19th December - Titchfield Haven, Hill Head and Brownwich Pond, Hampshire

The gloom has lifted after the heavy rain of the day before and it was sunshine all the way to Titchfield.  The tide was high, even with still a couple of hours to go until high tide.  I checked in and decided to walk up the east side of the reserve.  It was my intention to use the thermal camera but I hadn't turned it off the last time I used it and the battery was dead.

I walked to the Knight's Bank hide where out on the meadow were Oystercatcher and two Curlew amongst the Canada and Egyptian Geese.  Looking across to the trees alongside the river there were four Fieldfare present.  There were three Marsh Harriers about, all female types.

I left the hide and walked back to the sea wall.  With the tide high the Sanderling were roosting on the beach behind the sailing club.  It looked like they had moved from the usual spot as a result of a fisherman.  They were then subjected to an attack by a dog that sent them out over the water.  After awhile, once the dog was gone they settled back on the beach.

I met up with Ian and we popped into the Meon Shore hide.  The water levels was very high with all the islands having shrunk in size.  The Lapwing were settled on the wooden bars and posts.

Snipe island was just about able to provide some dry land and there were a few Snipe on it.

A Marsh Harrier was along the right hand side and then drifted out across the scrape and away towards the fields at Brownwich.

We had always decided to walk to Brownwich across the cliffs.  As we walked up to the beach, the Sanderling had obviously been disturbed from their spot on the sailing club spit and had gathered at the edge of the water.

A chance for some Sanderling photos in the lovely winter light.

The reason for the walk to Brownwich was the report of a drake Ferruginous Duck on the pond along with the drake Goosander.  There was little about along the cliffs and absolutely nothing out on the sea.  On arriving at the pond, the Ferruginous Duck was at the back of the pond with some Tufted Duck.

With the Ferruginous Duck still distant on the far side of the pond we were distracted by a pair of Grey Wagtail that dropped on to the railings by the sluice.

With the pond surrounded by trees there was plenty of shade and dark water, this proved a lovely background for the white water fowl such as this Mute Swan.

The male Goosander that has been seen at Titchfield appears to commute between the two areas.  Here it to was showing off in the black water under the trees on the far side of the pond.

We left the sluice area and walked down the side of the pond.  The hope was we could get a little closer to the Ferruginous Duck.  It was closer but required some patience as we had to try and focus through the branches of the surrounding trees.

The Ferruginous Duck is also known as the Ferruginous Pochard, Common White-eye or White-eyed Pochard.  It is a medium-sized diving duck, the breeding male is a rich, dark chestnut on the head, breast and flanks with contrasting pure white undertail coverts. The females are duller and browner than the males. The male has a yellow eye and the females have a dark eye.

The Ferruginous Duck prefers quite shallow fresh waterbodies with rich submerged and floating vegetation with dense stands of emergent vegetation on the margins. In some areas it will use saline or brackish pools or wetlands. On passage and wintering will also frequent coastal waters, inland seas and large, open lagoons.

These are gregarious birds, but less social than other Aythya species but where common it can form large flocks in winter, often mixed with other diving ducks, such as Tufted Ducks as here and Common Pochards. 

Its always nice to get a wing flap following a preen.

The breeding range is from Iberia and the Maghreb east to western Mongolia, south to Arabia, although in the west is now scarce and localised and locally extirpated in some countries. The duck winters throughout the Mediterranean Basin and the Black Sea, smaller number migrate into sub-Saharan Africa via the Nile Valley.

After venturing into the middle of the pond it quickly returned to type and made its way back to the shore and the shelter of the low branches.  Satisfied with the images we had we walked back to the sluice area.  The Grey Wagtails were back on the fence around the weir and sluice.

The walk back was much like the walk to the pond, quiet aside from a large flock of Brent Geese that were originally on the sea, then flew to the fields.

The day wasn't done yet, but this seemed an appropriate place to stop for now, the Ferruginous Duck was a big bonus and a chance to get some better images than those from the start of the year.