27th September - Brownwich Cliffs and Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

It was great to be able to meet Ian this morning, he has been in Canada for the best part of September and it was a chance to catch up both with his news and my news.  We met at the sea wall at Hill Head where the weather had finally changed, it was overcast, very dull and with a fresh south easterly wind.  With the reserve not yet open, we decided to walk up to the cliffs at Brownwich, but we only made a few metres before I realised that there were two Glossy Ibis on the beach.  It was low tide and it need a very high ISO rating in the gloom.  They were the two adults that have been around for awhile now.

There were several Chiffchaff calling from the area of scrub by the chalets, and a Pied Wagtail on one of the roofs.  Walking up the cliff there was a lot of activity in the bushes but this was down to a few Robins and a lot of Chiffchaffs.

At the first viewing point you could look down at the waders on the beach and in the shallow water.  Plenty of Black-tailed Godwits and Oystercatcher amongst which was this partil leucistic Oystercatcher.

Along the shore were my first Brent Geese of the season, ten in total, but only eight in this view.

We made our way back to the reserve and once again into the Meon Shore hide.  There wasn't any sign of the Little Stints, but the Glossy Ibis were on the scrape and this time there were three, the juvenile joining the two adults that were on the beach earlier.

The juvenile bird was calling, a raspy sounding grunt call.

The adult joined in.

One of the adults seperated and wandered off to the east side of the scrape, the other two staying close to one of the islands.

More calling.

One of the immature Marsh Harriers appeared over the reeds on the east side of the reserve, but it attracted the attention of the crows that wouldn't leave it alone and it turned back and headed up the river.

The Little Stint appeared and came to the mud in front of the hide.  The light was poor and I had managed some great shots over the week, so decided today to try and concentrate on flight shots, but they didn't work out very well, so no photos of Little Stint in this post.

The Ibis had moved to the area on the right hand side of the hide and one had caught an Eel and was working to dispatch it.  It is quite amazing how many eels there are in this water, they must come from the canal that feeds the scrapes.

We decided to go and get our lunches and then walk up to the Spurgin hide.  With the overcast conditions the light wouldn't be so harsh.

Normally its quiet and takes awhile for things to happen from the Spurgin.  The immature female Sparrowhawk was seen chasing a crow, but not seen after.  Then a Marsh Harrier appeared coming close to the hide from up river.

Three birds fledged this year and this was an immature, the buff fringes to feathers on the wings giving this away.

The Marsh Harrier dropped into the reeds and we were treated to a couple of brief appearances from a Kingfisher.  Then all the gulls went up from the Frying Pan and appearing in the middle of them was an Osprey.

It spent time hovering over the area that was the river and the Frying Pan and attempted quite a few dives, without any success.

The dive would be fast to start but it appeared to pull up towards the end.

While circling and hovering the Osprey drew the attention of the crows.

One more dive and it didn't reappear so maybe, we can't be sure it caught something.  Our attention turned to two immature Marsh Harriers right in front of the hide.

Stunning views close to the hide.

The Marsh Harriers disappeared and in a quiet spell the Kingfisher appeared and stuck around long enough for a photo opportunity, sadly still at the back of the pond.

Then the Osprey appeared, coming from the direction of the Frying Pan, whether or not it caught anything still was unclear, but maybe it was resting after all the activity.  It wasn't alone and was shadowed by two Magpies, resembling fighter jets escorting an unwanted foreign aircraft.

Once again it had several fishing attempts around the Frying Pan, but never seemed certain with the dives, pulling up as it neared the water.  Eventually it started to move down th eriver towards the scrapes passing us in the hide.

It then started to dive over the river in front of the Suffern Hide, of course its closed!

Apparently it spent some time on a post in front of the hide, before moving on once again and fishing in the area of the open water and the harbour bridge.

Here with the legs down as it hovers you can see there are no rings on this bir, so its origin is not known.

It then flew moved away towards the sea and we last saw it as it dropped out of sight behind the trees.  We did pick it up again, but very distantly and it seemed to be heading out towards the sea and maybe the island.

We decided to walk back to the Meon Shore hide, the clouds had become very dark and were behind the hide which made the light appalling from the hide with it bright and in our eyes making photography almost impossible.  On the scrape were the two Little Stints and the three Glossy Ibis.  A surprise though was the sound of Sandwich Terns and four heading from the scrape and out towards the sea.

On leaving the reserve we checked the high tide roost on th espit, but there were only Turnstone, so with that we decided to call it a day.  Great to have Ian back, and a great days sightings to welcome him back.