16th February - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

Its half term, so a chance to take my Grandson Freddie out once more.  Like before we headed for Titchfield Haven, the weather was good but with the hides there it is easier to keep him occupied.  The west side of the reserve was a no go for us as the river was still flooding at high tide, so we set off along the east side and the Meadow Hide.  A pair of Robins were threatening each other in the bushes on either side of the boardwalk.

We settled in to look out across the still flooded meadows.  Freddie was keen to tick off the birds I had put on his list. We settled in to look out across the still flooded meadows. Freddie was keen to tick off the birds I had put on his list.

He managed to get Oystercatcher and of course the Canada Geese.  In the middle of the meadow as a single Curlew.

There were several Marsh Harriers at the back of the Frying Pan and along the right hand side a pair of Kestrels, but they were too far away for Freddie to appreciate them.  So we walked down to the Knight's Bank Hide.  We had another Robin encounter with Freddie being able to get quite close to it in the bush.

The Kestrels were around the hide.  We watched this female Kestrel drop into the grass and come up with what looks like a Field Vole, it settled on one of the fence posts where you could clearly see the vole.

It flew to another post and still had its prey.

Then the male flew to the fence posts.

The female then sat on the post, but without the vole, it hadn't eaten it so where had it gone?  In the previous photos the eyes appeared alive, so did it manage to escape?  We will never know.

The two, male and female together.

The meadow was full of Lapwing and every so often they would fly up over the meadow and the Frying Pan.  Freddie commented that when they fly they flash black and white, very observant that lad.

He wanted to take some photographs so I let him have a go, these are Starlings.

The male Kestrel returned to the fence and did some preening.

A couple of Marsh Harrier were causing havoc over the meadow, putting everything up.

Another of Freddie's photographs, the Lapwings amongst the Canada Geese in the flooded part of the meadow.

Lunch had been consumed early and the attention span was waning, so we decided to try something different, we walked back down the boardwalk, checking the doors along the way.  We stopped to watch the Turnstone around the harbour and then went on tot the beach on the spit.  The Sanderling were on the beach and Freddie was able to get close enough to watch them and not flush them.

I of course had to get some pictures of them.

We spent the time on the beach feeding the Black-headed Gulls, getting them catch bits of Freddie's sandwiches thrown to them.  Walking back to the car we were able to see the Brown Rats around the small amount of beach that was exposed.  We all had a good time.

24th October - Farlington Marshes, Hampshire

I hadn't been for a while and was hoping that things might have started to look a little different from my last visit to Farlington.  I couldn't get there until after lunch, but it was a nice sunny afternoon with a fresh south west wind.  I set off across the marsh towards the stream, the going was wet, but not as wet as it was beyond the white wooden markers.

A little further along, at the view point and bench, a view of the stream heading towards to Information Hut.

A Grey Heron hunting amongst the dead reeds.

As I walked on another Grey Heron flew across my path and then past me.

On the pool behind the information hut, a smart male Gadwall.

The reeds behind the hut were still looking healthy which has to be a good sign for any Bearded Tit population.  The marshes themselves were quiet, no large flocks of Brent Geese yet.

A Meadow Pipit flew up from the grass on to a fence post.  It was a nice pose, but when I got home I realised that the pipit was in fact ringed.

This bird was ringed by Duncan Bell at the Farlington a few years ago. Unfortunately the exercise was not registered as a scheme, but just put a few rings on birds to see if it was worth starting one. Sadly there is no record which colour ring was put on which bird, so it is not possible to assign to an individual ring number.  The bird was seen in February 2023.  The intent of the scheme was to see if these birds were resident or just winter visitors.  The jury is still out on that.

I walked up on to the sea wall and there was quite a good sized Starling flock over the saltmarsh.

Walking on a white, long-legged bird was amongst the grazing cattle, surely a Cattle Egret?  No it turned out to be a Little Egret feeding very much like a Cattle Egret.

The tide was out but rising.  In the main channel were at least twelve Great Crested Grebes.  On the mud several Curlew and a few Grey Plover.

Knot, Dunlin and Ringed Plover were out on the mud.

There was also at least six Harbour Seals hauled out on the mud.

I walked around towards the Lake, getting closer the impact of the broken sluice was very clear.  Here a new wader and duck roost on a pool behind the reeds, distant and impossible to view.

Here you can see the extent of the water, that has created a large lake.

My first Great Egret here at Farlington, feeding in the new flooded area.

The tide was rising and there were several Curlew still out on the mud.

A view of the lake standing over the broken sluice.

There were not many duck on the lake, but there were several Wigeon and these Pintail close to the dead reeds.

A Wigeon, unusually close to the sea wall.

I crossed the field and headed to the stream in the hope of finding some more duck.  A pair of Pintail flew over head.

Another Pintail on the edge of the dead reeds.

Common Gulls are one of my favourite gulls, they have a very kind appearance.  There were two on the lake.

Then a few Wigeon were moving, this one dropping on to the stream.

And a few Shoveler flying past.

Then some more Wigeon, this group of four flying around the stream.

Then joined by two more.

A close up.

Then all hell broke loose, I was about to head home when all the duck went up.  A Tractor was cutting at the back of the reeds and flushed all the birds on the new roost site I showed earlier.  I stopped and took advantage.  Pintail

Then Black-tailed Godwits.

Shoveler too.

An immature Peregrine appeared to try and take advantage of the chaos.  Not the best photo, but a record of the bird.

Redshank appeared flying low around me over the stream.

Finally looking to settle on the bank.

I then noticed a smart drake pintail on the water.  With the water close to the markers I was able to get close and also able to get low on the bird.

The sun then came out and enhanced the colour in the water and the surrounding reeds.

The Shoveler standing out as well.

The Pintail finally took off again with a lovely dark sky background.

I thought this afternoon was going to be a disappointing visit, as I walked past the Lake I was quite depressed by the conditions, but it was very nice to finally find significant number of duck.  Hopefully the winter will find the conditions here conducive to some good numbers of wildfowl, maybe some wild geese, that would be nice.