29th January - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

It was a misty morning after a clear night, but as I drove south the sun was breaking through, albeit with quite a bit of cloud still around.  I was Titchfield once again, but today I expected it to be a little different following the heavy rains of the last few days.  As I walked around the sea wall the river was high and with it being high tide there was nowhere for the water to go.

There was some beach and on the edge of the water there was a small group of Sanderling.  There had been someone on the beach behind the sailing club so they had probably been flushed from usual roost at high tide.

Sanderling on the beach, I couldn't resist them.  As I stepped down on to the beach I noticed that the steps that were recently covered by the shingle were now completely free, there must have been some tides.

So back to the Sanderling, hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

My favourite.

I dragged myself away from the Sanderling and waded through the water to Meon Shore hide and was greeted with this.

No central causeway, the north and south scrapes now combined into one large lake!  I don't recall ever seeing it like this before.  There were Canada Geese around the reeds and duck on the ground underneath the Pumfrett hide, so I walked around there.

The light wasn't brilliant but there was a drake Gadwall at rest just under the hide.

And the amusing sight of a Pied Wagtail surfing on the floating vegetation in the water.

I left the Pumfrett and head on to the Spurgin.  It was flooded but not to the same degree as the scrapes.

The Lapwing were constantly going up from the direction of the meadow and Frying Pan, but without any sign of a raptor to spook them.  I eventually saw a couple of Marsh Harriers, both female types, but they stayed around the Frying Pan area.  I heard the "pings" of Bearded Tits but didn't see them, then a Buzzard came over the the hide and headed off towards the meadow.

Enjoying the wind.

The Coot were the only water birds present and they were not getting on with each other.

A huge mixed flock of Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwits took off along with gulls and there were Teal flying past towards the scrapes.  Once again I couldn't see any raptor, but the melee must have spooked the Glossy Ibis and I saw two birds flying around and eventually dropping in the area of the Meadow Hide.

As a result I decided to walk around to the east side and to see what was going on in the meadow.  The water had receded from the path and it was easier to get around.  The tide was a little lower and out off the Rainbow Bar was a small group of Eider.

The wind was fresh and from the south east and the sea was quite choppy, hiding the Eider behind the waves.

Walking along the board walk there was the familiar call of a Great Spotted Woodpecker and I watched as it flew on to a very thin branch at the top of one of the willows.

Shows the grip of the claws on the branch.

I walked to the Meadow Hide where there were many Lapwing and it was also quite busy with Canada and Egyptian Geese.  Out towards the Duck Bay there were at least four Glossy Ibis on the pile of dead reeds, unfortunately just a little too far away.  I think the fifth was away to the left lower down.

Several of the crows around the reserve show some forms of leucism, but it only shows in flight.  I have seen them mobbing the Marsh Harriers at distance so it was nice to get this one closer and to be able to see the extent of the leucism which appears to be in the secondary flight feathers and the tail.

Plenty of Starling out on the meadow, frequently taking to a "bait ball" when the Lapwing took off.

With no dry land on the scrapes, the Oystercatchers were using the meadow to see out the high tide.  the regular leucistic Oystercatcher with them.

A fly past from the Black-tailed Godwits.

An uniquely I was able to capture the entire flock of 96 Black-tailed Godwits

Calls from the west side signalled the arrival of two Raven that came across the meadow and disappeared into the trees behind the Knight's Bank hide.

THe Lapwing were settling on the edge of a flooded area and for some reason I thought I would count them as I made my way through them I realised that there was a single Golden Plover amongst them.

Then when flushed it took off with them.

It returned but was soon off with them again.  It was quite easy to pick out amongst the Lapwing, the colour and shape distinctive.

Ian had joined me by now and there were at least four female type Marsh Harriers away to the north and a single male, but hey never really came close. Looking north the trees looked spectacular with just a little bit of the last rays of sunshine.

The leucistic Oystercatcher decided to come closer to the hide, showing the extent of the white plumage.

but a Buzzard surprised us as it came across the meadow and appeared to be trying to hunt the Lapwing without any success.

The Glossy Ibis had left while I was watching the Golden Plover and I could see where, but after another huge Lapwing spooking they appeared and started to drop back into the area close to Duck Bay.  The unmistakeable silhouette in flight.

