Received a text late afternoon from Richard Ford informing me that he had just seen a Tree Sparrow at the Haven visitor centre. Many Thanks Richard. This would be a new Hants tick for me and Tony so after giving him a bell I was on my way. I was parked up and staring into Barry Duffins garden 10 minutes later. The views of the feeders were not so good to say the least so I popped up onto the balcony with Dave Wallace. From this vantage point we could see part of the garden but very little in the way of birds. I am sure things could have been made easier! After another ten minutes or so I spied a few Sparrows flitting away from the garden towards the café garden. I followed them just to check. Literally the second bird I saw was a Tree Sparrow, in among around 20 House Sparrows. Geoff Jones also got on it but it remained very shy skulking at the back of the scrub. I then had another view and the lads who were keeping an eye on the garden came over. After a few minutes we had all enjoyed half decent views of the Hants Mega. A little time later the bird eventually came out into the open to feed on blackberries. The shutters were going crazy. In fact the Haven chef popped out to see what huge insect had been caught in his UV. The Tree Sparrow then moved away in company with the Houses back towards Barry’s garden. Fortunately it did pop back to the café area later. Tree Sparrow, Titchfield Haven, 17 Sep 2009

Tree Sparrow, Titchfield Haven, 17 Sep 2009

Tucking into the Blackberries

A great bird for the reserve. Thanks to Barry for releasing the info and for allowing birders onto his reserve.

Steve Copsey