Birding in black and white at Titchfield Haven

Over the course of the weekend I have made a couple of visits to the Haven, for no other reason than to enjoy the present spectacle of breeding gulls and waders. There is also the long-staying Greater Yellowlegs which is always worth a look if its showing, but I don't tend to seek it out if its not. As well as the breeding birds there are always plenty of other species on hand and this weekend there were Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Redshank and a couple of marauding Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Single Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint have also been seen this week and over the weekend, but I didn't manage to catch up with either.

Whilst walking around it was evident that the majority of the birds I was watching were mainly black and white, well at least it appeared like that, so I thought I would theme this post on them. My first species is Pied Avocet. This year is providing to be a good one for Avocets, with at least 14 nests on the south scrape. This species has to be a favourite of many a birder; they are elegant and very distinctive with their black and white markings. The upturned bill is perhaps the most distinctive feature, perfectly designed for sweeping from left to right as they feed. They are often feeding just in front of the hides giving excellent views and the first chicks of they year on the south scrape were a welcome sight, let's hope the evade the Lesser Black-backs.

Pied Avocet - There are at least 14 pairs on the scrape this year and truly black and white bird

Another Pied Avocet

The Black-headed Gull colony at the Haven is doing very well, I haven't bothered to count them but there are loads. Within the colony there are a couple of pairs of Mediterranean Gulls and it is this species that is my next black and white species. The hood on a Med gull is jet black and contrasts with the white neck and underparts, there is of course the light grey back/mantle, but I won't dwell on that. The image below clearly shows the brown hood of the Black-headed Gull in comparison with the black hood of the Med, somebody clearly got it wrong when they named Black-headed Gull.

Adult Mediterranean Gulls (one sitting on the nest behind the other). Its jet black hood contrasts with the white neck and underparts as opposed to the Black-headed Gulls with their brown hoods - who on earth came up with Black-headed for this species

A Northern Lapwing was feeding, whilst protecting its two chicks just in front of the hide on the north scrape. Another distinctive species with its dark olive green back but black bib, crown and face mask, so this is my next black and white species. Its crest is also black and curls up in the opposite direction to the Avocet and is longer on the male. 

Lapwing - ok not really black and white, but more dark olive green and white, but it does have black on it!

My next species was Greater Yellowlegs, not a black and white species at all really, more grey and white, but has showed so well this weekend that I just had to include some images. Now that it has come into some plumage there are some black centres to some of the feathers on the back, so I think I can just about get away with including it. The bird seems to have got into a bit of a pattern now, when the river is high it moves up to the Posbrook flood, but as more mud becomes exposed on the river it moves back down. Occasionally it visits the scrapes but those visits are more sporadic.

Greater Yellowlegs - Definitely not black and white, more grey and white, but is its summer plumage it does have black centres to feathers on the mantle

Greater Yellowlegs

As I left the reserve and headed back to my car I noticed the almost resident Black Swan in the harbour. An all black bird, except that is for the red bill, but when sat next to a Mute Swan there was a very black and white scene. There were two Black Swans when I was at the Haven the other day, I don't think anyone has any idea where they have come from but they are an interesting addition to the harbours avifauna.

Two Swans, one Black and one White (Black Swan and Mute Swan)

Gulls in Flight at Walpole Park, Gosport

This morning a team of us went to Walpole Park in the hope of catching some Black-headed Gulls. From my previous posts about the site you may have gathered that the gulls there are very tame, and so we have decided to try and catch and colour-ring some birds. Rather than setting up our own scheme, we are piggy-backing of another scheme in Hampshire for Black-headed Gulls, but also have a handful of Mediterranean and Common Gull colour rings, just in case we manage to catch any of them. Today we failed to catch any gulls, although a Herring Gull toyed with us for a while, before flying off. We did however ring three Mute Swans, a ringing tick for each of the three trainees present.

