Last weekend i had the pleasure of taking the car for an MOT. MOTs are usually a concerning matter but i had a hunch it would be OK and it also meant i could go for an amble along the old Titchfield canal. I have been taking the car(s) to Titchfield for a few years now which means i can spend a bit of time birding and taking photographs (weather, subjects and capabilities permitting.) How far i wander depends on how much the car needs mending. On a bad day i can get to Hill Head walk around the reserve and have a coffee - this has been known!
If you know the path and have ambled in Autumn, Winter or early Spring you know Wellies or waterproof walking boots are an almost neccesity. i don't possess the former and have considered purchasuing some just for this MOT walk as i curse my stupidity as i slip and slid amidst massive, deep muddy puddles!
This time however it was glorious. Just a profusion of green foliage amidst the sunshine , stream full of trout of all sizes, butterflies, riverside flowers and birdsong everywhere. As the terrain, shrubbery and trees changed so did the birdsong and sights. In the space of two hours i saw a huge variety of birds including a peregrine falcon (first for me here) storming north through the skies heading up through the valley. It is a fantastic walk, if you are into that sort of thing and birding the walk in late Spring up to Hill Head will provide masses of different birds native and migrant, hirudines, swifts, passerines, waders you name it!
lesser whitethroat
It was good to hear sedge, cetti's and reed warbler within the space of 100yds and i had a great session stalking and phtographing a lesser whitethroat. Swifts, swallows and house martins swooping, aerobatically in the blue sky above the fields. Further along a blackcap belted out a song high up in an old oak matched only by an obliging wren that was seriously giving it some from an exposed branch. No rarities of course just a fantastic summery walk amidst top wildlife.
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