24th October - Farlington Marshes and Titchfield Haven NNR, Hampshire

We are now hours away from the end of British Summer Time, sunrise today was around 7:45, but Ian and I met in the car park at Farlington Marshes just after 7:00.  The weather forecast was not good for the day, the best supposed to be first thing, but on the way here it was drizzling, and there were spots of rain as we left the cars

Heavy rain and strong winds were forecast for the afternoon and we were hoping an early start here would allow us some birding before having to probably shelter in a hide in the afternoon.  A Short-eared Owl had been reported from the marshes and again the hope was that despite the wind we could catch up with it.

Walking along the sea wall towards the Lake the wind felt very strong.  The tide was just beginning to drop and there was a group of duck on the Lake, mostly Pintail but with a few Wigeon.  I scanned the marsh beyond the lake and caught site of a light bird in the murk, it was flying around and hovering.  Convinced it was a Short-eared Owl I got Ian onto itand we confirmed the identification, now could we get closer.

We left the Lake at pace and walked around the sea wall.  We caught up with it again on the bank of a pool, it was closer, but still in the murk.  It dropped from the bank out of sight, and then appeared a few minuted later all the way over towards the Deeps.  We watched as it was mobbed by Crows, but then dropped out of sight once again in the many gulleys on the marsh.

We decided to make our way to Point Field, and fought our way through the bramble, as if in a scene from Sleeping Beauty, to get to a gate that over looks the marsh.  As we reached the gate the rain and drizzle started up again.  Curlew flew over the marsh and every so often the Wigeon and Teal would fly up and circle, once such event though we because of the presence of a Peregrine that made its way across the marsh towards the A27.

With the rain and wind increasing the likelihood of seeing the owl again was slipping away and we finally decided to leave and walk around to the Lake.  There was a window in the weather and the sun popped through as we walked to the view point.

The tide was dropping and out in the main channel two Sandwich Terns in winter plumage fished the water.

A squall came through and we sheltered by the side of the sluice at the Lake.  The water level was very high and the duck that had been present earlier had gone and the re was only a few Pintail and a good number of Teal around the edge of the water.  We were looking for Snipe and there were at least 36 present in amongst the Teal and on the cut reeds at the back of the lake.  The snipe we were hoping for though was a Jack Snipe, the smaller cousin of the common Snipe.  It was gloomy but as a small bird flew to the reeds I followed it with the scope and picked it up as it appeared at the edge of the reeds.  As I watched it the bird bobbed, the tail pushing upwards as it moved around the cut reed stems.  It was much to dim and far for a photograph, but I was certain it was the hoped for Jack Snipe.

The problem was getting Ian onto the snipe, and I couldn't really help him.  The light gradually improved but the Jack Snipe disappeared, and never returned despite some searching through the Common Snipe.

After awhile we decided to go for a walk around the reserve before the rain came.  Walking alongside the stream we were surprised to see a Fieldfare fly up from a small stream that ran down to the main one.  It circled around and landed on one of the hawthorn bushes and like all good thrushes managed to position itself behind one of the branches.

At the Information Hut a raptor appeared from across the road and headed towards us.  At first the call was Marsh Harrier, but as it came closer and hovered over the field the doubts came.

Then as it headed towards and flew up into a tree it was clear it was a Buzzard.

We walked around the sea wall with very little about.  Out in the main channel up to six Great crested Grebe, and on the mud Grey Plover, Redshank, Dunlin and Ringed Plover.  Out on the marsh there were good numbers of Canada Geese, and in amongst them a very white goose and a single Barnacle Goose.  Brent Geese were on the marsh and water and could be heard flying over between the two.

After lunch we headed for Titchfield Haven, with the weather closing in a hide would be a welcome way to spend the afternoon.  As we registered at the visitor centre we were told that the reserve would probably close mid afternoon because of concerns over the Wind and the safety of visitors.  We made our way to the Meon Shore Hide which was empty, sat down and hoped that something special would drop in.

I made my mid up to experiment with the camera setting and try to get some shots of the birds in flight.  First a duck Teal flew past the hide.

Then I turned attention to the many Oystercatchers that were occupying one of the islands on the scrape.  They would move between the scrape and the shore, and would fly over the hide as they did so.

You can see some signs of the moult in the primary feathers.

Black-tailed Godwits fed with that stitching action in the shallow water and would come up with the black mud all over the head.

