13th October - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

There was drizzly rain first thing in the morning, but the forecast was for it to improve late morning and into the afternoon.  As a result it was back to a reserve with a hide to shelter in for the start of the day, so I headed back to Titchfield.

However on arriving at the cabin I could see a tractor moving around the South Scrape, not good.  It turns out they had planned to do the West Paddock first but changed plans due to the weather as they didn't expect many visitors, I wasn't pleased.  

As I walked around the harbour a pair of Little Grebe were diving close to the bridge.

The tractor was cutting the grass around the banks of the scrape and as I settled in the Meon Shore hide it was over close to the North Scrape and there were birds on the south scrape.  A single Snipe feeding around the small island in front of the hide.

The tractor then cam closer to the hide coming down the east side of the scrape.  All the ducks and waders took off.  The Snipe waited, flattening itself on the surface of the water, but eventually it took off too.

With nothing on the scrape I decided to walk up the west side to the Spurgin hide, where it was also quiet but as I settled in a female Marsh Harrier appeared on the left out of the gloom.

Hanging in the south west wind, checking all around the area.

Heading out across the scrape with a nice dark background.

The Marsh Harriers have not been so frequent just lately so it was nice to get the close views this morning.  After breeding the harriers, both adults and juveniles either go to ground to moult or head off to explore.  Numbers are expected to increase over the next few weeks as the roost meets it height in December.  At the moment there are up to five coming in to roost.

The Marsh Harrier went away and a little later the Grey Wagtail appeared on the fallen reed mace, but back lit by the sun that was now coming out after the early morning rain.

October also sees the frequent sightings of Jays as they fly across the reserve with acorns that they cache for the winter.  They come close to the hide offering great opportunities to catch them with the acorns in flight.  There were five birds seen at the same time as they flew from the east side.

It then went quiet until the Marsh Harrier appeared once again, this time in the bright sunshine.

Here back lit by the sunshine.

Then hanging above the reeds.

Coming back around to the left hand side of the hide.

The final shots some of the best.

Twelve Egyptian Geese had settled on one of the islands at the back of the mere.  The Marsh Harrier came over and dropped down behind the island, the geese taking no notice or any concern with its presence.  It then bathed before taking off and heading up the valley once more.

Leaving the Spurgin I headed back to the Meon Shore, but it was still empty.  The tractor was now working on the west paddock in front of the West hide, I wonder if this will bring anything of interest to the West hide, we shall have to wait and see.

It was now warm with some lovely autumn sunshine and I headed to the beach on the spit behind the sailing club boats.  As I walked to the end of the spit I disturbed a Wheatear that flew off to the other side of the inlet.

On the beach were forty one Ringed Plover.  This immature settled down amongst the shingle.

In amongst the Ringed Plover and Sanderling was a single Dunlin.

I couldn't not get something of the Sanderling.

Unfortunately the waders were disturbed and flew around before settling back on the spit.  Ringed Plover.

Ringed Plover and Sanderling.

Walking around the harbour once more a pair of Little Egret were standing on the exposed mud in the sunshine, with a black background.

Considering the disturbance on the scrapes and around the reserve it was too bad a day with some excellent sightings and photographic opportunities.

12th October - Red Kite - Four Marks, Hampshire

I believe I have said many times about my affection for the Red Kite.  It started with the Observer's Book of Birds where I was fascinated by a black and white print of a bird of prey with a strange name, why was it called a Kite?  I longed to see one but it wasn't until the late eighties that I finally did so, managing to set up a business trip to Mid Wales where I was able to get to a reserve in the evening, climb through the woodland to then see a high and distant Red Kite above me.  I was, that day, fascinated by the way it soared using the unmistakeable forked tail to glide effortless away from view.

Fast forward to the early 2000's when on my return from the USA I was delighted to see this beautiful bird of prey in my home county of Hampshire and then over the years to be able to watch them from my bedroom window while drinking a morning cup of tea.

Today they breed locally and we not only see them, but hear them calling as they circle above the gardens.  The weather was awful today, but I was able to pass the time watching two from my bedroom window, and this time I had my camera handy.

The Red Kite is now instantly recognisable by the deeply forked tail and it's rich reddish brown plumage.  

Persecuted relentlessly over the years the Red Kite was reduced to just a small population, and in the 1960's their exact whereabouts in the valleys of Mid Wales were kept a secret, it was all about word of mouth if you wanted to see one.

Since then due to the efforts of landowners and conversationists, they started to recover, but the real recovery came when birds were brought in from Spain and released under licence, first on Christmas Common in Buckinghamshire, but after that at various locations across southern England.  The Red Kite thrived and wild populations be came established and today they are almost a commoner sight than the Common Buzzard.

The Hampshire birds were probably a result of the Buckinghamshire releases and very welcome they are.

Often thought of as birds of oak woodland, because of where they like to nest, but in medieval and Tudor times they were common in town centres scavenging on waste and scraps, even swooping to steal food from people's hands.