Whilst hanging around at the site I decided to have another play with my new camera, and in particular try it out on birds in flight. When using my camera I tend to use it on manual and use auto ISO. For all of the images below I used 1/500th of a second shutter speed and an aperture of 5.6, wide open on my Canon 400 f5.6. This morning it was overcast and dull and the camera was selecting an ISO of between 200 and 800. There were four species of gull present, but as I mentioned earlier the Herring Gull was hanging around by the net and so I didn't get a chance to photograph that one; the others were Common Gull, Black-headed Gull and of course the ever present Ring-billed Gull.

Ring-billed Gull
This adult winter Ring-billed Gull has always been very approachable, so much so that I don't think I have taken many flight shots of it. The series of shots below shows very clearly the small white window in the black wing tip, which is one of the ID features.

I know, not a flight shot but thought I would include it anyway, this must be the most photographed Ring-billed Gull in the country.

Common Gull
Another adult winter bird, note the size of the white window on this bird, and how much larger it is than the Ring-billed it is.

Black-headed Gull
The images below are all again adult winter birds, hopefully I will have some pictures of these in the hand soon.

Bunny Meadows Revisited...Again - November 2014

Having been confined to the office for most of the week, it was nice to be out in the fresh air again today. I must apologise if there is a feeling of deja vu with this post, but as the tide was rising when I ventured out, I headed down to Bunny Meadows again. It was about two hours off high tide when I arrived so there was still some intertidal visible, and wading birds were starting to accumulate on and around the small islands. However, it was not a wader that first caught my eye but a tern, a Sandwich Tern. Occasionally this species does winter in Hampshire, particularly in Langstone Harbour and around Hayling Island. Time will tell whether this bird stays for the winter, or was just a late migrant.

Sandwich Tern - Bunny Meadows

With the tide pushing up I was able to get some nice views of the hundreds of birds present and continue to test out my new camera. Dunlin was by far the most numerous species with over 600 birds present, Grey Plover next with 35. Four of the Grey Plovers were colour-ringed, probably by Pete Potts, so will hopefully be able to let you know the details soon. It was interesting to note that all four of the colour-ringed birds used the same staging point, before moving onto the main roost; presumably they feel like they all have something in common.

Grey Plovers - Bunny Meadows

The other wader species present were Eurasian Curlew (5), Common Ringed Plover (3), Oystercatcher (3), Common Redshank (9) and one Red Knot. 

Common Redshank - Bunny Meadows

The Eurasian Wigeon has to be amongst my favourite ducks and there were just shy of 50 birds on the marsh. Disturbance levels were much lower at Bunny Meadows during this visit and the wigeon were much more chilled out. As well as the wigeon, around 30 each, Eurasian Teal and Dark-bellied Brent Geese were also present.

Eurasian Wigeon - Bunny Meadows

Eurasian Wigeon - Bunny Meadows

Several Ruddy Turnstones were doing what they do, turning stones and chattering away to each other. One of these birds was also colour-ringed, again probably a bird ringed by Pete Potts. I have recorded a colour-ringed turnstone here before, but this bird was not that bird, so once again will let you know the info when I find out.

Ruddy Turnstone - Bunny Meadows

As the tide continued to rise the Dunlin started to move around in tight flocks seeking out the last remaining patches of mud. Although there were only 600 birds it is always a pretty spectacular sight to see flocks of waders wheeling around.

Dunlin - Bunny Meadows

Dunlin - Bunny Meadows

Dunlin - Bunny Meadows

Once the waders had settled down to roost I started to head back to the car. A Great Cormorant had settled on one of the rails, using the late afternoon sun to dry its wings, and I took advantage of the the tame Black-headed Gulls to further test out my new camera.

Cormorant - Bunny Meadows

Black-headed Gull - Bunny Meadows

A Firecrest, Redwing and another American Gull - October 2014

This mornings ringing session was a very sedate affair, with only 18 birds ringed of nine species, and of those half were re-traps. But amongst the new birds there was some quality in the form of our first Firecrest and Redwing of the year. The Redwing was the first that I had heard this autumn, and given that we had another eight flying over the ringing area, there had clearly been an arrival.

