4th November - Titchfield Haven and Daedalus Airport, Hampshire

The murky, drab and damp conditions continue and it doesn't look as it will go away any day soon.  I headed to Titchfield for the first visit this new month, walking from Cliff Road along the sea front.  There was a good sized flock of Brent out on the sea, a chance to get some photographs of this winter visitor to the area.

With the tide rising and fishermen wading out in the water the flock was spooked and flew off to the west.

From the bridge a Kingfisher flew through, while on the edge of the reeds a drake Gadwall was preening.

Coming out of the visitor centre there were two Kestrels interacting above me, a little further along there was one sitting in the bush close to the viewing platform.

With the tide rising I decided to watch the sea for a while.  Three Common Scoter flew east distantly and the Red-throated Diver was on the sea a long way off Chilling.  There were  a few people walking out on to the Rainbow Bar and they flushed the Sanderling and Ringed Plover and they flew past.

A count of fifty Sanderling here.

Everything then went up on the scrapes and the Frying Pan.  There wasn't any visible raptors about and later there was a lot of tree cutting so it could be that the workers flushed all the birds on the meadow and this put up the scrape.  These Shoveler flew past.

There was also eight Avocet amongst the flocks, the highest number for some time.

I decide to try on the reserve despite the warnings from others that it was quiet.  As always the first stop was the Meon Shore Hide.  It was quiet, with the wind in the north the duck seek shelter on the north shore so there was very little in front of the hide.

The island to the left of the hide though was quite busy, with plenty of Snipe.  This short video gives some idea of the numbers, the maximum count I had was 33.

The birds would fly up every so often led by the Lapwing and this gave me the chance to photograph them in flight.  They are great acrobatic fliers, the broad wings aiding the twists and turns that they use to display and evade predators

After having lunch I decided to move on.  Initial intentions were to go down the east side, but after seeing that there was no high tide roost on the spit I changed my mind and instead decided to drive around to the Daedalus Airport to look for the Black Redstarts that had been attracting many over the last few days.

It didn't take long after parking to find the redstarts, the male showing very well at the top of the roof of one of the derelict buildings.

It then dropped down to a small wall and showed well there.

Black Redstarts are another of those birds that attract admirers.  The combination of black and silver upper parts and the shimmering red tail of the male appear irresistible.

 

It then dropped to the ground and I zoomed out to bring in the industrial surroundings that these bird seem to like to frequent here in the UK.  On the continent they are a lot more cosmopolitan about there surroundings.

It flew across the road and settled on a tin roof.  The roof was primarily white but had also red or rusty streaks which complimented the redstart very well.

The next two are my favourites from the session.

It flew back to the north side of the road and called from the roof.

This shows the "Red Start" or tail that gives it the name.

The locations they inhabit almost always have fences, usually HERA fencing and they just love to perch on them.

Finally back to the wall where I took the last photos.

A dreary day brightened by the performance of the male Black Redstart.

2nd November - Amberley Brooks and Arundel WWT, West Sussex

We were off again, out of the county in search of the (well for us) elusive White-tailed Eagle.  After two attempts at the end of the summer we were trying the Amberley Brooks this time.  However it was a gloomy day, mist hung over the downs and there was drizzle in the air, not ideal conditions for finding or seeing raptors.

We headed down the bridleway and out on to the Brooks.  the first thing to catch our eyes were the sheer numbers of Fallow Deer, they appeared to be everywhere with many stages with impressive sets of Antlers patrolling among many hinds.  But as always is the way there was a stag laying down in the grass watching us as we photographed it.

A little further along the track and there was a closer view.

Further on there were tree young deer on the path ahead of us.

The first bird of prey turned out to be a Kestrel hunting over the marsh.

The easy part of the track gave way to very wet and muddy conditions.  We stopped as there was another stag with a group of hinds quite close to us.

Scanning across the marsh a very distant Buzzard sitting on a low bush.  Pretty typical of raptor behaviour in these weather conditions.

The Fallow Deer stag was then up and moving.

A check around the area first.

Then a very stately walk through the bullrushes.

It did not appear to be concerned by us at all.

One final look at us before dropping down once more in the sedge grass.

We walked the path further north, reminiscing about the last time we were here and we came across a ringtail Hen Harrier.  It wasn't going to happen to day though, so we decided to turn back.  Once on the stable path some more scanning found another distant raptor, this time a Red Kite, it is believe me.

At the sluice there was a view of trees along a private path, here a Kestrel was sitting in the middle

We hung around, waiting to see if it would clear or a Bird of prey would brave the weather.  A shoot on the other side of the river put up lots of Duck, Wigeon, Pintail and Teal flying overhead and a female type Marsh Harrier drifted across the marsh.

There was track that led out on to the bank of the river where there were Wigeon on the water.  The Kestrel had moved from the tree to the bushes alongside the river.

A lone Parasol mushroom was present on the bank of the river.

The eagles were probably sitting in a tree somewhere around here, the weather not helpful to them at all.  We decided it wasn't to be once again so taking into account the weather and the lack of birds locally we came to the decision of a trip to the Wildfowl and Wetland reserve at Arundel.

We headed to one of the wild areas of the reserve, the Ramsar hide.  This apparently was the Kingfisher hide and there were a few long lenses poking out of the hide.  Out on the water was a Great Egret and it came quite close to the hide.

Although it was actively fishing we never saw it catch anything.

The odd dance every so often as it moved around the water.

A nice portrait.

A Kingfisher did appear and flew straight past us.  There were good numbers of Canada Geese and Greylag Gees on the water, continually calling.  The duck were the usual suspects, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal and Shoveler.  Of interest was this goose, much darker than the other Greylags and maybe smaller, however it has the pale wing feathers and the markings on the neck which is seen in the Greylag.  It could possibly be a hybrid with a captive Pink Foot?

Of course there had to be a pair of Egyptian Geese.

In the next hide a Kingfisher did appear but made every effort to hide from us in the bush opposite.

A nice drake Shoveler.

We went for a walk around the captive pens, which I found to be very disappointing, very few variation and nowhere near the numbers I have seen here on previous visits.  However it was nice to see Common Scoter up close, something you rarely get the chance to do in the wild.  They are a very smart looking duck, all black with just some yellow on the bill for the male.

Earlier we had seen Cattle Egret on the fields away from the reserve.  We decided to walk around to the river to find them.  However we had to stop for the drake Tufted Duck on the castle lake, some nice dark water providing a lovely background.

We walked down the road towards the Town Centre, we thought we would have to walk around the river, but as we crossed the river we could see the Cattle Egret in the field with cattle close to the road.

There were seventeen egrets amongst the cattle.  Earlier we had commented on the herds of Fallow Deer roaming across the marshes at Amberley and looking like the plains of Africa with antelope.  Here it was also reminiscent of Africa with the Cattle Egret following the cattle.

Some idea of the scene we were watching.

One flying in to keep up with the cattle.

Some nice Cattle Egret shots.

And that was the end of a dreary dull day, albeit with some bright interludes.