Hayling Oysterbeds and Farlington Marshes- 30/12/25

Two days left. This year has really flown by, and we are down to the final couple of days. After the disappointment of missing the White-fronted Geese and Cirl Bunting on Saturday, I was free to go out again today, and Mum was up for a trip to the coast, so we found ourselves getting up early and getting out on our way to Hayling Island Oysterbeds. The aim here was Red-necked Grebe, a species I have not really come close to seeing yet this year. From there, we planned to go to Farlington to try again for some White-fronted Geese that had arrived the day after I went.

It was a beautiful morning- if a bit... if very cold. 

After getting to a place where I could see the full harbour, I set up a new scope I have been loaned from HOS, and about 20 minutes were spent scanning the harbour, with plenty of Red-breasted Mergansers present and three Goldeneye. A decent start. No sign of the Red-necked Grebe though.

The lagoons on the way towards the second harbour held quite a few Redshank, a Greenshank, a Little Egret, a few Shelduck, and three Curlew.

There were plenty of Great Crested Grebes out in the harbour, all trying to look as much like a Red-necked as possible to get me hoping for a second, but none of them were of note.

When I got to the main lagoon, I immediately noted the three Red-breasted Mergansers on the water, but athoer then them, there was nearly nothing on the lagoon.

A Curlew flew around calling, and the Red-breasted Mergansers moved away, so I walked along to the other side to join a pretty large group of other birders scanning the harbour.

I was really hopeful for the Red-necked Grebe. After a pretty drab December, the final two days promised to be quite packed with birding, and I was really hoping that I would break the dipping run this month since the Ferruginous Duck. The only new bird since then was an incredible self-found ringtail Hen Harrier. And so I was hoping I could make up for the quiet first 29 days with a flurry at the end.

A Slavonian Grebe turned up far, far out in the harbour, and 20 minutes later, a Black-necked Grebe turned up. Both were much too distant for the camera, unfortunately. 

Half an hour slipped by, then an hour, and still no sign of the Red-necked Grebe anywhere, despite the large group of birders scoping the harbour. I was pretty sure the bird wouldn't turn up now, but the possibility was still there. And the possibility was what made this a bit of a headache. You see, we had to be home for somewhere around 13:30, and I was still hoping to go to Farlington to try for the White-fronted Geese. It was coming up to 11:00, and we needed to do a little shopping in Havant on the way to Farlington. 

A further 15 minutes spent produced only two Great Northern Divers and no sign of the grebe. So I decided to give up here and walked back to the car with a severe case of diptitude. Red-necked Grebes are such cool birds, and I've only ever seen them once distantly.

After picking up some stuff at Havant, we were discussing what to do. I was feeling as though no matter what, I would miss the bird. It was just how things were going, really. Along with the fact that there had been no reports, I was pretty sure the birds would have left. But, we decided to give it a shot. 

We arrived at Farlington with about an hour to play with, so I set off quickly towards the visitor hut with an aim of the deeps. After I had passed the visitor hut, I got a message from Mum saying that a juvenile goose had been reported "on the deeps." My pace picked up. 

I made it up onto the seawall and briefly scanned the hundreds of Brent Geese, and was surprised at the huge number of Curlews around. This shot shows at least 14.

With no sign of any grey geese there, I continued on. And on, and on. The walk had never been longer.

I was so, so hopeful the bird would be there. I really wanted to see it, as White-fronted Geese are very cool, and it would be a much-needed boost to the yearlist. And it would be yet another lifer.

Judging by the fact that the bird had been reported "on the deeps" and the pin was apparently on the water, I was fully expecting to arrive at a packed deeps with hundreds of geese and a white-front in amongst them. And so as the water became more and more visible, and more and more of it was empty, the more my heart sank. Surely not again? Before long, the full lake was in view, and all of three Brent Geese were on it. Hope was not entirely lost, as hundreds of geese were behind the deeps and around. But with little time and such a large number of geese over such a large area, the situation wasn't looking good.

