9th May - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

I haven't been for sometime and there were times when maybe I should have for the sea watches, but chose to go elsewhere.  This morning the conditions looked good, a misty start and an easterly wind.  So I was up early for once and pulled up at the sea wall just after seven.  There was a report of two Arctic Skuas going into the Solent at Cut bridge just before seven, so I was hopeful.  It didn't take long before a dark phase Arctic Skua was picked up heading east with purpose.  It was a case of watching through the scope as it was too distant for a photo  opportunity.  My first Arctic Skua for some time and nice to see. 

Shortly after a Buzzard was seen coming across sea and accompanied by at least eight Kittiwake, which was a bit bizarre.  The down side to this was in watching the Buzzard two more Arctic Skua were missed.

That was really the end of the sea watch.  Several Swallows came in off the sea and there were Great Crested Grebes on the water while a Grey Seal attracted the attention of a few Black-headed Gulls.  There was a moment of panic for the gulls and terns as a Peregrine came over the sea wall and out across the water.

After nearly two hours I decided to go onto the reserve and in to the Meon Shore Hide.  As is the way at this time of year the scrape was dominated by Black-headed Gulls.  Water levels were still not where you would expect them to be, but almost every available piece of dry land was occupied by Black-headed Gulls.  There were also a few Common Terns and Avocet.  One Avocet was feeding below the hide.

It was a case of feed and rest.

Two Common Sandpiper were picked up at the back of the scrape, but as I watched the Avocet they appeared on the island in front of the hide.

Another first for the year they fed around the small island showing really well.

Always checking the sky above.

No doubt th efirst of many for this little wader.

A Reed Warbler was singing in the reeds on the right hand side of the hide.  I haven't had much luck with Reed Warblers so far this year, they seem to hide from me, staying low in the reeds.  This one was showing a little better and I was able to at least get a view of the eye and head.

I had to go out to the car to sort the parking out, as I came back this Fox, a vixen as you can see the teats, stood on the path in front of me.

She turned away from me and walked along the path, eventually stopping and looking back at me.  I found out later that there were cubs, probably under the hide or the boardwalk.  Something to look out for in the future.

Back in the hide, Common Terns were moving from the islands out to the sea and back, passing the hide.

The Reed Warbler was still singing in the reeds, but now it was showing a lot better, singing from a position where the reeds were not in the way.

Classic Reed Warbler images.

THere were several Avocet around the scope and this meant that there were a few quarrels breaking out.  This would involve fights on the water and sometimes this would extend to battles in the air.

One or two Common Terns were carrying fish, bringing them in to try and impress a possible mate.

Two terns calling and displaying above the scrape.

An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was hanging around the scrape and every so often would fly around to get the attention of the gulls and avocet.  They would chase it off but it would return, and from almost nowhere it dropped onto one of the islands and took what is probably one of the first Black-headed Gull chicks to hatch.  The carnage has begun.

The Avocet looking on as the gull is chased away.

I decided to walk up to the Spurgin Hide in the hope of catching up with the Hobby that have been on show.  At Darter's Dip there was an Emperor Dragonfly and a couple of Hairy Hawker.  Smaller but easier to photograph were the Damselflies that settled on the leaves.

A Large Red Damselfly.

And a Common Blue Damselfly.

A white butterfly with a very fluttery flight caught my attention and when it settled on a reed stem I could see the patterned underwing of a female Orange Tip.

It was the usual bleak outlook from the Spurgin Hide, a lone Gadwall bleating away as if it has lost something and a family group of Mute Swans with five cygnets.

A Jay flew across the reeds which was unusual, they are more likely seen in the autumn when they are caching acorns.

While a Reed Bunting sang from the reeds.

A Buzzard and an immature Marsh Harrier tangled around the bushes, the Marsh Harrier heading away while the Buzzard circled back and behind the hide.

Then one of the male Marsh Harriers drifted past the hide, the light wasn't good but it came quite close to the hide which helped.

Marsh Harrier activity is quiet right now as there are two possible nests and female brooding.  That leaves just the males to find food for their mates.  Things will potentially increase once any young hatch and need to be fed.

An immature Marsh Harrier flew to the scrapes causing some panic and flushing a flock of Balck-tailed Godwits that were hiding on the north scrape.

Black-headed Gulls were fly catching over the reeds and I had a very brief glimpse of a Hobby, but that was it.  I thought that with the gulls catching insects the Hobby would appear, but it wasn't to be.

Through out my time the drake Gadwall swam up and down calling, why wasn't clear, at one point it flew off but came back and still continued to call.

