Ian and I arranged a sea-watch this morning. This was the stormiest forecast there has been since I’ve been coming to NO. I got out of the car and early indications didn’t bode well as I couldn’t walk a straight line. I was delighted, however, that the bush at MMs provided surprisingly good shelter from the 65 mph south-westerly gales although I was almost in the bush thus sacrificing any views to the west. Whenever I stuck my head above the parapet I was reminded how ridiculously windy it was.

One of the highlights was a steady run of Gannets, for two hours they streamed west, about 25 in total. They are mostly birds from the 6,000 pair breeding colony on Alderney 80 miles to the south.

Two pale phase Arctic Skuas suddenly appeared from the west. Sea birds often barrel back into the wind to control their progress but these skuas were gunning it full tilt. It was a treat to watch four separate Fulmars heading into the teeth of the gale on albatross wings with white protruding heads and pale white primary flashes, above and below. It is believed that spring Hampshire Fulmars are non-breeders associated with nearby colonies in Dorset and West Sussex.  

A handful of adult Kittiwakes also battled against the south westerlies struggling and not bouncing along like they normally do. Having scrutinised every sea-watched Cormorant since I started visiting in September I was delighted to finally record a Shag.  On a sea-watch at this range it’s the rather thin straight neck, small head, pot belly and wings positioned to the rear that are characteristic.

Waders included a pair of westerly heading Grey Plover and a group of eight Bar-tailed Godwit also heading west.

At the end of the sea-watch I walked over to check that the Little Ringed Plover nest hadn’t had some gale related mishap, at first I couldn’t see her and began to worry she’d abandoned. I changed my angle and then saw her keeping very low with eyes half closed.

We had hoped for Manx Shearwater as several had been seen in the eastern Solent but unfortunately no luck today. Bonixe was a more realistic aim and is again something I’m still to see at NO.

A Cuckoo was calling as I made my way over to check that the Little Ringed Plover was OK. She was incubating and still no sign of chicks for her or for the nearby Avocets on Gt Marsh. I did notice that the Avocets seemed a little less tolerant of my presence so perhaps they somehow know that chicks are imminent.

I had feared that the three Lapwing chicks at MMs had all perished as I hadn’t seen any for more than a week. However, the two well grown chicks which I saw at Wheatear Corner may well be the MM chicks and they’ve just walked over.

On the sea a handful of distant Gannets headed west and a distant pale phase skua was too far out for me to say whether it was Pomarine or Arctic. It seemed large and bulky and I may have seen or imagined spoons looking like ‘trailing feet’, Pomarine is possible but I couldn’t be sure.

Three Kittiwakes included a 1st summer bird headed west. I saw three Little Gulls all of them 1^st summer birds in a similar state of moult, two west and one east and so there may be duplication.

A male Red-breasted Merganser from the west was a surprising unseasonal record. I hadn’t seen one for nearly two months. It could be the male that has been seen in Lymington and Christchurch Harbour recently.

After sea-watching Dimitri and I headed to the hides where I collected my trail camera footage. I had captured a Fox, Grey Squirrel, Roe Deer buck and a crèche of 20 Canada Goose goslings being taken to the water by four adults at 5:10am.

We arrived at JV hide to see one of the White-tailed Eagles heading over Wigeon Fields towards the Reedy Ditch and we later saw it again over G West. Back at S Hide we watched the Swallows who have made a nest in the toilet thus making it out of bounds for the next month or so.

Another short sea-watch produced six Common Scoter and just as we were finishing a pair of adrenaline charged pale phase Arctic Skuas blasted past us heading west close to the shore.

Our Peregrine monitoring was from 8am -11am and the forecast was for thundery showers. I arrived at around 6:30am so that I could check Gt and Gv Marsh first. The female Little Ringed Plover was safely on the nest and the water levels for the Avocets looked good although no chicks yet.

A new colour-ringed Avocet (Green/Blue-Lime/Black) has appeared. He is a 7 year old male ringed as a chick at NO in July 2014. Over the next few years he moved between Titchfield Haven, NO and Poole Harbour before first being recorded breeding at Normandy Marsh, Lymington in 2019 and 2020. He spent the subsequent winters there before preparing to breed again this year. In mid-April, however, a predator or human disturbance caused several pairs of Avocet to abandon the site. Green/Blue-Lime/Black tried Pennington Marshes first but then returned to NO. There is still time for him to breed here and I’ll keep an eye on how he gets on.

