1st September - Farlington Marshes, Hampshire - Part One

It has been a while since I have visited Farlington.  This time of year can prove to be quite fruitful, so where better to spend the day on the first of September and the start of the meteorological autumn.

There is work going on around the ditches to open them for better breeding conditions next spring.  This meant that the lower car park was closed.  The work though did not have any impact on the birds around the reserve. 

I set off through the bushes and as I reached the open grass area there were plenty of Clouded Yellow about including this 'Helice' variation, a paler female.

Here the clean clouded Yellow, with a much fuller yellow colour.

There were Clouded Yellow everywhere, as I walked they would take off from the grass and were in numbers I have never experienced before, more than at Fishlake last Saturday.

As I came onto the white post path there was an immature Kestrel perched at the top of a bush.

Ity soon became clear that there was a lot of activity in the bushes with Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroats calling and buzzing around the bushes.

Here one of the Willow Warblers.

This warbler had me thinking and maybe hoping as it moved through the hawthorn bush, the colour and size of the bill much different from the Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers.  

Here eating blackberries I settled on a Reed Warbler, completely out of the habitat you would expect to see them in.

Several Whitethroat were about, this adult having a bit of a fight with a couple of Robins.

Another surprise was a few Spotted Flycatchers.  They showed very well catching insects from the hawthorn bushes.  At first hiding in the middle of the bush.

But then coming out into the open and perching from a prominent perch.

A lovely background and some great shots.

They moved around the bushes and would fly around the grass in a similar style to that used by the Bee-eaters.

It seems to have been a good autumn passage through the county this year, birds that are always welcome to see.

Finally some views from behind showing the white fringes to the flight feathers.

Leaving the flycatchers I chased another Clouded Yellow 'helice'.

I was trying to catch the butterfly in flight and this was the best I could manage.

As well as the Clouded Yellows there were plenty of Common Blues, this a smart male.

Leaving the bushes I heard a Lesser Whitethroat calling but was not able to find it.

From the Information hut this Common Sandpiper flew across the stream.

Passing the Hay field there were quite a few cattle, but I could only find one Cattle Egret and it was very distant and in a strong heat haze.

There were lots of flowers by the side of the path, mainly yellow daisies and in amongst them and the grasses were more butterflies.  A female Common Blue.

A Small Copper.

Small Heath

And another Common Blue perched on the seed had of a grass stem.

Walking along the east side of the sea wall, more warblers in the bushes.  This a Willow Warbler.  The wing projection isn't clear here

But in these two photographs you can see the long wings and flesh coloured legs.

Here you can clearly see the longer wing projection and the pale legs.

I followed this Kestrel uniting along the edge of the bramble bushes the other side of the sea wall.  There were two drops but both were unsuccessful.

A Whinchat was perched om a distant post and was joined later by another in the brambles close to the sluice at the Lake.

The tide was rising and a Little Egret was fishing in a chanel alongs side the sea wall.

I had my timing just right, I wanted to be at the Lake as the tide was about a couple of hours from being at its height.  I was hoping that there would be some good waders on the Lake, the conditions were looking perfect.  But I will save the details of that for part two of this post.

So far it was a very rewarding visit with some quality birds and some great photographic opportunities.

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.