I made it to the first bench and sat down to start scanning. Got the scope set up, and started looking threw the geese, from left to right. Brent, Brent, Brent, Brent, and. Ooh. Surely? There in full view were two, yes two, not one, geese sleeping. But these weren't any geese; the brown colouration gave the ID away. And soon, another bird of the same species came into view, with bright orange legs and a pink bill shining brightly in the morning sun. These three were indeed my first-ever Greater White-fronted Geese. What incredible birds.

The bird that was awake was a juvenile, which is possible to ID due to the lack of extensive white on the head from which this species gets their name. Soon, though, it went to sleep, and I was extremely pleased to see an adult bird wake up and start walking about- stunning.

It was walking about, seemingly feeding.

It soon also fell asleep with the others, so I sat down to review the photos I had gotten. 

The Greater White-fronted Goose is found with two subspecies, the Greenland and Russian White-fronted Goose. Russian (or European, depending who you ask) are found more commonly in the south and east of England, whereas Greenland are found in the north and west.

All three birds woke up, allowing a good view of them.

I was getting absolutely smashing scope views. The photos don't do them justice. There is something very, very cool about these geese- I was loving the experience.

The birds were alternately getting up and feeding for a bit and then going back to sleep. Time seemed to fly by as I was watching them. I got so many shots of them... I was just loving it.

I moved around and managed to get slightly better views of them.

There has been a huge influx of these and Tundra Bean Geese to southern England in the past week due to the cold weather in Russia and easterly winds pushing these gems to our shores. 

Unfortunately, time had abated me, so I took a few more shots of the birds and had to rip myself away and swiftly walk back to the car.

It's always sweeter when you get a bird after missing it. And how sweet it was. Number 206 in the year (i think) and another brilliant bird to have seen.

I'm not going to spend long finishing this. I've got to get to sleep, and still have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow. There are a few options. Hopefully, I will be able to pick up a thing or two, if things go well. The Tundra Bean Goose at Pennington is horribly tempting, but I'll have to see if that's possible. Anyways, good night and, very soon now, a Happy New Year.

Many thanks to the finder of the birds as always. 

Wicor (Portchester) and Farlington Marshes- 27/12/25

December's been pretty rubbish so far, with hardly anything turning up close to home. So on Wednesday, when the Cirl Bunting at Portchester was seen again in the morning, and a huge influx of White-fronted Geese and Tundra Bean Geese took place, I was licking my lips. Excruciatingly, I couldn't go to any places on Thursday or Friday due to the lack of any public transport running. I was really hoping the geese would stay at Farlington and the Cirl Bunting in Portchester. Thursday saw one of the Tundra Bean Geese disappear at Farlington, and the numbers of White-fronteds largely diminished. Friday morning, one of the bean geese was still there, but disappeared by the afternoon. And there was no sign of any White-fronted Geese. Ouch. Two possible lifers gone on a day when I had time to go and get them, but frustratingly didn't have the means to travel. Thankfully, the Cirl Bunting was staying put, so I decided, despite a pretty nasty cold starting to bother me, to try for the Cirl Bunting. 

I was really hopeful it would be there. On Wednesday, it looked as though I would easily be able to get three close-to-home birds I had never seen before, and now there was only one left. The thought of having gotten up early with not feeling very well, and dipping the bird I was going to see was one I didn't want to think of. 

After arriving at Portchester station at 9:00, with the sun rising over Portsmouth, I started the short bike ride to Wicor Paddocks, where Hampshire's first Cirl Bunting in decades was supposed to be.

I arrived at the pinned field, locked my bike up, and started heading towards a gate to walk around the field. It was very cold, and an immediate search of the bushes nearby produced nothing. I wasn't worrying though, as it was quite a large field, and it was often seen by the pond in the next field across. 