Redwing, Titchfield Haven - October 2014

The Firecrest was a real cracker, as of course they always are, this bird we aged as a juvenile due to the pointed tail feathers, and a male by virtue of the amount of orange in the crown.

Juvenile Male Firecrest - Titchfield Haven

Juvenile Male Firecrest - Titchfield Haven

This was the 25th Firecrest to be caught at the Haven, the first was in 1982 and the second in 1988, with the remaining 23 caught between 2000 and 2014. Despite the status of this species as a breeder in Hampshire and regularity with which it occurs along the Hampshire coast in winter, its occurrence remains unpredictable at the Haven, as demonstrated below.

During the ringing session the other species captured were Cetti's Warbler, Robin, Blackbird, Wren, Reed Bunting, Blue Tit and a female Blackcap. A Brambling, several Linnets and Goldfinches were recorded passing over.

I have recently been given permission to ring at Walpole Park in Gosport, and will be hoping to catch and colour-ring Black-headed, Common and Mediterranean Gulls at the site. After ringing I nipped down there to see how many birds were present and how they were behaving. There were around 100 Black-headed Gulls present, a few Herring and a Common Gull.

Adult Winter Black-headed Gull - Walpole Park

Adult Winter Herring Gull - Walpole Park

Of course the star attraction at Walpole Park over the last 12 winters has been the Ring-billed Gull. It had arrived back on 26th October, and had already taken up residence in its usual place. As interesting as it would be to catch this bird, colour ring it, and see where it goes during the summer, I will not be making any attempts to catch it.

Adult Winter Ring-billed Gull

Mute Swans and Canada Geese also make the most of the food on offer at Walpole Park and whilst I was there I found three that were ringed. One bird had an orange colour ring, whereas the other two had just metal rings. The swans are so approachable that it is easy to read the ring numbers, and take close up photos. I will let you know where they are from when I find out the details.

Adult Mute Swan - Walpole Park

Adult Mute Swan wing feathers.

Bunny Meadows and Curbridge - August 2014

The autumn migration is in full swing now and as I had a day off I decided to spend at least parts of the day birding a few local sites in the hope of finding some migrants. I started at Bunny Meadows around mid morning to coincide with the high tide, as this is usually a good site for waders. As I arrived it was just off high tide and a few waders and gulls were taking advantage of the last remaining areas of intertidal, whereas others were already roosting on the vegetated Islands.

Black-headed Gull - Bunny Meadows

Black-headed Gulls were the most numerous gull species with 104 present, Great Black-backed (3) and Herring (7) were also present but only in small numbers. At this time of year the islands are well vegetated and some waders were making the most of this cover, whilst others roosted on patches of bare mud. Black-tailed Godwits were the most numerous wader species present with at least 148 birds present.

Black-tailed Godwits - Bunny Meadows

Most of the godwits present were adults and moulting into their winter plumage but there were also a few juveniles present too. 

Black-tailed Godwits - Juvenile in middle and adults

As well as the godwits there was also a good selection of other waders present. Curlew (2), Redshank (5), Dunlin (1), Turnstone (1), Ringed Plover (24) and a Whimbrel were the species that I found, but some were difficult to identify in the tall vegetation.

Two Ringed Plover and Dunlin - Bunny Meadows 

Whimbrel - Bunny Meadows

I continued past the islands to the remains of the old causeway, another good bird roosting location. There were good numbers of waders here too, with Redshank (60), Black-tailed Godwit (2), Greenshank (2), Oystercatcher (5), Lapwing (5) and Grey Plover (5) present. Two of the Grey Plovers were adults and three were juveniles, one of the adults had colour rings on its legs, and eventually it put both legs down so I could get the combination. The bird was ringed at Hamble Point by Farlington Ringing Group in January 2009, the subsequent sightings are provided below the image.

