With the previous weeks sightings of Kingfisher at
Titchfield, Helen was keen to go back and hopefully to see them for herself, so
we headed down there, also in the knowledge that there had been a Cattle Egret
reported hanging around with the herd of cattle. The morning was the reverse weather wise of
last weekend, we left emerging sunshine in Four Marks, and as we arrived on the
coast at Hill Head it was overcast, along with the treat of rain. It was also very cold for the time of year.
The tide was very low, and along the edge of the sea,
Black-tailed Godwits were feeding.
We left the visitor centre, heading for the Knights Bank
hide which was reportedly the best place to see the egret. Above us in the trees as usual on a tall dead
branch was a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
As we walked through the bushes you could hear the contact
calls of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers, and as we approached the Knight’s
Bank Hide a Swift flew over along with several Swallows.
The Cattle Egret was following the cattle around in the
meadow, but was very distant. It seemed
to have a favourite cow it stayed with, and unfortunately this cow decided that
it wanted to feed in one of the far corners that were tucked behind some of the
bushes. Consequently the views were very
difficult and distant, but I did manage to get a record shot.
The egret behaved like all the other Cattle Egrets I have
seen around the world, scurrying in and out of the cattle feet, looking to pick
up insects that he cows disturbed as they grazed.
As well as the Cattle Egret there were a few Yellow Wagtails
about, but nowhere near the same numbers as were present last week. Other birds of note were a Whitethroat, and
several Sand Martins moving through amongst the Swallows and House Martins.
We waited to see if the cattle and the egret would come
closer, but they stayed in the far corner, after a time we decided we would
move on to the other hides. Approaching
the Suffern, I noticed a small clump of lilac fungi that I believe is Lilac
Dapperling.
Once again there were Common Buzzards causing some
excitement from the hide, but that is what they were, Common Buzzards. A pair of Barnacle Gees flew in and
demonstrated how shallow the water was in front of the hide. These are plastic birds but still look quite
smart for geese.
A Kingfisher was perched on the dead branches over the river
at the right hand side; it then flew off, past the hide, but kept going around
the bend into the far bay.
A Little Egret was present in front of us, busy preening it
cast some interesting reflections in the dark still water.
Then after a preen it was off hunting, running through the
water, lifting its yellow feet out as it went.
Time to move once again, and we made our way to the Meon
Shore Hide by way of the café and a cup of tea.
There was a little more activity than the previous week, with many
Black-tailed Godwits close in feeding.
On the closest island was a Common Snipe, head tucked under
its wings it gave the impression of being asleep, when in truth it would
continually open it eye. This angle
shows the russet colour tip to the tail feathers, something not readily
noticed, and the beautiful ochre tinges to the feathers on the back.
At the back of the island was a Black-tailed Godwit that
waded out into the deeper water and appeared just to sit content with the water
up over the legs.
Looking back at the Snipe and it was gone, in the short time
it had woken up and decided to go to the edge of the island where the
reflections were at their best.
Then it was time for a preen with some itches in annoyingly
difficult places to reach.
The Godwit then decided to get into the act with some
serious preening involving the stretching of the wings showing the white wing
bar.
The bill would be used to fan through the feathers, taking a
drop of water in between to help the smoothing out of the feathers.
By now the Snipe had finished its ablutions and had moved
over to the reeds where it was probing into the mud with its long bill.
Most of the teal were asleep, but one was feeding at the
edge of the island, walking forward with the bill laying just under the surface
of the water and filtering the mud and water as it went.
We walked to the Pumfrett, and Spurgin hides but both were
very quiet, so we made our way back to the visitor centre where we had some
lunch. During the time we sat in the
garden we were treated to a Sparrowhawk passing overhead.
And the highly remarkable rescue of a bee from the pond, the finest
example of life saving you could ever witness.
After lunch we walked back to the Suffern Hide where the
water was a lot higher than earlier, and the number of birds present greatly
increased, but mostly due to around fifty Black-headed Gulls. We watched as a Little Egret hunted in the
shallow water, as it moved you could see the ripples and even splashes of large
fish as they took evasive action to avoid the beak of the egret.
The egret seemingly mesmerised by the movement, and not sure
where to go, flapping its wings to steady it as it twisted and turned in
pursuit of the fish and every so often plunging into the water but was not
successful in catching anything
A nearby Grey Heron that had seemed to be happy just
standing on a branch seemed to be alerted by the antics of the Little Egret and
waded slowly towards where the fish were moving causing more panic amongst the
fish, and more ripples and splashes.
The
Heron, like the egret started to chase around dancing in the water jumping up
and flapping its wings.
While all this was going on, the Kingfisher flew through
from the left, then returned and landing on a reed stem on the other side from
the hide.
A cormorant was also present on the benches, giving some nice views of a bird not often photographed.
But that was about all, a rather quiet day with every so often something to keep you interested and some acceptable views of Kingfisher.
No comments:
Post a Comment