WILDLIFE DIARY AND NEWS FOR DEC 27 - JAN 2 (WEEK 52 OF 2010) Highlights Red-throated Divers moving along the coast in exceptional numbers Shags have begun nesting and Cormorants are in breeding plumage There are more Bitterns at more sites in southern England than usual On Dec 31 a herd of maybe 100 Bewick's Swans blazed a trail across the Sussex skies from Worthing to Rye Bay - it must have been an impressive sight and sound but left no clue as to its origin or destination The White Tailed Sea Eagle which disappeared near Southampton Water on Dec 12 may well have re-appeared on Jan 1 in the Hordle (New Milton) area The Great Bustard first seen in the Portland/Weymouth area from Dec 23 to 27 has re-appeared in the Avon valley/Christchurch Harbour area from Dec 30 to Jan 1 Christmas entertainment by escaped birds was in the form of a singing Budgie on the Isle of Wight and a Golden Eagle in Sussex The Raven night roost in Dorset had 147 birds on Dec 31 and Dorset also has a single winter Dipper near Dorchester Two sightings of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in Hampshire show they are not extinct in the county and four reports of Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming since Dec 14 shows they think spring has come - also showing that Tawny Owls are not yet extinct within the Havant builtup area was a sighting in a Netherfield Close garden BIRDS Red-throated Diver: From Dec 25 to Jan 1 very large numbers have been moving along the south coast (sometimes east, sometimes west). On Dec 25 100 were seen off Worthing, on Dec 27 there were 66 off Selsey Bill, on Dec 30 more than 138 went past Christchurch Harbour and Dungeness reported 400 going west. On New Years Day 242 went past Newhaven Black-throated Diver: These were also on the move but the peak counts were of just 5 passing Christchurch Harbour on Dec 30 and 5 off Newhaven on Jan 1 Great Northern Diver: These were not obviously involved in the movement and the highest count was of just 4 going west at Selsey on Dec 27. On Dec 30 one was seen by the Mulberry Harbour section in Langstone Harbour Great Crested Grebe: On Dec 25 a raft of 250 at Christchurch Harbour were said to be mostly new arrivals. On Dec 26 there were 189 in the Solent off the Brownwich Cliffs (prev high count was 158). Other big rafts in England were 160+ in Rye Bay on Dec 31 and 163 at Torbay in Devon while Thanet in Kent had 190+ on Dec 28. Across the Channel 2294 were at a Netherlands site on Dec 29. On Jan 1 I had difficulty in finding one in Langstone Harbour but there had been a raft of 25 near Portchester Castle in Portsmouth Harbour Red-necked Grebe: Singles were seen off Worthing on Dec 26, off Portland on Dec 27 and Portchester Castle on Dec 29. New Year's Day brought one to Selsey Bill Slavonian Grebe: More than 14 were reported on the sea off Pagham Harbour on Jan 1 and 3 were seen near the mouth of Chichester Harbour on Dec 30 while Studland Bay had 4 on Dec 31 Black-necked Grebe: There were no formal reports from Langstone Harbour this week but I heard a verbal report of 2 off the Oyster Beds on Jan 1. Elsewhere Portland Harbour had 15 on Dec 28 and Studland Bay had 38 on Dec 31 Cormorant: The sea off Bournemouth was reported to have 800 on New Year's Day when I saw my first in full breeding plumage at Budds Farm in Havant Shag: On Dec 30 one was seen flying in with nesting material to the Durlston Cliffs Bittern: Being seen in larger than usual numbers at more sites than usual. The Dungeness RSPB reserve claims to have had 11 on Dec 27 and 28, Radipole (Weymouth) is thought to have had 5 on Dec 26, Rye Harbour claims 4 on Dec 30 while Pett Level had 3 on Dec 31. Sites claiming two birds are the Exminster Marshes in Devon, Hatch Pond in Poole Harbour, Burton Mill Pond near Pulborough, Pagham Harbour North Walls on Jan 1 and Christchurch Harbour on Jan 1. Singles were at the Chichester Lakes (Vinnetrow), Blashford Lakes, Fishlake Meadows at Romsey, Lodmoor (Weymouth), Titchfield Haven, Pagham Lagoon and Arundel Wetlands Reserve Great White Egret: New birds appeared at Keyhaven (Lymington) on Dec 27 and at Mottisfont (R Test north of Romsey) on Dec 31 Little Egrets have become scarce at coastal