6th July - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

Some interesting reports of waders over the weekend at Titchfield so I decided to go back and see if they were still around.  After checking in I walked around the sea wall.  The tide was out and the rocks were showing and these created rock pools that the Common Terns were fishing in.

 I went to the Meon Shore hide once more and in front of the hide on the small island the Common Tern was still on the nest as was a Black-headed Gull, but there was a very young Black-headed Gull chick that was out in the open and very much in danger of being picked off by a Lesser Black-backed Gull.

One of the Black-headed Gulls had taken one of the perches close by and was constantly calling.

A Common Tern was flying around the scrape with a fish.

Usually the terns bring the fish in for partner or young, but in this case it started to swallow the fish itself.

And eventually swallowed it.

The Spotted Redshank, one of the waders seen yesterday was still on the south scrape tucked away on the right hand side, feeding in the deeper water.

There were also three Common Sandpipers, but they stayed resolutely by the causeway too far away from the hide.

Some more antics from the Common Terns, this time one flies in to the small island in front of the hide and immediately started calling.

Then making its way to the nest area still calling and eventually they change over brooding duties and I was able to see two eggs.  I still do not hold out much hope for the chicks if they hatch.

Settled down for the duty.

I walked around to the Pumfrett Hide, but stopped at the new pond that is now visible after the clearance work last winter.  There were Black-tailed Skimmers and in the reeds I found a Southern Hawker.

At Darter's Dip, the Small Red-eyed Damselfly was still present sitting once again on the pond weed.

From the hide you could just about see two Little Ringed Plover through the heat haze on the mud at the northern end of the scrape, there was a slo a Common Sandpiper catching flies on the edge of the water.  On the posts on the south scrape a Sandwich Tern was amongst the Common Terns.  Two House Martins were also collecting mud on the south scrape.

The heat haze was a big problem for photography so I went back to the pools to see if I could find the Norfolk Hawker, and it wasn't hard to find, and it soon settled on the reeds.

Once again a close up of the lovely green head.

And the perfect pose on a reed stem.

I walked back to the Meon Shore and it was now very hot.  I stopped at the new pond and watched the Southern Hawker chasing the Black-tailed Skimmers.  At one point the hawker pushed the skimmer into the water and seemed to be trying to push it under, but the skimmer got away.

Finally the Southern Hawker settled on one of the perches.

Back in the hide little had changed and like the Pumfrett the heat haze was a challenge.  Of interest was this Sandwich Tern that came a little closer.

A Common Tern was buzzing the Sandwich Tern, hence the posture, it didn't want to give up its perch.

Finally it left the post and headed out to sea.

It was a short visit, curtailed mostly by the heat and the heat haze.

2nd July - Brownwich Cliffs and Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

We are now into the second half of the year, July is upon us.  I was returning to Titchfield, mainly on the back of a report yesterday of a Wall Brown on the cliffs at Brownwich.  I met Ian at Cliff road and then we walked up to the cliffs.  The morning had been overcast with some drizzle, but now the cloud was breaking up and there was some sunshine, although we did have some more drizzle.

Up on the cliffs there was a fresh breeze and out in the Solent a very large feeding flock of gulls and terns.  We reached the area where the Wall Brown had been seen and other than a few Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns and Small Skippers, there wasn't any sign of the Wall.  In this area there are two paths and on the sheltered path there was a smart Gatekeeper with wings fully open.

We walked on to the next opening, out over the fields Skylarks sang, but again no Wall Brown.  There was though a bonus in the appearance of a Golden-ringed Dragonfly that finally perched on the hedge.

A very distinctive dragonfly with the black and yellow patterning on the abdomen.  The female has a needle like ovipositor, but here there are two protrusions so this is a male.  These dragonflies hunt well away from the breeding sites, such as hedges like here and around bracken and gorse.

Despite the fresh breeze there were plenty of Marbled White winding their way through the grass stems occasionally stopping to nectar on the knapweed.

The Painted Lady year continues with this rather worn individual on the hedge out of the wind.

