Today, the pond was an egret-free zone with just a couple of hundred loafing gulls. predominately BHGs. Singles of Kestrel were hovering over the old Tudor Yacht Club site and further down by the old dock. At Southsea Castle the tide was too high for feeding Purple Sandpipers but at least one bird was roosting on the Castle buoy; a single Rock Pipit was in the castle moat.

Novembers in November....

At Blashford the outside of the building was well stocked with 'November' moths, probably over twenty (not sure how many made it into the trap) plus this Common Marbled Carpet and a fair few caddisflies; the top layer of the trap had a Green-brindled Crescent.

Ivy South had just a single GWE, one Goosander and 45 Pochards but little else. Nothing of note on the feeders and just two Lesser Redpolls overhead.

On Ibsley Water first one, then two, Water Pipits maybe twenty Linnets, another 15 Pochards, a single flighty Green Sandpiper and a very confiding Snipe happy to pose for several hours until someone in a hi-viz vest decided to shove a telemetry aerial out of the hide windows looking for a lost Gyr Falcon!! Earlier some poor behaviour from visitors almost led to a fist fight!! - the joys of birding.

Good to see Pop-up Cafe back and, over a coffee, enjoyed a long chat with a Dorset couple about optics, cameras, Manx Shearwaters, Northern Lights and being stranded on Bardsey!! All good banter.😁

Seafood lunch...

At TH a nice low tide and good light gave the option of approaching feeding Sanderlings for some pictures and in so doing found the blue ringed and yellow flagged bird from previous years. See here for info on Leg flags and nest success Luckily, not having other wader species in attendance meant that they were quite approachable and intent on feeding on small crustacea. Earlier, six distant duck went west which IC confirmed as Eider; he also pointed out the female Common Scoter typically well to the west and a brief fly-by Clouded Yellow.

Single Ruff and a few Snipe plus a roadside Dartford Warbler with two Stonechats were 'the best of the west' whilst the east side only produced this close Snipe, a Green Sandpiper and a Marsh Harrier. Common Darters were still very evident plus a few Red Admirals and Eristalis tenax.

Caught up with John and Sally doing a recce for their up and coming visit in two weeks time.

Later at Farlington, the much lower tide and increased lake levels meant it was a good deal quieter than two days ago with the area the Jack Snipe were feeding in now flooded. A couple of invisible Lesser Redpolls bounded over, singles of Spot 'shank and Greenshank flew into the lake as the tide rose and about twenty Avocets were present. Again the c/c Marsh Harrier quartered the reeds and just one distant Short-eared Owl plus a few owl togs, including LF, who didn't quite get the showing of earlier in the week.

A long time coming...

Today's ringtail Hen Harrier at Pulborough was nice to see and easily the highlight, it being the first I've seen here in nearly six years and the first ringtail in over three years when singles were at The Burgh and Farlington. A  Peregrine was on the ground at Westmead and later the sounds of  unseen bird/s indicated the presence of a second, confirmed by others. Marsh Harrier was seen three times and the usual four other BoP species were present. Westmead is still bone dry and the whole reserve seemed birdless regarding passerines other than M'ipits, a 40+ pack of Linnets and a few Skylarks and Stonechats. No winter finches nor thrushes. Insectwise, still warm enough for plenty of Common Darters and Hornets but just a handful of Red Admirals on the butterfly front.

Hopefully the potential for a small 'invasion' of Rough-legs, hinted at by recent records in the south of England may lead to the odd bird lingering within a twitchable drive. Its nearly four years to the day since the close, well-performing bird at Jevington - one of yesterday's DC group was living in the area at the time and we both shared memories of that bird.

Good to catch up with NP and to round off the day the pumpkin soup with pumpkin bread was delicious!!

After blazing away yesterday (over 900 photos!!) today the camera didn't make it out of the bag so no pictures here.

Shorties, like Dr Proton, are the best...

