There had been an arrival of winter visitors with at least 10 newly arrived Wigeon in the Pullen and Mary Monts area and at least a dozen Snipe. Over on Gravelly there were far fewer passerine migrants compared to Sunday which was much warmer. There were also far fewer hirundines moving.  A Green Sandpiper remained on the Flight Pond.

No matter how cool it is bumblebees are always active, in fact they sometimes detach their wings so that they can use their flight muscles to warm themselves up. I’ve only seen one or two Common Carder Bees (Bombus pascuorum) in the last year but today there were four individuals on Bell Heather on Gravelly Marsh. Not surprisingly this was very close to where I saw the Field Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus campestris) a few weeks, the species that parasitise the nests of Common Carder Bee.

After drawing a relative blank at Gravelly and Great Marsh Ian and walked all of the way up Warren Lane past the Reedy Ditch looking for migrants but there was little moving. Finally we were rewarded when Ian picked out a Spotted Flycatcher in the very south eastern corner of Spring Meadow where it backs on to Lovell’s West and Warren Flash. It was joined by a second bird and a Redstart also appeared briefly. This was my first Spotted Flycatcher on the patch.

I walked the boardwalk bridge four times today and each time a juvenile Whinchat was close by and if I gave it some space it always returned to land on the hand rail. On the final occasion I decided to crawl 100 yards to get as close as I could without disturbing it.

The juvenile Osprey appeared over Venner but I wasn’t quick enough with the camera. I later saw it again, very distantly, over the river. At Venner I spent some time helping Adam as he was clearing some reeds to improve the line of sight from the hide. A female type Marsh Harrier drifted over and Adam found what looked like the nest of a Harvest Mouse, the commonest small rodent on saltmarsh. 

There were a few waders on De L’Orne Scape including 2 Spotted Redshank out in the open, three Ringed Plover and three Dunlin. Also the juvenile Knot was still around.

On Black Water there were three Pintail, newly arrived winter visitors and on the walk back there were 25 Black-tailed Godwit on De L’Orne flood of which 15 were juveniles. The Green Sandpiper picked its way along the edge of the wet mud.

Migrant Hawkers are the most common dragonfly on the reserve at this time of the year but the occasional Emperor puts in an appearance and the deep red of the male Ruddy Darter is always nice to see.

At the point near the Sailing Club there were at least four Wheatear making a total of 10 for the day.

Back at the car there was no sign of the Southern Migrant Hawker. A Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) was nectaring on a thistle near the Shore Hide. Compared to Heath Bumblebee, which I haven’t seen here yet, Garden Bumblebee has a long face and a long tongue as shown in the photo.

I arranged to meet up with Ian and we spent the morning on Gravelly Marsh and Great Marsh. As we reached Mary Mont’s Pools it was clear that there had been an arrival of Snipe with at least three here and then another seven around the Flight Pond.

A couple of Yellow Wagtails called overhead before landing on the pools. The most obvious hirundines today were the Sand Martins with at least 25 around the pools here.

Just like on my last few visits I heard another 7am Tree Pipit, this one was near the Gravelly Crossroads. There were plenty of tacking warblers moving through with a handful of Blackcaps, all males and double figures of Lesser Whitethroat.

Ian picked out a Redstart on Great Marsh Scrub, it disappeared for a while but a flash of red saw it reappear and show well on the top of a Hawthorn bush. A Sedge Warbler also appeared nearby.

The regular autumn Green Sandpipers were still around the Flight Pond, three in total. They flushed before we’d seen them but they returned again once we’d stopped moving. 

As we were checking the trees around the cattle grid a Painted Lady dropped down to feed on the Fleabane.

The birding highlight of the day was a Great White Egret which appeared suddenly from the bottom end of Pullen before flying past us and on towards the hides, a patch tick.

The two Ospreys were still around De L’Orne and Inchmery and there were at least three Whinchats around the flooded field area. It was nice to see two juvenile Ringed Plover on De L’Orne Scrape. There were eight young Shelduck all probably hatched at Needs Ore, five on De L’Orne and another three on Venner.  

Star of the day was undoubtedly the Southern Migrant Hawker which I found patrolling the Shore Hide Ditch. There have been huge numbers of Migrant Hawkers on the wing for a week or more and I’ve been searching for a Southern Migrant Hawker amongst them. This individual was immediately noticeable as being bluer, particularly the abdomen but to a lesser degree also the thorax and even the eyes looked blue in flight.

The thorax lacked the darker bands and greenish yellow patches of Migrant Hawker and it was also obvious that the Southern Migrant Hawker was more aggressive, constantly driving off the Migrant Hawkers. I couldn’t get a flight photo but was still certain of the ID although I was grateful when it did finally settle. This is only the third record for the reserve, a patch tick for me and also a British Tick.

There was a single juvenile Knot on De L’Orne scrape viewable from the Sluice Gate and from here we heard the Kingfisher again and it then flew across in front of us to land on the fence post up the Sluice Channel.

Another highlight was checking an egret which was flying over the Sluice Gate. It was great to see that it was a Cattle Egret, it flew directly away from me before settling on Inchmery Marsh. Ten minutes later it was off again heading towards Lepe. All three egrets in one day, speaking to Ian later it seems that there is a definite movement of rarer egret species here in late August.

On the way home I dropped in at the Reedy Ditch to check for any migrant passerines but it was quiet, I will return again soon but earlier in the day. A Hobby did fly over our heads and an unusual sight was a line of six male Migrant Hawkers draped down from the same branch.  

