A female Kingfisher at Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve. The female bird is identified by her orange lower beak. Despite the poor light, I was happy with today’s pictures.
Kingfisher.
Author: Andy Finnegan
Reed Bunting.
A pair of Reed Buntings. The male bird sports a striking black head in the breeding season, but as we are now in winter, this has become duller. Females are brown, making them harder to distinguish from females or other brown birds. Note the female bird in my picture is ringed.
Grey Plover.
Spotted a few Grey Plovers on Keyhaven Marshes near Lymington, Hampshire yesterday. I also see them regularly on the mud on the River Hamble. I have only seen them in their winter plumage; usually, I find them fairly difficult to photograph decently due to how far off they are.
In summer, they have silver and black spotted upperparts, a black face, neck and belly. In winter, they lose the black feathers and take on a grey look.
Swan Lake on ice.
A Winters Tale.
Monday, we had our 1st snowfall of the year, just a few centimetres, but enough to blanket the road and countryside for a few hours. By Tuesday morning, the snow had gone, but we were left with freezing temperatures and a lot of ice.
Frozen lake at Eastleigh. Just one corner with open water.
Drake Mallard on the ice.
Great Crested Grebe. On open water.
Hen Pheasants.
Fieldfare.
Fieldfares are the largest of the thrushes; they visit Britain & Ireland during the winter months. They start arriving on the UK’s eastern coasts from western Russia and eastern Europe during early October. Numbers vary each year and are dependent on berry crops closer to their breeding grounds. Fieldfares move in large numbers in search of berries.
Road Kill.
Driving back from our Sunday walk, we came across a Buzzard enjoying breakfast from a road-killed pheasant.
Tiny!
Walking the old toll path on Titchfield Canal, I spotted this little bird. Goldcrests are the UK’s smallest birds. With an average weight of 6 grams (the equivalent of about six paperclips!)
A lost village.
Today, being the last day of 2025, we decided to have a day out and headed to the village of Imber on Salisbury Plain. About an hour and a half’s drive from home, but well worth the trip.
All the residents of the village of Imber were evicted from their homes during ww2 in 1943 with just 47 days’ notice. The village and land formed part of the training grounds for American troops. Land was first purchased for military training on Salisbury Plain in late 1890s. Within 5 years, the total area in the hands of the War Department had risen to 43,000 acres. Permanent barracks were started at Tidworth in 1905. After the First World War, the War Department resumed buying land on Salisbury Plain. The Larkhill Royal School of Artillery was built in 1920. The village of Imber and its surrounding terrain were acquired between 1928 and 1932. The villagers became tenants of the War Department. After the evictions at the end of the war, it was never returned and remains, to this day, a training ground for urban warfare within the larger military training area of the Plain.
Today, the village is open for visits on a few days a year.
A walk around the village’s old homes and more modern killing houses.
The church of St Giles occupies the site of an earlier building dating from the mid-12th century. The nave was rebuilt towards the end of the 13th century, and around 1400,the addition of the north and south aisles, plus the tower and north porch. At this time, the nave roof was reconstructed. The chancel was rebuilt in 1849, at which time the north-east vestry was built.
Continued Reflections from my World. 