Another flight shot, this time a Little Egret circling the scrape.

A pair of Golden Plover flew low over the scrape, coming in from the north, as they attempted to settle on the island with the Oystercatchers they unsettled the Starling and flew up and circled around again before settling on another adjacent island.

As always the Lapwing were very flighty, but also seemed to be enjoying the strong wind and would put in some incredible aerobatic displays over the scrape, twisting and turning with incredible skill.  The Lapwing to would sometimes look to land on the birds feeding in the water.  It was not clear if this was aggression or the fact that they thought it was a post or island to land on.  This Redshank was not very happy as the Lapwing dropped in.

Shoveler were feeding on the surface of the water, moving between the north and south scrape.  Here a drake flys in with its feet extended to aid the landing.

With little about you tend to concentrate on the behaviour in front of you and I was fascinated by the feeding behaviour of the Shoveler.  The large bill lies on the surface of the water and they suck the water through, filtering out any nutrients and pushing the water out at the back of the bill.

Here close in you can see the water coming out at the back of the bill.

Three Snipe flew into the island close to the hide, one appeared at the top of the island.

While another crept around the island feeding in the mud at the base of the vegetation

Back in the air, a Common Gull flew through the reserve.

Then for no reason all the Lapwing went up, taking the Godwits with them.

And a chance to photograph the Lapwing.

Then the Teal were unnerved by the Lapwing.

A Buzzard flew in from the west side and at first low over the scrape, then gained height as the waders went up.

It settled on a post on the other side of the scrape, but then returned putting the Lapwing up once again

With the Buzzard flying over the other waders went up, circled and then returned once they realised there was nothing to panic about.  Here Black-tailed Godwits.

But it was the Lapwing that provided the best opportunity for the camera as they circled the scrape.

It would be wrong to dismiss the day as I managed two year ticks and a county tick in the Jack Snipe.  The weather wasn't the best and we had to leave the hide as the reserve closed at around 15:00.  Any day with a Short-eared Owl has to be a good day, but I suppose the views we had were not brilliant, and you always want to have that killing opportunity.  Still there will be more opportunities I am sure.

17th October - Leaden Hall, New Forest and Hook with Warsash, Hampshire

It was a case of picking up where we left up last weekend, arriving just before dawn at the footpath that leads down to Black Gutter Bottom and then back up to Leadenhall.  It was overcast and on the way there had been pockets of drizzle.  Away to the east we could see a break in the clouds, but also signs that the drizzle was not done with us yet.

We crossed the stream at the bottom of the valley and headed up hill towards the plateau.  The first Redwing of the year flew overhead along with Meadow Pipits.  On arriving on the plateau there were more Redwing in the hawthorn trees.  These were our initial target the bushes covered with red berries and already busy with the Redwing and Blackbird feeding, but was there the Ring Ouzel we had sought last weekend and hoped we would catch up with today?

We stood watching the coming and going of the Blackbirds, checking each one for the silvery grey tints in the wings as they flew into the cover of the denser bushes from the more exposed hawthorn.  There was at least one confirmed sighting of a Ring Ouzel, now to get some better views.

Behind us the skies were boiling up, the small break in the clouds allowing the sun just below the horizon to come through were a vivid red and with the misty cloud it was almost as if there was a huge fire in the east.

Every year Ian and I make this pilgrimage, sometimes once, but mostly like this year several times in the hope of securing that crippling view of the Ring Ouzels that stop over here on the way south to their wintering grounds in Morocco and Tunisia.   Why will always remain a mystery, but you could guess it has something to do with the landscape, moors and bracken and the preponderance of berries on the bushes around the plateau.

There are two ways of approaching the search for these birds.  One is to stand still, stare at the bushes and wait for one to appear, or move around the area searching for them.  Every year Ian and I tell ourselves that we will be patient, and every year we seem to not be able to take the patient approach, this year not being any different.  This morning though we did have the distraction of the sun rise.  Here the sun above the horizon producing an orange smokey affect.

We did stand around but soon the need to search set in.  Ian went off first while I stood watching the bushes.  A call from him had me running to the back of the bushes on the north side of the plateau.  Just as I arrived a male flew past me.  It was still gloomy but Ian had managed to get a shot.  We now knew they were here and of course headed back to where we thought they had gone.