There was an encouraging seven Lapwing chicks on Gv Marsh with at least three looking old enough to look after themselves. Lapwing have a very poor productivity rate and even getting seven chicks away from the 23 pairs on the reserve would be an OK return.

Lapwing chicks

Shortly before meeting up with Ian I relocated the 1^st summer Little Gull on Gt Marsh. Soon afterwards we had to shelter under trees in one of the most violent bursts of rain and hail I can remember. Having got so wet we retreated to the cars for a coffee and a dry out. We then headed off for our Peregrine monitoring.

The male Peregrine spent the first two hours sitting on the black barrel in sporadic heavy rain looking a bit miserable, the highlight being when the adults switched over on the nest and we saw the female for the first time. We did a bit of sea-watching while we watched the Peregrines and the first highlight on the sea was a Razorbill heading east.

At just before 10am Dimitri excitedly called out an unfamiliar seabird heading east and we quickly got onto it. A pale phase skua and on first glance very powerful looking with a heavy breast enhanced by a prominently marked breast band. It seemed larger and less maneuverable compared to the bouncy Kittiwake flight of the Arctic Skua. We were therefore surprised to see that it didn’t have the characteristic spoons of a spring adult Pomarine. It chased after a Common Tern and truly dwarfed it, I would say it was close to Herring Gull in size. No doubt a Pomarine Skua but with the spoons lost or being moulted out.

After the Peregrine monitoring we headed back to MMs for some extra sea-watching. The same Little Gull, or another, flew out to sea over our heads to join the feeding gull and tern flock. We then picked out a Little Tern amongst the Common Terns and Sandwich Terns.

A quick walk around the hides and Dimitri found the White-tailed Eagles perched on the fence at the back of Wigeon Fields.  

A day affected by heavy showers. I started by sea-watching in promising conditions with moderate south westerlies and poor visibility which often brings birds closer to the shore. There was a good passage of Common Terns and Sandwich Terns with a single Little Tern. A female Eider was close offshore and six Common Scoter headed east before settling on the sea. What looked like an Osprey appeared to be heading over from the Isle of Wight. My view became obscured by branches as I was nestled in the hawthorns to shelter from the wind and rain, unfortunately, when I moved position I couldn’t then relocate it, very frustrating. The sun came out, visibility increased, the Isle Of Wight appeared from the murk and seabird passage dried up, no skuas today.

I headed off to check the Little Ringed Plovers and was pleased to see the female on the nest incubating. Over on Gv Marsh there were still four Lapwing chicks. On Gt Marsh water levels weren’t quite so high as Adam had removed a sluice board earlier this morning. There were 10 Avocet with five of them sitting on eggs.

The Garden Warbler was still singing in the beach house scrub and I managed a few record shots.

Garden Warbler

I decided to head back to the car through the gorse bushes. I don’t usually go this way as you pass a Larson Trap and it always has a Magpie in it. It was to be a good decision as I flushed a female Nightjar from near Gv Mire, a really unexpected highlight and a patch tick.

I met up with Dimitri and we headed off to the hides. As we were approaching B Water Gate I saw the White-tailed Eagle flying low over JV. Dimitri shouted there’s two of them, I wrongly assumed that he was mistaking a Buzzard as a 2nd eagle and was amazed to see there were indeed two eagles in the air! They began to circle over JV island and so we headed down the track towards JV. They weren’t on show when we arrived but we soon picked up one flying low on to Wigeon Fields and the second bird soon joined it.

White-tailed Eagles

For the next 30 minutes they loafed in the sun while a brave Carrion Crow pulled at their tail feathers and the Greylags wandered dangerously close. They are G408 and G393. G408 is a 2020 male and G393 is the eagle we have been seeing regularly around the Gs area and which I first saw six weeks ago. The now ‘resident’ G393 is a 2019 male and may well have established a territory here.   

I collected some footage from a Trail Camera I’ve set up. I’d captured a female and male Roe Deer, the male walking 20 seconds behind the female.

Roe Deer, male following the female

On DL’O there were 8 Avocets of which six appeared to be sitting on nests, including Gt Marsh this makes 11 sitting birds altogether. There were six Black-tailed Godwit on the scrape and a late Grey Plover called overhead. The eagles made another brief appearance dropping into land on what appeared to be the fence line near the Black-headed Gull rafts on DL’O lagoon.

I pulled over at the Reedy Ditch and watched 20 House Martins and 10 Swallows before I headed home.