4th September - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

Early morning rain delayed me leaving for Titchfield this morning, so I met up with Ian a little later than planned at Cliff Road.  It was though very overcast with reduced visibility out in the Solent.  we walked around to the west side of the reserve.  The tide was out but we couldn't find any Water Rails on the exposed mud.

Settling in the Meon Shore hide a Black-tailed Godwit flew from the top of the scrape past the window of the hide.

An immature Marsh Harrier was hunting over the reeds to the side of the scrape.

Since the start of June Marsh Harriers have been absent so it was nice to see this one quartering and hovering over the reeds.

But alos attracted the attention of the Magpies.

There were five Common Snipe alongside the reeds on the left side of the hide and one then came and settled in the water between the small island in front of the hide and the reeds.

Black-tailed Godwits were also feeding around the small island.

An adult.

Some of the plumage smooth while others showed scalloped and buff fringes.  This is a juvenile and will soon moult to a more streaked grey plumage.

There were several godwits flying around the scrape, caught this one as it banked on the right side of the scrape.

Common Terns were still on the scrape, but nowhere near the numbers we saw on last Sunday.  There were also several Common Tern carrying fish looking for an appropriate recipient.

There were two Common Sandpiper around, moving across the scrape and using the islands.  But a surprise was a Green Sandpiper that turned up on the left hand side, at first bathing in the water then preening.

Here showing the white rump as it jumped and flew to the shore.

The Snipe appeared in front of the hide once again.

Dropping in to the water in front of the reeds.

We could hear a Greenshank calling and slowly the calls became louder and louder until it came into view over the scrape.

It finally settled on one of the islands at the back of the scrape.

A Grey Heron flew on to the island at the back of the scrape and immediately attracted the attention of an adult Common Tern.  The tern was dive bombing and the immature Heron stabbing its bill towards the tern as it looped over the heron.

We watched this with some amusement as it was similar to the Cattle Egret and the tern a few days ago.  However we never expected what was to unroll in front of us.

The Heron put up with the tern for a good fifteen minutes, but then mover around the island, stabbed the ground and came up with this, a juvenile Common Tern.

The tern flapped for  a short while but then went still.  The heron walked away from the geese and the adult tern above it.

It then flew to the north scrape, carrying thetern, but then dropped, possibly unable to swallow it.  Then the immature Marsh Harrier flew in and picked up the tern and flew off with it being chased once again by the Magpie.

The Heron stayed on the mud and we thought that was that and attention returned to the island and water in front of the hide.  Redshank were absent first thing, but as the tide started to rise there were several arriving on the scrape.  At one time there were five in front of the hide and they were bathing and preening.

The immature Grey Heron then re-appeared and landed on another island and incredibly the same thing happened again, but probably even more horrific.

The heron had picked up this juvenile Common Tern, but the terns struggled and got free falling into the water, but the heron wasn't giving up.

Another lightning stab at the unfortunate tern.

And this time it wasn't letting go.

It was wanting to swallow the tern, and Heron's wold do this whole, so it would dip the tern, that now appeared dead into the water to wet the feathers and aid the swallow.  Here the Egyptian Goose appears to want to know what was going on.

It made several attempts to swallow but it looked as if the wings were just too much for it to swallow.

Eventually it flew off with thetern once again to the north scrape, where it still continued to try and swallow the tern, but in the end gave up and left it on the mud.  The Marsh Harrier returned once again and circled around above the tern, but opted not to take it this time.  The grey Heron flew off with another heron.

The hide was silent while all this was going on.  I think we were shocked by the brutality, but this is nature and the Heron's instincts were to feed, no matter what, but it picked on something that was not right, hopefully it learnt a lesson.

Oystercatchers were coming in to the scrape as the tide was rising, but they were also leaving and they would come low across the water before heading out over the hide.

The Greenshank was back and still very vocal, clearly upset about something.

Eventually it took to the air and flew at the hide calling as it went, out over the hide still calling.

