4th November - Titchfield Haven and Daedalus Airport, Hampshire

The murky, drab and damp conditions continue and it doesn't look as it will go away any day soon.  I headed to Titchfield for the first visit this new month, walking from Cliff Road along the sea front.  There was a good sized flock of Brent out on the sea, a chance to get some photographs of this winter visitor to the area.

With the tide rising and fishermen wading out in the water the flock was spooked and flew off to the west.

From the bridge a Kingfisher flew through, while on the edge of the reeds a drake Gadwall was preening.

Coming out of the visitor centre there were two Kestrels interacting above me, a little further along there was one sitting in the bush close to the viewing platform.

With the tide rising I decided to watch the sea for a while.  Three Common Scoter flew east distantly and the Red-throated Diver was on the sea a long way off Chilling.  There were  a few people walking out on to the Rainbow Bar and they flushed the Sanderling and Ringed Plover and they flew past.

A count of fifty Sanderling here.

Everything then went up on the scrapes and the Frying Pan.  There wasn't any visible raptors about and later there was a lot of tree cutting so it could be that the workers flushed all the birds on the meadow and this put up the scrape.  These Shoveler flew past.

There was also eight Avocet amongst the flocks, the highest number for some time.

I decide to try on the reserve despite the warnings from others that it was quiet.  As always the first stop was the Meon Shore Hide.  It was quiet, with the wind in the north the duck seek shelter on the north shore so there was very little in front of the hide.

The island to the left of the hide though was quite busy, with plenty of Snipe.  This short video gives some idea of the numbers, the maximum count I had was 33.

The birds would fly up every so often led by the Lapwing and this gave me the chance to photograph them in flight.  They are great acrobatic fliers, the broad wings aiding the twists and turns that they use to display and evade predators

After having lunch I decided to move on.  Initial intentions were to go down the east side, but after seeing that there was no high tide roost on the spit I changed my mind and instead decided to drive around to the Daedalus Airport to look for the Black Redstarts that had been attracting many over the last few days.

It didn't take long after parking to find the redstarts, the male showing very well at the top of the roof of one of the derelict buildings.

It then dropped down to a small wall and showed well there.

Black Redstarts are another of those birds that attract admirers.  The combination of black and silver upper parts and the shimmering red tail of the male appear irresistible.

 

It then dropped to the ground and I zoomed out to bring in the industrial surroundings that these bird seem to like to frequent here in the UK.  On the continent they are a lot more cosmopolitan about there surroundings.

It flew across the road and settled on a tin roof.  The roof was primarily white but had also red or rusty streaks which complimented the redstart very well.

The next two are my favourites from the session.

It flew back to the north side of the road and called from the roof.

This shows the "Red Start" or tail that gives it the name.

The locations they inhabit almost always have fences, usually HERA fencing and they just love to perch on them.

Finally back to the wall where I took the last photos.

A dreary day brightened by the performance of the male Black Redstart.