A picture {or afilm says a 1000 words!}
Why is a Turnstone called a Turnstone?
beach & tideline
Fun in the Mud .
Hampshire Fire & Rescue mud rescue training on the mud flats at Calshot Point this morning. Mud rescues are undertaken by several agencies in the UK. Fire Service, The Coastguard and The RNLI.
We stumbled across this training exercise and took up a vantage point to watch.
Watching, it becomes evident how hard work walking through the mud is, with each step requiring immense effort as feet sink into the thick, slippery mud.
Turnstone.
A couple of hours watching Turnstone around the harbour at Titchfield,
Recovered from the Deep.
The Mary Rose was Henry VIII, flagship, built in 1511. She famously sank in the Solent in 1545 in full view of Southsea Castle. She took most of her crew of 500 souls with her. She was rediscovered in 1971 and raised in 1982. The part of the wreck that had become buried in the silt survived, and thousands of recovered Tudor artefacts, including personal items and weapons, were recovered.
In 1982, at the age of 22, I watched the raising operation of the Mary Rose live on TV with my grandfather. I remember his comment at the time. “What a waste of money to get a load of firewood off the seabed”!
The museum in Portsmouth Dockyard demonstrates that the salvage of the Mary Rose was a unique opportunity to snapshot into Tudor history. Over 19000 artefacts, along with the remains of the ship and crew, were recovered from the wreck site.
Archaeologists recovered 137 whole longbows and 172 part bows. There were also 3,500 arrows. Before the recovery of the Mary Rose, there were just 5 surviving longbows from medieval England known to exist.
link to the Museum,
Worming.
The Curlew is one of my favourite waders. I never tire of watching these large waders, whether on our coast in winter or on the moors during their nesting season. Not only are they a pleasure to see, but their call over the mashes is also a joy to hear. Just one picture today, and a video – something I have not captured before, a Curlew catching a Ragworm.
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.
Happy Christmas.
Christmas morning by the sea.
Morning light.
1st light on the Hamble River Sunday morning.
Curlew and Spotted Redshank.
A long flight.
As winter approaches, the number of Sanderlings increase on Meon Shore. This is because the small number of resident birds increased with migratory birds from their breeding grounds in the Arctic Circle arriving.
This ringed bird
This ringed bird has been on the beach for a few weeks. Ringed as an adult bird on a nest in NE Greenland on nesting grounds in summer 2025. I am always amazed at how a bird weighing just 60 grams makes this journey each year, then returns to their breeding grounds in the spring.
Continued Reflections from my World. 