This morning I was co-leading a HOS walk with Adam. Before we met the group at 10am I walked to the hides to see what was around. My weather app said it was -1 but feeling like -5, definitely a five layer kind of morning.

Walking into Venner hide I met up with Brian F just as one of the White-tailed Eagles headed straight towards the hide giving me my closest views to date.

This is our regular male G393. He was collected at roughly 10 weeks old from a nest on Mull in June 2019. He was then released from the Isle of Wight at the end of August 2019 when around 20 weeks old. He’s now entering his fourth year. Breeding in 2022 is probably unlikely for G393, he hasn’t got a mate and even though fourth year birds can breed it’s rare. Given the lack of females at a suitable age it may be a number of years before we see a breeding attempt on the Beaulieu River.

Thankfully the eagles were still present when I took the group back later, in fact there were three of them by the time we returned.

There were seven Spoonbill resting on the river, they stayed long enough for the group to see them before they headed off up river, they all appeared to be adults. This is the largest group I’ve seen since the 13 on Venner on 14^th March. There were also 33 Shelduck roosting on the river.

I was pleased to see a colour-ringed Redshank again on the saltmarsh near the Sluice Gate. It was the same 1^st winter individual which I had first seen on De L’Orne Scrape more than a month ago, on 23rd October, it appears to be wintering here. As we were finishing the HOS walk the pair of Peregrines performed nicely above the Sailing Club.

After lunch I met up with Ian and we headed to Park Shore. As we drove down Park Lane I noticed one of the Cattle Egrets in the field around Park Farm.

On the shoreline we watched a pair of divers, probably Great Northern, headed east well out into the Solent, too distant to identify.

The undoubted highlight of the day was a redhead Goosander which I picked up as it swam slowly right up against one of the shingle islands close in shore. We walked closer for photographs but it slipped away somehow, I eventually saw it again flying east but distantly. Away from inland reservoirs and ponds Goosander records are scarce and this may well be a cold weather movement. It is my first record for the site.

After a week away with Sarah and the dogs I was keen to get back down to the patch especially as Adam had seen a Snow Bunting on Warren Shore on the Thursday.

On the way to the beach I heard a Dartford Warbler churring near Pullen Marsh and a Green Woodpecker flew up from close to me along the Beach Gorse Bushes. I later saw a second Dartford Warbler along Pullen Walk.

I walked the spit but unfortunately there was no sign of the Snow Bunting. Ian had also walked to Gull Island on the Friday without luck. It was not without reward however as the Purple Sandpiper which I found 11 days ago appeared again right in front of me as I was roughly level with the Cottages. It was feeding on its own along the muddy ledge which replaces the sloping shingle beach just beyond Teal Point.

I sat and watched it for ten minutes or more, it was a 1^st winter bird with new adult scapulars and mantle feathers but with retained juvenile coverts which were neatly fringed white. It fledged earlier this year probably in Norway.

13 Black-tailed Godwits flew over the Cottages and I counted around six Skylark and five Meadow Pipits on the saltmarsh. A Mistle Thrush flying down Warren Lane was the first I’ve seen for a while.

On the sea there were 3 Great Crested Grebes, the Slavonian Grebes haven’t returned yet. Last year I didn’t see any until the 17^th December. A female Red-breasted Merganser headed west while a male rested on the sea.

An unusually large flock of 60 Stock Dove wheeled around for several minutes over Wigeon Fields, the biggest group I’ve seen. Throughout the day a White-tailed Eagle was often in view, there have been up to five seen at once here in the last week. 

A very late Common Darter was basking on a fence post near Black Water.

The female Scaup was still present on Black Water associating with a male Pochard and a female Tufted Duck. This rather distant photo gives a good comparison between Scaup and Tufted Duck. The Scaup has a pale cheek patch, deeper chest, larger more rounded head, no tuft and a more extensive white blaze.

There was no sign of any Greenshank around De L’Orne, the autumn migrants have moved on and it remains to be seen if any will stay for the winter. 12 Avocet were roosting on the far side of the river opposite the Royal Southampton Yacht Club.

