8th April - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

After the disastrous day on Saturday there was the opportunity to get out after some personal appointments.  I headed down to Titchfield Haven, where I was meeting Ian in the Spurgin Hide.  Parking, the tide was very high and I found somewhere the car would not be covered with salt water.  I quickly changed and headed out on the west side to the hide.

Ian had let me know there were two immature Little Gulls on the north scrape and I was ken to catch up with these diminutive gulls having missed on the lat two visits to the south coast.  Walking around the path a Sedge Warbler was singing in the scrub by the path.  As I edged into the seat in the hide, Ian pointed out the gulls flying around the water in the north west corner of the scrape, initially behind the reeds.

Both birds are second calendar year, one showing darker feathers around the hood and one with a pink flush on the breast.  Both birds have the "W" markings on the wings.

They were both constantly flying, twisting and turning, rising and dipping over the water, they never stopped.

They never came away from the north west corner, maybe this was because the area was sheltered from the wind and made it easier to catch insects, or they wanted to stay away from the larger congregation of gulls by the causeway, but it was frustrating for the camera work.

Every so often they would come a little closer.

There were plenty of Avocet on the north scrape, the water around about belly high, this suited the Avocets mode of feeding where they would plunge the head deep into the water.  They were also quite mobile moving around the scrape.

One Avocet was settled on the gravel on the causeway, I don't think it was sitting on eggs but it didn't move preferring to preen where it was.

More than often they would be seen flying around the scrape.

Another deep water feeder, the Black-tailed Godwit was also present.  They flew in showing off the beautiful breeding plumage, the detail in the feathers being something special.

It was reaching the point where we were to move on, so it was time to get some more images of the Little Gulls.

And for once settled on the water.  They have a very distinctive shape when on the water, the tail and rump point upwards at around thirty degrees from the surface of the water.

Ian and I went for a walk around the chalets, looking for the wheatear reported in the morning, but without any luck.  Rain was threatening and Ian had to walk the canal path so he left.  I had some time, the tide was still high, so I headed for the beach behind the sailing boats.  There had been work going on there to repair the groynes and bulk up the shingle last week.  The equipment was still there but no work was taking place.  I scanned the area and found a small group of Sanderling at the far end, I couldn't resist.

With the shingle having been moved around I could get down low, almost at eye level to view the Sanderling and this produced some different images.

The group.

By moving around I could pick out a couple of Sanderling at the top of the shingle with the sea in the background.

They are such a photogenic little wader.

My time was up and I returned to the car, a nice short visit, a welcome opportunity for grand parent duties kick in over the next few days.  Welcome Little Chuter to the family, we await a name.