26th August - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

Back at Titchfield Haven today and as I walked around to the west side of the reserve I was wondering what the water levels would be like on the south scrape when a flock of Cormorants flew in from the sea and headed up the valley, probably to the Frying Pan.  Interestingly the lead bird has its mouth open and the gullet full of, probably, air.

Into the Meon Shore hide and a first look showed the levels to be a little lower, there was mud visible and of course the Common Sandpiper on the island in front of the hide.

Another wader on the island was a single Black-tailed Godwit, and at first sight it did not look well, lying prone on the ground, head and neck out stretched and the eyes closed.

Initially thought it might be another victim of the avian Botulism that has been killing birds on the two scrapes.

But then it stood up and seemed to be fine.

Then it was seen to walk across the island and into the water on the other side of the island, and initially started to feed inthe shallow water.

But then a chance to preen so it appears all was well with the bird.

Feeding close in front of the hide, a Lapwing showing some nice reflections.

It was a surprise to see a Common Gull on th eperches in front of the hide, but welcome.

The gulls and terns all went up as they seem to do for no reason, but they alos took quite a few duck with them and it was nice to see these two Shoveler flying around the scrape.

These duck are in eclipse plumage, which can confuse at this time of year, but you can see two features here with these duck, the large 'shoveler' bill and the sky blue speculum.

It won't be long until the males are looking resplendent in their breeding plumage.

Scanning through the Common Terns on the scrape there was this Sandwich Tern, one of four present.

Things seemed to be quiet around the scrape, but as always seems to be the way, something happens and from nowhere a Cattle Egret appeared and it had perched on one of the posts in the water in front of island D, which happens to be a favourite perch site for the Common Terns.

As a result the terns started to dive bomb the egret and the Cattle Egret was seen to be taking evasive action with its bill.

Ducking down showing off the remains of the orange brown breeding plumage on the crest.

The Common Tern though never coming close to the egret's bill.

But a chance to get close to the Cattle Egret and to see the eyes that take on a binocular view rather than being on the side of the head.

Lovely punky crest.

The Common Terns kept coming.

Eventually the Cattle Egret had enough of the attention from the terns and flew off, heading up the valley towards the meadow and the Highland Cattle.

There was also activity amongst the Common Terns themselves, the squabbles continue, despite the end of the breeding season and this produced some wonderful aerial interaction

Here it looks as if the bills have actually touched.

And it continued.

There were a few Mediterranean Gulls around the scrape, several juvenile birds and this sub adult, showing the black edges to the primaries.

Another Common Gull bathing in the fresh water of the scrape.

I had seen the Sandwich Terns earlier but I was listening out for them to be able photograph in flight.  One duly delivered flying around the scrape and in front of the hide.

Sandwich Terns look much whiter as well as being a little larger in the air than the Common Terns, the call is also very distinctive.

A lovely background.

Looking for a perch.

And settling down.

But then heading out, past the hide, to the Solent.

There were two Common Sandpipers around the scrape and one returned to the island in front of the hide and it settled in the water just off the island.

And then a bathe in which it completely submerged.

A Snipe appeared on the right hand side of the hide and then flew into the bay and out of sight, but then flew across in front of the hide and settled in front of the reeds on the left hand side.

Snipe have been far and few between this late summer, so it was nice to see this one out in the open.

Once again if you are prepared to sit it out something will happen here and that was certainly the case today.

20th August - Hook, Warsash and Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

Showers were forecast today and all around as I drove south the clouds were dark and threatening.  The plan today was to start at Hook, specifically the TLC field for Horses on Workman Lane.  I parked up and walked around to the field.  Swallows were all around the overhead wires, juvenile birds having just fledged and waiting to be fed by the parents.

I walked up to the area known as the Donkey Field which currently doesn't have a donkey in it, and had a Wheatear pointed out to me in the field opposite.

There is a fence line that runs east alongside the Donkey Field and this is the area where the chats get at this time of year.  There were two Stonechats present and a very distant single Whinchat.

I was though here for the Yellow Wagtails, two flew over calling but kept going.  I walked around the filed and checked the horses and found four feeding around the horse's mouths and feet.

Apparently there have been up to twelve in the area, the maximum I saw was four at one time.

I walked back to Workman Lane and concentrated on the swallows on the wires.

Here a juvenile Swallow still showing the yellow gape on the mouth.

You wait for the young bird to flap its wings and then you know the adult is coming to feed it.

The juveniles stayed on the wires, but the adults were also perching in the nearby oak tree, not something I have seen before.

Amongst the Swallows were a few immature Sand Martins.

And immature House Martins that were also perching in the oak tree.

I decided to walk down to the beach behind the sub station.  Walking down the lane there was a Whitethroat amongst the bramble.

And a little further along the obligatory Painted Lady.

As I came out on to the beach I disturbed two Curlew.

I wanted to check the gorse area to see if there were any Whinchats and Wheatear, but it was very quiet, with nothing moving at all.

The clouds were bubbling up away to the west, rain was coming and the wind had picked up.  The clouds look very impressive in black and white.

Oystercatchers were moving, all mostly flying up Southampton Water.

When I reached the slipway at the bottom of the path that runs down adjacent to Solent Breezes holiday park I noticed a collection of gulls on the foreshore.  As I walked down to get a closer look I passed a Common Gull on the beach.

There was a ring on the left leg, however the only characters I could see was the number '3', which isn't going to be much use in getting information.

I initially thought the bird to be an adult but on a closer look you can see that the tertiaries are in moult which would indicate that this is probably a third year bird moulting into the adult plumage.

The gulls on the foreshore were Mediterranean Gulls, adults having lost their black hoods but retaining the pure white plumage, a black smudge behind the eye and the lovely red bill.

From Warsash I drove around to Titchfield Haven once more.  I parked on the sea wall and away to the west there were very dark clouds that were threatening rain.  I decided to try and watch out the possible storm by having lunch in the Meon Shore Hide.  Things hadn't changed much from my last visit, the water level was high and the young Common Tern was sitting with the parent on the wooden perches.

There was only a splash of rain as the storm passed to the north of us, but this did provide a lovely dark sky to photograph the Common Terns against.

For some reason everything went up on the scrape and then flew around for awhile.  This brought the Black-tailed Godwits close to the hide, this individual passing right in front of the hide.

Eventually everything settled down and from nowhere a Spoonbill appeared at the top end of the scrape.  

I wanted to check the bay for the reported Garganey so walked around to the viewing platform to find there were no duck.  This bird has made a habit of disappearing, so it may possibly be still around maybe in front of the closed Suffern Hide!.

Watching from the bridge a Common Tern fished in the river water.

Another patch of heavy dark clouds were threatening from the west, the onshore winds helping the many wind surfers out on the Solent.

The clouds were very dramatic over Fawley.

The rain hit as I was driving along the A27 and M27 home.  At times visibility being reduced to the car in front.  Water was everywhere but probably not being collected in the right places.  By the time I turned onto the M3 it was dry and remained so all the way home.