A welcome cuppa...

Another monochrome day..

At Titchfield, leaden skies and a choppy, grey sea weren't conducive to finding much; no sign of a Black Red around the chalets and only ubiquitous Turnstone and Stonechat as year ticks.

Later at Farlington plenty of birds with Knots, thirty or so Golden Plovers, four Greenshanks flying down the stream and a quietly foraging Water Pipit at the back of the lake  (giving pretty reasonable scope views considering) were all NfY.

Waxless

Another grotty, grey day but still and half a dozen degrees warmer than yesterday. The Sussex Brewery Waxwings had done a bunk but the two Cattle Egrets (105) were in the usual field, close at first until flushed by a dog walker. Back to the pub for another look but still no 'Waxtion', chatted to Barry and Margaret, FrAW and John King and Richard. Off for a few chores, back to the pub and gave in to the lure of a sausage sandwich and a pint after getting a parking permit. Subsequently, chatted to one of the Titchfield snipe counters and latterly Mike and Karen G. and Gordon and Pat H. A distant Peregrine flew north.

Quick look (at low tide sadly) for the Nore Spot'shank and Greenshank but no joy; just geese and Wigeon.

More Waxwing dipping tomorrow maybe. Or should I year dip the eagle??

Over a ton...

.....104 to be precise, with a poor attempt at the Totton Waxwings i.e. couldn't find the right spot - shoulda bought a satnav!! Pipers Wait was pretty birdless with probably only ten birds of of six species, a close 'cronking' Raven overhead being the best.

At Harbridge the single Bewick's Swan gave decent scope views amongst lots of Mutes but MS (later at Blashford) had it fly in and land next to her in a roadside puddle!!

On the reserve a few new birds with brief views of a very late (16:20) Bittern to the right of the hide and the 1W Caspian Gull again. Missing Water Pipit, neither seen nor heard, was a surprise.

Probably the single highlight is the big flock of 80-90 Linnet - almost a throwback to the earlier years of birding - so unusual to see a decent flock of passerines other than Starlings.

In light of not seeing any Gos action in a clear (but it has to be said very cold) blue sky it was great to watch a distant Sparrowhawk displaying with extended 'slow-flying' and 'rollercoastering', the stoops being particularly dramatic before diving out of view below the treeline.

Finally, good to catch up with Tim and Jen for the first time in 3-4 years.

Locally, some nearer Waxwings and a couple of Cattle Egrets might provide targets for tomorrow.

David Lindo eat your heart out...

A few hours of 'urban' birding within a three mile radius (as the crow flies) of home, starting at Southsea, on to the harbour mouth at Eastney ending up with three quarters of an hour at the Farlington lake viewpoint.

Some decent birds with Great Northern Diver (2), Red-throated Diver, Purple Sandpiper (4), Eider (8), Avocet (46+), Pintail (80) and Jack Snipe plus various new-for-year common birds. Sadly no Shorties nor Beardies and, in fact, not a single raptor.

Above the Eastney Rock Pipit,  the nearest(!) GND and some of the Avocets with 'urban' background.
Sixteen NfYs today taking total to 83.

A mere sixty-seven..

...species to start the year. Poor, but with no coastal areas/downs etc and, of course, lack of effort (seven hours of which nearly two were in the car travelling and one on coffee, lunch and afternoon tea!!). In light of recent outings notable misses were Greenfinch, M'ipit, Skylark and Marsh Harrier.

At Pulborough two Peregrines perched up distantly for a while eventually tried to harrass a Buzzard which was polishing off the remains of their lunch.
Lots of 'kekking' and dive-bombing before giving up and going their separate ways. Chatted to TS for a while, Jean being away in London and caught up with CL for the first time since his op.

The light was poor so drove down to Arundel to try to add a few more species to the day-list - usual suspects - Kingfisher, Water Rail, Snipe(20), Cetti's, Red Kite, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Bullfinch, Tufted Duck, Pochard and eventually Firecrest. Jeremy and his wife were the only people I knew today.  No harriers here either and disinclined to wait until closing (or later) for roosting birds; this morning's Cattle Egret hadn't returned either.

Just about out of daylight on return so didn't stop at the FM carpark although I guess I could have added a few wader spp here.

PS Good to hear the eagle was seen mid-afternoon over Backley plain, the winter bird survey area I covered some years back. Maybe there will be another chance to see it before it eventually departs.

PPS Above Pintails were WWT captive birds. At least ten of the twenty Snipe were unseen until disturbed by the usual, deafening strimming noise outside the hide!!

End of one, start of another..

Sunday was a lunch-only outing to Pulborough (with M) to pick up the 2017 SOS Report, with just Great Spotted Woodpecker and Kestrel on the circular route, out via Chi and back via Petersfield.

Yesterday was a brief visit to Titchfield where the low-tide and millpond conditions were ideal - sadly little on show other than the Great Northern Diver off Rainbow Bar (pointed out by MF) and six very distant Eiders (5m) plus 40+ Great Crested Grebes and 750+ Brent off Brownwich. Five dozing Snipe was it for south scrape.

Today's first bird of the year was, unsurprisingly, pre-dawn, heard-only Herring Gull!!

PS Probably should have made an early trip to ASDA at Totton where yesterday's Waxwings had returned and increased to eleven.