1stApril - Titchfield Haven NNR, Hampshire

 The weather had been awful all week, taking the edge off a family holiday.  It seems to have been raining for several days and it was no different as I headed south to meet Ian at Hill Head.  Ian was there ahead of me and we used his van as a form of cover.  The hope was that there might be something left over from the high winds that were about on Friday, but, as usual there was very little.  The highlight being a group of six Curlew heading west, Curlew are not common here so six was rather unusual and we made sure they were not Whimbrel.

We stuck the rain out until the reserve opened, a Sandwich Tern being the only other bird of interest, it passed quite close, again going west.  We headed for the Meon Shore hide in the hope that the rain would move through as all the forecasts had been saying.  On opening the window were were both amazed to see the water level, neither of us had seen it so high.  There was only one island visible and in places the letter markers were under water.

As a result of the high water most of the birds present were found on the banks on either side of the scrape and on the strip of land separating the two scrapes.  As is the case at this time of year the scrape was dominated by Black-headed Gulls, there continuous calls being evasive at first but you soon learn to block it out.  What was more interesting was what wasn't present.  There have been good numbers of Avocet over the last few weeks but there was no sign of them today, in fact the only waders we could see was a small flock of Black-tailed Godwits feeding on the left hand bank.

The high water was attributed to the amount of rain over the last few days and the high tides.  The high water in the river Meon meant that the water on the scrape was not able to get out and has resulted in the large lake we were looking at.

There were Mediterranean Gulls at the back of the scrape and as I scanned through them I noticed a Common Tern flying amongst them.  It settled on a vacant post for a short while before being pushed off by a Black-headed Gull.

A completely different day from that of last weekend it was an opportunity to spend some time familiarising myself with the new camera.  This mean concentrating on the one bird that was dominating the surroundings, the Black-headed Gull.  There antics are quite interesting as they reinforce bonds and fight off other suitors.  It was fortunate that there was no nest building or incubation yet as the high water would have washed them out.

The Black-headed Gull.

The water level marker gives some idea of the height of the water.

Single birds would swim around calling at any other gull that came close or at their partner.

One distinctive display was both birds swimming alongside each other and then appearing to lay flat on the water with the bill point up,

Most of all it was calling with the beak wide open showing off the beautiful red lining of the mouth.

There was some calm though.

There were also several Black-headed Gulls showing off a pink flush on the breast, it is not clear why this happens, it would seem strange if diet was the factor as then why do they not exhibit this outside of the breeding season?  It must be something to do with breeding plumage.

There were good numbers of Mediterranean gulls on the strip separating the two scrapes and several on the water.

One pair came a little closer to the hide and were engaged in display which involved them raisning their heads and he birds facing each other close.

Despite the rain we were treated to a Marsh Harrier coming over the scrape.  This being a female.

One bird I can't recall photographing before is the Moorhen.  This one swam in front of the hide and I was taken by the drops of water on it's back.

What duck there was present were all far away or on the banks, I could see a few Shoveler and Wigeon and a few Teal tucked away along the bank, so it was a treat when a pair of Gadwall flew in.

Later the drake moved to the reeds where it rested hoping to avoid some of the rain.

The rain was now beginning to ease and there were periods of clear weather and during this there were at least two Buzzards and four Marsh Harriers up over the reeds at the back of the reserve and towards Posbrook.  There was even a Swallow moving through, my first of the year.

There were signs that the weather may be changing and we decided to make a move, from the hide we went back to the cars and then drove the short distance to the Bridge Street car park.  On the way there was some rain but as we pulled into the car park the sun came out and in the bushes around the car park birds were singing, Chiffchaff, Robin, Song Thrush and Great Tit.

We set off along the canal path, with several more Chiffchaff singing.  For once the Barn Owl could not be seen in the split tree.  Black-tailed Godwits fed on the grass around the Bridge Street flood, then flew south up the valley.  We scanned the sky for hirundines with nothing about.  What we did find though around the edge of the Posbrook flood were the four Glossy Ibis.  On reaching a good viewing point we also found hirundines, mostly Sand Martin, there was also a few Swallows and at least one House Martin.  But it was the Glossy Ibis we were interested in.  They were hidden amongst the bulrushes, showing their heads occasionally.

We left them and walked on, hoping that they would show better later, then the four flew from the top of the floods to the south end where they showed much better.

The added bonus was that the sun now came out and showed off the spectacular plumage that gives the Ibis its name.  All through the winter there have been signs of the beauty there, but now a dark brown bird suddenly has become a stunningly beautiful bird.

The four birds have been here now for quite awhile and seem quite settled, there have been reports of display, but nothing to say these birds are ready to breed yet.

This time last year the Glossy Ibis was a sought after year tick with a couple of birds showing intermittently around the reserve.  These four have changed that.  even to the point where non bird watchers walking the canal path were either telling us they were about or asking where they were.

This is the first time I have seen them in such perfect light that shows off the petrol like colours.

Then suddenly they all took flight and flew around the floods.  Eventually we found the reason why a Red Kite drifting over.

We continued our walk down the canal path.  Just like the scrape on the reserve the canal was very high and in places had broken its banks and the water had turned the path into a mud bath.

We were treated to three raptors in the air above the reeds, two Marsh Harriers, a Red Kite and two Buzzards.  There was also a large movement of all three hirundine heading north, clearly held up earlier by the rain.

A singing Blackcap was unusually my first of the year, normally there would be a pair in the garden over the winter but not this year.  

We walked as far as the thatched cottage.  There was little need to go further so turned and headed back.  A Buzzard came low over head.  Another opportunity to test the camera.

I stopped for a Cetti's Warbler but almost immediately saw this Fox in the field on the other side of the path.

I moved for a better view and the Fox did the same coming out into the open.

A really stunning looking animal.

The Glossy Ibis were back feeding in the same place and showed as they moved between the bulrushes.

Again the beautiful plumage.

We left the Ibis to feed and made our way along the canal path.  More Cetti's sang from the scrub and back at car park there was a pair of Long-tailed tits searching the bushes while Chiffchaff sang from several bushes.

Despiet the awful weather in the morning there was something of interest and it gave us the opportunity to catch up on a lot things and put the world right.  The afternoon also delivered with my first hirundines of the year and some great views of Glossy Ibis.