Grey Plovers - Both adults, with one bird colour-ringed (see inset) - Bunny Meadows

First Ringed        02-Jan-09 Hamble Point, Southampton Water, Hampshire, S England
Resighted           26-Dec-11 Bunny Meadows, Warsash, River Hamble, Hampshire, S England
Resighted           27-Dec-11 Bunny Meadows, Warsash, River Hamble, Hampshire, S England
Resighted           18-Nov-12 Bunny Meadows, Warsash, River Hamble, Hampshire, S England
Resighted           18-Nov-12 River Hamble, Hampshire, S England
Resighted           16-Sep-13 Hook Links scrape, Hook-with-Warsash, Southampton Water, Hampshire, S England
Resighted           04-Feb-14 Bunny Meadows, Warsash, River Hamble, Hampshire, S England
Resighted           22-Aug-14 Bunny Meadows, Warsash, River Hamble, Hampshire, S England

With the tide now dropping fast my next stop was Curbridge, further up the Hamble Estuary. Curbridge has been good to me in recent weeks and today was no exception. I started at the Horse and Jockey pub entrance and immediately picked up three Common Sandpipers and a couple of Kingfishers. There were small numbers of Curlew (2) and Whimbrel (2) and a handful of Little Egrets (5). There were at least 600 gulls present on the intertidal, which is not unusual, but the fact that at least 287 of them were Mediterranean Gulls was astonishing. Flocks of several hundred post breeding Mediterranean Gulls often form on the arable fields around Titchfield Haven, but I have never seen this many at Curbridge before. One of the adult birds had a green colour ring on its left tarsus, but unfortunately it was too far away to see if any letters were on it.

Mediterranean Gulls, Adults and Juveniles and Black-headed Gulls - Curbridge

Back on the Patch - August 2014

I had a couple of hours spare this morning and so headed down to Curbridge for a spot of patch birding. As I got out of the car and headed down the track towards the river I noticed an odd shaped raptor with pale underparts circling, and a second raptor beneath it. I quickly got my bins onto the top bird and to my surprise it was a Honey Buzzard, which was being seen off by a Common Buzzard. I had the wrong lens on my camera, plus the bird was back lit and distant, but I managed to get a record shot. The distinctive pigeon shaped head and bulging secondaries are evident in this photo, and the large gap between the outermost bar and the next suggest that this bird was a male.

Honey Buzzard

I continued on down to the river, checking the meadow for grasshoppers and crickets on the way. Meadow, Field and Common Green grasshoppers were abundant and nearer the river Short-winged Conehead nymphs were present. The tide was just dropping so gulls and waders were starting to appear. At first there were just a couple of Herring Gulls, and around 20 Black-headed Gulls, but as the water levels dropped a Lesser Black-backed and several Mediterranean Gulls dropped in. The Meds were of mixed ages, juveniles, 2nd summer and adult, all of them were in moult to some degree and some were now almost in their winter plumage. 

Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls plus Little Egret and Canada Geese 

The Black-heads too were moulting and the last remnants of their brown (I know odd name but there you go!) summer hoods was just about visible. The best place to stand and watch the gulls is usually at the northern end of the estuary, by the sewage works; as the tide drops they gather their to bath. Unfortunately there were a few kayakers on the river today so the birds were finding it difficult to settle.

Black-headed Gull moulting out of its summer plumage

There were three Little Egrets feeding along the waters edge, and a young Shelduck flew past and headed upstream. Three Curlew suddenly appeared, presumably from the roost down stream as did a single Greenshank. I have been seeing two Greenshank on the estuary for a while now so I guess the other one will be around somewhere.

Common Greenshank and Black-headed Gull

I picked up a Kingfisher sat on a fallen tree. I had been hearing them call but had struggled to pick one up, from the sounds of it there were two birds present but I couldn't find the other. A flock of 70 Starlings was quite notable and potentially evidence of a good breeding season, and Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Blue and Great Tits were all present in the woods.

Common Kingfisher - Curbridge

The numbers and diversity of butterflies was quite poor with Peacock, Small White, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper the only species recorded. Just as I was about to leave a Banded Demoiselle flew past, which was an interesting record for the site.