More time passed watching the bushes, drizzle set in for a while and I had to cover the camera up.  It was my turn then to wander off.  I returned to the other side of the bushes and almost immediately came across what I though at first was a Blackbird in the Crab Apple, but as I edged closer I could see it was a Ring Ouzel.

I called Ian but had to be careful shouting too loud.  I edged closer still, the light was poor and the background even worse, requiring to over expose.  The third complication was the fact the bird was sitting in the middle of the tree and was behind several branches

It was a start, and when it finally flew off I made my way back out on to the plateau.  A Song Thrush appeared in another of the trees on the edge of the plateau.

The drizzle had now eased and the sun was creating a very impressive rainbow away in the distance towards Godshill.

Here a "full bow" across Black Gutter Bottom

At times the colours were very intense making for an impressive scene 

Framing the hawthorn bush we were watching intently

The attraction of the rainbow wore off and it was back to the matter in hand, where were the ?Ring Ouzels.  Once again I walked off thinking that the scrub at he back of the main bushes was probably going to be the best place to see them.  I pushed through the bramble and gorse and could see some birds ahead of me in a rose bush.  One of these was definitely a Ring Ouzel and I stopped to get a few shots before calling Ian once again.

Slowly I edged closer.

I could hear Ian coming through the bushes but he was still away off.  I was now as close as I considered to be best.  Ring Ouzels are very easily flushed and I didn't want to lose them.

This was better, but still I had to deal with the nuisance of the branches, here a lot thinner but still obscuring the bird in places.

As Ian finally arrived the birds were off.  They seemed to like to flooded area of heather and the a clump of gorse.  They would move from here over our heads to the berries on the plateau.  This time we decided to stay and play the patience game, it proved to be the right decision.

As we stood watching the birds returned, the trip to the gorse was interrupted, one bird perching at the top of a bramble bush next to the rose bush.

Once again we had to contend with the white background, trying to figure out the right exposure while hoping that the bird didn't fly

The typical thrush pose with the beak point upwards.

At last some great views without the annoying branches that they seem to like to perch behind

Not sure here if it was calling, they have a similar high pitched warning or contact call similar to that of the Blackbird.  This doesn't require the beak to be completely open the sound coming from with the throat

The Latin name for the Ring Ouzel is Turdus Torquatus, Turdus meaning thrush while Torquatus comes from the Latin Torquis which means collar.  The collar is seen very well here

 Then it moved into the bush, once again hiding behind the branches, but we were able to move to get a view where the branches were removed.

Here you can see the silvery grey edges to the wings that show up so distinctly when they fly

Then it was gone low across the heather and bracken and out of sight in the gorse.  We decided again to wait it out, other Ring Ouzels came and went, we estimated at least four birds, when they left the gorse they would fly low over the heather, allowing only  views of the white collar and the silvery edges to the wings.  They were joined by Blackbirds and Song Thrushes.  This Song Thrush appearing in the same place as the Ring Ouzel

The views across Black Gutter Bottom towards the road and beyond were quite spectacular, the sun highlighting parts of the bracken and a distant tree in autumn colour.

After a while we finally decided that we had just experienced the best views of this bird that brings us here each year and made our way to the plateau to brag with others and then on Ashley Hole in the vain hope of finding that other specialty here, the Merlin, which also manages successfully to avoid us.

The Merlin did it once again, and the only reward for a walk down to Ashley Hole and then along the Black Gutter Bottom was this dark Fallow Deer stag that was barking out warning any other deer that wanted to try and take his hinds that he was the boss.

Another superb Fallow Deer stag.

And dark and brooding horizons.

As we walked up the hill the only birds we had seen on the circuit were, a flushed Snipe, Blue, Great and Coal Tits and one or two Crows.  As we approached the car a bird flew up into a bush, a Reed Bunting.

Where to next was now the topic of discussion, we opted to go to Hook with Warsash, yesterday there was a Yellow Browed Warbler reported, there had not been any reports so far today but we thought it would make a change from the other sites we regularly visit.

Parking near the sub station we walked to Workman's Lane.  This is a site from which Little Owl is reported although not so much lately.  All the reports refer to a usual tree which we have determined is to have your back to Beam Cottage and then view the trees along the fence line.  This we did and we saw nothing but trees and a Wood Pigeon.  We have been trying for this bird for years so it was not a surprise when we didn't find it.

