A Whiskered Tern at Titchfield Haven in May of 2020 was the only twitch that year under COVID restrictions and, at the time, was my first Hampshire and UK tick since the previous autumn's Eastern Olivaceous Warbler at Farlington.
News broke of another Whiskered Tern, this time at Fishlake Meadows, and I took until its third day before I drove over for a peek. It's only a 35-40 minutes drive and there was surprisingly little traffic on the motorway. The advised parking in a residential street was plentiful and just a few yards walk to one of two 'viewpoints'. I was expecting some sort of panoramic view from a mound but found two small areas, each large enough for only 6-7 people and, being last to arrive, found myself standing on a dirt slope and holding onto branches in order to remain upright! Luckily the guy next to me shared his scope and good but distant views were in the bag almost immediately.
A brief walk along the canal produced decent views of a slightly scruffy Sparrowhawk but little else. A local lady out with her infant daughter chatted and told me a bit about the reserve and the surrounding housing development.
Returning for seconds of the tern, this time at the other viewpoint, I bumped into Mark (Titchfield and PB) and we chatted along with with a few other people for a while as the tern was perched up on a dead tree and pretty inactive for a long time. The supporting cast were plenty of adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Greylags, Grey Herons, a single Great White Egret (although two were seen earlier) and a few Great Crested Grebes including one pair with a mid-sized youngster. Sadly no Osprey today.
And back home in time for lunch.
