29th June - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

With the weather being so hot over the last week I opted to take things easy at home rather than endure what was some searing record heat for June, what is our world coming too?

The heat broke over the weekend and it was much fresher this morning.  I decided to to go back to Titchfield Haven, there had been some interesting reports over the weekend, one of which was the emergence of some interesting Odonata.

On checking in at the new visitor centre I was informed of the possibility of a Sparrowhawk nest on the east side of the reserve, so I decided to start the visit there.  As I entered I passed the Broad-leaved Helleborine that is wrapped in a cage to protect it, however it couldn't protect it from the heat and it looked a little shrivelled.

As I walked along the boardwalk I noticed an bird perched in amongst the trees, a little closer and I could see it was a male Sparrowhawk.

It then flew off and despite me searching the area I couldn't find the nest, probably a good thing.

I turned off the boardwalk and headed towards the Meadow Hide.  A male Black-tailed Skimmer was settled on the boardwalk in the sunshine.

I spent some time in the Meadow Hide watching several Marsh Harriers distantly and a single Red Kite.  The adult male Sparrowhawk had flown from where I had seen it to some dead trees at the back of the meadow.

The Kestrels had three chicks and these had now fledged and were flying around the meadow.  They too were quite distant so I walked around to the Knight's Bank hide to get some better views.

Two of the juveniles were on the fence alongside the hide.  Then I noticed a Whitethroat getting agitated and watched as the male Kestrel dived into the middle of the bush with the Whitethroat calling and flying around the bush.  Almost immediately one of the juveniles flew to the top of the bush.  Finally the male came out, empty handed.

All three juveniles spent time practicing hovering and flying around the meadow.

They would rest on the fence by the gate and were attracting the attention of a family group of Magpies.

An opportunity for some nice flight shots as they flew around the hide.

THings quietened down so I decided to try my luck on the west side.  The path from the Knight's Bank is always a good spot for butterflies.  This morning there were quite a few Comma about.

While in the long grass there were Large Skipper.

And small skippers.

The bramble flowers an attraction for the larger butterflies such as this Red Admiral.

And what looks like a newly emerged Peacock.

Whilst it was a lot cooler the skies were blue with some lovely white clouds making a lovely scene around the harbour and the yachts.

My first stop was the Meon Shore hide and the number of Common TErn had increased, most of the Black-headed Gulls that remained had larger chicks now which wasn't an attraction to the gulls, but the Common Terns were still nesting.  This one on the small island in front of the hide.  Unfortunately I don't hold up much hope for them raising their chicks to fledging, this is a very open area with little cover, to easy for the Lesser Black-backed Gulls to take the chicks.

Around the scrape the Common Terns put on a show.

And it was nice to see several Sandwich Terns in amongst them.

I was keen to walk around to Darter's Dip so set off around the path.  Whilst not so good as the east side there were still some butterflies to be seen, this my first Gatekeeper of the year.

And another immaculate Peacock Butterfly settled in a leaf.

It was a good day for butterflies around the reserve, I counted twelve species, the others seen were Large and Small Whites, Speckled Wood, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Holly Blue and a Painted Lady.

On reaching the ponds I started to look for Damselflies.  I was looking for two special dragonflies, the first of which came to me almost immediately, the Willow Emerald.

This very dainty damselfly seems now to be colonising the reserve, being seen on both sides of the reserve.  IT has been around now for four years and is becoming a regular sighting of a damselfly that seems to be spreading well on the south coast.

Common Blue Damselflies could be seen coupled together and settled on the reeds and in this case the grasses.

On the main pond there were at least four Four-spot Chasers.

It is a rather dull dragonfly with distinctive dark spots on the wings.  Both sexes have brown eyes, thorax and abdomen, which is tapered and narrower than the Broad-bodied chaser.  The tail is black but has a "u" shape that blends to the black tip.

But the dragonfly I most wanted to see was the Norfolk Hawker.  This is another dragonfly that appears to be colonising the reserve, having been seen over the last two years, they must now have mated and mating couple have already been seen on the reserve this year.