A few Goldfinch and Greenfinch were seen, but as I walked around, there was still no sign of the hoped-for bunting. I made it to the bushes where the bird had been reported most of the time, but a while spent searching produced no sight or sound of anything interesting. Hmm.

Another birder I saw had just been by the pond and hadn't seen it, and I was nearing the end of all the bushes in the large field. Now I was starting to wonder if it was still present. I still was expecting it to be present, as it is quite a large area and the bird could of course have been hiding.

I turned my attention to the harbour, where a goose had me hoping for a second before a closer look showed its true identity.

More finches flew about, and when I got to the pond, I saw that a few other birders were searching for the bird there, and in the next few minutes, plenty more arrived, with about 15 scanning the pond and the other field. Still no sign of the bird...

Time slipped by, and despite the efforts of many birders, there was no bird to be found. It had been nearly two hours since I had been there by now, and I was really doubting the bird was there. Which, really, really was not ideal. I started to think of my options, not wanting this to be a completely wasted trip. 

After a final search, I decided to give up, as had many other birders by this point, so I headed towards my bike with probably the best bird of the morning, a Redwing, visible in the bushes.

It was a bit depressing, really. After such a poor December for me, things had looked so good for a few days, but disappeared extremely disappointingly just a day before I could get to them. 

I thought that Farlington might be worth a shot for geese, so after a bit of research found that I could take the train along to Cosham, then bike to Farlington from there. 

After a very, very cold bike ride, I made it to Farlington, locked my bike up and got going.

There were hundreds of geese on the fields, mainly Brent Geese, but plenty of Canada Geese were also present.

The main pond was pretty empty except for ducks, with Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, and Mallards plentiful.

I was walking around faster than I usually would be because I really wanted to have time to scan the geese, and was already thinking about the possibility of going somewhere after Farlington, if no interesting geese were present.

A small group of Goldfinches moved through, and two Pied Wagtails were about.

A scan of the hundreds of geese from the southernmost point of Farlington didn't produce anything, and I was already doubtful that anything would be here. 

I took the lower path, cutting the southeast corner off, and a Grey Heron was hunting by the gate before flying off.

The harbour held plenty of Dunlin along with a few various duck species, including some smart male Pintail..

A huge clump of Wigeon was quite a sight- the group extends far off into the right, but aren't visible in this photo.

A weirdly marked Canada Goose caught my interest for a minute, but it was, as the day seemed to be going, nothing interesting. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Brent Geese were on the field; now and again, a few would fly up and around.

As I continued around, any hope of bean or white-fronted geese being present diminished, so I decided to just try and enjoy the sun, even if it was absolutely freezing. 

Nearly on cue, in exactly the same place I had seen it the last time I had been here, the Barnacle Goose was feeding with a small group of Canada Geese in the field along the path towards the hut.

I continued on, and a group of Brent Geese was very close to the path in the cattle field right by the hut. With the sun shining very brightly directly behind the birds, I decided to put a bit of time into photographing the birds.

You feel sorry for every time you've said, "Oh it's just a Brent Goose." They are really, very, very cute. It's incredible how many common birds I find I really love when I actually give them a bit of attention.

They started to seem a bit wary of my presence, so I backed off and walked along to where a single bird seemed unbothered by me, allowing me to get some of the best shots of this species I have taken.

Two edits of the same shot.

The bird started to move away, so I took another photo and started heading down the path.

Nothing else was seen as I headed towards the car park, and although I could have biked to the Oysterbeds to try and get the Red-necked Grebe, I decided against it because I was already tired and needed to get home. 

