10th December - Titchfield Haven, Hampshire

I had an appointment in the morning but managed to get to Titchfield around lunchtime to meet Ian.  Where yesterday saw the gloom lift as I travelled south, today it stayed grey and dull.  Walking around to the visitor centre at Titchfield it didn't feel like a day for photography, but anything can happen here.

The tide was out and there were many gulls on the exposed beach and I found in amongst the Black-headed Gulls a single Sandwich Tern.

I met Ian in the Meon Shore Hide.  The water levels were down and all the islands were showing well.  There were seven Snipe on the island but they were very difficult to see.  The gloom and the wet reeds made their camouflage work well.  Here there are two Snipe in the photograph.

The Shoveler were feeding close to the hide.

The Shoveler busily forages head down in shallow wetlands. It has a uniquely shaped bill which has comb-like projections along its edges. These filter out tiny crustaceans and seeds from the water.  You can just make out the comb projections on the side of the bill.

There was a good number of Wigeon grazing on the right hand side bank, the highest number I have seen on the scrape this winter.

Marsh Harrier appeared at the back of the scrape, both male and female birds and there was a very distant Peregrine and Kestrel.  The Water Rail put in an appearance flying left to right in front of the hide, but evading my camera

This Buzzard moved along the scrape fence and would drop to the ground, probably catching worms.

With the strong north easterly wind blowing into the hide it was very cold, so we decided to take a walk out on to the sea wall.  A quick scan found a Great Northern Diver on the water.  The tide was out so we decided to walk down to see if we could get closer.  Along the way we came across the flock of Sanderling.

We picked the Great Northern up on the water.  It appeared to have drifted further away, but then we found the original bird close in and moving to the east.  The second bird was too far away.

We decided to move along the beach and walked towards the Rainbow Bar which meant we had to pass the Sanderling once again.

This one was busy trying to pull up a worm that wasn't giving up easily.

There were also two drake Eider out on the water.

These were the best images we could get of the Great Northern Diver in the circumstances of gloom and high ISO settings.

It kept swimming east but coming a little closer.

We left the diver and went back to the sea wall.  Walking around the sailing club there was a Curlew out on the beach.  Sightings are becoming more regular of what has been a rare visitor here.

Gloom, and a cold north wind made it a very difficult day, but it was nice to catch up with the Diver relatively close in for once.

9th December - Sandy Point, Langstone Harbour and Warblington, Hampshire

After the storms of the weekend it was a little calmer this morning, overcast when I left home but as I headed south the clouds began to break and the sun appeared.  There was still a stiff northerly breeze but no where near as strong as over the weekend.

I was meeting Ian at Sandy Point and as we sorted ourselves out there was a collection of Starlings on the wires around the houses.  Sitting in the sunshine their winter plumage was showing well.

We set off around the beach with the tide low and a Shag sitting on one oof the posts in the water.  We made our way to the entrance of the harbour in search for divers and grebes.  Quite quickly we found a Great Northern Diver fishing in the main channel, the water this time heading out of the harbour.

We watched from the beach in a very stiff and cold north easterly wind and there were two Great Northern Divers and we waited in the hope that they would come a little closer.

A surprise was a Buzzard battling the wind as it flew across the channel and away over the Lifeboat Station.

There were grebes, but only Great Crested Grebes and ironically they would come close to shore.  This was the closest shot we were able to get of the Great Northern.

Low tide was around 11:00 and the falling water was revealing sand banks I hadn't seen here before.  We walked to the tip of Black Point and watched a Sandwich Tern on the exposed mud.

It then flew off to fish in the shallow surf.

We walked back to the cars and after a quick lunch drove around to Langstone where we walked around the footpath to Langstone Mill Pond.  A bonus was a couple of Tufted Ducks that were sitting in some nice dark water.

The intention was to walk to the Emsworth Mill Pond, but we got side tracked as we walked through St Thomas Cemetery in Warblington.  Ian spotted a Cattle Egret in the field and we had to go and have a closer look.

