Thursday saw a brief walk at QECP after a finance 'check' at the bank and bookended by a coffee and a rainbow-inducing rain shower. Little on offer bar a flyover kite, a close but unseen Firecrest and a flyover Lesser Redpoll.
A visit to Chichester LCE saw a Sparrowhawk over Via Ravenna and a Kestrel on the way back into town. Nice to try out the new stabilised Swarovski scope. A good size but noticeably heavy (a kilo and a half - heavier than my old ATS!!). As with the ATC no chance of a stay-on case, no extendable hood and no-one present could confirm, or otherwise, whether the threaded barrel would take a filter although it was suggested one fitted might degrade the image - not sure about that though.
Locally, just six Shoveler and at least one Chiffchaff, the vegetation being too overgrown to look for Water Rail although no sounds as yet. Last year one was here from mid- November onwards so maybe there's one or more skulking away in there somewhere.
