Ggdanskk... Bless you!!

Details of yesterday's ringed Black-headed Gull were returned early today showing a bird ringed and subsequently seen near Gdansk before popping up again on a rubbish dump near Minsk in Belarus before spending last winter in around Croydon and then rocking up yesterday at Heath Pond.

A short while today with new toy, a GX9 with a couple of kit lenses, gave the following pics. Being  kit lenses they are both a bit too slow for today's grey conditions but not too shabby with the less contrasty female Mallard. Next up, in time for spring, will be the Oly 60mm macro.

A 'complete list' virgin..

...until today.

A brief stroll round Heath Pond in the drizzle and between chores encouraged me to compile my first Birdtrack complete list which, it has to said, was a bit 'thin'. Sadly, wildfowl have been very scarce this winter although today's pair of Teal, looking a bit lost out in the middle, were a patch tick. Just seven Tufteds and a drake Pochard. Not too many gulls and just Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Firecrest and Coal Tit as the best birds although a surprise Polish colour-ringed Black-headed Gull on the boat dock was very welcome - details will hopefully be emailed shortly although having to register for access via the site's English version was a bit long-winded compared to a direct email to ringers within CR birding.

With front and rear foglights required on the journey back it seemed fruitless to venture into the upper reaches of QECP.

Dawn 'til dusk....

.... rain and cloud!!

But first, yesterday, where a brief 'coffee-and-teacake' visit to Titchfield with M saw two Buzzards by Horsea reclaim with one sat up like a sentinel on the mast of the derelict boat and the other in a hedge. The sun was glorious over the Solent with virtually no wind but just a fraction cooler than a previous similar visit; apparently 14R-tD and 4 Goosanders offshore for earlier visitors.
Two roadside Kestrels and two more Buzzards on the way back.

A major turn in weather overnight with continuous rain from before dawn to after dusk saw a damp trip to WWT today, where at least short distance between hides so easy to stay dry(ish). Above, in this weather, the combination of Ivy, moss, fungi and lichen draped around the trees feels almost primeval; and being damp ensured few visitors (also above!!).

The wet weather was to the liking of over sixty Snipe either feeding or snoozing and a couple of Kingfishers popped up at various times during the visit. Just one damp, perched up Peregrine and four Water Rails, three showing very well and enjoying the wet conditions.

Nice to chat to PS, following on from last week's theme of 'pesky mammals'!!
And later DennisG for the first time in many months, and unusually out 'single-handed'; he pointed me in the right direction for a Firecrest although it had moved 100 yds down the hedgerow. A very damp male Bullfinch sat just above it and was joined later by a female.

Above picture also shows the difficulty of hand holding scope in one hand a phone in the other for this phonescoped Snipe; won't be trying that again anytime soon.

And finally my old Danish pal 'White 6MZ' a now 4cy+ Black-headed Gull was preening outside SMH.

....and in with a whimper also..

After last night's snow some sort of cold-weather movement may have been expected but if so was not reflected at Titchfield with just two single Red-throated Divers in from the east and splashing down in their own inept style well offshore; MF found a third.

On the reserve two Red-breasted Mergansers (m&f) were resting and preening and a little further up five male Tufties were feeding. The boardwalk had deer(Roe) and Fox footprints in the snow but by lunchtime snow and ice all gone.

And still no Beardies!!

Preening punks!!

Breakfast free-loaders

Out with a whimper...

No Peregrines here!!

Yesterday saw a brief visit to north Hayling where neither the Smew nor Red-necked Grebe appeared (to me nor anyone else). Six colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwits were in a group of 25+ frantically feeding in close to the carpark as was a single Greenshank, a single Marsh Harrier was over the islands, two Rock Pipits and nine or more very distant Black-necked Grebes.

Later at Southsea Castle just the usual Purple Sandpipers and Rock Pipits. A Peregrine was picked up over No Mans Land fort chasing Feral Doves out towards the IOW before disappearing in the blue. No divers today.

