The first quarter of 2021 delivered a real mixed bag of weather but the birds took it all in their stride.

January, and the first few weeks of February, were uneventful bird-wise with few reports of interest, the best being three Wigeon on 1^st Jan and counts of seven Shoveler and 59 Snipe on 17^th Jan. Surveys of winter roosts produced counts of 350 Jackdaws on 18th Jan and 6th Feb and 150 Magpies on Feb. 4, while the Cetti’s Warbler, first reported back in late October, remained at home in the reedbeds in the northwest corner of the Pond. As the cold weather took hold in the second week of February, the Pond froze forcing an exodus of wildfowl and other waterbirds. The exception was an Egyptian Goose whose timing could not have been worse, hatching a small brood of young at that time, with mum and two small goslings seen standing on ice on 11th Feb. Unsurprisingly, the young were not seen again.

As a non-native it seems that Egyptian Geese have not quite mastered the timing of our seasons and are still prone to nest at almost any time of the year.

Return of the wildfowl

In the third week of February the ice melted, open water returned and the spring migration beckoned. The Pond took on a new lease on life, and to everyone’s surprise quickly started to attract growing numbers of wildfowl. It was as if someone had sprinkled pixie dust on the reserve! Obviously, something good was going on in the ecosystem below the surface, creating better feeding conditions, particularly for diving ducks. As those of you who are regular readers of this column will know, we birders have been lamenting the lack of winter wildfowl at Fleet Pond in recent decades, so it is great to share a positive development.

Wildfowl started to arrive soon after the ice melted; Tufted Duck took top honours with 48 counted on 21st February, rising to 57 by 4th March, and 48 still present at the end of March. These are all the highest counts at Fleet Pond since the late 1980s.  Three Pochard joined the Tufted Ducks on 3rd March.  Normally a one-day wonder, as recent Pochard sightings at Fleet Pond have been prone to be, they stayed and attracted others with a peak count of eight present on 21st March (with six still present at the end of March).  Gadwall numbers peaked at 17 on 21st February, with 14 still present at the end of March, with Teal and Shoveler bringing up the rear with peaks of eight and four respectively.  Optimism is high that at least four of these five species will stay to breed this year.  Fingers crossed!

Highlight of the spring — so far

Oblivious to the UK and European COVID movement restrictions imposed on us humans, the spring bird migration kicked in at the beginning of March.

This year it started with a bit of a ‘bang’ through the discovery of a pair of Red-crested Pochard in the middle of the Pond early on 5th March. While there is a small self-sustaining feral population of Red-crested Pochards centered around Cotswold Water Park in Wiltshire, this pair showed all the characteristics of being a truly wild pair on migration from their wintering grounds in Southern Europe, (Spain in particular) on their way to breeding grounds in north Central Europe. A very scarce migrant to the UK, this pair spent most of the day sleeping at distance as migrants often do, recovering from their overnight journey before feeding late in the afternoon.

The highlight of the spring thus far, they were perfectly documented by John Sutton who happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture this image.

Departing that night, they were not seen the following day. This the eighth record of Red-crested Pochard for Fleet Pond, with last dating back to September 2002.

Summer migrants

The first expected summer migrants appeared mid-March with a singing Chiffchaff logged on 14th March (the same arrival date as 2020), followed by the first Sand Martin on 15th March (two days earlier than in 2020), with Blackcap on 17th March, Swallow on 25th March and a Willow Warbler on 30th March. Good numbers of Sand Martins were sighted heading over the Pond in the last week of the month with 60 logged on 25th March and 62 on 29th. Three further Swallows seen on 27th March.

Other notable migrants included two Ravens flying northeast on 15th March, 22 Meadow Pipits heading over north on 22nd March and a male Wheatear at Fugelmere Marsh on 30th March. (illustrated below)

Raptors of note included sightings of Peregrine Falcon on 9th and 28th March. (illustrated below)

Gull passage becomes more evident as March progressed but was well below 2020’s exceptional levels. Black-headed Gulls returned to claim their nesting sites on the central islands early in the month, and the first of the now annual Mediterranean Gull was logged on 11th March, with subsequent records from 15th March (two), 27th March (five) and 28th March (one).  25 Herring Gulls took refuge on the Pond in stormy weather on 10th March with several single digits counts of this species later in the month, but only a handful of Common Gulls were logged this spring. Related oddities included an early Sandwich Tern (illustrated first below) that spent most the day perched on island posts on 28th March and a brief appearance of a Kittiwake (1st winter) (illustrated second below) that afternoon.

Both species are rarely seen inland but fortunately Fleet Pond seems to attract more than its fair share.

Return of the Grebes

Thankfully, Great Crested Grebes returned to the Pond after February’s freeze, culminating in a peak count of ten on 31st March, matching March 2020’s peak count and at least four Water Rails were in residence in March. There was, however, disappointing news on our Grey Herons, with only three nests located this year down from as many as ten a few years ago.  Little Egrets were evident throughout with a high count of three roosting on 22nd March and encouragingly there were numerous sightings of Kingfisher and Green Woodpecker.

With much spring migration still to come and this summer’s breeding season full of potential, there is plenty to observe so I encourage members to get out there, get some fresh air and enjoy the wonders of the avian world right on your doorstep.

