Just after leaving the car I came across a female Whitethroat returning to its nest with a bill full of insects. Along with Reed Warbler it’s one of the commoner breeding passerines on the reserve.  

Whitethroat returning to the nest and juvenile Lesser Whitethroat

I haven’t heard any Lesser Whitethroats singing for a week or more but I saw a family group halfway down the hedge to the hides with at least two juveniles and with the adults tacking constantly. There are at least three pairs on the reserve.

On Venner there were good numbers of Gadwall again. I believe there are at least two breeding pairs with a minimum of 13 ducklings on Venner.

There were five Common Terns fishing off shore and another one was on the depth yardstick near the rafts on De L’Orne lagoon. 24 adult Avocets were on De L’Orne scrape, some appearing to be sitting on eggs, although there were only two chicks. Three of the Avocets were wearing yellow flags – AJ, VH and VI.

Graham confirmed that AJ was ringed on Great Marsh in May 2018. She then commuted between Titchfield Haven and Farlington before wintering in Poole Harbour. She spent her first summer on Pennington Marshes and was seen there again with chicks in the summer of 2020, this is interesting as she was only 2 years old at the time and Avocets normally become sexually mature at 3 years old. She was also seen sitting on eggs at Pennington in May earlier this year.

VH and VI are siblings and they were ringed together at Great Marsh in June 2019. Since then, VH spent the winter in Devon before returning to local Hampshire sites including my sighting at Titchfield Haven in August 2020. VI went missing until July 2020, when it also turned up at Titchfield Haven spending spring and summer there. At 2 years of age, these birds are sub-adults but next summer they will be mature enough to breed.

Black-headed Gull chicks fly at around 35 days and the first was on the wing today, such a difference from the semi precocial downy chicks.

On my first scan over Great Marsh there appeared to be no Avocet chicks. I also spent another 45 minutes looking for the Little Ringed Plover family without success. The significant rain fall overnight had topped up the water levels and the Little Ringed Plovers’ favoured area of exposed mud was now covered and so they had moved. Either that or the chicks had been predated. The complete lack of Avocet chicks also had me worried that an event, perhaps Fox related had occurred. Finally, with great relief, I found one of the adult Little Ringed Plover and the two chicks. The slightly more advanced of the two chicks was wing stretching regularly, I’m sure he can fly now.

After a thorough search I located three Avocet chicks and seven adults on Great Marsh. I came across a young chick flat down in the water and it wasn’t moving. Its bill was under the water and I assumed it was dead or dying. However, through the scope at 70x I could see its eye and that it was alive. Once the adult had stopped calling the chick waited another ten minutes and then suddenly stood up and started feeding. It was obviously fine and was just reacting to the adult alarm calls, it does make you realise how easy it is to undercount them.

The familiar call of Black-tailed Godwits had me looking upwards to see a flock of 16 heading over the marsh. Still too early for juvenile birds they were probably non breeders returning from Iceland. Soon afterwards a flock of seven Curlew headed east over the back of Great Marsh half way to the Reedy Ditch.

Patches of Bell Heather in amongst the gorse had attracted a male Silver-studded Blue, a patch tick and an unusual record for Needs Ore. The New Forest is a key area for Silver-studded Blue but few are recorded on the New Forest coast. A Small Copper was also nearby and a female teneral Common Darter was resting on the gorse.

I’d assumed that a newly emerged burnet moth was a Narrow-bordered five spot Burnet. However, the two middle spots are merging together which suggests that this is the rarer Five-spot Burnet Moth.  

Back at Shore Hide ditch a female Emperor was ovipositing. A male appeared later and when the male and female came together the clashing of their wings sounded like a piece of paper caught in the blades of a spinning fan.

In front of Pullen hide there were at least four Black-tailed Skimmers buzzing each other and basking on hot rocks and dry vegetation warmed by the sun. The darker ‘bruise’ markings on the abdomen are probably the result of an earlier mating. A male Common Blue Damselfly was sat on a floating reed a few feet from the water’s edge, this is the first I’ve seen at Needs Ore. I attached an AudioMoth bat detector on the front of the hide to see if I can record Daubenton’s Bat which is a water lover, more on this later.

Early instar grasshoppers are now appearing although they take some identifying at this age.

While I was near the sluice gate a Little Ringed Plover flew overhead calling. I presume that this is one of the Great Marsh breeding pair although it is odd that I’ve now seen him four times around the De L’Orne area, a good mile from Great Marsh.

Sea Lavender was growing near the weather station and a Marbled White lifted up from the damp area near the Cottage Pines. At the Sailing Club two juvenile Stonechats were wing flicking and dashing around as though they wanted to be noticed. Single Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover chicks were crouching in the grass with their parents attentive nearby.

The far carrying ‘curlee’ call of a pair of Curlew greeted me as I got out of the car. I saw another six Curlew during the rest of the day, eight is the most I’ve seen since early spring and no doubt signals the return of some failed breeders, perhaps from the New Forest.

A juvenile Oystercatcher was also resting with its parents out on the saltmarsh from Shore Hide. There were also New Forest Ponies on the beach which isn’t ideal for ground nesting birds. The ponies gain access through fallen fences or at low tide getting around the wooden groynes at Park Shore although this should be more difficult now that the groynes have been replaced.