Today a quick visit to Chichester produced a Grey Wagtail over North St, two Redwings feeding on roadside verges and a Goldcrest in a cathedral Yew.
No Peregrines in situ and unsurprisingly no sign of yesterday's Black Red.

On the way back the two Cattle Egrets at Warblington were trailing cattle in the field adjacent to the churchyard, a low overflying Buzzard over Pook Lane and a male Kestrel hovering over the south end of the churchyard.

According to JAN's Worthing posting a substantial seabird movement today, mostly auks and mostly to the west, overflowed into the Solent with a few Gannets and Kittiwakes recorded.

So, the over-optimistic total of 140 was well-missed and even if the usual and expected winter regulars of Brambling, Woodlark and Bearded Tit had played ball would have still been five short.

An early-for-me start to get to a meeting/presentation at PB was just as well as the traffic was cr*p, 20 minutes for 1st three miles, 25 minutes to get around Chichester and an arrival with just 10 minutes to spare. Sat with Patrick et al plus eight others whilst AA and ES went through a variety of reserve related info and later had a high level update from JE on the five year plan. This all ran to three and a half hours which can best be summarised in three words:-

Conservation is hard!

The nice start to the day deteriorated until, by end of session the rain had started. A quick loop in the hope of finding the two elusive White-fronted Geese was a damp birdless affair with a layer of ice ensuring no birds at all on the south brooks and just twenty or so Canadas elsewhere. Little Hanger provided shelter from one heavy bout of rain for a late lunch, yesterday's vegan wraps from the Blashford garage; sadly the local shops do nothing vegan and just the usual dull egg or cheese for veggies.

Luckily, on the way south to Arundel the wind eased and a gap in the rain gave a quiet hour and a half on site with only a handful of people away from the cafe and not many more inside. Swathes of water-level mist rolled around obscuring the view so the arrival of 25 ish noisy displaying Mandarins plus the ubiquitous Kingfishers provided some visual (and audible) relief from the monochrome scene. Around the reserve six Chiffchaffs, two good Water Rails, ten or more mostly distant Snipe, one Marsh Harrier just before closing time, a Peregrine perched up on a favourite tree and finally two softly spoken Ravens, close overhead and in to Arundel Park.

As always, a delight to get a few minutes with the ever-enthusiastic Sam for a chat about all things merganser, predatory mammal incursions and Stoat homing instincts!!

With so much mist it seemed fruitless to watch for inbound harriers from the pub carpark so back home and into typical rush hour jams with an accident on the last leg closing two of three lanes.

And finally the 10 year Puffin badge came home to roost after an extended stay ( since 2017!) in someone's desk; I'd forgotten all about it.

About time.. and goodbye old friend

The first good day of the year for Gos-ing, despite a very cold north-westerly, found me sharing roadside space with one other birder. A bit of banter kept us on site (in the absence of any bird spp) until I picked up a distant displaying Gos which stayed in view for a fair while and also encouraged a brief appearance from a second one. At the same time a third much closer bird gave great scope views before slipping away.
Shortly after, now on my own, it reappeared and rode an air current directly up in to the pure blue sky becoming invisible to the naked eye, before pulling its wings in and gliding off to the east at speed; a Hawfinch flashed by. And then back to the car to warm up.

At Blashford pretty much nothing on the south side with neither Bittern, Kingfisher, YBW, Brambling etc, just a single hunched up Great White.

On the north side it was goodbye to Tern hide, today being the last chance to scope the gull roost before tomorrow's demolition. Hopefully any white-wingers will rock up on the coast to avoid a cold vigil on the mound!! Two 1w Casps were present with one departing to the east early on while a second was found by PW et al in the main roost, along with three each of Yellow-legged and Med Gulls, all adults. Just Marsh Harrier, 14 Goosanders and a single Water Pipit with no sign of the Black-necked Grebe.

Ironically, having received four free replacement eyecup units from Swarovski soon after the new year, Bob was able to re-unite me with December's lost rubber portion - presumably some kind soul handed it in or it was picked up in hide sweeping.