From Workman's Lane we walked through to Crow Lane, the site from which the Yellow-browed Warbler was seen.  There was a large group of Long-tailed Tits, Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest, which caused a little rush of excitement, but no warbler.

It was then down to the coast and a walk along the beach to the Links.  Here it was almost bird-less apart from a lone Little Egret.  The tide was very high, and it seemed that here it would not fall at all, the tide timetables stating three consecutive high tides with a massive difference of 30 centimetres!.

At the Lake we tried to coax out some Bearded Tits, we could hear them every so often at the back of the reed bed, but they never showed.  In front of us several Chiffchaffs fed in the reeds and a secretive Cetti's Warbler would burst into song every so often.  This Reed Bunting was the only bird that showed well enough to photograph.

The sun was now quite pleasant and this warmth brought out a Small Copper that never stopped and what was probably a Southern or Migrant Hawker around the reeds.  With the high tide there was a small wader roost of around fifty plus Ringed Plover, the odd Dunlin several Grey Plover and a Greenshank.

With no chance of the tide falling to bring the waders out we started back.  Another butterfly flying over the scrape turned out to be a Clouded Yellow, but it was impossible to get anywhere near it.

At the scrape numbers of duck had increased, we counted 38 Pintail, some of which were in perfect breeding plumage while others still showed signs of eclipse plumage.  Under the reeds were four Snipe.

As we watched one Pintail swam across the water towards us.

It hauled out of the water onto a little island.  Here it started to preen which ended with a serious of wing flaps to sort its feather out.

This Pintail still had feathers on it's cheeks that needed to come out properly, the white being the sheath that covers the new feathers as they grow.

We had been moaning about the lack of photographic opportunities here so it was nice to get the chance to catch the Pintail.  

The scene across the scrape was quite spectacular, the skies clear to the west but in the east dark clouds were building.

A little further on it was possible to get a view of the island with the Pintail on it.  As we watched a Little Egret flew in.  Earlier we had the challenge with the Ring Ouzel of a dark bird against a white background, this time it was a white bird against a dark background.

The water was calm and what I thought to be a piece of wood turned out to be a Grey Seal

For the first time this autumn we could see a constant movement of Brent Geese flying from the other side of the Solent and heading towards the direction of Hill Head.

With water high in Southampton Water the assumption was that they were heading to an area where the tide was falling

From the beach we headed inland along side the horse fields and paddocks at the sub station

At the back of the horse paddocks there were Stonechat and a Whinchat while in the paddock Pied Wagtails, this very smart male.

And a female 

As we approached Workman's Lane once more we came across a flock of Long-tailed Tits and at least one Chiffchaff.  Thinking there still might be a chance to find something good we stopped and watched the flock move through.

Then there was a call like someone stepping on a dogs toy from behind us.  I looked at Ian and for some reason he said Jackdaw (I can only assume some had flown over!).  Then we both realised who the owner of the call was, it was a Little Owl and it was coming from the Oak trees in the garden of Beam Cottage.

There was also several alarm calls of Mistle Thrush and by following these we were able to track down the Little Owl.  My first view was poor it was behind a branch (something of a theme today), then it flew which is when Ian saw it.  We rushed up the lane to see if we could get a view into the garden.  The Mistle Thrushes were still calling as was the Owl.  We knew it was close but finding it was not easy.  Then I saw a shape on a branch.

We couldn't believe it was there sitting out in the open looking at us

Here in the next two photographs you can see the Mistle Thrush mobbing the owl, the owl completely unmoved by the noise and aggression

Who doesn't love a Little Owl?

The Mistle Thrush was joined by a Great Spotted Woodpecker and the Owl turned, but still appeared to not be too concerned, I suppose its a way of life for owls.

Then it flew off and we lost it for awhile, but Ian relocated it at the back of the garden again still in the open, and still attracting the attention of the thrush and woodpecker.

Us making squeaking noises caught its attention.

The woodpecker then put in an appearance

I have tried several times to see the Little Owl here, but not as many times as Ian has.  We have remarked about the "usual tree" many times and had given up any hope of seeing it, then we are blessed with these close ups and not even in the "usual tree".  

Then I think the mobbing was just too much and it was gone.  As it flew there was a call from the other side of the field in the trees where the owl should have been.  Ian had been told that there was only one bird now but this was confirmation that there were two here, lets hope they breed once again.

Brilliant stuff and the great end to a day that was perfect at the start and end but a little quiet in the middle