We walked around to Pook Lane in search of more Cattle Egrets, the hole in the tree was empty, this seems to be the way at the moment.  The single Egret flew along with a Little Egret to a field on the other side of the main Church Lane.  We walked around and found a group of eleven Cattle Egrets in the field.

They were not always accepting of each other.

But they are social birds.

A Kestrel was upsetting the Starlings in the field and eventually this spooked the egrets and they flew to the first field opposite the farm house.

Classic Cattle Egret poses.

Like all egrets and herons they have almost binocular eyes.

We decided not to walk to Emsworth and instead spent some time searching the cemetery.  After finding the grave of Peter Blake the New Zealand yachtsman who was murdered in Brazil at the turn of the century, we walked back towards the Mill again.  Out on the mud were Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwits and Grey Plover.  

The Langstone Mill was silhouetted by the sun and the reeds had a glow.  The mill was a combination of water mill and windmill and there are remains of both to be seen.  It ceased operation at the turn of the twentieth century and is today a residential property.

The duck present on the mill pond had gone, but a Common Gull was bathing in the pond.

Coming around the mill a stream flowing out into the harbour had a Greenshank feeding in it.

We crossed the road to check the harbour from the Southmoor side.  On the water was a red head Red-breasted Merganser along with Wigeon, Pintail and Shelduck.  On the mud Oystercatcher and Redshank.

The light was going and it was cold in a still fresh northerly wind so we decided to call it a day.

7th December - Elmley National Nature Reserve, Kent

We had a long weekend with my daughter and grand daughter in Kent planned for a while and I was able to get out on the Saturday, however the forecast was for a massive storm to move across the country from Friday night.  Storm Darragh had already hit the west of the country overnight with winds as strong as 93 mph.  It was windy as I set off but dry, arriving at Elmley it was still dry, but the wind had really kicked in.

I passed the entrance gate and made my way along the entrance track, opening the window on the driver side heading towards the car park was difficult as the wind was very strong.  I picked up a Peregrine in front of me just above the track and it headed towards the grass where it dropped to the ground.

It then took off and flew away with the wind, it looked as if it would drop down on the other side but fought its way back across the path and in front of me.  This was taken through the car windscreen so a little blurred but it shows how low it was and struggle it had.

Flying away from me it headed towards the grass once again.

Dropping closer this time and showing well.

Then it took off once again struggling in the wind.

Shortly after the Peregrine headed away, the rain started and it was difficult looking to the north, the wind strong and sending it straight into the car.  I had to concentrate on the south side.  A Common Gull settled in the grass.

And a Great Black-backed Gull hunkered down in the grass.

I drove up and down with Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwits feeding in the grass by the side of the track.

These Rook were sheltering as best they could and looked quite miserable.

With the rain now quite heavy I drove to the car park and sat out the rain, checking the radar for progress.  When it finally passed I set off down the track once more.  Looking across the field a Brown Hare was hunkered down in the grass another image of the horrible weather about today.

It was still raining, but not so heavy and the Marsh Harriers were out hunting.  A male distant over the back of the marsh.

A female rocking back and forth over the long grass.

Redshank and Snipe could be seen in the flooded parts of the grass and several Skylark would fly up from the long grass by the side of the track.

I decided there was no point getting out of the car to walk around the reserve, the wind was so bad.  The car was an excellent hide and I was seeing some good birds.  A female Merlin flew through and a female Kestrel flushed from the bushes.  There were plenty of Lapwing in the fields and amazing numbers of Black-tailed Godwits.  This one just sitting in the pool by the track.

I had see two Ruff amongst the Godwits, but they would fly off as I tried to photograph.  Eventually though I was able to get one to stick around long enough for some good shots.

I lasted until about 13:30, but in the end I had to call it a day.  Elmley is an amazing place in the winter and unfortunately the weather today did not let me enjoy it to the full, but I did manage a good amount of time birding on a day when many would have missed out.