10th October - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

After two and a half weeks convalescence after the cataract operations, I was finally able to get out birding.  Where to go on my first outing?  Well it could only be one place.  I met Ian just before 9.00am and we walked to a closed cabin, apparently there were problems with the doors so it was closed, but fortunately the hides and reserve was open.

Walking around to the west side there were a pair of Eider off shore and Sanderling and Turnstone on the beach.  We walked on to the reserve and then to the Meon Shore hide to be greeted with this view.

There had been quite a bit of work done since my last visit back in September.  Reeds have been cut back and the islands trimmed.  The Snipe island was now visible and of course there were Snipe on it.

And a few Redshank.

But of course it was the Snipe that had my attention.

With one sitting in the water.

Redshank numbers had increased and several of the birds were mobile moving from the islands.

There had been a movement of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits overhead and by mid morning there was a small movement of Swallows.  Interestingly the majority were adults showing their tail streamers.

With things quiet on the south scrape we decided to walk up to the Pumfrett.  The light though was awful so we moved on up to the Spurgin hide and a chance to see the work that was undertaken there at the end of September.

The view from the hide with the white clouds reflecting in the water of Eleven Acre Mere.

Those white clouds looking very impressive in black and white.

There was one person in the hide and he made a point of telling us that he had been present a while and nothing was happening at all.  With that he left the hide and almost immediately there was a whistling call and a Kingfisher flew up to the perch to the right hand side of the hide.

The light wasn't the best but when the sun went behind the clouds the views improved.

The small white tip at the end of the beak means this was an immature bird, but also the flush of pink on the lower mandible means this is also a female.

Th ebreeze was ruffling the feathers.

The photography was challenging when the sun came out.

The Kingfisher then exited to the left of the hide and was almost immediately replaced by a Grey Wagtail.

It made its way around the outside of one of the cut islands in front of the hide and was finding a lot of insects to eat, also leaping up to catch flies in the air.

Grey Wagtail are difficult to photograph, they are constantly moving either walking or bobbing the long tail.  This was an excellent opportunity though as the bird was close to the hide, so I took the opportunity to take as many as I could.

The male bird in the winter has an orange wash on the breast, which is replaced with black in the summer breeding season.

There was second bird, a female and they were calling to each other.

There were fallen reed stems at the base of the reeds and the wagtail used these to walk around the water.  At one point it tried to stand on the duck weed and fell in!

Then on the floating reed leaves.

Which proved to be a little more substantial to stand on.

Very much a wagtail that is almost always found around water, unlike the other two common wagtails seen in the United Kingdom, the Pied and Yellow Wagtail.

Back on the mud.

Two of my favourite shots.

The Marsh Harriers had gone AWOL, not one was seen throughout the day, but there was a Red Kite that came close over the mere.

And a Buzzard that took to hovering over the reed bed.

Things then went quiet so we decided to walk back and maybe try the east side of the reserve.  But before walking around to the east we stopped in on the Meon Shore hide once more and right in front of the hide the Snipe were showing very well.

It is not often you get to see the Snipe out in the open this much.  Here one standing on the mud of the island.

And one in the water.

And a good shake after an extensive preen.

Also in front of the hide was a drake Teal that was almost in it's full breeding plumage.

And a few Black-tailed Godwits had ventured closer to the hide.

There was a small flock of eight Pintail present on the north scrape and gradually from the early afternoon the numbers started to increase with birds flying from up the valley.  To see eight Pintail on the scrapes is something unusual but the numbers started to build up into the thirties and eventually reach an unprecedented fifty five by the time I left.

Here eight Pintail with a single Wigeon dropping into the north scrape.

One or two of the drake Pintail were almost in their breeding plumage.

The Water Rail put in a very quick appearance and all I was able to get was a glimpse of the tail as it ducked into the cut reeds and out of sight.  The last piece of action was a Sparrowhawk that came low over the scrape putting up all the duck and waders on the south scrape.

Great to be back out and it was nice to be able to catch up with a Kingfisher close to the hide and the very showy Grey Wagtail.