Darcia came down to visit the reserve. Living in Wiltshire she doesn’t often see the variety of coastal habitats we have here and she was also keen to see a White-tailed Eagle if possible. 

Before she arrived I walked out to the beach and had five Lesser Redpoll calling overhead and one of the Dartford Warblers showed nicely at the start of the Beach Gorse. 

Darcia arrived at around 8:30am and we headed off to the hides. From the De L’Orne area we enjoyed regular sightings of Marsh Harriers including an adult male, the regular juvenile and at least one female type.

A single Spotted Redshank fed on the islands on the scrape and a single Avocet waded and swam in the deeper water behind. After 90 minutes or so we headed over to Venner and spent another hour or so in Venner Hide. It was quiet here. At around 10:30am Ian who had just arrived with Sarah called to say that an eagle had dropped down on to the saltmarsh on the other side of De L’Orne Scrape.

We headed back to De L’Orne and after 30 minutes or so Darcia picked up the White-tailed Eagle as it came over De L’Orne Scrape being followed by a much smaller Grey Heron. It flew over Three Fields North and then towards Venner.

I called Ian who was in Venner hide and he tracked it across to Gins West where they watched it land in a tree. We headed back to Venner Hide and enjoyed scope views of the eagle in the tree top.

On the insect front a late Common Darter dashed past in the strong wind near Shore Hide, a Migrant Hawker was patrolling in front of De L’Orne Hide and the micro moth Tachystola acroxantha was resting on the inside of Venner Hide.

After a walk to the beach front we had enough time to drive down Park Lane to see if the Cattle Egrets were still near Park Farm. We did see one and the White-tailed Eagle made another appearance drifting towards us over Stagg’s Wood before losing height and disappearing out of sight.   

Around three hundred corvids lifted up from the Venner area as I was driving past the Reedy Ditch.

I decided to head down to the beach first thing to listen for finch passage. The bubbling calls of Curlew and the mournful calls of Grey Plover greeted me as I reached the water. I met up with Ian at the sea watching area, we had independently recorded three Dartford Warblers on our walk down. I saw my first Dartford Warbler in the same week last year, up to six wintered but they moved away to breed.   

The sea watching highlight was undoubtedly a Razorbill on a flat calm sea. Too far for decent photos but great to see. We also saw two red-head Red-breasted Mergansers heading east, two Avocet flying high and a female Common Scoter resting on the sea. A single Lesser Redpoll flying over calling was new for the year.

On De L’Orne Scrape there were good numbers of waders waiting for the tide to drop. Three Spotted Redshank, six Greenshank, four Grey Plover, 152 Dunlin, 102 Ringed Plover, 214 Lapwing and three Redshank which included a colour-ringed bird (left leg – blue over yellow, right leg – black flag over green). Lizzie confirmed that this is a chick ringed in the Avon Valley this year and that it hadn’t been re-sighted until now.

Highlight of the day was watching the two White-tailed Eagles on Venner being joined by a third bird. Steve Egerton-Read at the Roy Dennis Foundation confirmed that our resident male G393, released in 2019 has been back and forth between Needs Ore and the Isle of Wight over much of October. Today he was joined by two birds released earlier this year – G547 (a pretty big female and G815 (a smallish male, but by no means the smallest). All three have been on and off the reserve, the two younger birds likely still returning to the island to feed. He said he was disappointed not to have seen all three of them in the same field like we did.

As I headed back to the car 12 Barnacle Geese flew over Three Fields North, I later noticed on Going Birding that they had spent the day on Normandy Marsh.

After lunch I headed over to Park Shore to look for the reported five Cattle Egrets. I found them fairly quickly just north of Park Farm although their numbers had swelled to seven, my highest ever count of this species.

While setting up the Moth Trap at 4:30pm the male White-tailed Eagle flew over Mary Monts and headed out towards the Isle of Wight. Returning the next morning there were 13 individuals of 6 species in the trap although the temperature did feel lower than forecast and the wind probably deterred too many moths from flying. Highlights were two Flounced Chestnuts, the first recorded on the reserve for more than 30 years.

I spent a week on Scilly in mid-October and we enjoyed some very warm unseasonal weather. Highlights were Serin, Rustic Bunting, Wryneck, Bluethroat and Red-rumped Swallow.

Back at Needs Ore, Thursday 19^th was a blustery but mild day. The male White-tailed Eagle flew level with the Sluice as I was driving to the Sailing Club, the closest I’ve been so far. I do seem to be bumping into at least one of the eagles each time I visit at the moment.   

Both Peregrines were present, one flew across the river to Inchmery while the second bird rested underneath the sign on the shingle beach. A little further west along the shingle the Merlin hunched up against the wind.

On the far side at high tide a Bar-tailed Godwit and several Grey Plover were roosting with a handful of Black-tailed Godwit feeding further up the river. A lovely pale rufous juvenile Buzzard was being mobbed by crows over the Weather Station Field.

Seven Swallows headed west through the Wedge Field while seven Mediterranean Gulls flew overhead. On De L’Orne Scrape there were building numbers of Lapwing, at least 100 together with 100 Dunlin and 55 Ringed Plover. Three Spotted Redshank were slightly out of view on the Roosting Stones. Last year, by early November, only one Spotted Redshank remained and only two subsequent winter records suggests that they didn’t spend the winter here. A Green Sandpiper showed really nicely on the Islands in front of NFOC hide.

A brief sea watch produced a Gannet and a Kittiwake with Siskins overhead. A handful of Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters were still on the wing but no butterflies.

A cold start had me debating whether gloves and a woolly hat were required. I pulled over at the Reedy Ditch and noticed both White-tailed Eagles in the tree tops in the Venner and Black Water area. As I got to the end of the Main Hedge, one of the Eagles was in view flying low over Venner South.

At the Viewing Gate 25 Goldfinches flew up from the ground to chatter on the top of the brambles, good to see that there were at least 10 juveniles amongst them.

One of the highlights of the day was hearing the mournful plaintiff call of the first returning Golden Plover. I saw it distantly heading over Three Fields South. They no longer winter at Needs Ore in large numbers like they used to, my peak count last winter was 65 in the Exbury Fields on the 17^th December.

More evidence of birds on the move were Skylarks and Siskins overhead and an amazing number of Jays, the good numbers here may be due to a failed acorn crop elsewhere. A Dunnock posed nicely along Pullen Walk.

Nearby a confiding Starling showed how far advanced their post juvenile moult is with the brown feathers around the face being the only remaining juvenile feathers.

A Herring Gull was not particularly keen to fly, perhaps not surprising given the heavy primary moult.

Brent Geese numbers were up slightly with 28 feeding alongside Gull Island at high tide and a flock of 24 Pintail circling over the Cottages was my highest site count. At the Sailing Club a fairly late Wheatear approached fairly close as I sat in the car.

Adam and I removed the two smaller end rafts from De L’Orne Lagoon so that the Black-headed Gulls could not reserve them early in the spring. In April we will position the rafts back out in the lagoon again as the Common Terns are returning and with a lure tape playing so that we can hopefully attract them to breed again. As I was helping Adam two Spoonbill flew over our heads.

Sandwich Terns are regular over winterers and the three birds towards Inchmery look likely to be doing the same again this year. I had counts of up to three birds throughout the winter last year. One of the birds came closer and landed on one of the nearer buoys.

After seeing very few butterflies all day I checked the sheltered western edge of Thrift Corner where the Sea Aster was in full sun. Lots of activity here with 4 Clouded Yellows including a pair in cop, 10 Red Admiral, 5 Peacock, 3 Common Blue, a Comma, a Small White and a Large White.