Early morning, just after sun rise at Titchfield Haven it was good to see these views, it has been a long time with a combination of the very early sun rise times through the summer and the fact that the west side of the reserve has been closed since the end of June.
A lot of cloud about and this was probably the best of the sunshine for the day.
There was lots of activity in the bay with a few Common Terns about and a Kingfisher that would call and fly around the reeds. Here it was sat on one of the wooden posts.
It was low tide and we walked around the beach, then around the chalets before walking back along the road. We walked on to the harbour, but decided to walk down on to the beach where there was a single winter plumaged Sanderling along the tide line.
I was down on the beach crouching low to be able to get the best view.
I don't know how many photos I have of Sanderling, but I never tire of watching them as they busy themselves searching for food in the shallow water and sand.
There were fishermen out on the beach digging for ragworm to use as bait when the tide rises. The Sanderling had no problems in finding the worms, but maybe had a little difficulty extracting it from its hole.
The Sanderling would creep closer as I waited.
A break from the Sanderling, a couple of Common Terns out on the water. An adult on the buoy and a juvenile flying around calling or begging for food.
The adult was not interested at all.
I walked around to another place on the beach to view the Sanderling.
Another distraction a Little Egret feeding in the shallows.
I was now down quite low with some different shots of the Sanderling.
Just need to enjoy this delightful little wader.
Some Video, not the calls in the background, evidence later.
Feeding around the worm casts.
Out on the sea the Sandwich Terns.
We walked around to the visitor centre, pausing to watch a couple of rats on the harbour wall take a fish head down between the brick work.
On the river the Goosander was close in.
We walked around to the west side and were into the Meon Shore Hide and a view I haven't enjoyed for a while.
The Common Terns were on the scrape although this adult seemed to have lost its youngster and just flew around with the fish.
There were good numbers of all three hirundines hawking over the scrape, here a House Martin.
A Black-tailed Godwit in front of the hide.
A Sparrowhawk, an immature bird appeared on the fence close to the Pumfrett Hide.
It drew the attention of a couple of Magpies that chased it around the roof of the hide. The Sparrowhawk though did not give in and gave as good back, before deciding to take the hint and move on.
A sign of winter, three Pintail on the north scrape, albeit they are in eclipse plumage.
We decided to walk to the Spurgin Hide. There was little wind and it felt quite warm and as a result there were several dragonflies about. This one a Migrant Hawker.
There was a group of tits and warblers in the trees by the path. Long-tailed and Blue Tits, one very lemony Willow Warbler and this Chiffchaff that had caught one of the many flies about.
A Kestrel was also attracting the attention of the Magpies and was chased off into the trees.
The Spurgin Hide had a nice Kingfisher on one of the many posts in front of the hide.
We decided to have some time on the east side, stopping at the Walkway Pond to look for Willow Emeralds. We couldn't find them, but did have this Garden Cross Spider on one of the reed leaves.
From the Meadow Hide there were a couple of Whinchats.
With time still on the car parking we went back into the Meon Shore Hide where we were treated to Common Sandpiper on the small island in front of the hide.
Normally the Common Sandpipers keep away from each other, but here they came together, although I am not sure they were happy about it.
The rain finally came and was quite heavy. It was nice to be back in the hides, but we do need the water levels to fall to attract the waders in.
No comments:
Post a Comment