So, a very disappointing result, but it happens. The final three days of the year will, I hope, be busy with birding, but it all depends on this cold of mine. I felt absolutely awful last night when I got home, and pretty bad this morning, but after a restful day, I am already feeling much better. Tomorrow I can't go anywhere, as I'm due to be in Farnham in the afternoon for something, and I want to give myself as much rest as possible so I'm feeling up for Tuesday and Wednesday. I am hopeful I will be able to go somewhere on Tuesday, and want to end the year with a bang somewhere on Wednesday. 5 White-fronted Geese have, typically, turned up at Farlington today, but I'm not sure they'll stay. There are a few more sites with these, and one reachable site still with Tundra Bean Geese, which would be great, but I don't know if the birds will stay or if I'll be able to go. We'll have to see. The year list is at 206, and I severely doubt I'll make it to 210, but if things line up well, it isn't impossible. 2025 really has flown by, but I'm not going to talk too much about the year yet, as I am probably going to do a year review, going through all the birds I have seen. It will also cover the 4 months at the start of the year when I hadn't started my blog- it seems like a foreign world, not getting back home and immediately starting to write for hours about the trip. I really enjoy it. 

Well, I'm going to finish this and start thinking about bed- really want to feel better tomorrow. Apologies for posting over a day afterwards, really not been feeling too well. Hopefully, the final few days of Dec won't reflect the rest of the month. Don't get me wrong, though- I'm not complaining about Hen Harrier and Ferruginous Duck, not in a million years. But compared to last year for me, this Dec has been pretty quiet. Doesn't help I've dipped nearly everything that's turned up...

Anyway, good night and happy new year (when it comes!)

SELSEY BIG DAY- 23/12/25

This story really starts a few months back when my older brother was waiting for his bus to college. And waited, and waited, and waited. No bus would come, but the app had not said that this was the case. Thankfully, he managed to get to college with a friend, but 'twas a mystery about the bus. Well, we rang up and found that it had been cancelled, and this obviously hadn't been mentioned on the app, and the guy we rang offered a Gold Day Ticket as compensation- basically travel on all buses in a certain area. Before long, I had laid my claim on the ticket and was eying up a Selsey Big Day at some point in December.

After a full day of planning yesterday, I felt completely unready for today for no reason... I guess it was the huge day that was planned, all the connections, long walking distances, etc. Last night I fell awkwardly on my left ankle playing table tennis as well, so I was worried about whether it would hold up or not... it was hurting quite badly.

I didn't have a specific target number of species; I was just going into it seeing what I could do. There was next to no possibility of any new species for the year, so I was purely focusing on the day total and seeing as many species as possible in the Selsey Recording Area.

The day started off at 4:40 when I woke up to get my bag fully packed and make breakfast. My train left Petersfield at 5:45, and I arrived in Chichester at 6:37, before getting on the 7:00 bus to Seal Road for an early morning seawatch to start the day off. 

Before long, we had passed into the Peninsula recording area, and I immediately started scanning for species. The sun had still not risen, so everywhere was pitch dark. A few corvids flying over were unidentifiable because of the poor light, and it was only when I was nearly in Selsey that the sun had risen enough to be able to identify species. A Carrion Crow kicked the day off, followed by some Herring Gulls. The final two species seen on the journey were some flyover Jackdaws and Feral Pigeons at the Lifeboat Station.

I was trying to get as many of the common species as I could quickly; I figured it would give me more time later looking for some good species. 

After disembarking from the bus, I walked quickly down to the beachfront and started along towards the green where the other birders would be. A few Black-headed Gulls flying through were accompanied by a Great Black-backed Gull- a decent species to get so quickly.

I was quite pleased to have been able to actually start birding before the sun had risen- a great feeling to be able to get species under the belt so early on in the day.

A Cormorant that flew through became my 7th species. 

After making it to the other birders, things started to pick up. Very, very quickly. The first truly decent species of the day came in the form of a Slavonian Grebe that was flying east before dropping onto the sea. Before long, it was joined by another pretty close in... the lighting was still so bad though.

I had planned to be at the bill for only about an hour, picking up the common sea species I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else. The Slavonian Grebes were definitely not one of those "common sea" species I had been expecting. A brilliant species to get still before the sun was properly up.

Up next, a Great Northern Diver appeared offshore, a species I was hoping for but not guaranteed.

