30th April - Titchfield Haven and Browndown South, Hampshire

I had been watching the forecast for a week, all the signs were good, south easterly winds overnight and into the morning at the start, but s we got closer to Tuesday it was showing the winds a little more towards south, but still in the east half of the compass.  The days before had southerlies which would help any passage out of the Bay of Biscay.

I was determined to get to Hill Head early, just after sun rise, so was up at silly o'clock as my wife calls it.  It was a lovely drive, with a quarter phase moon and the sun rising into clear blue skies.  However the clear skies were a problem, the sea birds would be pushed closer to shore, but would they want to go through the narrow gap at Hurst Spit, into the Solent?  With clear skies would they see this to be a risk and end up following the coast around the Isle of Wight past St Catherine's Point.

Arriving at Hill Head the wind was quite a breeze and also cold.  There were a few birders present and they had not seen anything out of the ordinary.  There were Terns moving but they were very distant, impossible to identify.  One or two came close and were mostly Common and Sandwich, but also one or two Little Terns, but nothing that you would call passage.

The reports started to come in of movement at Milford and Stokes Bay, but still nothing at Hill Head.  The only birds of note were these Sandwich Terns passing along past the sea wall.

Three hours in the birders that had been with me left and I decided to walk to the visitor centre to check in to go onto the reserve.  Coming back a car pulled in and said there was a Pom reported coming into the Solent, I looked at my phone, I had missed the message it was sent at 8:40, it was now 9:15.  I ran to get my scope and then another message, the Pom seen off Browndown at 9.12.  Had it passed us?  I scanned and scanned but nothing, then at 9:30 a report it had passed Gilkicker, I had missed it, why don't I stick at it, why did I leave?

I decided to continue watching and in an hour the most exciting thing was a movement of seven Brent Geese and three Gadwall offshore fighting over a female.

Ian arrived just after 10:00 and we continued to watch for another hour, but there was nothing more of interest.  We decided to go into the reserve and headed for the Meon Shore Hide.  There was a distant Common Sandpiper on the central causeway and an even more distant couple of Swifts, the first of the year, but the highlight was this male Shelduck preening in front of the hide, showing off his stunning colours.

The bright red bill.

The bottle green head.

And the iridescent green in the tertials.

After a quick stop to see if the Lesser Whitethroat would show by the viewing platform, which it wasn't we decided to head to the Browndown South area, whilst the wind was taking the edge off the temperature, in sheltered spots it would be warm so there may be a chance of butterflies, or more adders.

As we walked down to the entrance a Small White butterfly was along the side of the path.  A Whitethroat was singing from the top of a clump of bramble, showing very well.

A lovely blurred background provided by the distant houses.

As we reached the gate a lady coming out told us there were two male Adders showing along the side of the main path, "dancing".  She gave us some directions and we ran off, ahead of use we could see some people looking in to the vegetation and as we arrived the Adders weren't showing, but then two appeared together wrapped around each other and twisting and turning, their heads alongside each other

They would disappear into the bracken and vegetation, then appear through the bluebell leaves, sometimes together or sometimes on their own.

But they would not be on their own for long.

Love this shot.  How are you doing?

One

Two

We saw two males together back in early March, they were quite happy then to lay around each other.  Since then they have sloughed their skin and probably fed and now wanting to get involved with the important business of mating, but unfortunately all the males seem to feel the same way.

They were fighting over a female and we could only get a glimpse of her, down amongst the vegetation.  Males have the black zig zags on the dorsal side and either a "V" or "X" shaped mark on the back of the head.  The female is usually much bigger, you can see the girth here is considerably bigger.  The females have brown markings against a light brown background.

Male Adders are attracted by the strong scent of a receptive female and conduct this "Dance of the Adders".  This usually involves two males in a frantic race through the vegetation, during which they will rise up with their bodies twisted together in an attempt to force each other to the ground.

These two adders were different sizes, the more silvery grey one was the smaller.  Usually the larger snake will come out victorious, but this "dance" had been going on apparently before we turned up and we watched them for another 90 minutes and left them still fighting.

Every so often you would one or two gently caress the body of the female.

But this break in proceeding did not last long and they were back twisting around each other.

The flicks became stronger, throwing each other to the ground, but they both kept going.

The winner will stay with the female, guarding her from other suitirs, before eventually mating with her.

After mating, Adders will live a solitary life.  The young are born live, in clutches of ten usually around August.

Every so often they would disappear into the vegetation and you would think it was over, but they would appear together and do it all over again.

Here you can see the "V" or "X" marks on the back of the head.

It was quite exhausting to watch.

Ian and I had witness the dance a couple of years ago here at Browndown, then we felt privileged to witness it as it was always something we wanted to see, we never thought we would witness it again.  At one point there were three males present, but it was these two that kept fighting.

There were other things we wanted to find today, so had to drag ourselves away.  We came back later and they were still fighting as we watched then the larger Adder seemed to be paying the female much more attention than the smaller and it seemed as if the fight was over, based on what we were told and what we witnessed this dance must have gone on for well over five hours.

Walking on we came across one of the butterflies we hoped to find, the Small Copper, my first of the year.

We searched the gorse and heather area in search of Nightjar, but it might have been a little too early for them.  We also had several glimpses of Dartford Warbler and an elusive Lesser Whitethroat, as we reached the gate once more a Dartford Warbler was a little more showy, but kept its back to me.

The day was saved by the amazing spectacle of the Adders, I was so frustrated with the sea watch and once again should have stuck at it.  Will there be another chance this spring?

