^th.

Brambling calling near the Reedy Ditch

The crop strip field attracts good numbers of finches and a Brambling was heard calling here on the morning of the 14^th. Also in the Reedy Ditch area that day a Hawfinch was seen briefly over Black Water House and a Marsh Tit was also seen on the 14^th calling from the Reedy Ditch Bushes.

A Shag showed really nicely fairly close in shore on the 20^th. Compared to the much commoner Cormorants it was significantly blacker, with a shorter body above the water, a flash of yellow around the gape and a white chin. Nice to see it dive with an amazingly athletic leap before entering the water almost vertically.

One of the highlights of the month was a group of four adult and two first winter Russian White-fronted Geese which were seen on Middle Field with Canada Geese on the 20^th. The four birds that over-wintered last year tended to associate with the Greylags. I first saw them on the 19th December 2020, a very similar arrival date. This year’s group of six quickly moved on and weren’t seen again.

Five Red-throated Divers were seen flying west and also settled on the sea on the 20^th but there appear to be no wintering Great Northern Divers yet.

A group of six Barnacle Geese flew over Pullen on the 22^nd and later that afternoon the first Pale-bellied Brent Goose of the winter was seen at Park Farm. What may well have been the same bird was seen on the 30^th out on Inchmery Saltmarsh before flying past Mary Monts shortly afterwards.

Also on the 22^nd a Common Scoter was on the sea and a single Golden Plover was with the Grey Plover flock. Cormorants leaving their roost in the Black Water area totaled 40 on Boxing Day while later that morning a female Goosander drifted east on the rising tide close in shore.

In the afternoon the wintering Lapwing flock peaked at just over 400 birds on De L’Orne Scrape and sharing the scrape were 71 Golden Plover, no doubt part of the wandering flock from Pennington. Also on Boxing Day, during a sunny interval, a Peacock butterfly showed briefly on Wheatear Corner.

Towards the end of the month 51 Black-tailed Godwit on De L’Orne Scrape was a good count and very similar to my previous highest winter count which was 52 on 17th December 2020 (Exbury Fields). Also on the 30^th three Greenshank were seen together here, this is the first time I’ve seen more than two during any winter count (December and January).

Birds present all month included the wintering Avocet group which remained around the dozen mark often on the edge of the river south of the Yacht Club. This is a typical count and location for Avocet, there were 14 here in December last year. Numbers grew to 21 by early March, also feeding along the edge of the river. A further increase in numbers came in April with 37 on Great Marsh.

The two Cattle Egrets remained close to Park Farm and up to three Dartford Warblers were often seen or heard close to Mary Monts. Auks continued in good numbers with up to seven Razorbill and four Guillemot seen off shore.

The 1^st winter Purple Sandpiper, only the second for Needs Ore, remained on Warren Shore throughout December often showing very closely for those that made the long walk.

The first winter female Scaup remained on Black Water and Venner although rather strangely she was seen on Inchmery Saltmarsh during a WeBS count on the 5^th.

There were up to four Slavonian Grebes off shore during the month and the Spoonbill group totalled 14 adults splitting their time between Inchmery Saltmarsh and De L’Orne Scrape.

Thursday 30th December 2021

I met up with Dimitri at 8am, we started with some sea watching from Mary Monts. Two Ravens cronked overhead as we set up and there were four or more Great Crested Grebes strung out along Warren Shore. A Razorbill was close in, now a regular sight this winter.

The highlight was four dapper Slavonian Grebes in a very compact group, it was brilliant to see four birds so close together.

A male Red-breasted Merganser flew west and then two females lingered for most of the day out from Mary Monts. Also heading west were several Eider.

After a lull in sea activity we headed over to the hides and as we emerged from the Main Hedge there were three White-tailed Eagles on the ground in the flooded fields. Despite their captive origins they don’t seem accustomed to humans and they had flown before we had even got to the Viewing Gate.

White-tailed Eagles photo by Brian Fairbrother

On De L’Orne Scrape there were 51 Black-tailed Godwit. This is very similar to my previous highest winter count which was 52 on 17^th December 2020 (Exbury Fields). This suggests that a population of around 50 birds winter here.

Three Greenshank were active and regularly flying around the scrape, this is the first time I’ve seen more than two during any winter count (December and January). The Spoonbill group which has settled at a consistent fourteen were again on show here, all of them asleep.

On the walk back along the hedge I always scan the fields carefully, particularly to the west, for a possible Water Pipit but again no luck. In fact pipits of any species are very difficult to pick out in the long grass. There were 19 Pied Wagtails on the damp parts of Wedge Field. My high counts of this species this year (19, 20 and 25) have all been in these three adjacent fields – Wedge Field, Middle Field and Droveway East.

At the Sailing Club a vocal Rock Pipit was calling from the roof of the Warden’s Hut and in the distance a Pale-bellied Brent Goose was roosting on Inchmery Saltmarsh. Even at this distance, perhaps a kilometer, the angle allows you to see the pale central underbelly which makes the black breast stand out.

What I believe is the same individual was then picked up by Dimitri as we sea watched for a second time from Mary Monts. Really nice to get some flight photos, you can really see the strong contrast between chest and belly and the much paler area around and behind where the legs would be. These areas can be difficult to see well when the geese are grazing.