A group of 4 Brent Geese flew through, and then, distantly, another species I wasn't guaranteed flew through- Common Scoter. Some Gannets then zoomed past, followed by a gratefully received Sandwich Tern and some Shelduck. All the species I had been hoping for were turning up, and more...

Just as I was thinking about how good it was going, the shout "Long-tailed Duck" went up. It was distant, and I didn't get my camera on it in the end because of the lighting, but another brilliant species to get. I was buzzing and hadn't even been birding an hour.

A Shag then went through, followed by some Oystercatchers. Some waders that flew up and then inland proved to be Grey Plovers, and some Turnstone appeared on the rocks. I managed to pick up a Great Crested Grebe offshore, putting my total on 20 already. 

Then another good species went through- Red-throated Diver. I was so pleased with the day's happenings when all of a sudden another diver flew through, this one a Black-throated Diver! All three diver species were not expected this morning. All brilliant birds and huge boosts to the list. 

Another Red-throated Diver went through, and I tried to get a photo.

The lighting had improved now, and the Slavonian Grebes were still present offshore.

Some Starlings were flying around, and a Woodpigeon was on a rooftop. I haven't been so pleased to see both these species since Jan 1st this year...

The time was around 8:50, and I was planning on taking a 9:02 bus, so I thanked the other birders for the company and for helping me get on the species that had gone through, and headed towards the bus stop, picking up Pied Wagtail, Magpie, Robin, and Blackbird on the way.

While waiting for the bus, I went down a street in search of the Sparrows I heard calling, and picked those up too. My total was now at 29.

Up next on the trip were the Ferry Pools and opposite harbour, where I was hoping to spend a good amount of time picking up waders, ducks and finches. I had a total of 1hr 53 mins from the bus arriving to my bus going out. 

I was very happy to pick up Collared Dove on the way- a species I was expecting to get but was hoping to do so at Selsey Bill, so I was slightly worried when none were visible.

I made it to the ferry pools about 9:20, and was pleased to see it was packed. Shovelers, Lapwings, Canada Geese, Wigeons, Mallards, and Teals were plentiful. The lighting was still awful, so I couldn't manage many photos.

After properly scanning the ferry pools, I checked the channel behind them over the road, where Moorhen, Little Egrets, Little Grebes and Redshank were all visible. I walked the small distance to the Ferry Hide, which was still shut, but I sat to watch the bird feeders and scan across the pools again from a different angle.

I soon picked up Great Tit, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Wren, and Dunnock.

I started along the path around the harbour, and some Goldfinch flew over. A Curlew was also on the marsh, and a huge flock of waders that flew up and then landed were Golden Plover- another decent species.

Very distantly, a Red Kite circling added another species, along with a Grey Heron that was in a channel with a Little Egret, and some Coots were out in the harbour.

Some Marsh Harriers hunting added another species, as well as a Song Thrush that took a bit of searching for.

A huge, huge, huge amount of waders flew up, an incredible sight. I stood there amazed, watching them swirl around in the air. This was exactly why I was out today. To appreciate all the common species. It's so easy to get taken up with going to and fro looking for all the rare birds that we forget to appreciate the actual British ones, that are, in fact, very beautiful (especially Magpie... such cool birds).

A fruitful bush (in birds and berries) held Goldcrest and Long-tailed Tits. Some finches that flew over confirmed their ID by calling- Greenfinch.

Some more Goldfinch were landed, and more Long-tailed Tits were present. I had started heading back towards the visitor centre by this point, for a while longer at the ferry pools.

More Brent Geese flew through, another Collared Dove was around, and the bird feeders held plenty of Sparrows and Tits. A Pheasant in a field distantly was welcome, and a calling Firecrest was good around the visitor centre near the hide.

A while spent before my bus at the ferry hide produced a Common Buzzard.

The bus stop turned out to be a treasure trove, with a flyover Raven, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, and a Green Woodpecker proving valuable.

