26th April - Hill Head and Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

After the success at Sandy Point on Thursday I decided to give Hill Head a try this morning.  The winds were still light, but from the east and south east.  More importantly there was a slight haze and mist out on the sea, so I was hoping for something to happen through the morning.

First though were a couple of Eider, both males, but one was in immature plumage, the other almost in adult breeding plumage.

A single Bar-tailed Godwit flew inland up the valley and a couple of Whimbrel went east.  I picked up these four Mediterranean Gulls low on the water and heading east.

The male Eider wasn't going away and in fact came closer.

A group of ten Kittiwake moved east, and an Arctic Tern and two more Kittiwakes were seen in a feeding flock mid Solent.  There wasn't any significant tern movement though, but one Little Tern did fly east.  The most significant movement during the morning were the Bar-tailed Godwits, with large groups heading east.  These were the largest and the counts were taken from the photographs.

First 53.

Then a huge flock of 113.

Lower on the water 52.

And the last a flock of 66.

Also out on the Solent were a pair of Common Scoter.

I continued to watch the sea, but little else was happening, there were many sailing boats out on the water, which surely must have an impact on movement.

So it was down to the drake Eider to entertain, and I was able to get down low to be able to photograph it.

With the tide high the Eider came close and was diving and catching crabs.  Bringing them up it would hold the legs and shake the body to break the legs off.  The body would then fall into the water and it would reach out to bring it back.

A close up.

Only a few legs to go.

It kept coming closer.

Reaching up out of the water.

I decided to go on to the reserve, a Sedge Warbler was singing by the gate.

And another one on the other side of the path. 

From the hide, out on the scrape a single Greenshank, not a common bird here at Titchfield.

On the water a pair of smart Mediterranean Gulls.

There were a pair of Common Terns on one of the islands and it wasn't happy with the presence of the Black-headed Gulls and would fight them if they came too close.

And of course there are always the Avocets.

A report of two Pomarine Skuas flying into the Solent had me returning to the sea wall, the flight time was about twenty minutes from the Hurst Spit to Hill Head.  This passed with no sign of the skuas.  The thought was they had gone high and crossed the island, the shortest distance.  The winds and visibility not sufficient to push them close to us.  This was bourne out by the fact they were seen passing Sandy Point and hour on.

Back in the hide I had lunch, while the Common Terns flew around the scrape and two Marsh Harriers were at the back of the scrape.  As I left the hide a Lesser Whitethroat singing by the side of the hide and showing extremely well.

Slightly smaller than the Common Whitethroat, it also has greyer cheeks, which give it a masked look.

I left it in the bushes around the small "island" outside the hide.

Not the sea watch I hoped for but it was nice to see the movement of Bar-tailed Godwits and the first Lesser Whitethroat, but the highlight had to be the very showy Eider.