Today was a very special day. Its school holidays and there is a balance to be done around looking after my grandson. He is five and today I was taking him on an adventure, a trip to Titchfield Haven. He had his binoculars, and his packed lunch and was all set. The weather was perfect, glorious sunshine and clear blue skies.
We parked on the sea wall and walked around the road to the visitor centre. The tide was falling and he was amused by the antics of the Turnstone amongst the bladder wrack in the harbour. After getting a sticker we came back out and as if ordered a Mallard swam by with five small ducklings and there were three Brown Rats on the beach.
We walked back to the car and picked up our stuff and then headed intot he west side of the reserve and the Meon Shore Hide. He had to kneel on the bench to see out but he was quickly into his stride.
What's that little duck with a red head? Its a Teal.
And he was quickly into photography, this his Shelduck effort, shame about the heads.
We walked on to the Pumfrett Hide and quickly started to see butterflies. This was my first Speckled Wood of the year.
In total we counted 25 butterflies of which there were six species including my first Orange Tip of the year.
From the Pumfrett Hide we watched the antics of the Avocet. Here moving sticks and stones around the scrape that stands as a nest.
And as usual there were a few scuffles amongst the Avocet pairs.
This Lapwing was well hidden in the new reed stems, I can only assume she is sitting on eggs.
The packed lunch was calling so we decided to sit on a bench outside. We found a nice bench (the first was rather dirty), opposite Darter's Dip. I was told that there is nothing better than having lunch by the side of a pond in the peace and calm!
After lunch we walked to the beach and threw stones into the sea, and why not. There was a group of Brent in the shallow water and when they were flushed by a dog almost flew directly over our heads.
If you look closely in the above photograph you will see an ice cream van on the right side and this was where we went next. A Marshmallow '99' and standard '99' for £2.50 were eaten in the sunshine and then we were heading home.
Here is one of the pages of the checklist I made for him, he was very excited to tick off what he had seen and more. We missed some, namely Redshank, Heron and Little Egret.
It was a wonderful time, something I have dreamed about when he was first born. I am sure this will be the first of many and I can't wait.
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