WEEKLY SUMMARIES FOR 2006

Great Northern Diver: There have been plenty of Great Northern (and Red-throated) divers around in the past week with several Hampshire sightings in Southampton Water. On Dec 27 four were off Selsey Bill and six in Portland Harbour but the report which interested me was of one in Anglesey Lake at Gosport on Dec 17 (Anglesey Lake is the dammed off west end of the Haslar/Stoke Lake creek).

Slavonian Grebe: On Dec 24 one was off Titchfield Haven and another off Normandy at Lymington

Black-necked Grebe: In addition to the flock in Langstone Harbour there were 9 in Studland Bay on the Dorset coast and on Dec 26 a bird seen on Ibsley Water near Ringwood was probably the one that recently vanished from the nearby Ivy Lake (last seen there on Dec 17).

Fulmar: 20 pairs are currently resident at their nest sites on the cliffs east of Hastings though they will not lay their eggs until May (and I read that these birds vanish from their nest sites for about a fortnight before laying)

Shag: One was again seen off Southsea Castle on Dec 29

Little Egret: Fewer than usual seem to have left the coast for inland sites this winter. At Rye Harbour 51 were at the roost there on Sep 17 and the count there was 53 on Dec 19 and 49 on Dec 28. Here in Hampshire the winter roost on the River Wey near Alton which had up to 8 birds in Jan 2004 and at least three in the 2005/6 winter has none so far though it may be that a new roost site awaits discovery as two birds have been seen by the river at Wrecclesham by day.

Great White Egret: The bird that was seen almost daily at the Blashford Lakes from the beginning of October until Dec 17 disappeared for 10 days but was back on Dec 27 and 29

Bewick's Swan: Just five birds, including one juvenile, arrived on the River Avon at Ibsley on Christmas Day and all five were still there on Dec 29.

Black Swan: One remains at Ibsley and has now been joined by an escapee of the species known either as a Maned Goose or an Australian Wood Duck (a large species of tree nesting 'perching duck')

Bean Goose: A herd of 18 Tundra race Bean Geese were in the Arun valley near Amberley Wild Brooks on Dec 29 (I presume these were correctly identified as there have been no other reports of Bean Geese but there was a sighting o 18 Whitefronts at Pett Level on Rye Bay on Dec 27)

Whitefront Goose: A group of at least seven (maybe ten) has been in the Lewes Brooks area south of Lewes since Dec 26 when three were at Piddinghoe with seven further upstram. Also on Dec 26 a group of five appeared at Rye Harbour with a flock of 18 seen at Pett Level next day.

Black Brant: Brian Fellows went to Fishbourne near Chichester on Dec 28 and found one at a 'new site' on winter wheat to the west of the reed beds at the north end of Fishbourne channel. What may have been another newcomer was on the Southsea seafront playing fields on Dec 24 and from Farlington Marshes comes news that the very ’butch’ Brant which was frequently seen there during November is no longer around but by Dec 26 a 'new bird' was occasionally to be seen though during the daytime it usually flies inland to graze with Brent at some unknown location to the north of Portsdown.

Egyptian Goose: A single bird appeared by the Pagham Harbour north walls on Dec 25 and was seen again flying west over the Sidlesham area om Dec 28

Scaup: Numbers are now increasing though there have been no sightings around Havant. In north Hampshire on Dec 25 a single female re-appeared in the Overton area (west of Basingstoke) 'for the umpteenth year' and in the Abbotsbury area west of Weymouth 13 birds were present on Dec 27.

Surf Scoter: The bird which was seen in Langstone Harbour on Dec 18 has not been re-found there and the bird which arrived at Beer on the south Devon Coast on Dec 20 was still there on Dec 27. Despite this Simon Ingram, who has information indicating that the bird at Langstone Harbour had different markings to those on the bird at Beer, still hopes that the Langstone Harbour bird is still there...

