Another early morning start today enabled us to make good progress on the 115-mile journey to Titchfield. Positive news had already reached us as to the continued presence of the Squacco Heron before we had parked the car. As a consequence, many of the birders were returning to the car park as we walked along the canal path. Apparently, the heron had shown well for 30 seconds but had then disappeared back within the reeds. To maximize our coverage of the Floods, Brian walked around to the Eastern edge while I remained on the canal path.
An hour had passed and Brian phoned to make sure I didn't have the bird in view. Just at that moment, the Squacco Heron took flight! Brian was in the right place and quickly replaced his phone with his camera.
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| Squacco Heron |
Another hour had passed and there were no other sightings of the bird, so we left and made our way to Acre's Down. On the walk up to the watchpoint, Tree Pipit's were seen and heard giving me another addition to the year list. From the watchpoint, we had several Goshawks and Common Buzzards plus three Hobby's and a Red Kite. We had a very distant view of a possible Honey Buzzard but the views were not good enough to be confident and will not make the year list.
The highlight of the two-hours came while we were watching a Common Buzzard and a Goshawk flew below it and landed in a tall Pine tree. It didn't stay in the tree for very long but most of the small group of birders managed views of it through my scope.
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