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)

Swanwick Lakes and Manor Farm Country Park

Rob and I had a planned ringing event at the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust's Swanwick Nature Reserve today (15th April) so we decided to check out the area the night before. We were planning to ring in the north-east meadow and had identified some areas that looked good for a net ride and put up some feeders to attract a few birds in. We cut in three net rides with enough space for four 18 metre nets and left each one open for a while. It was a worthwhile exercise as it turned out because we caught 21 birds, eight each Great and Blue Tits, two Wrens, two Marsh Tits and a Robin.

This morning we arrived on site at 05:45, it had been a clear night and was colder than expected. We hoped that there might be some migrants around, but our first bird was one of the residents, a female Great Spotted Woodpecker. The event went very well and the attendees were able to see Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Great Tits and a Goldcrest close up.

Female Blackcap - Swanwick Nature Reserve

After our ringing event had finished Rob headed back with the group to check out the moth trap, whilst I kept an eye on the nets. I continued to catch birds and by the end of the session we had ringed 19 birds, six Great Tits, three Chiffchaffs, two Blackbirds, two Blackcaps and single Great Spotted Woodpecker, Wren, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Marsh Tit and Coal Tit. Over the two sessions we had ringed 40 birds of 12 species so a good quantity and mix or species.

Marsh Tit - Swanwick Nature Reserve

Coal Tit - Swanwick Nature Reserve

Later in the afternoon, I decided to pop down to Manor Farm Country Park for a spot of birding. My intention was to try and find Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, as I had heard them there recently, but at this time of year there is always the chance of something else. As it turned out I stumbled across a Lesser Spot straight away, and so spent the rest of the time generally birding. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were present in good numbers and as I worked my way around the fields I picked up my first Common Whitethroat of the year. I headed into the woods, working my way to were the Lesser Spots bred last year; I did not find them but did find a breeding pair of Marsh Tits hanging around their nest hole.

Marsh Tit - Manor Farm Country Park

After a while I headed to the estuary in the hope of a Whimbrel. It was very busy on the water so the only wader was an Oystercatcher, along with four Little Egrets and a few Black-headed Gulls. I decided to head home and started working my way back to the fields; as I did so a Red Kite drifted overhead, my second patch year tick of the day. I passed the area where the Whitethroat was, it was again in full song but was now only giving brief glimpses. As I approached my car I noticed a chat sat on the barbed wire fence around the overflow car park. I was expecting it to be a Stonechat, which would have been a good bird, but it was in fact an adult male Whinchat, so a truly exceptional bird. It was fairly approachable and perching on prominent places as they do. A cracking bird and my third patch year tick of the afternoon.

Whinchat - Manor Farm Country Park

Whinchat - Manor Farm Country Park

Back at home, I decided to sit in the garden and go through my pictures. I had only been out there a couple of minutes when I heard the distinctive mewing call of a Mediterranean Gull, and there above the garden were two adults. Although it wasn't a patch year tick it was a nice species to end the day on.

Adult Mediterranean Gull

Back Birding on the South Coast of Hampshire

Rainy and breezy conditions put paid to any bird ringing this morning, so instead I took the opportunity for a bit of local birding. The plan was to start at Farlington Marshes to look for the long staying Spoonbill, then to Walpole Park for the Ring-billed Gull, Titchfield Haven, for nothing in particular, but hopefully to see the Marsh Harrier and then finish up back on my patch at Curbridge.

Farlington Marshes
There was a bitterly cold north-westerly breeze, which I had expected but the occasional driving rain I had not, and it made for quite an unpleasant walk around the seawall at times. The tide was high when I arrived, and Dark-bellied Brent, Canada and a couple of Greylag Geese were feeding on the reserve. Duck species were represented in good numbers, with Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and Shelduck all present. The water on the main lake was quite high and as a result there was no wader roost to speak of, a few Redshank, a couple of Snipe and an Avocet was about it. Five Bearded Tits were giving great views whilst feeding in the reed bed right next to the sea wall, and a Reed Bunting perched up briefly before flying off.

Dark-bellied Brent Geese - Farlington Marshes

There must have been well over a thousand brent geese on the marsh, with most of them on the middle marsh. I was scanning through them on the off chance of picking up a Black Brant, I did not find one but did pick up the colour ringed individual below. This is now the third colour ringed brent I have found in the last couple of weeks so will send them off soon to see where they are from.