Those three really capped off the time at Pagham Harbour, with my total somewhere around 60- very good for just 11:15.

I was bracing myself for the next stint of the journey. This is where the real slog started... and where we really found out whether my ankle was ok or not. The bus dropped me 2 minutes up the road to Manhood Lane, where I then planned to walk all the way to the Medmerry Easton Lane Car Park, from there down to the Stilt Pools, then all the way across the beach into East Wittering and my next bus from there. 8 Miles on a dodgy ankle, having already done a few. Nice.

The walk to the car park for the actual nature reserve went well, with Jay and Kestrel being added along the way.

I was hoping to pick up quite a few species at Medmerry, but it was pretty dead as I started walking. Finally, some water appeared, where the only new bird for the day were some Gadwall, and another Buzzard was perched. There were plenty of other duck species also out on the water. A ringed Curlew was also out in the harbour.

I continued walking, and without many birds to look at to take my mind off it, my ankle started hurting quite a bit. Luckily, before long, a Yellowhammer perched up.

Another beautiful species easily overlooked because of its lack of scarcity.

A mile or two later, things finally started to pick up as I approached the Stilt Pools, with a Skylark, Meadow Pipits and two Stonechats adding to the tally.

As I made it to the Slilt Pools, some Tufted Ducks appeared, and waders on an island proved to be Dunlin and Ringed Plover. Wigeons, a Cormorant, Teal, Shoveler and Mallards were also all present.

As timings worked out, I ended up needing to just walk straight through without any proper breaks to sit and watch, and as the clock ticked on past 12:45, I started on my walk along the beach towards the bus stop in East Sussex. This was where my ankle started to be a bit of a problem- the awfully uneven surface of rocks, and having been on it for so long, it wasn't good, but just about manageable. Luckily, as I had planned, up next was an hour's journey on the buses, relaxing, before... more walking. My total as I left Medmerry was around 75.

I made it to the bus stop in time for the 13:39 up to Chichester... why did I want to go there? Well, I didn't, but it turns out to be the only route to get to the Pagham Lagoon and Harbour North Wall. I was constantly searching for birds the whole time on the buses, as I had been all morning, but as soon as we passed over the road marking the peninsula boundary, I properly relaxed, not having to worry about missing a Common Gull in a field or anything of the sort.

After making my connection in Chichester and crossing over the boundary, I was straight to the birding again, literally- the bus goes right past the Ivy Lake complex, and I hadn't picked up Mute Swan yet. Bingo. Through some bushes on a small pond was a juvenile Mute Swan.

My plan to finish the day off was as follows. Get off at the Church Farm Caravan Park bus stop and walk from there to Pagham Lagoon, hoping to pick up two specific species there. Then walk the rest of the way down the lagoon, and all the way up the path to the salthouse at Little Welbourne, and then onto the north wall and bird there for an hour or so. My bus back was at about 16:30, so I was hoping I might get lucky and see some owls to finish the day off.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, and I arrived at the caravan park at about 14:45 before walking to Pagham Lagoon. The hope here was for one more duck species I hadn't seen yet, and a much scarcer bird that had been here a while- a Black-necked Grebe.

I walked onto the boardwalk and was immediately taken aback by the number of Coots around. There were plenty of Black-headed Gulls and a few Tufted Ducks also. I scanned the corner where my main target species had been reported, but only Little Grebes were present. Even though it was only 15:00, the light had already started disappearing rapidly, so photos were difficult. My main worry was that I would get to the North Wall before it was difficult to actually see anything – there were quite a few species I was hoping to pick up there.

I've genuinely never seen Coots this tame before. A guy was feeding them, and they were just standing around on the path right by his feet, waiting for food. When I ended up going down the path, they repeated the trick with me, hoping I had food for them, and I had to walk through the crowds to actually get to the end of the path!

I was just starting to worry about the lack of any new species yet, when two ducks on the other side of the lake formed into some Common Pochards.