Goldeneye: One of my Christmas presents was to see my personal first Goldeneye of the winter off Warblington on Dec 25 (one distinctive male and three females). By Dec 29 there were 12 birds on Ibsley Water near Ringwood.

Smew: Other than the pair at Eversley in north Hampshire on Dec 23 (which are probably still present just over the Berkshire border) there have been no Hampshire sightings but the count at the Dungeness RSPB reserve was up to 12 on Dec 29

Goosander: No further sightings in the Havant area since the single bird on south Hayling on Dec 23 but numbers roosting in the Avon valley at Blashford lakes had increased to 31 on Dec 27 and 34 on Dec 29.

Marsh Harrier: On Dec 28 one was seen at Titchfield Haven where previous reports have been few this winter (Oct 30, Nov 1, Dec 9 and Dec 28)

Hen Harrier: A male was on the South Downs near Sussex University on Dec 23 and ringtail was seen near Bentley (Alton area) on Dec 28

Avocet: The birds wintering in Poole Harbour had a get together in the Middlebere area near Arne allowing a count of more than 1000 there on Dec 25

Golden Plover: A flock of 540 was in Pagham Harbour on Dec 25 and 500 were again seen there on Dec 29 (these are the first reports from Pagham since a count of 280 there in Nov 1)

Knot: Dec 24 brought an unusual report of one feeding on grassland at Christchurch Harbour with Oystercatchers and Bar-tailed Godwits

Purple Sandpiper: A second count of 8 for this winter was reported from Southsea Castle on Dec 29 (previous 8 was on Nov 27)

Black-tailed Godwit: After the birds 'disappeared' from Chichester Harbour on Dec 12 they seem to have moved to the Avon Valley with 420 there on Dec 17 but by Dec 23 a flock of 750 had appeared in Pagham Harbour and had grown to 790 birds on Dec 25 with more than 550 still there on Dec 29. Brian Fellows heard a report of 245 back in Chichester Harbour (at Fishbourne) on Dec 26 but could only see 30 there on Dec 28. On Dec 30 a small group of 11 were feeding just off Langstone pond but there does not seem to have been any substantial return to either Chichester or Langstone Harbours

Spotted Redshank: The group of three which had been a regular sight on the Emsworth west shore in early December (up to Dec 20) were seen somewhere on Thorney Island on Dec 20 (as were 8 of the Greenshank that had also been at Nore Barn)

Green Sandpiper: These have been in short supply in Hampshire so far this winter (only 2 seen at the Lower Test Marshes on Dec 27 - the first report from that usually abundant site) with the county peak counts being of 7 at the Blashford Lakes on Sep 3 and 5 there on Oct 28, followed by one count of 4 at Titchfield Haven on Sep 2. With this picture in mind it was a pleasant surprise to find one back in the Hermitage stream running through Leigh Park at Havant on Dec 28.

Black-headed Gull: A startling leucistic bird was at Pett Level (Rye Bay) on Dec 24.

Caspian Gull: Kris Gillam had one on the Sandown Boating Lake (IoW) on Dec 26

Iceland Gull: The first report of one anywhere on the south coast this winter comes from Ian Calderwood who saw one fly east off Hill Head towards Gosport on Dec 28 and thought it to be a third winter Kumlein's Gull

Stock Dove: On Dec 25 there was a surprisingly large flock of around 140 birds on the Warblington farm field south of the Old Rectory and among the flock was a pale coffee coloured individual (proving itself to be a Stock Dove and not a feral pigeon by the low angle at which it held its wings when gliding)

Long-eared Owl: A roost of more than three birds was found at the Newport Shute site on Mersley Down near Newport on the IoW on Dec 24 (first south coast roost west of Rye Harbour this winter)

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker: One was heard drumming in the Hook Valley near Warsash on Dec 28. This is the first reported drumming Lesser Spot though the first Great Spot was heard on Dec 4 and one at Brighton on Dec 24 was the fifth report for that species.

