31st May - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

Another nothing day, it was meant to be sunny, but the early morning sunshine was soon gone and I drove to Titchfield with heavy cloud cover and a very cool north westerly wind.  Walking to the reserve there were Turnstone on the mud in the harbour, but today I hoped for some swift action, with the cool conditions and the breeze the insects would be low which would bring the swifts closer, so I was pleaded to see quite a few hawking over the reeds at the back of the river.

Photographing swifts is not easy, their speed and agility make them difficult to track, so there was going to be a lot of images taken for very few acceptable ones.  I started in the Meon Shore Hide.  There were a couple of Avocet quite close to the hide showing really well.

A closer view of the roosting bird.

I hung around photographing the Swifts from the hide, but none were acceptable so I decided to walk around to the Spurgin Hide.  As usual nothing much was going on, there were less Swifts showing, but they would pass through every so often.  A pair of Oystercatcher were nesting on one of the islands and they must be incubating eggs.  One of the pair would leave the area where the nest was and stand on one of the branches placed for the Kingfishers.  They would change over every ten or fifteen minutes and the leaving bird would circle around before returning to the nesting area.

A pair of Shoveler dropped in for a while before heading back out across the reserve.

The female Marsh Harrier attracted the attention of the black-headed Gulls as she flew up and down the reed bed alongside the river.

A pair of Little Grebes came into one of the channels and dived around the edge of the reeds.  One was seen to catch a male Smooth Newt, but the reeds obscured my chance to photograph it.  They showed off there breeding plumage very nicely.

Ending with a very nice portrait.

What swifts there were over the pond showed well and this time I was able to get some acceptable images.

There were three Coot families around the water and one family clearly came too close to another and a fight broke out.

Always a violent affair feet were flying around and aimed at the breast of the opponent.

The youngsters tried to get involved but backed off when the action became a little too much for them.

There was plenty of Water Rails, but I only saw one as it ran across the open water weed.  I decided to made my way back to the Meon Shore Hide.  Passing the West Hide there was a Garden Warbler singing.  As I approached the Meon Shore Hide the Swifts were flying around the path and over the hide.  

From inside the hide both Sandwich and Common Terns flew in from the sea.  This a Common Tern.

The Black-headed Gulls appear to have had a good year and the islands were  full of young chicks.  These two were bathing in the water and were a little exposed.

An idea of the state of the islands.

Lesser Black-backed Gulls were patrolling but while I was there not one came down onto the scrape.

So it was back to the swifts.  I tried from inside the hide but you are restricted as you follow them.  So I came out and stood on the path and had a little more success.

My favourite shot of the day.

Its quiet, but the swifts provided some entertainment, just wish it would warm up and the butterflies were about to pass us through June.