Colour ringed Dark-bellied Brent Goose - Farlington Marshes

As the tide was dropping, hundreds of waders were leaving their high tide roosts and starting to feed on the intertidal. The majority were Dunlin, but also Knot, Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit and Grey Plovers. A flock of Black-tailed Godwits were roosting on the stream, two of which were colour ringed. Unfortunately, they were both roosting on one leg so I was unable to get a full combination. The stream is where the Spoonbill has been hanging out, but it was not there today. 

Black-tailed Godwit - Farlington

By the time I returned to the seawall the tide had dropped considerably. Waders were feeding all over the intertidal but the highlight was a flock of 47 Avocets, that were feeding in the Broom Channel to the west of the reserve.

Walpole Park, Gosport
My visit to Walpole Park was in the hope of ticking off the Ring-billed Gull for the year. I pulled up and immediately picked it up sat next to the lake. Well, I say lake, but work is currently being carried out on them so both lakes have been drained to leave just mud. Luckily this work hasn't deterred the ring-billed as it was sat in its usual place. I couldn't resist taking a few more pictures.

Ring-billed Gull - Walpole Park, Gosport

Ring-billed Gull - Walpole Park, Gosport

Ring-billed Gull - Walpole Park, Gosport

Titchfield Haven

I didn't stop long at the Haven, just enough time to scan the exposed mud around the seafront and look up the valley for the Marsh Harrier. There was nothing really of note, a few Great-crested Grebes were on the sea, and Teal and Pochard on the river. A Buzzard was perched on a post by the south scrape, looking for an easy meal no doubt. A few hundred gulls were on the foreshore, at least 20 each Common and Herring Gulls, a couple of hundred Black-headed and one Mediterranean Gull.

Curbridge

When I got to Curbridge the tide was low and Little Egrets, Redshank and Greenshank were feeding in the creek by the Horse and Jockey pub. In the main estuary there were another three Greenshank, 11 Redshank and five Curlew. My main reason for going though was to check out the low tide gull roost, as you never know what might drop in. There was a good sized flock present, at least 250 birds, that was made up mainly of Black-headed Gulls, but there was also 67 Common Gulls, four Herring and three Mediterranean Gulls. I have been birding this creek since I was a teenager and had never previously recorded Med Gulls until last year when over 200 were present.. Three times this week I have visited and recorded at least one on each visit. One of the Meds was colour-ringed with a red ring, with white numbers, Unfortunately I could only make out the last two numbers, which were 99, before the whole flock was flushed by a Buzzard.

Common, Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls - Curbridge

Calshot Marshes and Spit - November 2014

This morning I headed to Calshot Marshes and spit with Simon Colenutt in the hope of seeing the Snow Bunting that had been frequenting the area for a few days. It had not been seen since Wednesday, but we decided to go and have a look just in case. Heavy overnight rain delayed our start, but by the time we arrived on site it had cleared through and sun was breaking out. We spent a couple of hours pottering around the area but unfortunately had no luck with the Snow Bunting, there were however plenty of birds around to keep us occupied. 

Several Rock Pipits were feeding around the puddles on the access road, one individual was particularly tame and allowed me to get close enough for some half decent images. A flock of around 20 Greenfinches were feeding on the beach, these were proving pretty flighty and wouldn't settle down. Off shore there were several Cormorants, Great-crested Grebes and a Grey Seal, which was a bit of a surprise.

Rock Pipit, Calshot - November 2014

A good selection of waders were on the marsh including, Dunlin, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Curlew and Oystercatcher.

Two Dunlin, Calshot - November 2014

The tide was going out and in the shallow channels several Little Egrets were feeding, at least six were present. Their energetic feeding style was entertaining to watch and in the glorious sun we spent a few minutes watching and photographing them.

Little Egret, Calshot Marshes - November 2014

Little Egret and Dunlin, Calshot Marshes - November 2014

Fifteen Black-headed Gulls were roosting on the exposed mud, two of them were ringed with metal rings. One bird flew off and we were unable to get the ring number, the other one frustrated us by only allowing us to read half of the ring numbers before it too flew off. Whilst trying to read the ring number on the Black-head an adult Mediterranean Gull dropped in. It settled down and meticulously preened, spending an amazingly long amount of time on its primaries.

Adult Mediterranean Gull preening, Calshot Marsh - November 2014

It never ceases to amaze me how these pure white gulls keep their feathers so clean, especially when they spend much of their time in such dirty environments, this bird looked immaculate when it had finished.

Adult Mediterranean Gull, Calshot Marshes - November 2014

After Calshot we headed to Lepe where we spent most of our time in the small copse and looking over the Dark Water. There was very little of note to report, the highlight being a Firecrest, and couple of Bullfinches and a Coal Tit.

