An eider raft is a large group of Eider Ducks that float close together on the sea. These rafts happen in the winter after they finish nesting. {Eider nest in the UK but are much further north than here} They stay close together to find food like shellfish and crustaceans by diving into the water
Lymington Quay on the Beaulieu River on the edge of the New Forest hints at its fishing past but now meets up with the modern leisure sailing world.
Little Egret Hamble River.
End of the pier and the end of the season Southsea Hampshire. The people have gone home the lights are turned off and the paint has faded.
Red sails in the sunset
Way out on the sea
Carry my loved one
Home safely to me
Red Sails in the Sunset lyrics by songwriter Jimmy Kennedy. {written in 1935}
A juvenile Common Tern on Meon Beach.
As we approach the 80th anniversary of D-Day I visited the village of Warsash on the River Hamble. Today Naval vessels and Landing Craft have been replaced by pleasure boats.
A few hour’s walk out to Gilkicker Fort on this wet morning and a stop to take a look at Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service.
Gosport Lifeboat Station is a volunteer-operated independent lifeboat station located near the Gilkicker peninsula at Gosport – it operates lifeboat services in the Solent from Portsmouth Harbour to Titchfield Haven. There are 235 Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat stations around the United Kingdom, and there are 65 lifeboat stations which are not owned or managed by the RNLI, GAFIRS is one of these. Like the RNLI, All Lifeboat services work with HM Coastguard their equipment, training, and procedures comply with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s Rescue Boat Code of Practice.
Sanderlings have a distinctive run/walk this is partly due to only having 3 toes on each foot, they are missing the hind toe. They run like wind-up little clockwork toys.
Continued Reflections from my World. 