Species Spotlight - Eurasian Sparrowhawk

The Eurasian Sparrowhawk (known as just ‘Sparrowhawk’ in the UK) is a medium-sized bird of prey resident in much of the UK and western Europe. They are adapted for hunting smaller birds using an ambush-style of capture, such as using low hedges as cover, diving over at the last minute to catch an unsuspecting bird. While originally a woodland species, they have adapted very well to gardens where bird tables provide an unintended buffet of feeding birds. Once they have caught their prey, they may hold their wings over it (mantling) to prevent other predators from stealing their catch.

Male Sparrowhawks have bluish-grey backs and wings, and peachy-orange stripes on the breast and belly. They are smaller than the females, and the size of prey reflects this, for example Blackbirds, Starlings or House Sparrows. Females and young have brown upperparts and brown stripes below. Females may take birds up to the size of pigeons.

My most recent sighting was of a female Sparrowhawk that had caught a bird at a roundabout as I was driving on my way to work. As I exited the roundabout I noticed a Sparrowhawk holding its wings over the body of its prey. It was only a fleeting glance, and I hope the bird managed to remove the prey to a safer spot to eat.

I took this photo several years ago in my garden. It does not have the typical peachy underparts of a male, but the grey back indicates that it is. Perhaps it was a youngster still coming into its adult plumage.

Titchfield Haven, September 21st 2024

A fabulous day birding for the September Equinox. The weather was looking good down on the coast, despite overnight rain, so we chose one of our favourite sites - Titchfield Haven. We were particularly keen to visit now that the hides at the western scrapes had reopened after remedial works on the path following some flooding on the site.

We started off at the parking space alongside the beach, where we watched Turnstones fly past and a few Common Ringed Plover sitting on the shingle.

The air was filled with the sound of the Starlings that had gathered on the boat masts and lines at the yacht club.

Common Starlings

Past the harbour we crossed the road to a viewing platform. A woman there pointed out a Snipe on the opposite side of the lagoon. She then asked if I was Suzy! It turned out she was Claire from the LadyBirders group that I’m in, from the Hampshire Ornithological Society. We watched the Snipe and chatted, before my husband, John, pointed out a Water Rail walking down the edge of the reeds near the Snipe. A wonderfully lucky sighting of this species that usually stays hidden.

Water Rail

There were some Black-headed Gulls, Shovelers, Coots and Mallards on the island in the channel between us and the Snipe. Claire also pointed out a Kingfisher as it flew past! I only saw a blue flash!

That’s a Kingfisher flying past the Snipe - honest!

I got talking to a family of adults that arrived and let them use my binoculars to see the Snipe. I pointed out the call of a Cetti’s Warbler - I love hearing these birds, it always takes me back to my walk with Lev Parikian at the London Wetland Centre, where I saw my first one. Listen to that episode here.

After chatting for a while about birding in other countries, and recommending a few episodes of the podcast that they might like to listen to 🙂, John and I walked on to the visitor centre to buy our tickets to the reserve. Nearby were some small birds in the low trees - we spotted Blue Tit, Chiffchaff and a Reed Warbler.

On the way back to the western side of the reserve, we stopped to look over the harbour. It was high tide and Turnstones were lined up on the harbour wall and on the decks of some boats while they waited for the water levels to lower so they could feed again.

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstones

Ruddy Turnstones

Stopping by our car to pick up the scope and rucksack, we noted 4 Sandwich Terns that flew by, calling. These may be the last terns we see this year as most of the tern species are now on their migration south.

We carried on to the entry gate on the western side of the reserve and headed to the Meon hide.

The first bird we saw was a Common Sandpiper feeding just in front of the hide. The sunlight really enhanced the colours of its plumage.

Common Sandpiper

A Moorhen was feeding close by, walking through the mud which was clearly sticky and deep - even for a bird with big feet like the Moorhen.

Looking across the water we could see the Glossy Ibis that had been reported. It was quite far off, but the silhouette was unmistakeable.

Glossy Ibis

John pointed out a few Common Snipe nearby, and the more we looked, the more we saw! I counted 8 in one location, with another 2 on the opposite side of the lagoon.

Common Snipe

Common Snipe - easy to miss as they blend with their surroundings so well

There was a small group of Black-tailed Godwits, two Little Egrets, some Teal and a flock of Lapwings - these last were seen more easily when they were spooked into the air by something. We hoped it might be the Osprey that had been seen earlier that day, but unfortunately not.

Lapwing in flight

We then carried on to the Pumfrett hide further into the reserve which gave us another view of the lagoon, and was slightly closer to the Glossy Ibis and a small group of (mostly snoozing) Black-tailed Godwits. A Dunlin wandered around the Godwits’ legs, feeding and a Grey Heron, two Little Egrets and a Shelduck were close by. 

A young Black-tailed Godwit was feeding nearby on its own and its mottled plumage made us question for a while whether it might have been a Bar-tailed Godwit, but the straight bill eventually persuaded us that it was indeed a Black-tailed Godwit. In any case, it was fairly near to the hide and in good light so I spent some time videoing and photographing it.

Black-tailed Godwit

A large group of Teal were over to one side of the lagoon, along with some Shovelers, Lapwing and Mallards. A Kingfisher made a sudden flyby, calling out sharply as it did so.

The reserve closed at 4pm, so we left and wandered along the footpath outside that led further west, spotting a  Stonechat perched on a small shrub.

Stonechat

A Wren called out nearby but stayed hidden.

Walking back along the promenade we sat on a bench in the sun for a while, drinking coffee from our flask and snacking on muesli bars. Two Carrion Crows wandered around a nearby bench looking for scraps to eat.

Carrion Crows

We continued our walk back towards the harbour and went back to the lookout platform where we had started our day.

New birds for the day here were a Common Gull, Little Grebe, and Gadwall. A Grey Heron sat on the top of the little island, and a Great Cormorant bathed in the water.

Common Gull

Grey Heron

A few small birds flitted around in the scrub, leading us to hope for sightings of Bearded Reedlings, but no such luck. The Cetti’s Warblers called out regularly and we may have caught a fleeting glimpse of one as it flew between foliage.

Wandering back to our car we noted that the tide had gone out. Lots of Turnstones were on the beach, turning stones and seaweed in search of food. We took a short walk along the top of the beach and saw two Goosanders at the entrance to the harbour and a Great Black-backed Gull standing out on an exposed sand spit.

I noticed the Glossy Ibis flying in from the reserve, and watched it make 3 wide circling flights before it landed on the beach.

I was in a really lucky position as it walked towards where I was standing, the evening sunlight lighting up its plumage. Luckily most of the beach visitors had left for the day and the waders were able to feed undisturbed by people or dogs. I watched the Glossy Ibis exploring the rocks and seaweed for food, and I felt very privileged to be able to enjoy such a sight.

Glossy Ibis

GLossy Ibis

During the day I also noted a Speckled Wood butterfly and a Common Darter.

Speckled Wood butterfly

I took so many photos and videos during the day that I was on my 3rd camera battery by the time we decided to leave.

It was a very enjoyable and rewarding day’s birding.

I saw 52 species in total - the trip report can be viewed here.