Wednesday 31st July 2024: Hampshire Birding

On a beautiful sunny morning, we set out at 7AM for Hampshire, aiming to beat the heat of the day.

Our first location was Farlington Marshes, a lovely reserve just off the A27 adjacent to Langston Harbour and offering a range of habitats with scrub and grassland, pools, scrapes, ditches and reedbeds. The tide was high, so few birds were around the harbour, but instead there were plenty of waders pushed up onto the pools. 

As we entered the reserve, a Green Woodpecker took flight  from the grass and a Greenfinch sang from the top of a scrubby  bush. The scrubland was surprisingly quiet overall, but should fill up with autumn migrants in the coming weeks. 

We followed the circular walk around the reserve, and spent some time scanning the pool from the harbourside path. There were good numbers of Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits at varied stages of moult resting here, with a smattering of busy Dunlin, a cluster of smart Oystercatchers, a few Grey Plover, still sporting black bellies and bold markings and a single Greenshank plus Common Sandpiper. The water levels were relatively high, apparently due to high rainfall and a broken sluice gate. This is often a good site for Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint, but they are unlikely in these conditions. Coot appeared to have had a good breeding season with smaller numbers of Moorhen. Around half a dozen Little Grebe were also seen here together with a few Tufted Ducks and Mallard.

Continuing along the path, we found good numbers of Curlew and another cluster of Grey Plover at rest on the last vestiges of saltmarsh, until a couple of canoeists came too close and they all took flight. A flock of several hundred Starlings moved constantly around the reserve, alternating between foraging at the water margins and settling in bushes and on the fence lines. Good numbers of Grey Heron and Little Egret were around the reserve, making use of damp grassland and muddy scrapes. A single Great White Egret was also seen.

From the eastern tip, we could just make out a solitary Turnstone and Ringed Plover, clinging to a small island. A few Great Crested Grebes in non-breeding plumage swam in the harbour and although a variety of regular gulls were about, we were surprised not to find any terns.

Around the reedbeds we had great views of a burbling Reed Warbler and a singing Sedge Warbler , but sadly failed to pin down any Bearded Tits, with some birds seen inf light and dropping down into the distant reeds, but moving too fast and distantly to confirm an ID. Beside the path, a dead tree drew in Swallows, Meadow Pipit, Linnet and Goldfinch, which all posed obligingly for Tim and his camera! Arriving at the back end of the pool we added a few Avocet and decent numbers of Greenshank. Several young Shelduck loafed on the grassy bank.

By now temperatures were rising as we approached noon, and returned to the car. From here we drove on to our next destination, the reserve at Titchfield Haven. This was somewhat disappointing as the western side was closed for repair work to the bridge, meaning there was no access to the scrapes or scrub lined path which were most likely to be productive at this time of year, The eastern hide overlooking the river was also closed. On the plus side, this meant entry was free! 

There were good numbers of Common Tern around the reserve and flying back and forth over the sea. In the harbour, a single female Goosander was found amidst a gathering of  Mallards and Turnstones. We visited Meadow Hide and from here were able to observe Cormorants roosting in the trees and a Spoonbill ‘spooning’ in the river amongst the cattle. A young Sparrowhawk could be heard calling from a tall tree, but we were unable to locate this from the woodland path. Returning to the car park, we scanned the tern flock at Hill Head, but other than a Mediterranean Gull were unable to add any new species.

We had managed almost fifty species for the day, so a worthwhile outing, and with the intense heat, we were glad to call it a day mid-afternoon and head for home.

Swallow

Linnet

Reed Warbler