The reserve had a feel of summer about it, but then last year the "Hudwit" turned up on the 16th May so you never know.

4th May - Hill Head and Fishlake Meadows, Hampshire

The definition of insanity they say is doing the same thing over and over and getting the same results.  With more south easterly winds forecast for today I elected once more to start the day at Hill Head for the third time, in the hope of something happening, however it wasn't to be again.  A change from looking longingly out to sea was to look across Duck Bay where the Black Headed Gulls provided a scene.

The only terns moving were close in and they had come off the scrape in the reserve.

I went off for a walk around the canal path with very similar results, spring migrant arrivals singing from the trees and bushes but nothing else of any interest.  Coming back to the sea wall there was a very distant Gannet heading west.

I wasn't sure what to do next and as the time was approaching opening I headed towards the visitor centre.  The tide was high and I decided to check if the Sanderlings had moved to their usual roost.  They had, so I gently got myself into a position where the sun was behind me and settled in to take the next few photographs.

The light was lovely and brought out the colour in the watery background.

May favourite.

The group.

Rather than go onto the reserve I decided to head to Fishlake Meadows, the weather was good and there were a couple of birds I wanted to catch up with.  Walking down the canal path there were at least three Garden Warbler singing in the bushes, there were not however showing very well, but as I waited a Holly Blue settled on the leaves of the garlic mustard by the path.

The Garden Warblers were not showing, but a Cetti's Warbler in the same place did.

I left the warblers to their singing and walked on, a little further along a Wren was singing in the upper branches of a tree.

Then I heard one of the birds I was hoping to see, a Cuckoo and it flew up to a tree in the middle of the reed bed.  The shots were distant, but a record of my first Cuckoo of the year.

As I watched the Cuckoo fly off a damselfly settled on the nettles below me.  It was a female Beautiful Demoiselle, another first of the year and a sign that things were beginning to warm up?

At new trees close to the cross path another Garden Warbler was singing and this one finally showed.

I needed to get my wellies to walk down the cross path, so headed back towards the car park, I didn't get far as the Cuckoo was back and this time a little closer.

And then a little closer.

Two Hobbies had been flying around the sky in the background, but as we watched the Cuckoo a Hobby flew up into the same tree.

Seen here to be calling.

It was nearly midday and the temperature was rising and this meant a heat haze which made sharp photographs difficult.

After a change of footwear and something to eat I headed back to the canal path and this time the Garden Warbler was showing a lot more.

Still surrounded by branches

But then showing a little better.

The song described as similar to a Blackcap, but when you hear it it sounds to me more like the song of a Whitethroat.  They skulk in the branches and are difficult to always see, but a little patience pays off.

As I reached the first viewing platform there was a camera pointing skywards, I looked up and a Hobby was circling above.  It was quite low over my head and I just took the photographs.

I didn't realise this was happening until I reviewed the images, but the Hobby had probably caught a dragonfly and was eating it.

It then soared around me showing really way.

I didn't know it at the time but this was to be the closest I got to a Hobby all afternoon.

It turned and flew away out over the meadows.  I walked on with Orange Tip and Brimstone flying past me.  As I reached the gate for the centre path I walked to the concrete bridge there was a nice male Large Red Damselfly.

The reason I needed to change my footwear to wellies, was because the centre path was still flooded, quite deeply, in places.  I made my way to the screens where I met up with a few others who had the same intention as me, to photograph the Hobbies over the reeds and open water.

Whilst they never came as close as the first encounter, there were seven flying over the area and they were constantly catching insects, that you couldn't see.

They would twist, turn, the tail feathers would spread out and the legs would be raised to catch the prey, what ever it was got transferred to the mouth, and the head eaten, the rest dropped.

When the Hobby first arrives they will spend time at locations like this fueling up on flying insects.  Seven birds here is quite an impressive number, I don't recall that number being reported before.  However at some locations such as Lakenheath Fen, Stodmarsh, Kent and the Avalon Marshes in Somerset, numbers at this time of year can reach in excess of one hundred

The most spectacular action was when from height they would stoop all the way to close to the ground and then swoop up with their catch.

The legs are the lethal weapons the Hobby uses and their amazing eye sight.

At times the Hobby were so high in the sky they were just specks, there were also several Swifts about, but the Hobby were more interested in the insects.  This will change once the hirundines fledge and the Hobby is looking to feed their young.

I took about 700 images and most were discarded, mainly due to the speed of the hobby, however I am pleased with what I have managed to get.

It was a lovely spring day, with some lovely sunshine and acceptable temperatures at last.  Once again after the disaster that was this morning, Fishlake, for once came up with the goods