Farlington and Hurst. Feb 2023

After a month of not seeing the sea, I was definitely getting withdrawal symptoms. I hadn't picked up my camera for far too long either.  

In 2022, I was doing 1000 miles a month, just getting to work and back. Spending £200 a month on diesel, my weekends were very quiet, and very local.  

A recent job change has allowed me to get back to some sort of normality and after a month of gloomy weekends, the sun was out and the coast was calling. I've a few goals for 2023. One of which is to have more adventures and produce more waffle and dodgy pictures, so, here goes.

Farlington Marshes, near Portsmouth was the first trip out.  I hadn't been there for a couple of years and hadn't seen a Short Eared Owl for almost as long! Shorties are common at Farlington in the winter months.  With a coastal path circulating the field they roost in, chances are pretty good that you'll see one of these owls that uniquely hunt at any time of the day.  Should they be hungry enough.

Got there and the car park was rammed!  Never seen it so busy down there.   Parked up and the first port of call was the lagoon area. A large amount of winter wildfowl all congregated in a shallow pool.   Avocet, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail and Snipe around the edges.  All stuff I don't see at home.  My 60 mile trip down was already justified. 

No Bearded Tit in the reeds today, but the sun was shinning, the air was alive with the sound of Wigeon and Redshank. All was good in the world.

To the Point Field, and join the waiting crowd for the owls to show. I'd been there for an hour before the first one popped up, quickly joined by another. Typically I missed it as I was watching a Merganser, far out to sea.  

Oh well, they flew around, perched up, then flew a bit more for the next hour or so.  Despite being well dressed, Farlington is still one of the coldest places on the planet.  I guess its all the standing around, doing nothing. I timed the walk back to the car to coincide with the sunset over Portsmouth.

A good Sunday outing!

Six days later, and a Shore Lark was calling me at Hurst Spit.  Never seeing one before meant this was a 'life tick', or a 'lifer'.    Lets see if we can find a camouflaged bird, the same size as a sparrow, somewhere along a 1.5 mile long spit and mudflats....  how hard can it be?

Taking my mum, sister and niece for a jolly to the seaside, we set off along the pebble spit.  The slog began!

Always aim for the people with scopes! 

Sound advice I've adhered to in all my years of birding. They've probably been there some time and will know the details / last sighting etc.  As I reached them I was informed it hadn't been seen for around 2 hours..  D'oh!

A quick look through the binoculars and ohhhh, what's this!!  A small brown jobby flying towards me!  Yep!  Shore Lark drops in right in front of us, on the shore line below.  If only they all did that!  Great Grey Shrikes, please note!

That Saturday the sun stayed firmly behind the clouds.  Annoyingly, cos it would have been great to snap such a smart bird in good light, but can't complain at rocking up and seeing a Lifer..  

And sitting on a beach, watching the sea is never time wasted.