Contributing Observers: Evelyn Auld, Dave Buckler, E. Butler, John Clark, N. Hayward, J Kennett, Graham Stephenson and John Sutton.

Photo credits:  John Sutton; Bird illustrations—RSPB www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/

It has been a rather dull and wet few months. Temperatures were at or above normal particularly in November, before turning colder in the last week of December and on into early January. Rainfall was generally above average, especially in October, with plenty of strong winds crowned by Storm Bella in late December.

Birding-wise it was a rather uneventful few months. October yielded few autumn migrants of note, other than the continued presence of the male Garganey, first seen on August 6th and last seen on October 21st, a late date for this summer migrant.

Good numbers of Shoveler remained into mid-October, with 40 logged on October 9th. Most moved on thereafter, with only a handful reported in November and a December high count of six on 23rd.

Other notable wildfowl included several reports of:

• Pochard, with two on October 4th and counts of three on December 2nd and 11th.
• Wigeon with two on November 6th and December 28th.
• Teal numbers peaked at 17 on November 15th.
• Gadwall at five on December 9th.
• Mallard at 82 on December 13th.
• Roosting geese were ever present with winter high counts of 130 Greylag Geese on December 19th and 205 Canada Geese on December 24th.
• A lone Shelduck was an unexpected visitor on December 28. (Illustrated below)

Great Crested Grebe numbers disappointed all autumn, with up to three present to mid-January. This suggests that August’s fish die-off has rendered Fleet Pond less attractive for this avid fish eater for now. We should be expecting counts of between 10-20 at this time of year, so we will be monitoring this species carefully this year and hoping for a return to form.

A Little Grebe, a scarce but expected autumn visitor, was present between October 31st-November 2nd.

Good News

Better news included a count of 12 Water Rails in the reedbed circling the Pond at the end of October/early November. Equally pleasing was the good numbers of Common Snipe wintering this year with 55 logged on December 13th and 37 on January 2nd.

Highlight of the period was a female Marsh Harrier (illustrated above) observed hunting at the reserve mid-morning on December 8th, becoming the second record for this rare raptor at Fleet Pond in 2020.

On October 20th, a male Cetti’s Warbler announced its presence from the station car park reedbeds with its distinct and loud song; it was still being heard at the end of November. Spring 2020 saw the first establishment of a breeding territory of Cetti’s Warbler at the reserve, so optimism prevails for a repeat performance in 2021.

Similarly, Firecrest (illustrated above) is now becoming a regular in these reports, with two observed in woodland at the end of Wellington Avenue in early December and another (or the same) coming from the Brookly Wood on January 1st.

Reports of Stonechat included pairs at the MoD fields on November 9th and in Wood Lane Heath on December 8th.

Winter finches were present in average numbers with up to 300 Siskins and smaller flocks of Lesser Redpolls, favouring the Brookly Stream alders, at the end of December and into January, and other reports were received from Sandy Bay.  More notable were a flock of four Crossbills (illustrated below) and a further single overflying the reserve on December 9th and 10th, respectively.

Encouragingly there were several reports of Kingfisher and Green Woodpecker at the reserve too. Green Woodpecker used to be a regular sight here until 2018, when it is suspected the very cold ‘Beast of the East’ spring weather that year extirpated the local population, so it is good to hear they are recovering and returning!

Finally, autumn and winter roosts included peaks of 250 Redwing on November 22nd, 420 Jackdaw on October 26th and 320 on December 30th, 115 Magpie on December 30th and one or two Little Egrets inconsistently through to the end of the year.

Looking forward for us avid birders, the good news is that we only have a few more weeks until the spring migration gets underway in early March. By that time I hope COVID-19 will be well in retreat and a return to more normal times in sight.  Good birding!

William Legge

Contributing Observers: David Buckler, John Clark, Martin Pitt, P. Rowse, Graham Stephenson and Gary Watton

NEWSLETTER:

Due to the lockdown we cannot distribute hard copies of our newsletter, so please click below for the Winter issue.

Winter 2020_21_website

We have objected to and made comments on the planning application that has been submitted by Hart District Council to widen the path that runs alongside Fleet Pond and the railway station car park.

Comments have to be made by 11 January. You might like to do that on the Planning Portal against reference 20/03004/FUL. Full details can be found here: https://publicaccess.hart.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=QKUWPEHZFXY00.

These are the main aspects we commented on:

1)      The timing of the proposed works is unacceptable.

2)      The ecological mitigation proposed for the path works is not sufficient and is unacceptable.

3)      The edging design for the path is unacceptable for Fleet Pond SSSI and badly thought out.

4)      The general design of the footpath is poor and could be made more acceptable for visitors.

5)      No control of the loss of trees is being offered.

6)      The application does not comply with planning policy.

Full details on the above  comments: Coms on plan app for NW Path Dec 20_jsV1090121

We were quite surprised when we discovered earlier this week that the application had been submitted in early December 2020. This has made it difficult for us to communicate with you in a meaningful way. There is a substantial amount of documentation in the application. Up to this point we have had some good, constructive liaison with HDC’s Countryside Service and have achieved a number of significant changes to their original plans.

Jim Storey, Chairman, Fleet Pond Society