Trip reports

Titchfield Haven

Monday, 8 June 2009

For our last Sunday outing before the summer break we choose the Hampshire Council reserve at Titchfield Haven. The heavy rain overnight passed and the three group members that decided to go were blessed with dry sunny conditions that were ideal for bird watching. We were please to see a red kite on the journey, alongside the A3 approaching the South Downs. On arrival we scanned the Solent. This was completely devoid of bird life, perhaps due to the number of sailing vessels at sea. All that could be found were three cormorants resting on a buoy further up river. In the small harbour there were numerous mallards and mute swans all waiting for bread to be thrown to them. One duck was slightly different. It was a whistling duck that was a well know escapee. Not to be added to the list! In the reserve the first port of call is an outlook over the grassy marsh leading onto the river Meon. This gave us excellent views of a whitethroat. On the river there were nesting black-headed gulls with a single nesting oystercatcher sharing one of the manmade nesting platforms. We continued through the reed beds where both sedge and reed warbler could be heard and a sedge warbler was seen. Also present were cetti's warblers, heard calling plus linnets, wren as well as both blue and great tits. There are three hides that overlook a series of shallow lakes. These were teaming with activity. There were so many individual birds and cute fluffy babies that we needed time to sort out all the different species. The most numerous were the black-headed gulls with many baby chicks on the small islands. Avocets and their chicks were active feeding in the shallower water. The moorhen chicks were tiny as were the shelduck family. Canada geese had families of goslings that dutifully followed their parents around the lakes. Other birds seen were coot, common tern, sandwich tern and breeding lapwing. At the third hide a roost of black-tailed godwit was present and a pair of redshank had a single chick. In the afternoon we visited the other side of the reserve. Here we found greenfinch, great crested grebe, herring gull and lesser black-backed gull from the first hide. Finally we added chiffchaff, skylark, buzzard, woodpigeon, collared dove and buzzard by the end.