As I stood watching the chasers a reddish brown dragonfly flew past me and settled on a reed stem to show off the green eyes of a Norfolk Hawker.

This has always been seen as a rare breeder away from the traditional sites in the east anglian fens, but they have started to appear further west and on the south coast.  Those breeding in the fens seem to like a good cover of the plant Water Soldier, onto which the eggs are laid, the emergence also takes place on these leaves.  But those appearing away from east anglian seem to be able be less dependent on Water Soldier, living in reed filled ponds similar to habitats on the continent.  This may mean that the south coast hawkers may have arrived from mainland Europe.  Just to muddy the water a little more there are some Water Soldier plants around the ponds at Titchfield!

Both sexes are similar with brown abdomens and a yellow triangle on the second segment, but it is the green eyes that stand out.  The males have yellow stripes on the thorax, these are less prominent in the female which suggests this one is a female.

The green yeats stand out and as it settled close to the bank I was able to focus closer on this amazing eye.

Dragonflies have the largest compound eyes of any insect; each containing up to 30,000 facets, and the eyes cover most of the insect’s head, resembling a motorcycle helmet. In contrast to a human eye, each facet within the compound eye points in a slightly different direction and perceives light emanating from only one particular direction in space, creating a mosaic of partially overlapping images.

This patterned concentration of opsin types, particularly those sensitive to blue and UV light, gives special advantages to hunting dragonflies. For example, it is thought that the sky appears to be very bright to a dragonfly, thereby providing a clear background against which small moving prey can be easily detected.

Another visual advantage of the multifaceted eye is a dragonfly’s acute sensitivity to movement, as anyone who has tried to catch one can tell you.  Dragonflies can see in all directions at the same time. This is a major advantage of the compound eye; you can wrap it around your head.  The spherical field of vision means that dragonflies are still watching you after they have flown by. However, the backward-looking part of the eye does have rather low resolution.

I was very keen to try and get some flight shots.  I walked around to a smaller pond where probably the same female was flying around, the water area being smaller it was easier to track the dragonfly and I was able to get these shots.  Even at one two thousand five hundreth of a second the wings still blur.

I left the hawker and went to the Pumfrett hide.  As I was settling in a Green Sandpiper flew across the north scrape and dropped on to the mud in front of the hide.  Unfortunately it was partially shielded by the reeds.

Green Sandpiper are one of the earliest returning waders, arriving in June from their breeding grounds.

It was then chased off by an Avocet, flying past showing off the white rump and tail feathers.

Across the two scrapes there must be well over a hundred Avocet, they are always a good photographic subject.

The shallow water providing some lovely reflections of the Avocet and the blue sky.

It is not unusual to see good numbers of Black-tailed Godwits around the scrapes and many were in their brick red breeding plumage.  What was a surprise was a single Bar-tailed Godwit.  It stayed at the back of the north scrape, not showing that well.

Another returning wader to the scrapes was the Redshank, three were present still showing the speckled breast of the breeding plumage.

My time was running out, so I made my way back to the car.  Walking around the sea wall the tide was high and there was a Great Crested Grebe close to the wall.  As I watched it I noticed  that when it turned away from the breeze, the wind would catch the crest and blow it up.  I waited and it did it again for me.

 

It was good to be back out after a short break and this had been a very productive visit.

4th October - Titchfield Haven NNR, Hampshire

A lot of build up for the weather this weekend with a named storm, Amy and yellow wind warnings for the area.  Friday was a complete wash out, this morning it was clear and sunny with a very strong south westerly wind that was set to get stronger through the morning.

Ian and I decided to meet at Hill Head, and the hope was that the Haven reserve stayed open so that we didn't have to battle with the wind all day.  I arrived first and the tide was rising.  Out on the Rainbow Bar there were five Brent Geese, one of which was a juvenile.

There was a very confiding male Pied Wagtail on the grass around the car.

