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The sign for Titchfield haven nature Reserve with views over sunlit rushes at the wildlife reserve

Titchfield Haven open day – the halfway point for the Great Coastal Birdwatch

This year’s open day at Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve once again marked the halfway point for the Great Coastal Birdwatch.

Visitors had the chance to explore the reserve’s stunning wildlife and habitats for free, while also taking part in our annual birdwatching celebration.

titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve
As well as the chance to take part in the Great Coastal Birdwatch, this year’s open day was packed with activities. Experts were on hand to help visitors identify birds and understand their behaviours. Binoculars were available to borrow, with rangers offering close-up views through their telescopes.

A flavour of this year’s Titchfield Haven open day

Children enjoyed art and craft activities in one of the hides – colouring, drawing and even making their own binoculars. A kids’ bird trail along the boardwalk added a fun, interactive element to the day.
Children's activities including colouring, and binocular making, laid out in one of the hides
Children's activities including colouring, stickers and binocular making, laid out in one of the hides
Many visitors were locals who had never been inside the reserve before – they’d walked past it, wondering what lay beyond the fence. It was wonderful to welcome so many newcomers, starting out on their birdwatching journey.
Rangers Natalie and Shona talk to members of the public at the Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve. They are standing behind a table with lots of information about birds
Ranger Eloise welcomes visitors at the Titchfield Haven Open Day. She's holding a plastic goose and has lots of information materials on her table. It's a sunny day in autumn with reeds in the background

What makes Titchfield Haven special?

We’re incredibly lucky to have this beautiful reserve on our doorstep. Titchfield Haven is one of around nine National Nature Reserves in Hampshire – Newtown Harbour on the Isle of Wight is the only other coastal National Nature Reserve along the Solent. These special reserves are designated for their national importance to wildlife and habitats, and Titchfield Haven is no exception.

Wildlife you might spot at Titchfield Haven includes: teals, migrating from the Baltics and even as far as western Russia; wigeons, from Iceland, Russia, Scandinavia and Ukraine; oystercatchers, with numbers boosted in the winter from more northerly breeding grounds; avocets;  gulls; shelducks; kingfishers; and black-tailed godwits from Iceland.

Find out more about the reserve on the Hampshire County Council website.

 

Male and female wigeon

Wigeon ducks

A teal duck

Teal duck

 

And it’s not just birds – water voles were successfully reintroduced in 2013.

They’re most active from March to September, but you might still spot one in the colder months if you’re lucky.

A water vole peeps out from its hole next to the water

Great Coastal Birdwatch highlights

Kate, who works on our communications, arrived at the start of the open day to do her Great Coastal Birdwatch, greeted by blue skies and golden autumn sunshine.
A woman looks through a telescope on a stand through a bird hide window
Kate looks through one of the rangers’ telescopes to spot birds at the reserve.
From the Meon Shore Hide, she spotted:
An oystercatcher with leucism which means it has much more white in its plumage. It's with a couple of lapwings and gulls, and another oystercatcher with more typical colouring. They are all standing on a raft in water.

Oystercatcher with leucism

A group of lapwing flying

Lapwings in flight

Egyptian goose with rusty coloured head, neck and breast, a rust coloured patch over its eyes, a large white patch on its upper wing.

Egyptian goose

A marsh harrier flies through reeds with dark wing tips and a tawny body

Marsh harrier

She just missed a visit from a marsh harrier, which stirred up a flurry of activity among the other birds – just like last year!

Later, Kate passed dozens of turnstones in the marina, along with swans, more black-headed gulls, more coots, and seven mallards. Out on the sea, she saw fifty or more dark-bellied brent geese, chuntering on the water.

Brent geese on the water

Brent geese on the water

Have you taken part yet?

The Great Coastal Birdwatch runs until Sunday 2 November – have you joined in? Don’t forget to share your sightings via the Great Coastal Birdwatch data collection site.