11th March - Titchfield Haven Canal Path and Reserve, Hampshire

Finally the weather has changed, the warm air replaced with a northerly breeze that was definitely taking the edge off the morning sunshine.  Still hoping for some early migrants I decided to walk the Canal path and then on into the reserve.  

There was still a lot of water on the Bridge Street and Posbrook Floods, butI couldn't find the three Glossy Ibis that have been almost resident over the winter.  As I approached the mid way section the fields were covered with Crows and Rooks, this Crow watching from the surrounding trees.

A Chiffchaff was singing from the bare willow branches, but would alternate between the song and call.  It was hard to pin down to start with, keeping with in the branches and giving brief views.

But eventually came out on the open branches and showed very well.

I carried on down the path with not a lot else around,I did manage to see a male Marsh Harrier over  the reed beds.  Just beyond where the canal crosses the path there is an open space and on the far side there are two sawn tree boughs.  I had seen a Firecrest here the last time I was here and I found it again and it showed very well initially on my side of the canal path.

Then it returned to the other side amongst the holly.

And bracken.

Then came back over to my side and was very close.

Singing.

And a final portrait.

I walked around to the visitor centre to check in and as I walked back towards the west side a flock of six Eider flew past offshore.

Close in to the sea wall a Common Gull.

the view from the meon Shore Hide was disappointing, the water levels as high as they were two weeks ago despite there being no serious rain for the same amount of time.

I didn't spend long in the Meon Shore and walked to the Pumfrett Hide.  Here it was a little better with at least 25 Avocet and a couple of Mediterranean Gulls on the central causeway.

Next I walked to the Spurgin Hide, where I had lunch and waited for the Marsh Harriers, however the first raptor to appear was a Red Kite and for once it came very close to the hide.

It came over the hide and I went outside as it passed overhead.

There were a couple of Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk overhead, with a distant Kestrel hovering over the meadow.  The closest a Marsh Harrier came while I was in the hide was this male.

Then a male and female Shelduck and the male Goosander flew on to the pond, quite an event for this hide.  The male Goosander appears to have latched on to a female Shelduck and follows it around and even protecting it as it chased off a Canada Goose that came too close.

A wing flap after the exchange with the goose.

The Shelduck and the Goosander then flew off and I was able to watch them drop on to what looked like the north scrape.

I decided to walk down to the Pumfrett Hide where the Goosander was quite close to the hide, of course, following and shadowing the Shelduck, the male Shelduck seemingly abandoning her.

For some reason the Black-headed Gulls were not happy with the Goosander's presence and would dive bomb and mob it as it swam around.  The Goosander was prepared to have a go and bared the saw teeth as the gulls swooped over.

Avocet numbers are slowly increasing, today I counted 26on both scrapes.  They were spooked at one time and flew around the scrape.

Coming back to settle on the water.

The Goosander with his Shelduck "mate".

The Goosander is a very smart duck.

A Mediterranean Gull alongside the Black-headed Gull, but who really is the "black-headed" Gull?

Some watery sunshine highlighted the bottle green head plumage of the Goosander.

Along the cause way a sleeping Teal.

And Shoveler.

I decided to walk back to the car park along the canal path.  Out on the beach were Oystercatcher along the tide line as the tide fell, all of a sudden there were alarm calls and the Oystercatchers flew off and above the reason for this was a Peregrine Falcon, the sixth bird of prey of the day.

Looking across the fields from the canal path I noticed a bird in the trees around the Frying Pan.  

I thought it looked like a bird of prey and a closer look revealed a male Sparrowhawk.

Walking back there wasn't any sign of the Glossy Ibis and it was very much, more of the same on Posbrook and Bridge Street Floods. 

Still no spring migrants, but some great views of Firecrest and the Goosander.  It must start soon

6th March - Keyhaven - Lymington Reserve, Hampshire

The good weather continued and over the last few days the temperature has slightly increased to record some of the warmest days of the year.  With bright sunshine and clam conditions it was ideal for a walk around the Keyhaven - Lymington reserve, so Ian and I decided to meet at the sea wall car park in the morning.

