Patch Birding

Tuesday 3rd August 2021

The first bird I heard on arriving was a Green Woodpecker in Three Fields South, it’s only my third record this year, all heard only. In fact I’ve only seen a Green Woodpecker once in the last 12 months.

On Sunday I saw the start of Willow Warbler passage. Today I saw my first autumn Sedge Warbler, another fairly common species which doesn’t appear to breed at Needs Ore. The last Sedge Warbler I saw or heard here was on the 9^th May near the De L’Orne hide.

Half way across the flooded fields near the boardwalk I flushed a very young Skylark, too young to fly properly. With an 840mm equivalent focal length and needing to be standing above the bird due to the long grass it was impossible to avoid an extreme close up image. The bird still retains some of the eye lash-like downy feathers above the eyes.

On Black Water I saw another Little Grebe chick, the fourth different juvenile although I’ve never seen more than one at a time. This one was the youngest I’ve seen and it was calling and chasing its parent incessantly.

I met up with Adam briefly, earlier he’d seen an Osprey heading down the Beaulieu River. A little later, at 9:30am, I was at the De L’Orne screen and managed to pick up the Osprey in the distance heading over the Sailing Club and then appearing to head out over the sea towards the Isle of Wight. A patch tick.

On the insect front Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers appear to be the commonest grasshopper on the reserve, Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) the commonest bumblebee and Gatekeeper by far the most abundant butterfly.

Lesser Marsh Grasshopper and Gatekeeper

I managed to find my first Short-winged Conehead of the year, a male in long grass in the flooded fields near the boardwalk.

Another common bumblebee on the reserve is Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). The large swathes of Bell Heather on Gravelly Marsh attract good numbers.

I always pause before getting to the boardwalk to check the mud on the edge of the flood. Today a Green Sandpiper was standing motionless underneath the bank while a single chestnut-coloured Black-tailed Godwit was feeding in the deeper water. I heard and then later saw a Whimbrel on De L’Orne scrape along with seven Greenshank who were shimmering in the heat haze. Back at the car another Sedge Warbler showed well, the third of the day, but it had disappeared by the time I grabbed my camera.

As I stepped on to the causeway at the eastern end of the flight pond a pair of Green Sandpipers called in alarm at the western end and they were off before I’d raised my binoculars. That’s 14 Green Sandpipers and 9 Common Sandpipers seen in the last year but no Wood Sandpiper yet.

At the point a Wheatear was charging round flashing its white rump before perching on the top of a dinghy mast and then moving over onto the Sailing Club roof. I’ve seen 19 Wheatear in the last year of which 7 have been here near the Warden’s Hut and 8 have been at Wheatear Corner.

Also at the point a Linnet showed nicely, having an empty backdrop really helps. They have bred in very good numbers at Needs Ore especially at Gravelly Marsh.

As I was heading back to the car a pair of very distant Spoonbills headed up the Beaulieu River before appearing to drop down onto the marsh, my first since early May.

Sunday 1st August 2021

The first Willow Warbler of the autumn showed well near the Shore Hide. A typically striking yellow autumn bird with a strong supercilium and eye stripe and compared to Chiffchaff a yellower face and breast with paler legs. I started visiting Needs Ore in mid-September and all of the Willow Warblers had already passed through by then, they migrate further than Chiffchaff and so start earlier.

In the ditch next to the gate at Black Water a family of Reed Warblers were active. One of the first migrant birds this year was a singing Reed Warbler in this exact location. They’re usually elusive but first a fledgling from a second brood showed nicely and then an adult bird carrying food. From laying to fledging it takes only 4 weeks and so there’d be time for lots of broods but they tend to stop at two.

There were five Greenshank on De L’Orne scrape and a juvenile Lapwing just below the screen.

I looked back towards De L’Orne flood and watched a Green Sandpiper feeding on the water’s edge underneath the overhanging grass. The family group of two adult and three juvenile Avocets were still present on De L’Orne flood and in the afternoon they were joined by another seven Avocets, all adults.

The seven Shelduck chicks were on Venner again. Laying to fledging can take 80 days, a long process. Only 16% of Shelduck chicks make it two years old and so to have seven chicks at this stage is pretty good.

I saw my third different juvenile Little Grebe on Black Water and later there was another juvenile on Pullen. It’s been a good year for them after several poor years which may have coincided with the presence of Otters in the area.

