Titchfield Haven, Hamps

A warm but cloudy day at Titchfield brought quite a few birds! News came to us that an osprey had been around and also a grey phalarope. Along the coast there were ringed plovers and lapwings on the beach and common and sandwich terns wheeling around in the sky. In the reserve we spotted black-tailed godwits, a couple of snipe, a common sandpiper, a very handsome green sandpiper and that one grey phalarope. The phalarope was in winter plumage and I got some great photos!! There were buzzards around, a brief glimpse of a sparrowhawk and an even briefer glimpse of the osprey which rose up above the trees, glided across the horizon and went back down again. Not many ducks around today (other than mallard) but we did get tufted duck and gadwall.
There were still lots of flowers out and about, the best of which was frogbit in the water in front of one of the hides. Lots of bristly oxtongue along the paths and sea purslane, sea-beet and one patch of sea plantain as you got nearer the sea. By a pool next to one of the hides, I spotted redshank (not the bird ), water pepper and celery-leaved buttercups that mingled with the lesser spearwort. You could also see orange balsam there too! Finally there was some shoreweed growing....on the shore and a helleborine (seeding) that was possibly violet helleborine but was almost definately broad-leaved....oh and I saw branched bur-reed, hard rush and common club-rush.
I got good photos of a speckled wood and ruddy darters, but unfortunately, the male southern hawker never landed....

FLOWER OF THE DAY: Frogbit
BIRD OF THE DAY: Grey phalarope
INSECT OF THE DAY: Southern hawker