Almost immediately afterwards, another scan of the north side of the lagoon produced the two Little Grebes again, but also the target Black-necked Grebe- a really great species to see as always, and a good one for the list, pushing my total up to 77.

It was on the other side of the lagoon, and I could've walked around to see it closer, but with the light going fast, I didn't have time, and I've gotten decent photos of this species at Staines before. 

I decided to start walking around the lagoon towards the harbour itself, and stopped once more to try and get more photos of the Black-necked grebe, and was joined by the Coots again.

The light, as I'm sure you can tell by the above photo, was getting very poor, so I rushed around the rest of the lagoon and got onto the walk along the harbour up to the North Wall.

A scan over the harbour produced 4 more Mute Swans, hundreds of Teal, Lapwings and other waders. Best of all was a single Pintail that put my list up to 78.

The walk up to the wall had the harbour in view for little of it. When all the birds flew up, I managed to pick out a few Black-tailed Godwits- another new one for the day. After they had landed, a long scan produced some Knots, which were number 80 for the day. I was extremely pleased to finally pick up a Lesser Black-backed Gull flying through, genuinely a really cool gull species, one of my favourites.

By now, the path had gone out of view of the harbour, so I was racing along it as fast as possible. The miles and miles of walking had really taken their toll, and I was struggling not to trip head over heels as I bundled along the extremely muddy track. I stopped for a minute to watch a new species for the day-a Chiffchaff- through the binos before it flew off. There was already not enough light for photographs, and I still had over half a mile to go before I even made it to the North Wall. I knew that as soon as I made it to the North Wall, I would have roughly 30 minutes more birding and walking before being able to rest on the journey home, so I motored on. 

The light seemed to be beating me in the race. When I'd made it to the wall, it was already difficult to ID stuff. I was at a very good 82 species, but knew there were plenty more to get. I started walking along the path, hoping for anything. I hadn't picked up Med or Common Gulls yet, but the gulls were too far out in this lighting to be able to ID any of them for certain.

The light continued dropping, as did the temperature, and it was beginning to look as though I had walked all the way up to the North Wall for nothing. I heard a Water Rail squealing in the reeds, and briefly thought about trying to see if I could see it before common sense kicked in, and I continued walking along the track. Long, hard scans of the reeds didn't produce any Snipe, but some Marsh Harriers hunting provided entertainment as my fingers froze and the last of my energy disappeared. As previously mentioned, I was hoping for owls, and they should have been out by now if I was going to see them. 

Then, I heard a call that got my hopes up I followed the sound as it flew hardly meters in front of me, but excruciatingly couldn't lay eyes on it in the awful light. Then, I caught a glimpse of it on the rocks- it had landed. A Rock Pipit. Number 83. I gave a photograph a go- see if you can figure out where/what the bird is.

After walking a while up the path and back down to no avail, I sat down on a bench to wait out the remaining time of my trip. I could hear a few Curlews calling in the darkness, and a Magpie that was perched gave me what was surely to be a last photo of the day. Through the power of editing, the light looks a lot, lot better than it was. 

I took some photos of the harbour and reeds behind me to give an idea of how dark it was getting.

It was darker than the photos suggest, but you could still just about see shapes moving through the air. I was really hoping to finish the day with owls. It would just be perfect. Watching the owls hunt as the final few rays of light slipped away. But still, no owls. I still had about 25 minutes left, and was hoping that it would get darker so the owls might come out. I was freezing by this point. I had been prepared for the slog, but this was slightly harder than I had expected. Time kept on racing by at an alarming rate, and I was worrying that I might not get any more species.

