23rd November - Hill Head and Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

When you sit in an office all week and look outside and see blue skies and lovely autumnal sunshine, the hope is that this will last into the weekend.  You watch the forecast through the week, and what starts out as not so bad, and some positive information, slowly deteriorates into an apocalypse of rain.  This was the case this week, rain on Friday was to become heavy and persistent all through Saturday.  The only thing to do is to remain positive.

A reported male Snow Bunting at Hill Head had been present through the latter half of the week, and I had arranged to meet Ian in the Salterns Sailing Club car park at 8.00am.  The journey from home hadn't been too bad, and little drizzle but mainly dry.  This changed as I came through Fareham, the drizzle became harder, and as I pulled alongside Ian's van it was very unpleasant.  Looking out to sea the Isle of Wight was completely obscured.  Several other birders had turned up, and the word was that the Snow Bunting was not to be seen by its favourite patch of mud in the middle of the playing field.  We stood around talking waiting for, hopefully, the rain to ease and the Snow Bunting to get up and look for some breakfast.

Well the rain kind of eased, at leased it became more of a drizzle.  It was still very gloomy, but we decided to set off to th playing field.  After a short walk we could see the bare patch of mud, and through rain covered glasses I could make out the Snow Bunting by the edge.

Now the one thing about Snow Buntings is that they can be remarkably tame, and this bird was reported to be such, so I walked up to about five metres from it and it was perfectly happy.  Others stayed back, that was their decision.  It was then a case of taking the obligatory photographs, which considering the conditions turned out to be more than acceptable.

This small bare muddy patch was a circular patch about a metre in diameter.  It looks as if it has been seeded, and this is providing the Snow Bunting with plenty of food.  Wintering Snow Bunting search through the pebbles and sand on the beach for remnants of seed, this must seem like a veritable feast. I am not sure what the authorities would say, but it has been welcomed by the Snow Bunting and the local birders.

A Snow Bunting is a regular winter visitor to this area, but are normally found on the beach around the chalets and sea wall on the other side of Hill Head, this one had clearly landed lucky.

You fire away with lots of images, and when you look back at them they are all very much the same.  The bird though is such a draw due to its tameness, and the plumage.  It is not very often we get to see a white bird, and this one is a very smart male bird.

Let's try a different view, a beak full of grass seed

A male in summer plumage is unmistakable with an all white head and breast and black back, however in the winter there is a rusty tone on the breast, cheeks crown and the neck.  The bill turns yellowish brown and there is more white in the wings and on the primary coverts, with the black turning more greyer and brown.

If only all birds were like this, maybe not.  Having taken our fill of shots we decided to leave the bird to others, and headed back to the cars.  The drizzle had eased but it was still gloomy.  We decided to head for the sea wall at Titchfield Haven, the tide was high and there was a chance to find the Velvet Scoter that had been reported in the week too.

Pulling up at the sea wall there a little bit of distant light away to the west raising hopes that conditions may get better.  The tide was high but aside from Great -crested Grebes, little to be seen out on the water.  A group of four Sanderling flew past, and we decided to follow them.  A little further around the sea wall, just where it becomes beach there was some exposed beach, and on the water's edge were around six Sanderling.

What immediately strikes you about Sanderling is their energy, they are constantly on the move searching the tide line and running back and forth from the waves as they crash on to the beach.

In winter plumage they are a silvery grey above with a dark patch at the shoulder and a pure white belly.  The legs and bill are black.

Sanderling only have three toes on each foot; they are missing the hind toe.  This gives them a distinctive running action very much like a clockwork toy

Sanderlings breed in the Arctic, visiting the UK in the winter and passing through on migration during spring and autumn. The distance they travel varies, but individuals have been known to make 32,000 km annual round-trips to their breeding and wintering grounds.

The name Sanderling derives from Old English sand-yrðling, "a sand-ploughman".

The group had grown to ten, and as the sand bar appeared with the falling tide the birds were actively moving up and down the beach.  They were also joined by Turnstone and this single Dunlin.

One individual was seen to be colour ringed, and I believe this is part of to track birds ringed in Europe, Greenland and Africa their winter destination, as far south as Namibia.  Without the detail on the left leg ring it is difficult to get any further details on this individual.

This was one of my favourite shots of these delightful shore birds.

We came back up on to the sea wall and brought out the telescopes to scan the sea.  Finally we located a Scoter flock of a dozen Common Scoter and the female Velvet.  Having located them they were kind enough to to fly closer, the Velvet Scoter showing in flight the white on the wings, and then when they settled back down on the water you could see the pale patch behind the eye as it bobbed around in the water.  All were too far away for any recognisable photography.

We spent some time scanning without turning anything else of interest up.  Sanderling flew past heading for the the beach behind Hill Head Sailing Club.  We decided to go into the Haven, and set off for the visitor centre, but decided to check out the small wader roost that gathers at high tide on the beach.

The roost was there consisting of Turnstone, a few Dunlin, and quite a few Sanderling, easily over thirty birds.