Woodlark: 5 birds which had not moved to the coast were at Tweseldown racecourse (Aldershot area) on Dec 27 and 11 birds which had moved were on the shore of Rye Bay at Pett Level on Dec 29

Shore Lark: No local reports but a total of 25 were reported from the north Norfolk coast on Dec 27

Fieldfare: Some large flocks seem to have arrived in southern counties with more than 500 flying south over Amberley Wild Brooks and several flocks (including one of 700 birds) in the Alton area, both on Dec 29

Common Whitethroat: After the sighting of one at the Portsmouth IBM site on Dec 13 one was found at Christchurch Harbour on Dec 28 and that report mentioned another wintering bird somewhere in Devon

Penduline Tit: Not in our area but I was interested to hear that one has been at Rainham marshes (London area) from Dec 22 to at least Dec 27

Carrion Crow: Flocks of 100 or more are nowadays a common sight on the harbour shores in winter and I see that on Dec 22 Ian Watts counted 234 of them on the Weston shore of Southampton Water.

Chaffinch: A flock of around 200 with some 20 Brambling was seen in the Aldershot area at Rushmoor arena on Dec 27 - this flock is likely to remain here and increase in number.

Brimstone butterfly: We have already had one report of these from Stansted Forest on Dec 16 and there is now a second report of one seen in Gosport on that day.

Holly Blue: Peering with a telescope through the locked gates of Stanley Park in Gosport on Dec 6 Anne McCue saw a male Holly Blue nectaring on a Mahonia plant - the first ever December sighting of the species in Hampshire (and probably a first for the UK)

Red Admiral: Latest sighting to date is of one at Peacehaven near Brighton on Dec 24. In Hampshire the latest report was from Fareham on Dec 21.

Lesser Celandine: The single plant which has been in bud on the bank of the Lymbourne stream here in Havant since Dec 23 had fully opened its petals to reflect the rays of the sun on the morning of Dec 30

Hawthorn: A single Hawthorn tree growing beside the Hermitage stream in Leigh Park here in Havant was covered in clusters of open flowers on Dec 28 but I had difficulty in finding a single leaf still on the tree to confirm its identity.

My December finds of plants in flower has given me a list of 96 species flowering during the month

Red Squirrel: In the Sandown/Shanklin Golf Course area of the IoW two were again taking nuts from visitors hands on Christmas Eve

Fungi: My best find this week was of 'Wrinkled Peach' (Rhodotus palmatus) found on a dead elm trunk lying in the field you cross when going from Warblington cemetery to the sea wall. Those specimens will be over when you read this but it is worth scanning the fallen remains of the many small elms which lined the west end of the cemetery until they all died recently and were cut down.

Diver species: This week Southampton Water had all three common diver species on show between Hythe and Southampton - no claims for White-billed yet!

Great Crested Grebe: Numbers are now growing along the south coast - nothing yet approaching the total of 800 in Rye Bay on Feb 11 this year but there were 25 off East Head in Chichester Harbour on Dec 19 and 28 at the Ringwood Blashford Lakes on Dec 23

Slavonian Grebe: Two were in the mouth of Chichester Harbour on Dec 19 and four on the sea off Church Norton on Dec 20

Black-necked Grebe: A flock of 15 or 16 were seen off the Hayling Oysterbeds on Dec 23 but on that date Bob Chapman told us that the single bird which has been on the Blashford Lakes since Nov 29 (maybe since Sep 13 when there was an isolated report of one there) could no longer be seen there.

Shag: One was in the Langstone Harbour entrance on Dec 23 where two were first seen on Dec 14

Cattle Egret: One was in Christchurch Harbour on Dec 23 (where 2 arrived on Sep 9 and at least one was regularly seen up to Oct 10). Other than a single at Dungeness RSPB reserve from Oct 18 to 20 this current sighting is the only recent report I know of.

