Spent a few hours this afternoon down the Titchfield Canal Path. Most of the open water was frozen; the canal itself was running free. A small party of Black-tailed Godwits were standing on the ice of the Posbrook Floods. A Common Gull and a few Black-headed Gulls nearby flushed and took the Godwits with them. However I could not see the reason for the birds departure. I found the Godwits twenty minutes later feeding on damp pasture adjacent to the canal.

There were plenty of Tit flocks along the canal but I did not hear a Cetti’s Warbler today. At least seven Common Snipe were seen in the flooded fields near to Hammond’s
Bridge but I would assume ten times that numbers were still concealed in the area. Lapwings were also present in decent numbers.

On the walk back north to Titchfield I came across a splendid male Kestrel perched in a canal side tree.

Steve Copsey