29th July - Titchfield Haven and Fishlake Meadows, Hampshire

I was uncertain where to start this morning.  I was headed to Titchfield once again, but this time I decided to explore the canal path before the reserve opened.  As I got out of the car in the Bridge Street cap park I could hear Nuthatch calling.  There was a family group hidden in the Sallow trees and every so often an adult bird would fly back and forth to feed what must be young birds hidden in the branches.  The noise from he Nuthatches was also alerting others and there were Great and Blue Tits in the same vicinity and from the surrounding trees a Song Thrush was singing along with a Robin and a distant Wren.

Scanning across the Bridge Street floods I could see that there was some mud but there was no sign of any birds.  A little further along a group of White throat were catching insects around a fallen willow tree.

There had been some rain when I arrived but now the clouds were clearing revealing blue sky, it was though quite blustery and the clouds were rushing by.

Cattle were feeding in the meadow and I looked in hope of finding some Yellow Wagtails, but there was nothing, swallows though were flying around them and plenty more could be seen circling the tops of the trees.

A Greenfinch was singing at the top of an old Ash tree, unusual for the time of year.

I walked as far as the metal bridge with little to show for the walk, turning back a group of 23 Swifts flew overhead in a southerly direction, the summer probably over for them.

I saw one Water Vole and heard at least three plop into the water along the canal path.  At the tarmac path there was a female Banded Demoiselle on the reeds, a male was close by but she was resisting his advances.

At the bridge a Goldcrest was singing, from within the tree, but could be seen just enough to show its worn plumage, the breeding season having been hard by all accounts.

I moved on to the Titchfield Haven reserve, but as I came along Cliff road I noticed Franno on the seat sea watching so decided to join him, little did I know this would be a very good decision.

It was bright and sunny, but very blustery with the wind coming from the south west, this was making the sea quite rough and there were plenty of white crests to the blue waves.  Gulls and terns could be seen heading west, mainly Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns but with a few Sandwich Terns.

About a couple of miles away there were feeding flocks of gulls and terns, too distant though to be able to pick out anything unusual.  A little closer were five Common Scoter, amazingly my first for the year.  A Gannet also moved in from the east to join the distant gulls and terns.

We had been watching for just about an hour when Franno called out Storm Petrel, and I picked it up heading west quite close in, Mark estimated it to be around 700 metres.  I stayed with it as it headed into the wind with a direct flight, not wandering and staying close to the surface of the water.  It was following the direction a lot of the gulls and terns were taking and we assumed it was following them to a feeding flock somewhere off Southampton Water.  I lost it as it passed by with the hedge in the way.  Later down at the sea wall I scanned the water, there were though a lot of yachts out on the water and I couldn't find any feeding flocks of gulls and terns,  Interestingly a single Storm Petrel was reported heading west on Sunday morning off Portland, could this have been the same bird and if so it must have stopped somewhere?

A description is going to be required so here goes.  Very small bird around the size of a House Martin.  White rump was clear with a square tail and the upper parts were dark with no obvious wing bars, wings appeared longer than would be expected on a House Martin and the flight differed in the directness and ease with which it made progress, rolling from side to side rather than the direct shearing of a shearwater. As it banked it was possible to make out white markings on the under wing

I couldn't believe it after missing out on the sea trip off Falmouth.  I would never though have expected this in Hampshire on a clear sunny day in July.

After scanning from the sea wall and deciding there wasn't anything about I went into the reserve hoping there was something else about and that the water levels had fallen.  It wasn't to be on both accounts but I decided to stick around and see if anything changes.

An Oystercatcher was asleep on the closest island.

There appeared to be many more Common Terns today and they would be flying around and calling while others would come and go from the scrape out to the sea.

This one sat on this post with the fish for some time, probably uncertain where its youngster was.

White there were still a few adult Mediterranean Gulls about there were also several juveniles.  Looking closely the plumage looks very smart and new.

As the sun came and wet I noticed the effect this would have on the plumage of the Lapwing in front of the hide.  You normally expect the Lapwing to appear green, one of their many names is Green Plover, but as you can see here in the right light they are multi coloured almost glossy in appearance.

I couldn't leave with out mentioning the Avocet, once again they were enforcing their no go zone on the left hand side of the scrape.  This individual had chased a Teal away and then kept coming to the island where the Black-headed Gulls were backing away as it walked around lunging at them.  Here as it made its way back to the no go zone it adopted this aggressive lunge at a pair of Mallard that quickly got out of the way.

From Titchfield I decided I had to go back for the Osprey at Fishlake, surely I could get better views. As I pulled into the car park it started to rain, so I decided to wait it out in the car.  As I sat in the seat I noticed this Holly Blue sheltering on a leaf in the bush in front of me, so I got the camera and took this photo.

From the car I walked directly to the new viewing point and as I walked in the people there were watching the Osprey on a tree close in.  I dropped the scope but was too late to get a good view and it was then mobbed by Common Terna and flew off.  The terns continued there chase and finally the Osprey dropped into the water.

At the time we all thought it was fishing, but the thoughts later were that maybe it was washing, cleaning the feet and bill of fish scales.  It seemed to be quite happy to splash about and eventually it was up and once again chased by the terns.

It flew around the lake with the terns close behind and on a couple of occasions dropped into the water once again before coming back across the lake.

It made its way to the centre of the lake once again and settled on a dead tree, but only stayed momentarily before the terns chased it off again whereby it flew to a dead bough much further away.

And here it stayed for a good hour and a half.

It had a good preen and looked around and above it almost constantly.

Additional entertainment was provided by Great Egrets, that by now are just another bird.

One became two

Then two became three.

And there was a fourth but unfortunately it wouldn't play ball and join the others.

Eventually the Osprey decided to take off and travelled the grand distance of about two mtres to a neighbouring branch.

But it didn't stay here too long and took off again to go a little further to a tree at the back of the lake.

Whilst here it went through some exercises, wings up, head down.

You probably have a good idea what comes next.

And you were right.

The general discussion was that once they have defaecated they will fly, Well this was the third time and it just stayed, quite content, on its perch and resumed looking around with no intent to fly.

My time had run out, I could believe I had spent nearly four hours watching this one bird and willing it to fly.  But I am sure that if it stays around I will be back in the hope that just maybe I will get a much better view.

Quite a day, a day with very few photos taken, but a day that will be remembered for a little sea bird that put in a very surprising appearance.