This time all five visible.

All back together and in good view.

My parking was up and so was the light, it was also getting a lot colder so we left the hide and walked back to the car.  The rain has changed the dynamic of the reserve and it will be interesting to see what this means for the bird life over the next few weeks.  For the first time in three years I will be in the country for most of February, I hope I don't regret it.

27th December - Wicor Mill Lane and Titchfield Haven

On Christmas Eve, the presence of a male Cirl Bunting was confirmed in an area of paddocks just outside Portchester.  It was seen to be favouring an area of bushes around Wicor Pond an area that seems to have been created to support a new housing estate.  The first time I could get there was today.  It had been seen the previous day, but had also been seen flying away high, before a late report in the afternoon.

Cirl Bunting in Hampshire is very rare, the last report was of one in 1985, forty years ago.  They have been moving east over the last few years with breeding in Portland and closer in Durlston.  In fact Ian and I saw a pair back in April at Durlston.

We met just after nine and parked up, Starlings were singing in the tree tops, making the most of the sunshine.

We then walked around to where there was a collection of birders looking over the pond into some bushes.  The bad news though was that it hadn't been seen all morning.  We stuck around looking at Greenfinch and Goldfinches, but no Cirl Bunting.  

We decided to walk around the paddocks where there were House Sparrows and the odd Redwing.  A male Blackcap was seen feeding on crab apples and Linnets were singing in the bushes.

We went back to the pond, but still no sign of the Cirl Bunting.  A Redwing, curtsey of its eye stripe, had us hoping.

But by 11:00am we had decided it was gone.  Reports were coming in of nine White-fronted Geese on the East Meadows at Titchfield so we decided to head there.

We parked on Cliff Road and walked around to the visitor centre.  Out on the beach there were Brent Geese and a good sized Sanderling flock, while out to sea were six Eider.  We checked in and headed down the east side boardwalk.  The best views of the geese were apparently from the Knight's Bank hide and the number had increased from nine to forty two.

With the wind change to easterly and temperatures in Russia of minus 40 degrees there was a significant influx of wild geese along the south and south east coasts.  In Hampshire there were good numbers across the county and with them a few Bean Geese.  It seemed like the geese were now making there way back east.

The Geese were showing well in front of the hide.

There are two races of White-fronted Goose, these are the "Russian" White-fronted Goose, the bill is pink as opposed to that of the "Greenland" which has an orange bill, the Greenlands are also darker and have more bolder darker bars on the belly, with the Russians a little more variable.

There were also a good number of immature birds, these lacking the white at the base of the bill that gives the goose its name.

There was plenty of drinking by almost all the geese.

And plenty of stretching.

The White fronts were in amongst a large flock of Canada, but also a few Greylag, which is a similar looking goose, a little larger and with an orange bill.

There were also of course the Egyptian geese.

Also around the meadow was a Marsh Harrier that seemed to have caught something and was eating it in the grass.

And there was one of the Curlews.

Some more of the White fronts, before we left to walk around to the west side.

From the harbour bridge a drake Gadwall in the sunshine.

Very little from the Meon Shore hide, the north wind keeping everything at the far end of the scrape.  This drake Teal was an exception.

From the Pumfrett hide there were views of the Teal and Wigeon, but nothing close.  This Little Egret standing in the sunshine.

And on the north scrape a Grey Heron, doing much the same.

The Lapwing, as usual were jumpy with large flocks taking off all together before settling back down.

We walked up to the Spurgin hide where a distant Kingfisher raised some hope, while a Marsh Harrier flew up and down over the reed bed.

Another Grey Heron in the reeds.

There was plenty of time to admire the reeds against the dark background.

There were three Marsh Harriers up at one time, this female coming the closer to the hide.

A report of fifty plus White fronts heading east from Warsash had us checking the skies and we saw the group heading over the Posbrook area.  We popped intot he Meon Shore hide, these two drake shoveler on one of the islands.

Walking back to the car we passed the Turnstones, Ian checked through them and found this one Dunlin amongst them.

Disappointment with the Cirl Bunting, but good to get the White fronts and in good numbers and close.