I had not had a chance to go birding for an age, mainly saving my brownie points for an upcoming trip, but I had the morning spare and there were a couple of local rare's that had been present for some time and I had to go and see them. My greatest success was the Greater Yellowlegs at Titchfield, I had seen this a couple of times before but on both occasions my views were somewhat distant and I came away thinking that these needed to be improved. So when I arrived and the bird was feeding on the Meon and visible from the road I was pleased. The bird showed well for around an hour feeding on crabs and small shrimps in the shallows. The bird is now moulting with many of its wing feathers being replaced but it still looked pretty dapper in its monochrome checked and streaked plumage and those crazy yellow legs.
Greater Yellowlegs - Good views at long last
Greater Yellowlegs with young Shore Crab
Greater Yellowlegs - The bird mainly fed along the shoreline but also waded up to its knees where it frequently fed with a sweeping motion a bit like an Avocet
Back tracking now, I had arrived at Church Norton early in the hope of seeing the Hudsonian Whimbrel that had been present since 9th June, I stupidly forgot to pack my scope but when I picked up a distant Whimbrel and got a nearby birder with a scope onto it that whacking supercilium and dark rump gave the bird away as the Hudsonian Whimbrel. Unfortunately the bird disappeared into a gully and I did not see it again in two hours of waiting. Still, a leucistic Curlew added some interest - again through somewhat distant in the heat haze.
Curlew - A rather odd looking leucistic bird
I then had to pick up my sister from the IOW ferry but had an hour or so to spare so popped into Crockford Bridge to look for some dragonflies.
Beautiful Demoiselle
Beautiful Demoiselle
Southern Damselfly
Southern Damselfly on Marsh St. John's Wort
Keeled Skimmer
Large Red Damselfly
