Another dreary morning with drizzle and leaden grey skies, but at least it wasn't the heavy rain that we had the night before. I decided to head down to Titchfield and started at Bridge Street. I walked around to the traffic lights where it is possible to view all of the flood. Scanning across the flood there were quite a few Black-headed Gulls, both adults and juveniles, the juveniles raising the hopes briefly as I came across them.
At the back of the flood there were 61 Black-tailed godwits, feeding amongst the Canada Geese and a pair of Egyptian Geese. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find the wader I hoped for. Walking back to the canal path it started to drizzle once more, but I decided to head down the path. There were several young Whitethroat in the bushes, but they were not making it easy to see.
Overhead there were several Swifts.
At Posbrook, there were Sand Martins and House Martins hawking low over the water, which had risen overnight with the heavy rain. Scanning the flood there was no sign of any duck, and the only long-legged beast was a Grey Heron.
The drizzle stayed with me as I walked back to the car park, with only more Whitethroats in the bushes to interest me.
I then headed down to Hill Head arriving, after a false start with the Posbrook Lane closed, at the sea wall. I decided to walk to the beach behind the sailing club, where I could see a collection of Common Terns. There were more Common Terns out on the gravel bank, but they were all head on to me, and it wasn't possible to see what they were.
I stuck it out and watched the Common Terns that were close to me.
A Great Black-backed Gull dropped in quite close to me, a great chance to get a close look at this impressive gull.
I walked around to the viewing point where there was a good number of Mallard and Gadwall around the reeds along with a Great Crested Grebe. I then headed to the path behind the Sailing Club Building, where I could get a better view of the terns that had settled on the beach.
Scanning through the increasing number of Common Terns, I found a single Little Tern.
But it was the Common Terns that dominated, flying back and forth and out to sea and over to the reserve.
They were dipping into the water, not sure if this was to fish or just to bathe in the fresh water.
An adult Mediterranean Gull on the beach, it has a red ring and researching the bird was ringed in Gdansk, Poland.
The Terns would all go up at the slightest sign of concern. This Herring Gull.
Some of the Common Terns were still intent on mating.
Every so often a Common Tern would come in from the sea and fly low over the roost and this would result in the other terns chasing the one with a fish.
On the visits I have made here this summer, Sandwich Terns have not been common, in fact I have seen more in the winter than this summer. As I was considering this I heard one call out to sea and I picked it up as it headed west.
A Great Black-backed Gull had been flying around, then dropped on to the mud, which the Common Terns did not like.
The Great Black-backed Gull didn't like it either and it flew off in the end.
The tide falling produced a fast stream coming out of the harbour and the redhead Goosander that has been staying at Hill Head for a few months was fishing in the stream, then came out of the water to preen
As it preened it was clear that the Goosander was in the middle of a full moult, the primaries and secondaries missing. The white feathers probably indicate that this may be a male, this will become clearer over the next few weeks.
The terns coming and going, meant that some would leave and others arrive without being seen. This was a very smart juvenile Sandwich Tern.
Then an adult flew in to join the juvenile.
The tide was rising and the amount of beach was reducing. My time was up and I headed back to the car. I will be back as I would like to find something special
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