Much has been made about the Painted Lady year but for me this year so far has been all about the Holly Blue.  We are now into the second brood and they were everywhere today.

Its blue sitting on a Holly leaf!

We walked back to the reserve and went on to the west side and the Meon Shore hide. As we walked through the gate there were several Linnet around the piles of sand and brick including this smart male, Linnets are late breeders and the males acquire their breeding plumage later on in the summer.

It was much the same from the hide as it was on Monday with the Common Tern still sitting on the nest in front of the hide and plenty of activity around the Black-headed Gulls while Avocet and Black-tailed Godwits were feeding at the back of the scrape.

Some interest was provided by this pair of Common Terns scrapping in mid air in front of the hide.

It was time to search for some dragonflies, so we headed around to Darter's Dip.  On the path along the way a very nice Small Copper.

The recently cleared area along the path has opened up some pools and there were Black-tailed Skimmers showing well.  This a male.

There were more butterflies along the path, a very smart Red Admiral.

And the butterfly that gets passed over as a 'Cabbage White', but close up looks very nice with the creamy white underwing, a Large White.

Plenty of Common and Azure Blue Damselflies around the pond, but also some interesting dragonflies.  My firs Ruddy Darter of the year.  Different from the Common Darter by the curved shape of the abdomen and the red eyes.  They are frequent here at Titchfield, but not that common.

Last visit there were plenty of Four-spot Chasers, and they were about today.

It is worth checking through the blue Damselflies as they are not all the Commons and Azures.  There were several Blue-tailed, but the highlight was this Small Red-eyed Damselfly.  It was only found in Britain in 1999, but since then colonization has been rapid, being locally abundant in south east England bgy 2002.  It has since spread west and north as far as Devon.

It likes ponds with a mosaic of floating mats and pond weed that cover the surface from mid summer.  They appear to prefer settling on the weed on the surface of the water.

The Norfolk Hawker remains the star and this one was patrolling the pond with intermittent breaks to settle on the reed stems.

For lunch we headed into the Pumfrett hide, the conditions on the north scrape look ideal for waders, lets hope it doesn't dry up too much.

Plenty of Avocet about still despite another poor breeding season here with many chicks having been predated by gulls and maybe even foxes.

For some reason everything on the scrape was put up and this shuffled the pack and as a result some new waders appeared.  There have been two Spotted Redshank around on an off over the last few weeks, one of which was a summer plumaged individual, the other an immature.  The shuffling produced a Spotted Redshank, but unfortunately the immature bird.

The Bar-tailed Godwit also appeared, here alongside a Black-tailed Godwit.

And finally the green Sandpiper, here at the north east corner through the heat haze!

Leaving the hide we stopped at the pond for this lovely male Ruddy Darter.

Walking around the sea wall an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull stood on one of the posts close to the Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns.  Mud covered its bill and hid the bright yellow legs.

We started to walk up the east side, but stopped for this smart male Beautiful Demoiselle.

This was the first male I have seen this year, but I have seen females who have a bronze and green metallic appearance.  The males are all blue.

Ian had found the Sparrowhawk nest at the weekend and was now able to help me to get on it, once I did I was pleased to see one of the three chicks showing well as it stood up on he edge of the nest.  Those famous eyes already looking menacing.

When Ian photographed them last weekend they were all in their white downy feathers.  Today they were showing their actual feathers coming through, they will probably be fledging in a week's time.

We walked on to the Knight's Bank hide.  It was quiet with Black-headed Gulls fly catching over the meadow.  As I sat there looking out over the meadow we both recalled the state of this meadow five months ago on 2nd February.  When the sluise in the harbour closed the river Meon flooded out over the meadow as I recorded in this photo from then.

Today the meadow is a lush green full of many wild flowers with butterflies all over the place.

The young Kestrels were about but there wasn't any sign of the adults and we wondered if they have now been left to their own devices.  They were dropping to the ground frequently, probably chasing insects, an easier prey.  Here all three together on the telegraph pole close to the nest box.

Walking back to the cars we came across this Southern Hawker, yet another dragonfly that completed a very good day.

Another varied and interesting visit.