1st December - South West Hampshire.

The beginning of December over the last few years has seen a cold snap have everyone dreaming of a white Christmas and a hard winter.  This year has been no different, the last few days seeing temperatures below freezing over night and very cold through the day.  The forecast for Friday looked ideal, sunshine and calm winds, cold, yes but at this time of year the light can be wonderful.

As a result I opted to journey down to the south west of the county, starting at Lower Pennington Lane.  As I arrived I could see that the open water on Pennington Marsh was frozen, while a Marsh Harrier was hunting along the footpath over the Old Tip.  I soon realised I had under estimated the weather, the first cold snap of the year, and hadn't got enough layers.  I set out across the Old Tip towards Fishtail, the sun already up but with a fair amount of low cloud over the Isle of Wight.

Over the Old Tip birds were looking for vantage points to warm up in the morning sun.  Here a flock of Linnet.

On reaching Butts Lagoon the sun was sending glorious golden light across the reeds and water of the lagoon.

It was much the same at Butts Bays, stunningly beautiful.

I had been hoping the water on Fishtail would be calm and still but it was far from it with ripples whipped up by the cold north easterly breeze.  Pintail were in the area of the island that usually would be visible, but all the recent rain has raised the water levels.

This drake looking alert

And eventually took off.

A pair 

There were at least three Marsh Harriers quartering the area at the back of Fishtail and over Efford Lake.  I decided to walk on, heading east towards Normandy Marsh, I could hear Bearded Tit calling in the reeds and there were at least two Chiffchaff calling from the base of the reeds.

As I walked to the corner of Butts Bay I was aware of it being very cold and already my fingers were not working!  For it to warm up, it needed the sun to clear the fog that was hanging over the Isle of Wight

The shards of light that were coming through were not helping at all, it was freezing in the north east wind.

A pair of Raven flew past me and a little further along I could hear them calling and realised that they were in a bust up with a Fox.  It was not clear if the Ravens stole food from the Fox or the Fox tried to take from the Ravens, what was clear was that the Fox retreated and left the two Ravens together.

Looking back at the Raven.

Moving on

One final check

At Oxey I was surprised by a male Stonechat that appeared in front of me.

The tide was rising fast and there were waders in the pools looking for roost sites, this single Dunlin on Oxey Marsh, reminded me of the discovery of the Semi-Palmated Sandpiper a few years ago in the same place.

Teal roosting in what sunshine there was on Oxey.

A drake Wigeon crossing the lagoon.

Just before Normandy this Grey Heron was in the ditch alongside the path.  I particularly liked the dark background.

Coming around on to Normandy Marsh a Spoonbill was asleep on one of the islands.

A Meadow Pipit in the Bramble.

A Spotted Redshank and a Greenshank were feeding close to the fence on the west side of the lagoon.  I concentrated on the Greenshank first and of course the Spotted Redshank flew off.

Clearly an escaped bird from a collection somewhere, as these birds hail from Central Asia, but it was nice to see the Bar-headed Goose on one of the islands in the middle of the lagoon.

There were plenty of paired Pintail on the lagoon, but a group of five males were chasing a single female around the lagoon.  Here three or two tackle the female, it could be one of the males is already her mate.

Then all five with the female.

The two red head Goosander were still present and at one point were chased off by a male Red-breasted Merganser considered them coming too close.  It was also nice to see a female Goldeneye.

Avocet roosting on the lagoon.

Heading back I stopped to look back across Oxey Lake.  I picked up a Kingfisher that flew to the sluice.

On reaching Salterns pond, a Spotted Redshank was in the usual spot in the north west corner of the pond.

I was distracted by a huge flock of Brent Geese coming over from the Pennington Area.

Back to the Spotted Redshank and I decided to drop down from the sea wall to get a more eye level view but the Spotted Redshank became aware of me.

Such an elegant wader.

Then a flap of the wings before it flew off calling.

I walked on at the other end of Salterns there was a Roe Deer on the bank.

The Spotted Redshank had settled in the corner too, and this time I could get to eye level to photograph it.

A Pintail close on Jetty Lagoon was the main interest on Pennington Marsh.

In the field alongside the car park there was a small group of Golden Plover amongst the Lapwing and Canada and Grey-lag Geese.

I walked along the Lane to view the marsh, there were good numbers of Dunlin using the field along with several Snipe and Lapwing.  This Lapwing close to the hedge.

On leaving I stopped at the bend where some more Golden Plover were standing on the ice.

Here with two Dunlin.

Lovely colour in the midday sunshine.

I was now off to Barton-on-sea, I still needed Purple Sandpiper for the year.  The usual site at Southsea Castle was currently a construction site and very difficult to see them.  Over the past few years there have been good numbers on the groynes below the cliffs at Barton, so I decided to give it a go.

The Beach at Barton

It was a case of searching the Groynes so I set off, heading east.

Not a Purple Sandpiper but nice views of this Rock Pipit, not a bird I photograph that often.

And another nice male Stonechat.

The third groyne was successful, I found one sandpiper, and was able to clamber into a place where I could watch.  This was the scene.

The Purple Sandpiper fed amongst the green seaweed on the rocks.

As usual not too far away from the crashing waves.

And they showed some amazing dexterity as they scramble over rocks that were almost a sheer face, the Purple Sandpiper using the green seaweed to provide grip.

Great views of three birds on the rocks.

You get a sense of the "purple2 nature of the plumage.

Finishing with some classic Purple Sandpiper poses on the rocks above the sea.

It wasn't as cold at Barton as it was earlier, but I was cold, so I decided to leave the birds and made my way back to the car.  Despite the cold, which I thought would ruin the day, I had been successful with some great shots.  I made a mental note to make sure I wrapped up on my next trip, the cold spell meant to last through the weekend.