Another Eastern Surprise.....well not really!

With the weather forecast for the weekend looking wet and windy I decided to ring at the Haven this morning (17th October). Unfortunately being a weekday there was no one else free, although Barry did suggest that he might pop by at some stage. With the numbers of birds per session dropping right down now, and the overnight weather conditions not particularly good for a fall, I decided to open all the nets. The first round was as predicted and produced a measly four birds, but as I was approaching the ringing station I heard the distinctive call of a Yellow-browed Warbler. I quickly processed the birds I had and headed out for another round. This time it was slightly better numbers wise, with 13 birds made up of Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Robins, Goldcrests and, yep you've guessed it a Yellow-browed Warbler. I have been watching the bird news over the last couple of weeks and there have been good numbers around the country, so it was not a major surprise to catch one, but they have been proving more that a bit elusive in Hampshire. I think Barry must have a sixth sense as just as I got the bird out of the bag to ring it he appeared around the corner.

Yellow-browed Warbler, Titchfield Haven - October 2014

The bird was in excellent condition, the plumage was immaculate and it was carrying a lot of fat (ESF score of 4). This is only the fourth Yellow-browed the be ringed at the Haven, the first was in 1978, but the last three have been in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Yellow-browed Warbler, Titchfield Haven - October 2014

The tail feathers on this bird were pointed indicating that it was probably a juvenile.

Yellow-browed Warbler tail - October 2014

The session continued with nothing else notable to report and only 37 birds ringed of which five were retraps. The total included 13 Chiffchaffs, five Blackcaps and five Goldcrests, two Robins and single Song Thrush, Blackbird and a lingering Reed Warbler.

A sad looking Goldcrest

After ringing I wandered along the boardwalk looking, and listening for the yellow-browed but there was no sign which was a shame as it would have been nice to see it in the field. 

A quick scan over the beach was also worth while as a mixed flock of gulls were roosting there. The flock included seven Common Gulls, 14 Herring Gulls, 96 Black-headed Gulls and 1 each of Lesser Black-backed and Mediterranean Gull. The Med was sporting a red colour on its left tarsus with the inscription PPP9. A quick look at the colour ringing website here suggests that this bird was ringed in Poland, I will let you know the details when I find out.

Adult Mediterranean Gull with its red colour and the alpha-numeric code PPP9 (honest)

Red-backed Shrike and Mediterranean Gulls - Sandy Point, Hayling Island - September 2014

Back on the 4th September Andy Johnson found a Red-backed Shrike at Sandy Point on Hayling Island. I had been hoping to get down to see it at some point but had been too busy, today (14th September) it was still around and so after this mornings ringing session at Titchfield Haven I headed down to see it. The bird had been frequenting the south-eastern corner of the reserve, and therefore was best viewed from the beach, so that's where I headed. I arrived around midday and the bird was performing well. Occasionally it would drop out of view in a patch of gorse, but most of the time it was sat proud on top of vegetation. At one point it appeared to try and catch one of two Stonechats, but they managed to avoid it.

Juvenile Red-backed Shrike - Sandy Point, Hayling Island

As well as the Red-backed Shrike and the Stonechats, two Northern Wheatears were present and a couple of Dartford Warblers put on a good show.

Dartford Warbler - Sandy Point, Hayling Island

After a while the shrike disappeared, so I began to scan out to sea. In the race just offshore there were a large number of gulls feeding, of which the majority were Mediterranean Gulls. They were fairly close to the shore and so I headed down to the tide line to get a better look.

Adult Black-headed (left), 2nd Winter Mediterranean (middle) and two adult Mediterranean (right) Gulls

There were over 70 Mediterranean Gulls present of different ages, the most numerous being first year birds, a couple of second winters and a good number of adults. Some images of the different ages are below.

First Winter Mediterranean Gull 

Second Winter Mediterranean Gull

Adult Winter Mediterranean Gull

As I sat and watched the Med Gulls several other species dropped in. A juvenile Kittiwake put in a brief appearance, as did a couple of Common Terns followed by a four of five Sandwich Terns, a mixture of moulting adults and juveniles.

Adult Sandwich Tern - Sandy Point, Hayling Island

Juvenile Sandwich Tern - Sandy Point, Hayling Island

Juvenile Sandwich Tern - Sandy Point, Hayling Island

My attention was diverted at one point by two Lancaster Bombers flying east.They were quite far out to sea, but headed in land later for a display in West Sussex, which I was able to watch from a distance.

Lancaster Bombers - Hayling Island

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.