While I waited for Ian to negotiate the morning traffic around Southampton, I chased a Chiffchaff part of the way along the Ancient Highway.  It was singing to start with as it caught flies nut the song was more subsong, it then changed to the usual call.

We set off over the Old Tip towards Fishtail Lagoon, as is usually the was a buck Roe Deer was in the marsh at the back of the lagon

Fishtail for once was relatively quiet.  There were Brent Geese in the foreground and at the back of the lagoon Teal, Pintail and Wigeon.  Wader numbers were few as the tide was out, but starting to rise.  We walked to the edge of Keyhaven Lagoon, then turned back and walked around Butts Bay where Dunlin, Ringed Plover and this single Grey Plover were feeding.

A smart drake on the Jetty Lagoon.

We walked to the east along the sea wall past the Jetty and on to Oxey Marsh.  we became quite engrossed in a discussion on the state of the world and were knocked out of it when we were asked by another walker if the bird in the lagoon was a Spoonbill.  It turned out it was and we had completely missed it.

This was an immature bird, told by the pink bill.

A little further along a Greenshank at roost by the side of the bank, taking in the warm sunshine.

A Little Egret stood, sentry like on the grass of Oxey Marsh.

At Slaterns Lagoon a Greenshank was feeding in the west corner.

The walk to Normandy Marsh proved to be a little quiet, but on reaching Normandy there was quite a bit of action from the south side of the lagoon.

There were plenty of Avocet, again probably over fifty and the majority were paired up feeding together with the sweeping motion.

A good view of the feeding action.

So there was feeding, some mating taking place and of course some snoozing.

There were also some fights and for some reason birds would fly from one side of the lagoon to stir things up with a pair.

The Black-tailed Godwits are starting to acquire their summer plumage with several birds showing the brick red plumage that can be quite striking at this time of year.

Unlike at Titchfield adn Hayling Island Mediterranean Gulls do not appear to gather here at Normandy.  There was though a few birds around the marsh and they would announce themselves with their distinctive calls as they flew overhead.

We walked around to the east side scanning the open marsh for any sign of Wheatear, there weren't any.  As we rounded the tip of the east side we could see a Spotted Redshank feeding in a pool quite close to the path, so close in fact, the fence wires were a potential problem.  However we were able to go up the bank a little and then the view was clear.

Along with Greenshank and Avocet this is a very elegant wader found here in the UK.

Ironically, in the next pool to the Spotted Redshank was the other "elegant" wader, the Greenshank.

We decided to settle down and have lunch looking across the lagoon.  There was a group of twelve Spoonbill on an island in the middle and they were in the process of waking up, with one passing over our heads and flying towards Beaulieu.  It caught us unaware, but we were ready for the next one.

The black tips to the wings mean this was an immature bird, however, the black tips add something to the Spoonbill in flight.

With two gone we wondered if the others would leave as well.  We sat watching as they moved around looking restless, but no one left.  We decided to move on and as we reached the corner, looking back the Spoonbill were off, we should have waited a little longer.  First was a group of four.

Then the remaining six.  We watched as they flew along the coast towards Needs Ore.  Interestingly six Spoonbill were reported at Titchfield later that afternoon, it was probably these six birds.

The water levels in Oxey Lake were still low and there were Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwits feeding.  The old dock area allowed us to be able to use as cover to get closer to the godwits, several were looking smart in their summer plumage.

Look left.

Look right.

They looked very smart in the low sunshine.

We walked back along the sea wall looking for the reported Slavonian Grebes, but without any luck.  The only birds seen on the sea were six Red-breasted Merganser, seen at distance.

As we crossed the Old tip a male Marsh Harrier came low over Pennington Marsh and then towards us, only to divert away at the last minute.

Shortly after the male had disappeared away over Fishtail a female came from the same direction but kept quite low, as if using the bushes as cover.

It spent some time around the bushes before coming close but then veering off towards Fishtail Lagoon.

Back a the car park about 100 Golden Plover went up over the marsh, but very little else.  After quite a long walk we decided to call it a day.  Despite the prolonged good weather we were still to find any migrants, hopefully they will start to appear, they must be on the move.