Yesterday there was some excitement around a Stonechat at Titchfield, could it possibly be an Easter Stonechat or Amur Stonechat. Much debate and discussion overnight so I decided to go down to Titchfield. The other exciting thing was that there was something showing in the sky. After fifteen days of gloom grey low clouds the sun showed and it was blue sky as I drove south.
Walking around to the sea wall the discussion about the Stonechat continued. It was apparently pale and showed the orange rump, but there were no conclusive photographs. The Stonechats were first seen at the viewing platform and the I photographed the bird in question on Friday. However before I found the Stonechats there was a lovely drake Eider offshore and for an Eider quite close in.
The male Eider is a very smart looking duck, with a pink blush on the breast and a green wash on the back of the neck.
Bearded Tits were calling in the reeds and eventually gave themselves up, two males and a female bird. I was only able to capture this view as they stayed low in the reeds.
There were two Stonechats fly catching from the bramble bush close to the path leading into the reserve. This is the pale looking female Stonechat that could have been of the eastern race. Identification is extremely difficult and some state that could only be confirmed by DNA analysis.
I took lots of photos, the challenge being to try and catch the bird in flight to show the under wing and rump. I was though quite pleased with this shot. The wings are blurred but I feel this adds to the image, emphasising the sharpness of the head and body.
This shows the pale throat patch another feature of the Amur.
At last a flight shot showing the rump. It should be unstreaked, but here there are signs of streaking.
A really nice looking bird, that for me though doesn't have anything different to that of a female European Stonechat.
A distraction was all the birds on the scrape and the frying pan went up. There wasn't anything that could be seen to have caused this, but it sent a large flock of Black-tailed Godwits that headed out to the Solent.
The male Stonechat perched on a dead seed head.
I spent sometime looking for the Bearded Tits again, but without any luck. I then decided to walk along the beach in search of the Black Redstarts. However the redstarts were not about, but I did find this Red Admiral enjoying the sunshine on a step.
After walking around the chalets with little about I decided to walk into the reserve and the Meon Shore Hide. It was much of the same in front of the hide with Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler away from the hide. Once again the Lapwing were continually spooked flying around the scrape.
I stuck it out and after finishing my lunch was treated to the male marsh Harrier coming over the reeds and scattering all the birds on the scrapes.
As usual it came half way to the hide then turned around and headed back, rocking as it went.
Notable over the last few weeks has been the build up of Shelduck on the scrape. Today I counted sixteen, the highest yet. The drakes were posturing and displaying to the females in this group and every so often some scuffles would break out.
A Buzzard had been seen on the fence around the scrape along with a female Kestrel. I picked the Buzzard up on the fence at the back of the North Scrape. It was attracting attention from two Magpies and on a closer look it was ripping a small animal apart. The animal had a long tail so I can only assume it was a Brown Rat.
I had to leave a little earlier than I had planned, but it turned out to be lucky in as much as there was a Grey Seal quite close in off the sea wall. It had caught something and was eating it, but it wasn't easy to identify what it had caught. Here it looks like a head
Then an eel like body.
That reinforced with this view, could it be a small Conger? Or an Eel?
This looks like a tail and could be a Conger.
Having convinced myself it was an eel, maybe Conger, I was completely confused by this shot. It looks like a blue collar. So I am open to any suggestions.
The Common Gull were in the bay sitting on the posts by the islands, I counted seven.
And just off shore the Black-tailed Godwits were on the mud, there reflections showing nicely in the wet mud.
The morning provided some interesting discussion around the intricacies of identifying Stonechats, and some nice images in the very welcome sunshine, plus a close in Eider, but elsewhere it was still very quiet. It looks like some clear nights over the next few days, this will probably clear a lot out, the hope is something comes along to replace them, otherwise we are going to have to wait for some stormy weather.
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