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It was another cool day with a blustery northerly blowing over the reserve. I arrived at Titchfield Haven at around 1pm hoping to come up with some Avocets for my month list and again, I wasn’t disappointed.
The tide was up within the Solent but a quick scan over the sea picked up nothing unusual except for several Common Terns picking up small morsels of food from the surface amongst a good number of Black-headed Gulls. A small flock of Dunlin, most in summer plumage, flew through over the sea, landed briefly on a small exposed island, but didn’t hang around long and flew off east.
From the main road, I scanned the South Scrape and picked out at least four pairs of Avocets. Most were resting but one pair was feeding within the shallow water. The Black-headed Gulls have all but taken over the Tern rafts, leaving the Common Terns to nest on the islands amongst the Gulls. This I also witnessed near Ivy Lake, by Chichester Gravel Pits.
The reserve is closed on Mondays and so I couldn’t get into the hides. There were no sign of any Black-tailed Godwits or Eurasian Teal, which I needed for my month total. Groan! Overhead, Swifts heavily outnumbered all other Hirundines with at least 200+ birds swooping over the reserve. An amazing spectacle. I was hoping, yet again, for a Sand Martin but just a few House Martins were seen.
The strong wind blowing was most uncomfortable so I watched from the car. A male Kestrel flew up just in front of the car and hovered just feet away from me as it struggled to adjust to the buffeting wind. Though my stay was fairly brief, I at least added another month tick to my list.
Unbelievably, over the weekend, a White throated Sparrow was found in Southampton East Docks, near the QE2 berth. However, the bird was frequenting an area of no access, which really did piss me off. So near yet so far! Nationally today, the Black browed Albatross was still being seen from the tiny island of Sula Sgeir, some 40 miles away from the nearest land! But the weekends Calandra Lark on Unst, Shetlands looks as though it has gone. Wish it would reappear on Farlington Marshes instead! Wishful thinking.
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