27th April - Titchfield Haven and Hook Links, Warsash, Hampshire

The forecast was for easterly winds, hoping these might go around to south easterly I was meeting Ian at the sea wall at Hill Head.  I arrived first just before 7:30, joining to other birders, who disappointingly said there had not been much about.  The one highlight though two Bar-tailed Godwits on the beach in front of us.

Two Little Terns were flying around the area feeding, while five Common Terns headed west.  Three Whimbrel going west raised hopes of maybe some movement, but it wasn't to be.  A reminder of winter were four Brent Geese heading west.

Mediterranean Gulls could be heard overhead, their mewing calls so distinctive.

The two Bar-tailed Godwits had disappeared but returned with a fly past that was chance to use the camera.

Just after 9:00, my phone buzzed in my pocket and a report of a Black Winged Stilt a short distance away at Hook.  There was no decision to debate, Ian got in my car as he wasn't driving and we set off immediately.  We parked at sub station and made our way down to the beach.  A Whitethroat was singing in the bramble and we stopped to photograph.

So occupied with declaring its territory it wasn't bothered as we edged closer.

Very much in full voice.

We walked along the beach towards the scrape, passing the area of gorse that was burnt a few years ago there was a Wheatear amongst the burnt branches.

There were several birders looking across the scrape when we arrived and it did not take long to find the stilt at the back of the pool.

Whilst it remained at the back of the scrape it wasn't easy to photograph, we needed it to come closer.  As such while waiting attention turned to a Wheatear on the beach.

And then it was back to the Black-winged Stilt.

I saw my first Black-winged Stilt in Essex back in 1987 and have seen many after that but always on my travels away from the United Kingdom.  This was my first once again in the country and my first in the county.

It remained at the back of the pool until it flew to the left hand side to join an impressive number of five Common Sandpipers.  From there it finally flew closer.

They are an elegant wader, with long red legs.  They are found in a variety of wetlands, from marshes to coastal lagoons.

A vagrant to the United Kingdom, occasionally pairs arrive and breed, the last success in southern England being a pair at Medmerry in West Sussex.

It is considered a rare vagrant in Hampshire with around 30 records since the early sixties.

The males have fully glossy black backs, while females and the younger birds have more of a brown back.  This bird showed brown on the back so is probably an immature bird or female.

The Black-headed Gulls were none to pleased when it came to close and would attack, this result in the stilt flying off around the scrape, but returning to the island on the right hand side.

You can appreciate the long red legs in flight as they hang behind the tail.

Now much closer and showing well.

Finally chased off by one of the Avocets.

This time it flew off and dropped down closer to us, but out of sight due to the tall reeds.  We had seen enough and decided to go looking for the reported Whinchat on the beach.  We didn't find those straight away but there were Sanderling on the water line.

A little further along we found the Wheatear, here a female close in.

There were six Wheatear in the area, with at least two males including this one amongst them.

The Whinchat made a very brief appearance on the fence at the back of the field, but not long enough to photograph, but nice to see one in spring.

We walked on and decided to check the TLC horse field and here there were even more Wheatear.  We counted nine with this female quite close in.

Turning to head back to the car a Whimbrel dropped on to one of the flooded pools in the field.  Interesting a rather dark individual.

Lunch was taken on the sea wall at Hill Head, mainly in the hope that something was moving.  The tide was quite high and there were plenty of sailing boats out on the sea, but no birds.  On the beach though there was the small flock of Sanderling and there having been three days since I last saw them I decided to see if the summer plumage had developed any further.

One broke away from the group, and this one was looking very smart as it walked along the tide line towards me.

In full summer plumage the neck and head is mottled a rusty brown a little bit more, maybe this will happen in the next week.

I then decided to lay down on the beach to get right down to eye level.

Maybe it was because I was lying down that the Sanderling came even closer to me.

A shake to show off the beautiful colours in the plumage.

I finally dragged myself away from the Sanderling and walked around to the visitor centre to check in.  Outside the Turnstone were gathering on the harbour wall as the tide was high and several of these were in summer plumage.

You can understand why they are called Ruddy Turnstones.

One of the main predators of the gulls on the scrape is the Lesser Black-backed Gull, this one was amongst the Turnstones on the harbour wall.

I walked to the Spurgin Hide.  After settling in all the gulls went up and I immediately saw the reason, the male Marsh Harrier gliding over the reeds at the back of the pools.  It was chased off but very soon re-appeared, this time much closer to the hide

It circled around a large bush, actively scanning the ground below.

Then hovering above the reeds with the legs dangling.

It then dropped quickly and remained out of sight for about fifteen minutes.  It eventually appeared and flew around the area, still quite close to the hide.

The yellow eyes, similar but maybe smaller to those of the Short-eared Owl.

And probably the best was saved for last as it flew past the hide and away to the north.

I checked the Pumfrett hide, but didn't stay long.  From the Meon Shore there was a drake Shoveler just below the hide window, snoozing while keeping an eye on me.

A close up of the stunning plumage of the Shoveler.

Leaving the hide a Lesser Whitethroat was singing in the bushes, the song is different to the Whitethroat, more a rattle where the Whitethroat's is more buzzy and scratchy, they are though similar in behaviour skulking around in the bushes, but eventually showed very well for a short while.

As the name suggests the Lesser Whitethroat is small than its cousin the Whitethroat.  It sports dark cheeks which contrasts with the white throat and this can give it a "masked" look.

Wintering in Africa, they arrive here in mid April.  The return migration takes place in September, but they travel around the eastern Mediterranean and not through Gibraltar like many others.

At the reserve west gate there were several Sedge Warblers singing.  This one was in a small bush in the middle of the reed bed, but was visible through the surrounding reeds which meant the focus would come and go.

After the early morning it was quite a successful day, a county tick, which was a quality bird and some great photo opportunities was not something I was expecting at 8:30 this morning.