The ducks, gulls and waders were still out in the harbour, and an interesting shape on the water caught my eye. As I was getting my camera onto it, another shape flying over the reeds caught my eye, but I continued looking at the bird on the water. All of a sudden, thinking about the other bird I had seen, "Wait, what actually was that?" My heart started pounding. I swivelled round on the bench and was met by a deathly bird of prey gliding through the air. Immediately, I saw it my freezing hands clutched at my binoculars. But I didn't need them for ID. I knew exactly what this was. And it was so thrilling. A look through the binoculars only increased my heart rate, as I got brilliant views of a slim, long-tailed bird of prey with a bright, white ring around its tail shining out in the darkness. That's right, as the night closed in, a stunning, sleek and deathly Hen Harrier had come out to hunt.

I genuinely couldn't believe what I was seeing. This species had caused me quite a bit of trouble not too long ago at The Burgh, not a million miles away from here. The bird was really quite close, allowing incredible views through binoculars. Silently scything through the air, spelling death for anything that took its fancy, this ringtail was the epitome of a bird of prey. I myself was almost shaking in my boots as it flew around- this bird, in this light, was a terrifying sight. 

It flew out over the harbour, and I tried to get a few shots, but even with insane amounts of editing, they don't come out well. But I couldn't care less. The bird in this shot is just below the bench. It's worth noting as well that while it may look distant in all the photos I got, I was probably only at about 1/4th of my camera's zoom, but there was no chance of focusing if I went all the way.

Quite often, I lost sight of the bird as it silently slid through the air, disappearing into the darkness. It went missing again, and when it didn't appear again, I thought that the sighting was finished. I stood there, absolutely gobsmacked, only able to think, "What on earth just happened?" Not only was the harrier an absolutely incredible, unexpected and perfect end to a hard, tiring, but enjoyable day, it was also a year tick and lifer. I had gone into the day not expecting any new birds at all, as none had been seen on the peninsula in recent times that I was able to get. 

I sat back down, elated, thrilled, and exhausted. All of a sudden, it appeared over the reeds again, having flown all the way from the harbour to behind me without me having seen any sign of it, even closer this time. It was truly hunting, diving in and out of the reeds, gliding silently, spelling death for anything it laid its eyes on. A master of flight. I finally managed to get a photo that you can really see what it was in. The bird is flying away, but that bright white ringed tail is clear.

The tail seemed to glow in the darkness, an incredible sight. I got a video of it, which shows the bird slightly better. You can view the video here- 

I stood there, amazed once more, getting incredible views of the bird hunting through my binoculars, stunned at how incredible the bird was. The slim, sleek wings, long, ringed tail, and dark, deathly look of the bird just took my breath away. 

The bird was like a phantom of the night, appearing out of nowhere, zipping from place to place with incredible agility, speed, skill and silence. And just like that, it was gone once more, leaving me stunned, speechless, stunned, and even a bit speechless. 

What a fairytale ending to the day. And what a day it had been. 84 species seen. I walked back to the bus stop, freezing and exhausted, but so, so happy. The journey was uneventful back home, with no species picked up on the way.

The day ended with 84 species seen, 4 and a half hours of travel, and nearly 15 miles walked. 

I'm finishing the write-up to this incredible story the day after- didn't have time to finish it yesterday... it has taken so, so long to write... I hope you enjoyed it! Still feeling absolutely exhausted, but don't mind at all. It was such a blast yesterday. An incredibly slow December that was due to be packed with birding has been very quiet so far, with only 2 new species for the year. And with no likelihood of anything soon, the Hen Harrier was a much-needed boost up to 205 for the year, and another incredible bird on my British Life List. I'm still so excited to have seen the bird, a truly incredible experience, and one of those birding memories I am just not going to forget. It just shows that if we just go out and about when there are specific targets, you can so easily miss birds you would have seen if you tried to find your own stuff. I've mentioned before how, when you put time and effort into a bird and don't see it, it only makes it sweeter when you do. And a self-found bird as well. Wow, what a day. One of my best days out birding ever, and while it may not have helped my ankle much, it was so, so worth it. 

Still buzzing with the Harrier. Truly, what an incredible bird.

Happy holidays