A quick jaunt up to PHP produced the egret immediately and from the car whilst driving, assuming it wasn't a large wind blown plastic bag!! - which it wasn't thankfully. Not such a big deal species anymore but still nice to watch, and a 'site tick', especially when catching an almost-too-large fish which took some swallowing. Unfortunately, the need for people/dog walkers to walk down to the pond edge ensured it was flushed frequently. Just one Little Egret and two Grey Herons shared the shoreline but just a single Tufted Duck and no grebes.

A nice Treecreeper was point blank adjacent to the car park on arrival and another one or two were heard amongst a tit flock which contained a Firecrest.

At QE, now much quieter than in recent days with kids back to school, a nice soup lunch and improving weather produced a curious Firecrest which sat quietly ten feet away for a few minutes, but with so much leaf still on trees it was too dark for a snap. Singles of Red Kite and Buzzard only.

Decided to have a brief look at Farlington at high tide where the lake was full of birds and the heat from the sun balanced out the chilly breeze. Good to see Avocets back, plenty of Pintail and Teal hunkered down against the reeds and snoozing, plus eight roosting Greenshanks. Spent some time chatting to DCs bird group from Dorset and was able to point out a Shorty hunting distantly in point field. On walking around a second bird appeared and both put on a superb show - good to get these with no one else around and before the point field area gets clogged up with togs and potentially padlocked gates. SEO is definitely a top 10 'desert island disc' sort of bird!! Apparently, there were a fair few mergs offshore which I didn't have time for but hopefully Black-necked Grebe, Goldeneye and Great Northern Diver will pop up fairly soon. Passerines were at a premium with just M'ipits being plentiful and a couple each of Reed Bunting, Stonechat and Rock Pipit - too windy for any Beardies today.

Finally, on return one SEO was hunting the fenced area and flushing all the gulls and waders before perching up on a fencepost just below the seawall. At the same time a cream-crown Marsh Harrier was quartering the reed bed and finally, after shooing a few cows out of the way just prior to the blockhouse, a Peregrine went off northwards, presumably to a roost site up on Portsdown.

Frustrating all round...

An ultimately frustrating day. Considered looking for the GWE at Petersfield but assumed it would have moved on so gave it a miss; seen by others mid-morning!! Day-deamed on the way to Pulborough about Rough-legged Buzzard this winter only to see one on goingbirding from Farlington about the time I drove by!!

At Pulborough decided to leave the camera in the car; first one, then two Kestrels posed well in brilliant light. Marsh Harrier nice but distant. Pretty much nothing else and certainly nothing close.

Off to what I assumed would be a quiet WWT for lunch to find a local inset day so full of people. A Kingfisher only heard a few times and seen briefly from the restaurant along with a Grey Wagtail on the concrete pond edge. The Snipe above, some of ten or more, were reasonably photogenic and absolutely point blank at one time being just below the hide but nearly always either in shade or strongly backlit. Ironically most noise and disturbance from other togs!!Note to self - take earplugs!!

Last visit's Med Gulls were all gone, bar one heard, and replaced by about 100 Common Gulls. This single scruffy Pintail dropped in and was followed soon after by a similarly dull Wigeon, but most other Shoveler and Teal were hiding from the cold wind tucked under waterside bushes.

A final cuppa looking out over the restaurant pond produced this Danish Black-headed Gull - details awaiting.

Pretty much no passerines here although with MD finding Hawfinches in Sherwood Rough hopefully a few may set up home around WWT over the winter.

Finally, rats, loads of them around feeders!

Update:- The gull was ringed as a 3cy+ in March of this year just north of Copenhagen and not reported prior to today.

One life less..

A brief Blashford visit was cold and birdless with just half a dozen Goosanders including the first male of the winter, 30+ Pochards, a Sparrowhawk, a single Swallow, a few heard-only Siskins up in the trees and probably 500+ Wood Pigeons on the move south-westwards.

Later, after dropping M&M off, a skinny, town-Fox used up one of its lives dashing in front of the car but turning away just in time.