Stonechats at Titchfield Haven this morning the colours are now muted as winter is here.
Winter Stonechats.
Month: November 2023
Town Quay.
I spent Friday morning visiting Town Quay and Mayflower Park Southampton. A few large ships were in port. Including the Queen Victoria – One of the Cunard fleet. The liner has a crew of 913 and can accommodate 2,061 passengers.
Red Funnel Ferries – Services run from Town Quay Southampton to Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The ferry takes about an hour and the fast jet passenger service takes just under 30 minutes.
I set my camera on the ground scattered some bird seeds – pressed record and waited.
A surprise sighting was a lone Giullemott fishing off the end of Town Quay. A bird I have seen often along our coasts but only in areas where there are stretches of steep cliffs. Considered a common bird and found in large breeding colonies. They come to land only to nest, spending the rest of their lives at sea.
And a Parrot in a Holly tree
As the trees are losing their leaves which opens up the views into their branches I thought it would be worth a look at the city parks for the resident Ring-necked Parakeets they were about. I saw 3 birds today but there may have been more. They were enjoying the Holly berries for lunch today.
Stoney Cross.
A walk across Stoney Cross around the edge of the WW2 airfield today’s nature walk gave a few gifts, although no deer sightings today.
Large flocks of “Fieldfare” were everywhere but not keen to stay for me to take a photograph or two! Fieldfares are large and colourful thrush. They are social birds, wintering in the UK. Flocks can be ten or twenty birds to several hundred strong. The flocks are noisy and the birds chuckle as they fly between trees looking for the best berries. Finally today and after trying for the last 3 weeks I got a couple of shots.
The Devil’s Fingers fungus [Clathrus archeri], this rare fungus I posted pictures of a few weeks ago has now gone over but others have now grown.
Another fungus spotted was a Yellow Stagshorn – {Calocera viscosa} – It is a Jelly Fungus which grows on decaying conifer wood, typically stumps and roots. This was a 1st for me this year.
Canal walk.
A muddy walk along the Titchfield Canal. The canal is a two-mile watercourse between the village of Titchfield and the coast at Titchfield Haven. Starting at the sea I quite like the wall art that had appeared on the back of the toilet block. In my view one up on some of the so-called tags which are appearing everywhere and I am told is art.
A few of the birds I spotted along the route.
A Robin heron and Blackbird.
Spitfire.
#Wordless Wednesday.
Where bombs fell.
Today was an open-heath walk within the former World War 2 bombing range on Ashley Heath near the village of Godshill and 5 miles northwest of Lyndhurst The range was used by aircraft from the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment at RAF Boscombe Down, nr Salisbury. The range was used for training and testing, all types of munitions fired or dropped from British aircraft were tested here first, except live incendiaries due to the fire risk. Barnes Wallis’s prototype Bouncing bombs used in Operation Chastise by the Dambusters and the Grand Slam bomb were tested on the site. Several different types of targets were built on the range including air-to-ground attack, mock ship targets, aircraft pens, gun emplacement, bomb fragmentation areas, and what is said to have been some Submarine pens. There were two small grass airstrips, observation shelters, and towers. The site was used both in daylight and night targets were illumination targets specifically for night bombing practice.
Our walk today was the 1st in this area of the New Forest with the aim of seeing the remains of a large target. Known as target number 2.
The shape of the target is visible from the ground the concrete wall around the target was removed for construction materials in the 1970’s
Many small ponds are on the heath most are water-filled bomb craters.
Magpie.
From a distance a bird with just black-and-white plumage but when seen close-up, its black plumage reveals a purplish-blue iridescent sheen to the wing feathers and a green gloss to the tail.
Magpie rhyme: ‘One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for secrets to never be told’.
They are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of this family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures.
Season arrivals.
Here on the Solent, almost all the Terns and summer visitors have gone for the winter. It was a very poor year for Tern numbers. I think this was due to the bird flu outbreak we had and the height of the breeding season. The black-headed gulls which are with us all-year numbers also remain low following the bird flu.
Soon the Brent Geese will be arriving in large numbers from Siberia, I have only seen a few so far this year. Sanderling numbers and Ring Plover numbers are increasing with the arrival of the cooler months. Taking advantage of a bright rain-free morning it was a pleasure to watch these little birds fly in while sitting on the beach.
Waiting for low tide.
#Wordless Wednesday
Continued Reflections from my World. 