There was a slightly autumnal feel about today with a cool breeze and hirundines streaming east. Lots of Lesser Whitethroats, Whitethroats, Wheatears and Whinchats were moving but the sound track of the day was provided by a large, swirling and mobile group of Yellow Wagtails.  There’d obviously been a big arrival with their ‘feest’ calls a constant overhead. They landed regularly giving some lovely photo opportunities. I saw them at all parts of the reserve, perhaps 50 altogether.

The juvenile Green Woodpecker appeared again. The area around Pullen Hide and the Nightingale Enclosure has been the favoured location.

When you see a Brown Hare and a Rabbit together you can see just how different they are. The Brown Hare is much larger and browner with a more obvious pale iris, longer legs and longer dark-tipped ears and their white under tail is hidden as they run away.

Nearby four Egyptian Geese were on the low tide line off Mary Monts.

Just like last Sunday a Tree Pipit flew over calling at 7:05am, this one was on Gravelly Marsh. Soon afterwards I met Graham and Tara who had ringed two Tree Pipits. After a quick chat with them I noticed an Osprey heading east just off shore from Mary Monts. It was already heading away from me and my camera struggled to focus in the gloomy light.

There were at least four Whinchats again today all of them on various fence lines and the same number of Wheatear. The single Green Sandpiper was again slowly walking and bobbing along the edge of the De L’Orne flood.

Wheatear and Whinchat

The new, very impressive, hides at Venner and De L’Orne were both opened today. On De L’Orne scrape there were six Greenshank and a Spotted Redshank with a Snipe along the back edge. Several Mediterranean Gulls and a single Sandwich Tern were mixed in with the Black-headed Gulls. There were 39 Black-tailed Godwit feeding on De L’Orne flood viewable from the boardwalk, most of them were juveniles.

There was a moulting Great Crested Grebe on Venner and a Pintail flying over Black Water, both birds were the first returning winter visitors for these species. A Coal Tit calling from the top of the pines near Black Water Hide was the first I’ve recorded since 21st March, they stay close to their nest site during the summer before dispersing in the autumn. 

I’d only seen one Small Tortoiseshell prior to the individual that bombed past the Viewing Gate and the 18 Little Egrets on Inchmery was my highest count on the reserve.

While at the Sluice Gate a Kingfisher called loudly from beyond the overhanging trees to the left but didn’t appear. We walked back to the Pines Gate and then saw it perched on the branch low down 50 yards along the ditch.

Nearby a Sparrowhawk emerged from the brambles carrying a Lesser Whitethroat which was still ‘tacking’ in alarm!

As we headed back to the car I picked up the Osprey again high over the river. We headed back to the Sailing Club for a better view and then I noticed it carrying a fish just off shore. Given the distance between the two sightings this had to be a second bird and it became clear that we were watching an adult and a juvenile. The younger bird had a large white patch on the upper wings and the adult lacked paler patches and feather edgings and was moulting its central tail feathers. The adult also showed a solid black band across the underwings.

juvenile Osprey photos by Mike Rafter and Dimitri Moore

Alan later enjoyed a close view of the juvenile and managed to photograph the ring it was wearing, he has asked for more information which he will share with me.

The adult settled in a bare tree on the Inchmery side to eat the fish. We headed back to the hides where we picked up the Ospreys again and then the White-tailed Eagle suddenly appeared from the Gins direction and was immediately mobbed by the adult Osprey.

The young White-tailed Eagle G393 is a 2019 male and has now been in the area for 5 months, he has clearly set up a territory and will be old enough to breed next year.

The County Bat recorder has confirmed my Barbastelle record from the Pullen Hide on 26^th June 2021. A rare species. The spectrogram shows the FM sweep from 44kHz to 29kHz in around 4.5ms.

The sun hadn’t been up long as I watched a Wheatear resting on the dried creek near the boardwalk. Behind it, on De L’Orne flood there were 23 Black-tailed Godwits, all juveniles. A Green Sandpiper was also present walking along the edge of the vegetation towards the shingle bar and at 7:05am a Tree Pipit called above me as it headed south, a patch tick.

The brand new hide at Venner is impressive and just about finished but still locked up. Looking down the side of it I could see the seven fully grown Tufted Duck ducklings were still present but four fully grown Shelduck ducklings had appeared for the first time and the number of Little Grebe juveniles had increased to three. There were also two distant Whinchat on the fence line at the back of Wigeon Fields.

adult and juvenile Little Grebes

The Spotted Redshank which roost near the De L’Orne Roosting Stones are not normally viewable from the viewing screen but today a single bird was on show. Shortly afterwards a second bird called nearby and flew over to join it.  

The family of 4 Avocets from Normandy Marsh, an adult and three juveniles, have now been here for five weeks, they were sweeping for food in unison. A juvenile Ringed Plover and a juvenile Dunlin were associating together and feeding nearby.

There were another two Whinchat on the fence line along the northern edge of Three Fields North. As well as Willow Warblers quite a few Lesser Whitethroats were on the move and so a bit more visible, these are my first Lesser Whitethroat sightings in six weeks.

There were lots of Migrant Hawkers all over the reserve, perhaps 30 or more. I checked as many as I could for Southern Migrant Hawker but no luck.

A sighting of Green Woodpecker flying over Warren Lane was my first non-heard-only record this year.

As I walked past the Pullen Hide another Tree Pipit called overhead.

As I walked towards Gravelly a Goshawk exploded from the undergrowth to my right. On Great Marsh there were few birds on the drying scrape although the Flight Pond was still favoured by Green Sandpipers, now up to four birds, my highest ever count at Needs Ore.  

At around 9:30am I headed over to Inchmery for my WeBs count. Highlights included the first returning summer plumaged Grey Plover, 116 Curlew, 49 Redshank, 14 Little Egret, 6 Whimbrel, a single Bar-tailed Godwit and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull.