A grey day

On a fairly miserable cold and grey day most of the birds we saw were grey by name or hue. Oddly enough the forecast was reasonable and as Martin and I made our way to Swanbourne Lake at Arundel we expected early morning sunshine. So, yet again, in the dark gloom we found ourselves feet away from one of the most colourful birds, a Firecrest, in fact several of them. It was most frustrating that there was insufficient light to get even a fuzzy record shot. Whilst waiting for better conditions I was distracted by a Grey Wagtail, which obligingly came close but could only be captured with high ISO and low shutter speed.

It was only a matter of time before we gave up and headed off to Hayling Island, this time exploring the land to the east of the Ferry Terminal. On the way we made the customary stops at both ends of the Hayling Bridge, this time just after high tide but with precious little to be seen. On to the ferry, stopping at The Kench where we found a friendly Grey Plover.

Just as we were getting into the car a bird flew across the road, as I stepped up into the hedge to scan the bushes I spied a perched Short-eared Owl amongst the gorse of the warren. The directions to find the owl are simple - find the sign pictured below, of course some wag has removed the word golf, and look over the fence.

 

At the ferry and out in the channel very little to be seen, on the far side we located the resident Shag that we had seen on the previous visit and further down the channel just two Great Crested Grebes.