Watching a Kite gliding on their long wings I am reminded of some of the CGI dragons created for the fantasy shows like Game of Thrones and House of Dragons, and I wonder if this is where the myth of the dragon came from as the Red Kite glided and soared above those medieval villages and towns.

I have often wondered which came first, the Red Kite or the Child's toy.  All I can find on an answer is from a book called by C. E. Hare called Bird Lore where he states that the toy was named after the Red Kite.

Kites are mentioned in Shakespeare's plays King Lear and The Winter's Tale.  Here it is in reference to their habit of stealing clothes with which to line their nests.

Gilbert White picked up on their soaring and this lead to an old name, the Glead, which came from the Saxon word glidan, to glide.

I love to experiment with black and white images and for the final two shots I have converted them, it adds a little more majesty to the bird I think.

But maybe losing a bit of the beauty of this wonderful bird of prey that is now definitely back in the country.

10th October - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

After two and a half weeks convalescence after the cataract operations, I was finally able to get out birding.  Where to go on my first outing?  Well it could only be one place.  I met Ian just before 9.00am and we walked to a closed cabin, apparently there were problems with the doors so it was closed, but fortunately the hides and reserve was open.

Walking around to the west side there were a pair of Eider off shore and Sanderling and Turnstone on the beach.  We walked on to the reserve and then to the Meon Shore hide to be greeted with this view.

There had been quite a bit of work done since my last visit back in September.  Reeds have been cut back and the islands trimmed.  The Snipe island was now visible and of course there were Snipe on it.

And a few Redshank.

But of course it was the Snipe that had my attention.

With one sitting in the water.

Redshank numbers had increased and several of the birds were mobile moving from the islands.

There had been a movement of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits overhead and by mid morning there was a small movement of Swallows.  Interestingly the majority were adults showing their tail streamers.

With things quiet on the south scrape we decided to walk up to the Pumfrett.  The light though was awful so we moved on up to the Spurgin hide and a chance to see the work that was undertaken there at the end of September.

The view from the hide with the white clouds reflecting in the water of Eleven Acre Mere.

Those white clouds looking very impressive in black and white.

There was one person in the hide and he made a point of telling us that he had been present a while and nothing was happening at all.  With that he left the hide and almost immediately there was a whistling call and a Kingfisher flew up to the perch to the right hand side of the hide.

The light wasn't the best but when the sun went behind the clouds the views improved.

The small white tip at the end of the beak means this was an immature bird, but also the flush of pink on the lower mandible means this is also a female.

Th ebreeze was ruffling the feathers.

The photography was challenging when the sun came out.

The Kingfisher then exited to the left of the hide and was almost immediately replaced by a Grey Wagtail.

It made its way around the outside of one of the cut islands in front of the hide and was finding a lot of insects to eat, also leaping up to catch flies in the air.

Grey Wagtail are difficult to photograph, they are constantly moving either walking or bobbing the long tail.  This was an excellent opportunity though as the bird was close to the hide, so I took the opportunity to take as many as I could.

The male bird in the winter has an orange wash on the breast, which is replaced with black in the summer breeding season.

There was second bird, a female and they were calling to each other.

There were fallen reed stems at the base of the reeds and the wagtail used these to walk around the water.  At one point it tried to stand on the duck weed and fell in!

Then on the floating reed leaves.

Which proved to be a little more substantial to stand on.

Very much a wagtail that is almost always found around water, unlike the other two common wagtails seen in the United Kingdom, the Pied and Yellow Wagtail.

Back on the mud.

Two of my favourite shots.

The Marsh Harriers had gone AWOL, not one was seen throughout the day, but there was a Red Kite that came close over the mere.

And a Buzzard that took to hovering over the reed bed.

Things then went quiet so we decided to walk back and maybe try the east side of the reserve.  But before walking around to the east we stopped in on the Meon Shore hide once more and right in front of the hide the Snipe were showing very well.

It is not often you get to see the Snipe out in the open this much.  Here one standing on the mud of the island.

And one in the water.

And a good shake after an extensive preen.

Also in front of the hide was a drake Teal that was almost in it's full breeding plumage.

And a few Black-tailed Godwits had ventured closer to the hide.

There was a small flock of eight Pintail present on the north scrape and gradually from the early afternoon the numbers started to increase with birds flying from up the valley.  To see eight Pintail on the scrapes is something unusual but the numbers started to build up into the thirties and eventually reach an unprecedented fifty five by the time I left.

Here eight Pintail with a single Wigeon dropping into the north scrape.

One or two of the drake Pintail were almost in their breeding plumage.

The Water Rail put in a very quick appearance and all I was able to get was a glimpse of the tail as it ducked into the cut reeds and out of sight.  The last piece of action was a Sparrowhawk that came low over the scrape putting up all the duck and waders on the south scrape.

Great to be back out and it was nice to be able to catch up with a Kingfisher close to the hide and the very showy Grey Wagtail.