After I left the Black-throated Diver on the River Itchen in Southampton I decided to have a few hours at Titchfield Haven, it wasn't too far away and the it looked as if the sun would be coming out offering some nice autumnal light.
Arriving at the sea wall the tide was out and after checking in I walked back to enter the west side and the Meon Shore Hide. Out on the sea a flock of 38 Eider took off from the water and headed out towards the mid channel.
The water levels on the scrape were slowly receding with some of the islands beginning to emerge and provide roost sites for the duck and waders. There were though a lot of duck on the water, Gadwall, Teal, a few Wigeon and eight Shelduck. The most numerous though were the Shoveler.
Things are never restful on the scrape and all the duck went up. The Shelduck looked splendid against the blue sky as they circled around.
A Moorhen struck an interesting pose on the Kingfisher post.
At the weekend there were Reed Buntings feeding on the reeds and there was a brief appearance of a female Bearded Tit. The Bearded Tits appeared today, this time the female with a splendid male.
The Bearded Tits showed on and off while I was there, but were never as close which made it difficult to photograph them amongst the moving reeds.
As the sun dropped in the sky the light became much more golden. This highlighted the Snipe settled on their favourite island. I counted seventeen on this one piece of island.
This one Shoveler turned up amongst the Snipe to preen.
But it was the Shelduck that stole the show for me as they flew around the scrape, the reds, greens and white contrasting with the pale afternoon blue sky.
I left around 15:30, a pleasant end to a very interesting day
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