12th November - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

There was an early opening at Titchfield this morning for members, but I didn't make it, however I did arrive a little earlier.  Walking to check in the morning was filled with lovely sunshine, the tide rising and the wind adding a wintery chill to the air.

The tide had quite a while to go until high tide, but there were a few Sanderling on the exposed beach on the other side of the harbour, mixing with Turnstones.

In the bay there was a Cormorant perched on a post and looked impressive in the sunshine and against the water.

Then further along in the bay there was a Common Gull roosting.

I popped into the Meon Shore hide but it was very much a similar scene to that seen earlier in the week.  I didn't stay long and walked around to the Pumfrett hide.  There were several Meadow Pipits on the causeway and walking along the side of the north scrape was the Water Pipit I had seen last Saturday.

It was back to the usual photographs of Water Pipits, grainy and in poor light.

A Meadow Pipit on the cause way gave me the chance to put together a side by side comparison of the two pipits.  The Water Pipit is on the left and is paler with much less streaking.  There is a small white supercillium on the Water Pipit which is not present on the Meadow.  The legs on the Meadow Pipit are pink where if you could see them the Water Pipit legs are dark.

I went back to the sea wall where there was a male Eider out on the sea.  I spent some time walking around Posbrook Lane looking for Long-eared Owl with the thermal imager.  Clearly this was not successful so I headed back to the Meon Shore hide to see out lunch before I had to head home.

A Black-tailed Godwit feeding in front of the hide, again digging deep into the mud of the scrape.

During one of the many Lapwing panics these Black-tailed Godwits flew around the scrape.

Some settling on the scrape in front of the hide.

There were ten Snipe on the Snipe Island, but it has become quite popular with Teal and Redshank and every so often there would be a squabble and the Snipe would head to the reeds.

A pair of Ravens were seen displaying high above the scrape.

The Lapwings were very flighty circling around the scrape performing their acrobatics.

A Teal sat preening on the edge of the island in front of the hide.

A surprise was a Great Egret coming up from the west paddock and flying across the scrape towards the river.

A Snipe then was feeding on the edge of the water right below the hide.

I had seen a small flock of Golden Plover earlier, about half of the flock I had seen on Monday.  The rest of the birds, ten in total were on the scrape hiding behind island 'E'.  But when the Lapwing go up then so do the Golden Plover and I was treated to the Golden Plover once more circling the scrape.

Plenty of Shoveler on the scrape, these two feeding close by.

Walking back to the car there was a fisherman on the spit so no roosting waders.  The duck in the bay were mostly Gadwall and Shoveler, and I could see something was concerning them as they all raised there heads and then took to the air, an Otter maybe?  They circled around and most of the duck flew to the scrape, but several Gadwall kept circling above me.

Eventually they dropped back down on to the bay, back close to the reeds.

A lovely cold day with some great sunshine.  The next few days look like they will bring a taste of winter.

9th November - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

Another misty and in places foggy morning at home, but as I drove south it started to lift and as I turned on to Cliff road at Hill Head it was clear with a quite brisk north easterly wind, the weather was changing.

The tide was rising and the sea was a little more unsettled than it has been over the last few days.  I walked too the cabin to check in and the newly installed feeders had attracted a Coal Tit, not a bird that is easily seen around this area, the Scots Pine tree must have been an attraction.  Along with the Blue and Great Tits there was a Chiffchaff feeding in the Tamarisks and showing well as it chased the tits away.

A female Marsh Harrier was over the reed bed and a Grey Heron was using the perch that was positioned to attract the Kingfishers!

Walking around to the west side, there were five Little Egret on the mud below the reeds.  The egrets seem to have taken up resting and feeding here and it was a surprise to see five in this spot together

Even with the tide still a couple of hours away from high tide it was high and much of the beach was covered.  There was a good number of Sanderling in the roost on the Sailing Club spit, I counted 112.  Here a sample of them.

Walking around to the west side a single duck flew toward me.  I thought it might have been a Pintail and moved to take the photograph, but it turned out to be a male Pochard.  These were once a regular feature on the river but today only a few singles appear at this time of year.

The north east wind was blowing in through the hide windows and it was cold, despite the direction of the wind there were quite a few birds close to the hide.

A Redshank flew on to Snipe Island.

One Snipe was feeding amongst the reeds quite close on the left hand side of the hide.

The Lapwing were rather jumpy with a Marsh Harrier around and when they would take off they would take the Black-tailed Godwits with them.  They would circle around looking impressive against the grey sky.

One of the flock.

I decided to walk up to the Spurgin hide to look for the Water Pipit that had been reported, but it had flown off just before I arrived and after almost an hour and a half wait it hadn't returned.  The only birds of interest from the hide were a couple of distant Marsh Harriers.  As a result I walked back to the Pumfrett hide to see if it was there.  It wasn't, the only bird close to the hide was a Grey Wagtail that hid in the grass and again a Marsh Harrier that attempted to take some Teal.

And then for some reason decided to pick a fight with a Grey Heron.

So it was back to the Meon Shore hide for lunch and it turned out to be quite entertaining.

Drake Teal close in.

And a Black-tailed Godwit preening, here rubbing the oil gland at the base of the tail with it's neck and bill.

When I arrived a flock of Golden Plover flew up when the Lapwing flushed, they headed out towards the sea, but fortunately returned.  Some lovely autumnal sunshine added to the scene.

It looked like a flock of around twenty birds but I wasn't able to count them as they dropped on to the far island amongst Lapwing and out of sight.

It wasn't long before they were up again and this time flying closer to the hide and I was able to isolate a few as they flew past.

And a view of the under wing.

Three birds together here, not two heads and six wings!

Finally as they flew higher I was able to capture the whole flock, a total of twenty two birds.

The female Marsh Harrier continued to hunt at the back of the scrape and also coming down the right hand side over the reeds and for once coming close.

There was some discussion as to whether this was an immature bird,. it certainly wasn't that effective at hunting.

There has been a partially leucistic Carrion Crow around the reserve for sometime.  Whether it has been the same bird or offspring is not clear.  It does look quite smart as it swooped on to the island flushing the Lapwing.

With the Lapwing continually taking to the air the duck were also jumpy, the Shoveler heading off the scrape to the road side bay of the river.  Here a definite female and possibly two males still in eclipse.

Two males.

And a nice close fly past by a drake.

Three Pintail circled the scrape after joining the Lapwing panic.

The Black-tailed Godwit were feeding close to the hide, and they were feeding deep into the mud.  The head and bill covered in mud.

A Snipe appeared just below the hide on the bank of the scrape.

While another flew from the reeds to Snipe Island.

My time was up and as I walked back to the car I stopped for this Little Egret standing in the shallow water by the reeds enjoying the sunshine.

Another one of those days where something happens that makes it.  Today it was the Golden Plover, lovely to see them in the autumnal sunshine and close up too.