A Greater Yellowlegs had been
a very erratic visitor to Titchfield Haven for quite some time but this week
its visits had suddenly become more predictable and as David needed it, Ken,
Roger and myself made the trip with him.
As we approached Southampton
there had been no news of the legs and so we decided to go to Chessel Bay as a
Bonaparte’s Gull had been seen again this morning. We had come through some rather dismal
weather but it was dry as we parked but as we walked through a wood and along
the shoreline there was some light drizzle.
We joined several other birders who were watching the bird on a distant
exposed mud bank. It was a first-year bird
and was with several summer plumaged Black-headed Gulls and being the only
immature it was easy to locate. It was
noticeably smaller than the nearby Black-headed Gulls and the ear-spot seemed
more prominent than expected on a first-year Black-headed Gull. The bill was dark and appeared slighter than
the Black-headed Gulls and in flight the wing pattern whilst similar to a
first-year Black-headed Gull appeared to contrast a little more. We watched the bird for a good thirty minutes
but as it appeared quite settled and the rain began to increase we left for
Titchfield Haven.
Although it was only about
twelve miles between the sites it took quite some time to reach Titchfield
Haven as the speed limit was mainly thirty and the roads were quite busy. On arrival we parked alongside the road
overlook an area where the Greater Yellowlegs had been seen over the last few
days. However all we saw was a single
Black-tailed Godwit and on checking in the centre there had been no reports of
the legs. We went back to the car to
view the area hoping it might drop on and whilst sitting in the car sheltering
from the rain a party of eighteen Black-tailed Godwits dropped in. The legs had apparently been associating with
godwits over the last few days and our hopes were raised but the godwits were
all that dropped in. Whilst scanning the
area we did see a Little Egret and a couple of Oystercatcher and there were a
few Swift over the reserve. As I walked
back to the centre there was a single Turnstone at the mouth of the River Meon
but as time progressed are hopes faded.
David then picked up a first-summer Mediterranean Gull that obligingly
flew over the reserve for several minutes before dropping onto one of the
scrapes. We had agreed that we would
give it until 13:00 before we called it a day and headed off home. As 13:00 approached David got out of the car
to change his shoes and whilst doing so another birder walked up saying the
legs had been found and was on view from Suffern Hide. David quickly changed back into his boots and
after paying our entrance fee we were taking the short walk to the hide. I was surprised to find the hide quite full
when we arrived but we did manage to use our scopes and view the bird, which
was preening just behind a bush. After a
few minutes it flew and joined several godwits that were feeding further out
and we were able to get some reasonable views.
After short while feeding, the godwits and the legs got up and flew down
stream and disappeared from view. We
quickly left the hide and made our way back to the road and found the bird
feeding the area we had spent most of the time viewing. It was now much closer and I managed to get
some photos of it before it flew back up stream.
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs with Black-tailed Godwit
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Success at last but with the
weather still not particularly good we set off home with the intention of
stopping at Greenham Common to break the journey.
We arrived at Greenham Common
at about 14:50 where the weather had improved significantly. Bird wise we heard a Garden Warbler and saw
two Whitethroats, a male Stonechat and three Tree Pipits in the forty-five
minutes we were on site. We also saw Dingy
and Grizzled Skippers and a Common Blue as well as a Treble-bar moth.
The old silos on Greenham Common
The traffic was pretty bad
from about Didcot and we eventually decided to come of the A34 and head across
country, which wasn’t any quicker but at least we were able to keep moving and
arrived home at 18:55 after a successful day’s birding.
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