On Great Marsh Fleabane was flowering and a 2^nd brood Speckled Wood landed on a sheltered leaf but it was quiet again bird wise although it was good to see two juvenile Lapwing on the causeway at the end of the flight pond.

The shingle beach is closed from the 1^st March until the 31^st July and so the No Access signs are taken down around now. There was one left opposite the cottages and so I walked the kilometer to collect it.

On the way I noticed several new flowers – Yellow-horned Poppy, Sea Holly and Restharrow and I also flushed two Wheatear.

There were 25 Common Terns and 5 Sandwich Terns fishing in the Solent and a small party of them came in close and then landed on the beach. I crawled into position and managed to get quite close and it’s always nice to see juvenile birds, there were at least two.

juvenile Common Terns

Friday’s Sand Martins and House Martins were feeding on Venner again and they included at least two juvenile House Martins. The rain started while I was at the Venner Screen just as a group of Starlings landed on the fence line. On this juvenile bird you can see the new first winter greater coverts as well as new inner primaries, a newly grown middle tertial and new 1^st winter breast feathers.

Friday 30th July 2021

I met Adam for a coffee and a catch up and then headed on to the reserve. It was very windy and there was definitely less bird life as a result.

The six Shelduck ducklings were on De L’Orne flood and I later saw them on Venner. A group of nervous Greylags took flight before I’d got anywhere near them and then circled around much closer.

From the De L’Orne screen I saw the Avocet family party again, the group of five I had seen on the 17^th July also on De L’Orne scrape. Graham said that they were seen at Titchfield a week later on the 24^th July but they have obviously made the return journey again. There were also six adult Greenshank feeding on the scrape.

A quick stop in Black Water hide produced a now much larger group of 53 Teal many newly arrived, the males and females still looking very similar.

On Venner it was good to see the seven Tufted Duck ducklings and the seven Pochard ducklings from two broods. A smart Hobby perched on one of the fence posts at the back of Wigeon Fields and a female type Marsh Harrier drifted over. A young Heron perched in a very photogenic way while a busy group of 15 Sand Martins, 5 House Martins and a single Swallow fed low over the water.

Great Marsh was very quiet with only a single Black-headed Gull and a Curlew. Over on Mary Monts Pools two newly arrived Snipe, my first of the autumn, were hunkered down on the wet grassy margins. Snipe breed in northern uplands and a few in the south west and in the winter birds from northern Europe join resident birds.

Offshore there was little movement other than Common Terns heading west including my first juvenile of the year. A distant Gannet also hugged the Isle of Wight coastline.

From the Sailing Club the Ringed Plover family showed nicely with the second juvenile just off picture. The Common Sandpiper was still feeding near the Sluice gate but flushed as we approached with stiff wings never above the horizontal.

I spent a bit of time looking for grasshoppers and bush-crickets in the damp grassy area near the weather station. There were plenty of Mottled Grasshoppers and Field Grasshoppers on the shorter grass and bare areas, lots of Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers and a conehead species in the longer wetter grass. The short wings of the conehead suggest that this is a Short-winged Conehead but the straight ovipositor confirms that this is a young female Long-winged Conehead with wings not yet fully developed.

I was also pleased to find a Roesel’s bush-cricket. These chunky insects have much reduced wings and escape by clambering out of sight rather than springing two yards away like the grasshoppers. Until the early 20th century Roesel’s bush-cricket was only found on the south-east coast but recent years have seen a rapid expansion right across the south.

Sunday 25th July 2021

My first WeBS count. Highlights from Inchmery Quay included 405 Mediterranean Gulls, one of the highest counts here in recent years. Also 55 Curlew and 85 Oystercatchers, 3 Common Sandpiper and 5 Common Gulls.

One of the Common Gulls was wearing a colour ring. 2ABH was ringed as a 2nd winter bird in 2012 at Pitsea Landfill in Essex. It is now 11 years old. Three years after being ringed it was seen again 90 miles to the south west at Hill Head. It was seen again the following autumn, September 2016, 5 miles (as the crow flies) away at Lepe. It now appears to be returning to winter in this area with another sighting at Inchmery in July 2018 before today’s sighting. 10 years is a typical lifespan with adult survival rates of 86% pa.

90% of UK Common Gulls breed in Scotland but the odd pair have bred or tried to breed in Hampshire in the west of the Solent.

Common Gulls