The heads are tucked under the wing, but at least one eye is open, and they are constantly moving, twisting or hopping about.

It was a challenge to see how close you can get, by staying low you could approach, the birds though rather than fly off would hop slowly away, gathering together while keeping a watchful eye open.

So far this morning it had been about birds beginning with the letter "S" (Scoter just qualifies!), and those of a monochromatic appearance.  It was then good to find a the Kingfisher in place as we walked across the harbour bridge to towards the visitor centre.

A nice dark background to enhance the colours.

He turned around (as it is a male, a dark lower mandible) and showed the brighter lighter blue band down the back.

It then surprised us by flying off into the branches, and then came over the bridge and landed on the railings that run alongside the harbour.  The harbour being full with the high tide.  Both of us had never seen this before.

We opted to walk along the east side of the reserve, and just before the Suffern Hide there was activity in the trees along the boardwalk.  At first Goldcrest and Long-tailed Tits, these then joined by Great, Blue and Coal Tits.  Then a eye striped bird flew to a branch a Firecrest.  It then turned out that there were at least two Firecrest present, and maybe even three.  They were extremely active and getting an acceptable photograph was difficult due to both their activity, and the dullness inside the trees and the with a background of silvery grey sky.  This was the best of a poor selection.

We made our way slowly along the boardwalk stopping to listen and look for any movement in the bushes and trees.  Either a Yellow-browed or Siberian Chiffchaff would have been nice but it wasn't to be.

From the Meadow Hide we could see plenty of Canada Geese with Black-tailed Godwits feeding in amongst them on the damp grass.  A pair of Stonechat could just be made out along the fence, and a fox walking across the meadow upset a large group of Black-headed and Common Gulls.  A single female Marsh Harrier appeared over the reeds, but that was about as exciting as it got.

We walked back to the Suffern hide, and as we walked up a Herring Gull was making a lot of noise, with its loud screeching call while sat on one of the platforms.  Once in the hide it was clear nothing much was happening.  Another female type Marsh Harrier could be seen over the reeds, this one with a very pale cap.  It settled in a tree for a while before moving away.

The Herring Gull continued to call, at times drowning out the pings of Bearded Tits in the reeds on the other side of the river making it difficult to focus on where they were.  The water levels were high, this Black-headed Gull perched on a branch that in previous visits was clearly above the water.

A Great Black-backed Gull joined the gulls for a short while, taking the opportunity for a drink and bathe in the freshwater.

While the Little Grebes continued to cruise up and down, diving frequently.

There is only so much excitement to be taken so we decided to make a break.  The weather had remained good with only a slight drizzle every so often, definitely not the apocalypse we had been forecast.  As we walked back we could both see and hear Redwings above and in the tree tops

The area around the board walk to the Suffern Hide has been cleared of trees.  It is difficult to understand what the intention is here, but where it has been cleared there is a lot of flooded ground.  A Grey Wagtail was showing well around the puddles.

This is a female, it lacks the black bib that the male has.

They are always a smart looking bird, in both behaviour with the bobbing action as it walks, and the lovely soft tones of the grey and yellow plumage.

We decided to walk the Canal path.  The conditions were much the same as they had been all morning, and despite an unfavourable forecast once again it seemed like it was going to continue as it has been so far.  There was no wind, it was relatively dry, so a good possibility of finding birds of prey.

The canal path was very muddy and difficult to walk.  Almost immediately there were thrushes above us.  Fieldfare were about in good numbers but as is always the way they were very flighty, perching in the highest branches and flying off at the slightest sign of anything coming remotely close.

It seemed that thrushes were everywhere, a few Song Thrushes and this very smart Mistle Thrush that signaled its arrival with its loud nasal call.

The Fieldfare continued to avoid us as we made our way alongside the canal.  A stop at Posbrook Floods produced some Pintail and Shoveler along with plenty of Wigeon, there was no sign of any godwits.

A Marsh Harrier was picked up over the distant reeds, but a search for Water Pipits came up with nothing.  It was becoming clear that the only owl we were going to find was if we walked all the way to the split tree and hopefully the roosting Barn Owl.

There is still a lot of leaves on the tree, but it was possible to make out the Barn Owl asleep.  On making some squeaking noises it sat up and opened its eyes, the most animated I have seen this Barn Owl.

We made our way back and came across a Buzzard and the Marsh Harrier once again, but very little else.  Stopping at the Water Pipit field there were four Roe Deer grazing.

They were as intent on watching us too.

As we approached the lower part of the footpath the Fieldfare numbers increased, with the birds once again in the tops of the tree branches.

A smaller Hawthorn bush with plenty of berries was a major attraction, and this time enough to occupy the Fieldfare and distract from us.  The light didn't help. nor did the many branches to focus through.

The light was now becoming very gloomy despite the fact it was only 2.30pm.  With it too the clouds were closing in and the drizzle started to become a lot heavier.  We decided to call it a day, despite the poor forecast, and the gloomy conditions it had been quite a successful day with some great shots.