Don't come to the haven expecting to see something special immediately, you have to be prepared to sit it out and wait and there is every chance there will be something to talk about even if like to day it was brutal to watch.

1st September - Farlington Marshes, Hampshire - Part Two

Part two of my visit to Farlington and a slightly different experience to that first thing but in no way lacking in the quality of part one

The Lake at Farlington at this time of year can provide some very good conditions for autumn waders and this was definitely the case today  There was visible mud and some shallow water, the waders were roosting in the shallow water with a lot of duck occupying the deep water to the middle of the lake.

The one problem is the distance from the sea wall not being that conducive to photography and today matters were made worse by the heat haze.  It was a case of viewing with the telescope, so I settled down in the grass on the bank of sea wall and scanned through the flocks.

There were large flocks of Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank and in amongst them were Dunlin.  The most recent attraction though were the Curlew Sandpiper, but as I scanned through the flocks in search I came across thee two Little Stint, here feeding with a lone Dunlin for size comparisons.  This unfortunately is just a record shot.

I found the Curlew Sandpipers, at one point I counted 15, but there may well have been many more.  Once again they were distant and difficult to get a decent shot.  This flight image was the best I could get of one, again with Dunlin.

At one point the waders were spooked and flew around the scrape, here Redshank, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin and a few Knot in amongst them.

A large flock of Black-tailed Godwits lew around the scrape looking smart against some of the darker grey clouds that had appeared.

I had seen Grey Plover out in the harbour, but a flock of just over sixty dropped on to the Lake, many of them still in their silver and black summer plumage.

One broke ranks and came a little closer.

As the tide was almost at its highest the duck started to move.  I had seen Teal and Gadwall on the water, but not really scanned for anything else.  Flying around the Lake were the first Wigeon of the year and about thirty Pintail.  Here Wigeon and a single Pintail.

The Pintail came head on before breaking away and splitting up.

As everything settled down to see out the high tide I decided to walk back down to the stream.  There was a herd of cattle by the water and I had been told that there were Yellow Wagtail amongst them.  Last year I had my best views of Yellow Wagtail here and by the stream, so I was hoping I would get similar views today.

As I approached the cattle quite a sizeable flock of Yellow Wagtail flew up into the nearby bush that had quite a few dead branches.

A female type.

They soon returned to the ground and started to forage amongst the grass and the cattle.

I was kneeling down and concentrating on the wagtails when I noticed that one cow had become quite inquisitive about my presence.  As I turned to watch where the cow was a Yellow Wagtail flew to the cow nand stopped on the grass on the other side to me, very close.  I could see it through the cow's legs.  This gave me some of the closest views I have ever had of what is normally a very shy bird and normally flies off with any approach.

The Yellow Wagtail finally flew off but almost immediately afterwards a Cattle Egret appeared.  The black bill and lack of any orange brown on the breast and crest show this to be a immature, probably one of this year's fledglings.

So it was back to the Yellow Wagtails and I decided the best way was to kneel down and wait and they would come to me, which they did, through the grass.

Feeding around the muzzle of a cow.

Here a smart yellow male.

They all flew into the bushes once again and as I approached many flew out, back to the cattle, but one or two stayed showing well and sat nicely for me.

There was one below on an ant hill in that lunging pose the Yellow Wagtail uses when hunting for flies.

The last one in the bushes sat at the top of the tree and after preening sat nicely for me.

Once again the cattle at Farlington had brought about a wonderful Yellow Wagtail experience and they were not finished as the Cattle Egret returned.

It made its way to another cow that was close to me and like the Yellow Wagtail earlier appeared between the cows legs.

The binocular set of the eyes give them a comical look.

Inspecting the cows.

And finally my favourite, the egret appearing around the muzzle of the cow, again with that quizzical and comical appearance.

I hadn't been to Farlington for some while and did not know what to expect.  It was a brilliant day with some quality birds and some great encounters.