A drake Teal was wearing a bill saddle on Venner. I sent the photo to Graham who commented – “the Teal was ringed in south west Portugal at the Tagus River Estuary Nature Reserve. Unfortunately the Teal cannot be individually identified, because there are 2 digits in the middle of the saddle, which cannot be read in your photo. We tend to think of Teal and other migrant duck as coming here for the winter to escape harsher conditions in Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. However, large numbers of migrant duck carry on to spend the winter in parts of south western Europe. It would be interesting to know if this Teal went to Portugal for its first winter and maybe now it is a more experienced bird it feels able to winter here. Or maybe it is just passing through Needs Ore and it will be back in Portugal in a few days’ time.”

A foggy and damp start with lots of young Blackbirds and Song Thrushes grounded. Also my first record this winter of a Fieldfare ‘shacking’ in the distance. There has been talk that Fieldfares have arrived late this year but my first last year was only 4 days earlier than this.

From Gravelly Beach there were now two Razorbills together on a calm sea. This is the 4th time I’ve seen Razorbill in my last 6 visits, a few of these sightings may involve the same individual.

25 Meadow Pipits were mobile and flighty around the beach hut and two female type Red-breasted Mergansers landed on the sea briefly before heading off west again.

Over on Great Marsh a Green Sandpiper called as it flew over Gravelly Marsh West. I later saw another on the shingle bar near De L’Orne, perhaps the same bird. Green Sandpiper didn’t winter here last year with the last disappearing soon after the 18^th October 2020.

An ungainly Water Rail flew across the Flight Pond as a wagtail flew over, the tail looked too short for Pied and the brief flight call was good for Western Yellow Wagtail, a very late record, in fact one of the latest ever in Hampshire.

There were two Dartford Warblers around the Ringing Area and around Gravelly House, they were typically elusive. I eventually saw the first bird well although not in focus! It was an adult with a ring on its right leg.

The second bird didn’t show but churred regularly. Nearby a Chiffchaff was calling and there were several Siskin moving overhead.

I watched a Marsh Harrier drifting out over the sea. It approached a swimming Greylag and momentarily dropped down aggressively but thought better of a full on attack before being mobbed and chased off by a Peregrine.

A walk out along Warren Shore produced 13 Skylark and six Snipe while there were good numbers of dabbling duck resting on the sea. A count of 62 Mallard was my highest on the reserve.

The vast majority of wildfowl on Black Water and Venner were dabbling ducks, the diving ducks formed an exclusive small group on Venner with the female Scaup still present alongside 3 Tufted Duck (two females) and a single male Pochard. There were 10 Avocet on De L’Orne Scrape.

From the Sailing Club I watched the waders restlessly shifting on Inchmery Saltmarsh. I counted 630 Dunlin and 150 Ringed Plover. One of the Dunlin was colour-ringed but around half a mile away and so I couldn’t read the colours. As the Dunlin and Ringed Plover flock lifted up and wheeled back and forth over the river I picked out several Turnstone and plenty of Grey Plover but there was one bird larger and darker then the Dunlin with an obvious dark head and chest.

I initially thought Turnstone but quickly dismissed this as this wader was bluey grey, not blackish, and the upper wings and back were uniform and fairly plain. The flock landed but I lost the bird in the melee. I felt sure it must be a Purple Sandpiper although wanted another view given the rarity here and the fact that it was a brief flight only view at around 600 metres.

Philip Hack arrived for a catch up, I mentioned the possible Purple Sandpiper and he then returned to his car for his scope. After a few minutes of scanning I picked it up again, asleep. It looked good for Purple Sandpiper and then it woke up and flashed its plain dark face and yellow based bill. Unfortunately it never did this while I was pointing the camera at it! This is only the second record for Needs Ore.

 I ran the moth traps again along Pullen Walk last night. There was an amazing variety in the Chestnut Moth with all four individuals looking very different to each other. I caught 17 individuals of 10 species including Calybites phasianipennella which I first caught in August and at the time was the first ever record for Needs Ore and also the first record for the 10km square.