7th April - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

With no reports of the American Golden Plover at Warsash, Ian and I decided to head to the safety of Titchfield Haven following the morning at Browndown.  It was a clear bright day still, warm out of the moderate south easterly breeze, but if out in the open it was quite cool.

Surprisingly we were able to find a space along Cliff Road and then made our way around to the check in.  With the tide high and the breeze we decided to try the west side first.  The weather had brought out a lot of people to the beach and there wasn't any sign of the high tide roost, but below the bridge in the harbour a Great Crested Grebe was fishing and had once again caught a small flat fish.

After several shakes it was finally swallowed.

Not a lot of change from the Meon Shore hide, plenty of Black-headed Gulls, constant noise and colour.  A pair of Black-headed Gulls were standing in symmetry by the small island, that was now getting bigger, in front of the hide.

This Black-headed Gull was actually on the island.  It was a little different in that it had a white spot on the chin, have not seen that before, made it look a little distinctive.

With nothing out of the ordinary going on we decided to walk on.  Coming out of the hide there was a male Kestrel hunting over the reeds.

For those of you old enough to remember the YOC, the club set up by the RSPB to encourage young bird watchers this pose will be very familiar!

It was probably the male from the Knight's Bank hide and it frequently hunts around this reed bank and rough ground.

There had been a report of a Lesser Whitethroat singing near the hide, but when we arrived there wasn't any sign, but now as we walked by the cleared area on the track we heard the familiar rattle of the song.  It took a short search and we found the Lesser Whitethroat in a Willow tree where the leaves were just emerging.

I don't recall seeing Lesser Whitethroat before Common Whitethroat and this was my earliest ever sighting of Lesser Whitethroat.

After a quick (very quick) look in the West hide we stopped for a singing Blackcap around Darter's Dip.  Once again it was proving difficult to pin down.

We walked down to the Spurgin Hide, but it was dead, not even a Marsh Harrier showing.  It was time for the east side, leaving the west side a Linnet perched on a twig by the viewing platform.

PLenty of Brimstone along the boardwalk and at least one Comma.  The only butterfly to stop for me though was this Speckled Wood.

As we approached the Knight's Bank HIde a quick look through the fence revealed a Cattle Egret catching insects on the meadow.

Showing some signs of the orange-brown breeding plumages that appears on the crest and breast it was alone in that it wasn't following the cattle or ponies.  It seemed to be very successful as it was picking up a lot of bugs, maybe the flooding in February has improved the pasture.

The Kestrels hadn't appeared in the time I had, but on my walk back down the boardwalk I did manage to photograph my first Small White of the year.

So the end of a beautiful spring day, with the promise of it being even warmer tomorrow.