On my walk to Great Marsh it was nice to see fledgling Chiffchaffs and Whitethroats.

juvenile Chiffchaff and juvenile Whitethroat

There were six young Lapwing on Gravelly Marsh, one flying already and another two not far behind. I have seen a Fox here and several Herons but this appears to be the safest environment on the reserve or at least the place where Lapwing chicks have survived the best. I was also delighted to finally see a juvenile Redshank although it was well beyond the tiny chick stage and looked almost ready to fly.

The two Little Ringed Plover chicks were still present on Great Marsh feeding confidently although an adult bird was always within 10 yards, at one stage the adult charged down a Lapwing who had ventured too near. The chicks are 23 days old now and can fly at around 26 days so they’re nearly there. The adults will probably leave at the end of July and the juvenile birds perhaps two weeks later.

English Stonecrop was forming a carpet in the gaps between the gorse bushes near the Beach House.

English Stonecrop and Grey Heron

There were seven young Avocets on Great Marsh including one fully grown individual looking like an adult other than brown covert feathers. At the other end of the reserve, on De L’Orne scrape, there was only one Avocet chick. Avocet chicks rarely fledge from here due to predation from the Great Black-backed Gulls. Numbers at Great Marsh and De L’Orne are well down on last year.

A female Azure Damselfly was perched on brambles, females are far less evident than the much bluer males. There is a short black stripe on the side of the thorax (missing on Common Blue Damselfly) and there is no spine below segment eight (unlike Common Blue Damselfly). I’m still to see a Common Blue Damselfly at Needs Ore.

Blue-tailed Damselflies which appear to be the commonest damselfly on the reserve were showing well including several pairs in cop. A large patch of Scentless Mayweed was flowering just opposite the Viewing Gate.

Blue-tailed Damselfly and Scentless Mayweed

Highlight of the day was watching a juvenile Cuckoo perched on a dead tree at the back of Black Water. Our views were very distant at first although close enough to identify that it was being fed by a Reed Warbler. The ‘parent’ returned to its giant off spring every minute or so. I walked around to get a better view and thankfully the Cuckoo was still there. I haven’t seen or heard an adult Cuckoo for three weeks and so perhaps the adult birds have headed south already.

I was surprised to see the female Pochard accompanied by five chicks. Typical brood size is 8-10 chicks but this female has always had only three chicks with her previously. A brief stop in Black Water hide and a tiny Coot chick drifted out in front of us.

From the De L’Orne screen I noticed a wader arrive from the west, it appeared to land in the southern creek on the flooded fields. I wondered about Little Ringed Plover and when I walked around to view the area from the boardwalk bridge it was indeed a Little Ringed Plover. This was the third time I’ve seen one in this area. It was sitting on the shingle bar and also used a broken wing distraction when an Avocet approached too close. I’m not sure if this is one of the Great Marsh adults on a short day trip, another breeding attempt by the Great Marsh pair or whether this is the male looking to set up with another female. They do occasionally have a 2^nd brood which females may start before the first brood has fledged. I popped back later for another look but could only see a Ringed Plover on the shingle.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) and Tufted Vetch

The patch of Tufted Vetch near the boardwalk attracted good numbers of Bombus terrestris workers and on the way back from the hides a Common Lizard slithered off the side of the path and a Black-and-yellow Longhorn Beetle had settled on a leaf along the hedgerow.

Common Lizard photo by Ian Williamson and Black-and-yellow Longhorn Beetle

A male Kestrel was carrying what looks like a vole, presumably back the 600m to the Dovecote at Black Water House where a pair have successfully raised chicks.

The ‘blinged up’ 23 year old Oystercatcher was in his normal position on one of the muddy islands in the creek south of the wardens hut.

I was co-leading a HOS walk around NO today and before meeting the group I spent a few hours checking out what was on the reserve. As usual I pulled over at the Reedy Ditch first where a flock of 16 Little Egrets were just taking off. I’ve noticed them doing this before, flying in to the Reedy Ditch area from their roost site to the west before splitting off in various directions for a day feeding around the reserve. This is my joint largest count at NO.  

Along with the egrets at least two Grey Herons were airborne and they flushed 23 Gadwall who were hidden along the ditch. Shortly afterwards a Fox trotted across W Flash carrying what looked like a Canada Goose gosling.

On the Solent three mid-channel Gannets headed west and in the scrub around Gt Marsh the Meadow Pipit chicks had fledged, a juvenile bird sat watching me from the top of a gorse bush. From the back of the flight pond I managed to find the two Little Ringed Plover chicks who were accompanied by both adults. It is now 18 days since they hatched. Nearby I enjoyed a brief glimpse of Shelduck chicks before the adults ushered them out of sight. The yellow spikes of Dyer’s Greenweed were evident in the damp bits around Gt Marsh.

The nationally scarce Corky-fruited water-dropwort is fairly abundant at NO and is in full flower by mid-June.

Equally abundant is Hemlock water-dropwort, in fact as you drive along W Lane from the entry gate it’s all you can see out of the side windows.

Family groups often provide a good chance to see birds which are otherwise elusive and that was the case today when a group of juvenile Cetti’s Warblers were calling constantly near DL’O hide and showing themselves almost as often. A walk around the pools near MMs bungalow provided one of the highlights of the day, a close encounter with a Hobby as it dashed after a Redshank.

My own AudioMoth bat detector has finally arrived and Adrian on the Nathusius’ Pipistrelle project has suggested we position it to get a tranche of data looking back along Warren Lane over the cottages from the sluice/weather station area, we have already found that Common and Soprano Pipistrelles use this route regularly.