sites - not known if the birds have flown inland or south across the Channel Bewicks Swan: On the morning of Jan 1 there were 317 at Slimbridge (previous high was 275 on Dec 24) and no site that I am aware of has lost a substantial number of birds so it is puzzling to know the origin of a substantial herd of at least 84 and possibly 100 Bewick's which flew east along the south coast (and presumably on across the North Sea though they may have settled in the Romney Marshes north of Dungeness) on Dec 31. They were first reported over the Worthing area around 10:30am and last seen over Pett Levels soon after midday. One report says there were 2 Whoopers among them. Many years ago I heard and saw a flypast of some 35 Bewicks going east low over Warblington Church at the end of one winter and I can still clearly remember hearing their non-stop bell-like calls long before the birds came into sight flying in an unbalanced V formation (4 birds on one side of the leader, 30 on the other) only some 100 feet up - a flight of 100 birds would be a dramatic sight and sound. Wild Geese: In winter we expect lots of 'plastic' wildfowl to appear at many wetland sites but this past week has brought even larger numbers and variety of species to our south coast as genuine wild birds flee the unusually cold weather. Most numerous have been White-fronts (flocks of 400 up to 570 in Kent) and Barnacles (140 at Sandwich Bay and 128 at Slimbridge) but we have also had a few Pink-foots (max 7 at Scotney Court near Rye) and there have been two reports of Bean Geese (max 12 at Sandwich Bay). Farlington Marshes has its share of the influx - in addition to the usual masses of Canadas and Brent it had on New Year's Day 15 White-fronts, half a dozen Barnacles and a single Pink-foot. Brant: One was in the Yarmouth area of the Isle of Wight on both Dec 26 and 27 with Brent and 100 Barnacles. The only other reports are of one that turned up in the Pett Level area on Jan 1 and one seen in the Climping area near Littlehampton on Jan 1 Red-breasted Goose: One arrived at Pett Level on Dec 26 and was still there on Dec 31. There has been no report of the Exe estuary bird since Dec 12 Ruddy Shelduck: On Dec 27 three were in the Hook area near Warsash and a single was in the Pagham Harbour North Walls area Wigeon: Vast numbers (uncountable thousands!) are currently present at every potential site along the south coast Gadwall: A count of 46 in Emsworth Harbour on Jan 1 set a new record for that site and typifies the recent spread of these duck on the south coast Pintail: On New Year's Day I saw more than a dozen at Farlington Marshes while Nutbourne Bay had more than I have ever seen at one site. On Dec 26 I see that there were 264 at Exmouth in Devon. Fudge Duck (Ferruginous x Pochard hybrid): Without entering into the discussion as to whether some or all of the birds reported in the Langstone Harbour area are pure bred or hybrid one was reported at Farlington Marshes on Dec 30 and another/the same was at Budds Farm Pools on Dec 31 Scaup: The number at Abbotsbury in Dorset was up to 27 on Dec 28 and on Jan 1 there were 20 in Poole Harbour. Locally there was a group of 6 in Paulsgrove Lake of Portsmouth Harbour on both Dec 30 and Jan 1 (with a different bird in Fareham Creek). Another singleton was in Pagham harbour on Jan 1 Velvet Scoter: Four were off the Climping shore (near Littlehampton) on Jan 1 Smew: The single bird at the Chichester Lakes was still there on Jan 1 and new birds were in Pagham Lagoon and in Poole Harbour that day. Dungeness RSPB had a peak count of 14 on Dec 28 and the number at the Longham Lakes (Bournemouth) increased to 4 on Dec 30. Another new bird arrived at Mottisfont on the R Test on Dec 27, remaining to Jan 1 Goosander: The number roosting at the Blashford Lakes had increased to 140 on Dec 26 but shot up to 231 on Dec 31 (a separate count of 54 that day on a different lake from the main flock may have been in addition) White-tailed Eagle: The bird which flew from Amberley Wild Brooks to Titchfield Haven on Dec 12 has not been seen again in 2010 but there have been further sightings in the Netherlands on Dec 18 and 20 and now another bird has turned up in Hampshire on Jan 1.