With a forecast for south-westerlies gusting to 42mph I headed to the beach for a 7am start. Ian met me there and Joost, Simon and Dimitri also joined later.

On the way down W Lane I got my stuff ready at the pull over near the gate. This gave me the chance to listen for Nuthatch in the woodland opposite. I was pleased to record one calling just a few seconds before I was ready to give up, a patch tick and a difficult bird at NO.

Down at the beach I was tight in against the large bush which meant that I was nicely sheltered. Most birds were heading east with the highlights in a four hour sea-watch being 2 Gannets, 8 Kittiwakes, 10 Eider, a Sandwich Tern and three Sand Martins in off the sea. Gannet is a patch tick but overall it was perhaps a disappointing return given the conditions. Having said that it is probably still a few weeks early and birders at the usually better Milford Shelter had a similar tally.

distant Gannet

My earliest Wheatears over the years have all been in the final week of March and so Dimitri and I headed back to the car via the fence-line to see if we could find one. Dimitri noticed a passerine running along the base of the fence and right on cue it was a female Wheatear. A male had been seen in this area yesterday, males have a blacker face mask, are darker blue and with blacker wings.

newly arrived female Wheatear top photo by Ian Williamson

Over on JV 15 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding at the water’s edge with some in full summer plumage and others still to start their moult. There were two more Sand Martins hawking over BW and on the wet fields behind I was delighted to relocate the female Garganey just over 1km from where it was first seen last Sunday. There are plenty of wet areas here which are obscured from view and given the distance it had moved it’s not surprising that it had gone missing.

summer and winter plumaged Black-tailed Godwits

Out from the Sailing club three Knot roosted facing into the wind and it was clear that the number of Dark-bellied Brent Geese had fallen significantly. A male Wheatear showed briefly in the gorse and a female Red-breasted Merganser flew into land in front of us.

I pulled over just after the entrance gate to listen for Nuthatch, no luck today although a Goshawk was calling from the woodland opposite and male and female Muntjac crossed the track in front of me, the male showing his stripy face and horns.

With a moderate south westerly blowing I decided to head to the beach first. I could hear Water Rail and Cetti’s Warbler from the smaller pond near MMs house and on the way over a male Linnet was in full out song, when the female arrived they flew off together.

The sea was reasonably active with a steady stream of Mediterranean Gulls heading west, 25 in all. First new bird for the year was a group of three Common Scoter, 2 males and a female. They were flying west to start with but turned towards me before swinging around to head east. Their paler primaries stood out.

The first Sandwich Tern since the 5^th January headed west soon afterwards. Not sure if this is a newly arrived migrant or one of the wintering birds appearing again.  

Through the binoculars a group of three gulls caught my attention as their flight was particularly buoyant and tern like. I half wondered about Kittiwake but quickly discounted this through the scope as they were much smaller than an accompanying Black-headed Gull and one of them had a full black hood. Also obvious were rounded white wings tips, black underwings and a noticeable white trailing edge to the secondaries, all confirming Little Gull, a patch tick. Several have been heading past the Isle of Wight recently but far fewer come inside the island to be seen off NO.

Common Scoter, 2 males and a female

Another unexpected bird was next, an auk heading rapidly east showing a brownish colouration, messy underwings and a pointed head profile. Guillemot was another patch tick and a NO rarity.

It was around now that it started to rain and it did so on and off for the rest of the day. A band of showers had been forecast to go south of the Isle of Wight but with a northerly shift this long thin band of clouds spent the rest of the day dropping rain over the Hampshire coast. Back at S hide I noticed a male Chaffinch with a mild bacterial infection of the foot (bumblefoot).

After a coffee in the car I headed over to the hides. I’ve been double checking young Pied Wagtails throughout March hoping for a spring migrant alba and today…success!  A lovely pristine White Wagtail around the flooded areas on the fields west of the walking trail.  Clean demarcation from black head to pale grey mantle as well as grey rump and white flanks. Not a full species but lovely to see.

White Wagtail

While in DL’O hide a Spotted Redshank called ‘chew-it’ as it flew over and a Sparrowhawk dashed past just 10 feet in front of the window. I recorded my highest count of Red-breasted Merganser this winter with two pairs distantly off the sailing club. A good end to a really great day!