Wagtails are not always the easiest birds to photograph, for some reason there is always a blur, probably due to their constant movement.  These though came out very well for once.

I decided to walk around to the harbour bridge, looking back a squally shower out over Lepe in the west was producing a rainbow.

There were three Pintail on the river, all birds still in eclipse, they were late in the afternoon seen on the north scrape.

Walking back to the sea wall the Brent had decided to move on as the tide covered up the Rainbow Bar.

The reserve was open and we went into the Meon Shore Hide.  To the left of the hide on the Snipe Island were of course the Snipe, melting into the vegetation.

A first winter Grey Wagtail flew to the "Kangaroo Island" in front of the hide.  As with the Pied there were a few that were not sharp but these were acceptable with some nice shadows from the morning sunshine.

With the strong wind coming from the south west the hide and the reeds around it provided some shelter and there were quite a few birds looking for shelter around the islands.  With the tide high there was the usual roost of Oystercatcher, and good numbers of Teal all over the scrape.  Lapwings too, were in good numbers.

And as always were seen flying around the south scrape, with their aerobatic displays.

Many of the duck were beginning to come out of their eclipse plumage.  Here Gadwall flying in.

While this drake Shoveler is almost their with its plumage.

The Starlings and Lapwings would go up at the slightest noise or perceived threat, and sometimes this would also spook the waders. Usually the snipe sit tight but every so often a few go up.  This one was isolated and flew back to the island but dropped into the water close by before walking to the island.

One of the immature Marsh Harriers could be seen at the back of the north scrape, but never came close.  With the sun moving around we decided to walk to the Spurgin hide.  We had been told that there was Willow Emerald Damselfly roosting in an Alder tree at Darter's Dip.

Amazingly Ian managed to fid the damselfly hanging from one of the Alder seed cases.

We never expected to see one of these dainty dragonflies at this time of year, but clearly they are quite happy here and show some amazing resilience to hang on in the very strong wind.

There was a few Speckled Wood butterflies and one Red Admiral as we approached the Spurgin Hide.  It was very quiet from the hide, early on the only bird of interest was a Great Spotted Woodpecker that flew across to the east side of the reserve.

A rain shower passed through with some heavy rain, after which one of the immature Marsh Harriers appeared.  There are three immature birds present, a product of two successful nests this year.

As they flew around the area in front of the rains tarted again.

They dropped into the reeds and then another would appear from a different location, battling into the strong wind.

A Little Grebe was on the pond and swam close to the hide.

Its amazing how the feathers appear to stay dry despite diving.

With the rain having moved through we decided to battle the wind and walk back to the Meon Shore Hide.  On the way we stopped off in the Pumfrett Hide.  Almost immediately an adult male Marsh Harrier scattered all on the south scrape and came over the cause way.

This meant that there were four Marsh Harriers in the area, which will be interesting to watch as the adults look to impose their own territory once again.  

The Pintail seen earlier were on the north scrape and feeding on the causeway were three of the four Wigeon present, plus the starlings that were all over the scrape overhead.

We headed to the Meon Shore Hide with the light now much better and taking on a wintery feel.  There were showers around us which gave the sky in the distance a steely grey look.

Snipe appeared on the Island "A" and we watched as they were a little unsettled and it felt like they would soon fly to the Safety of the Snipe Island.  And one did.

As it pulled up to land on the island it allowed the chance to photograph.

The majority of Teal are still in eclipse, one or two are showing some signs of full breeding plumage, but this male was complete, looking splendid.

It was unusual to see this Little Egret standing on the mud, probably sheltering from the wind.  Every so often it would walk out to the water's edge, but would then walk back.  Almost as if the water was too cold for a dip.

We then had a display from all four Marsh Harriers and they put up all the birds on the Frying Pan including four Glossy Ibis.  This immature bird came close to the hide, hovering in the strong wind over the reeds.

It then came across the south scrape in front of the hide.

S despite the wind it wasn't a bad day, hopefully the adverse weather may re position some unusual stuff in the coming week.