I watched Water Rails and Redshanks mating as I headed over to the hides. The Black-tailed Godwits, 19 of them, were again feeding on the edge of the flood near DL’O hide although they appeared nervous in the long grass. On the scrape there were 20 Avocet and the Pale-bellied Brent Goose was accompanied by around 100 Brent Geese. There was no sign of the White-fronts.

While I was walking back from the hides, at just before 9:30, Joost found a female Garganey on the water’s edge near the entrance to MMs house. I was five minutes away and thankfully it was still there when I arrived. It was in a place where you felt it wouldn’t stay long, perhaps it was newly arrived on the final leg of its journey from Africa. At around 9:45am it flew off west but appeared to land on the other side of MMs house, perhaps on G Marsh and so I decided I would try P Shore later.

Garganey

I hadn’t seen the Peregrine pair on G island on my last two visits and so I was pleased to see them soaring high above the cottages, the male looking noticeably smaller. Last year in late spring several lockdown picnickers landed on G island, the adults abandoned the nest and the chicks starved. This year we are organising a rota to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again.

Pale-bellied Brent Goose and Peregrine

My first two butterflies of the year appeared in a warm burst of sunshine near the cottages, a Peacock and a male Brimstone. There were also several Buff-tailed Bumblebee queens keeping low to the ground looking for next sites.

At the weather station a couple of birders reported a Red Kite, there is a small passage through Hampshire at the moment. Later I did see a Buzzard missing or moulting several central tail feathers giving it a kite-like tail but no sign of a Red Kite. As I got back to the car a quick scan of the sea produced a pair of Eider heading east.

Reed Bunting, Pheasant and Marsh Harrier photos by Ian Williamson

I decided I would head to P Shore to see if I could relocate the Garganey on G Marsh. On the way through I stopped at the Reedy Ditch to photograph a pair of Mute Swans and their reflections.

Now that winter tit flocks are no longer moving down the hedgerows it is more difficult to catch up with things like Coal Tit and so I was glad when a brief stop at the pines at the top of P Lane produced one in the hedgerow opposite. At P Shore a male Kestrel was hunting for voles diving regularly although usually without luck.

There were five Snipe in one of the larger damp areas but unfortunately there was no sign of the Garganey. The final bird of the day was a Raven honking over the pines near the car park.

There was an obvious heavy movement of Meadow Pipits throughout the day with at least 100 coming in off the sea in groups of 10 or so. Aside from the pipits there was little other sign of spring migration, just a handful of Chiffchaffs singing around the reserve.

Meadow Pipits

On the walk to the hides a group of seven Black-tailed Godwit were feeding near DL’O hide, they are quickly acquiring their summer chestnut tones. Three Spoonbill were resting around JV and nine Avocet were on the scrape.

One of the highlights of the day was watching a majestic Goshawk powering over G island and then on towards Inchmery. In the rest of the New Forest they are shy and elusive with most views being distant displaying birds in the spring. Here they are seen regularly and sometimes quite close. The powerful proportions, very long neck, heavy hips and pregnant look are all obvious in these photos. The heavily marked underparts and unmarked face make this a juvenile bird.

Goshawk

Other than the geese the most vocal birds were the Oystercatchers and the Redshank. There seemed to be fewer Teal and Wigeon, perhaps some have already headed back to their breeding grounds in Iceland, Scandinavia, the Baltic and Russia. I was hoping to see a Sand Martin or a Wheatear but no luck.

While watching the scrape from the gate to the south I noticed a Merlin on a raised mound near the waters edge. After spending 20 minutes watching the activity all around it the Merlin launched into the air pursuing a flock of Meadow Pipits. It came very close to catching one on several occasions but the pipits just evaded it. Soon afterwards the Merlin returned to a post along the estuary fenceline and was slightly closer.  

Merlin top photo by Ian Williamson

At least one Slavonian Grebe was still present on the sea with 24 Turnstones turning seaweed and stones along the high tide line, my highest count at NO so far. A Dartford Warbler sang briefly near NP hide but I couldn’t track it down.

One final shot for the day. A Barn Owl in the darkness with the thermal camera. You can see how much blood supply there is to their face, more than with other birds.

Turnstones and Barn Owl with thermal camera