Little Egret: Although there was a report of good numbers being seen in the Alresford area on Dec 4 there are still plenty at coastal sites. 28 were in Christchurch Harbour for the Dec 17 WeBS count, I counted 40 entering the Langstone night roost on Dec 18, and 53 flew out of the Rye Harbour roost at dawn on Dec 19

Great White Egret: Bob Chapman thinks the Blashford Lakes bird had left that site by Dec 23 (last seen there on Dec 17) and on Dec 23 Tom Jordan had a possible sighting of one in flight over the Marchwood area on the shore of Southhampton area.

Bewick's Swan: On Dec 18 there was a total of 36 birds in the Arun valley between Arundel and Pulborough. (Quite irrelevant to this I learnt from a TV programme - Antiques Roadshow - that the name Arundel is a corruption of Hirondelle, the French name for Swallow. It seems that in times past when Norman French was the current language Arundel was noted for the number of Swallows to be seen there and a Swallow still appears in the the town's coat of arms)

Black Swan: Another love lorn bird appeared on the River Avon at Ibsley on Dec 23 - as there is still, I think, a good population of these birds further upstream in the Salisbury area this one may not have been as unusual as the one which appeared at Rye Harbour on Dec 14 and was still there on Dc 16

Greylag Goose: The count at Pulborough Brooks on Dec 18 was 175 birds

Pale-bellied Brent: The number at Ferrybridge in Portland Harbour was 7 on Dec 21 (9 had been there on Dec 14). On Dec 23 the Farlington Marshes notice board still reported 2 Pale-bellied and one Brant.

Gadwall: A total of 250 were on the Blashford Lakes on Dec 23 - this seems to be the first report of Gadwall there this winter but may not be the last as the WeBS count there on Feb 17 in 2005 was of 720 birds.

Pintail: On Dec 17 John Clark found 320 in the Avon valley south of Ringwood and on Dec 18 the count in the Pulborough/Amberley area was of 575. On Dec 23 'scores' were said to be present around Farlington Marshes

Ferruginous Duck: Jason Crook tells me that the hybird bird has probably been at Budds Farm in Havant since Mike Collins found it there on Nov 4, and that it was present on Dec 21

Scaup: These are in short supply this winter and the only reports I have seen have been from Rye Harbour/Dungeness (max 2 on Dec 17) and from the Weymouth area in Dorset (max 16 on Dec 23 - 8 at Abbotsbury and another 8 at Lodmoor). On Dec 23 Tony Gutteridge saw what might have been a female on the Budds Farm pools in Havant and I await further news of it.

Surf Scoter: What is considered to be a genuine wild bird spent one day (Dec 18) in Broom Channel of Langstone Harbour before appearing at Beer (near Seaton on the south Devon coast) on Dec 20. This was probably the same bird that had been reported on the sea off Pagham Harbour on Dec 9. The appearance in Langstone Harbour was only the third time the species had been recorded in Hampshire - once in May 1976 and once in Apr 1999, both times in the Hurst area of the west Solent.

Smew: The first two to be seen in Hampshire this winter were a pair at the Eversley gravel pits (by the Berkshire border) on Dec 23

Goosander: One was on Sinah gravel pit lake (south Hayling) on Dec 23 - the first in the Havant area other than a group of six which passed through Langstone Harbour on Nov 9. Numbers in the New Forest are growing fast with a peak of 18 on Eyeworth Pond on Dec 23. I think all the birds seen on New Forest ponds return to the safety of the Blashford Lakes each night, and that birds seen in one place one day may be in a different place next day.

Ruddy Duck: The male was still on Budds Farm pools on Dec 21

Buzzard: Back on Nov 19 Brian Fellows saw a raptor flying over the Warblington farm fields but rain prevented him getting a good look at it. A month later, on Dec 18, he saw what was probably the same bird in the same area and managed to get a photo of it perched in an oak tree, confirming that it was a Buzzard - maybe a young bird intending to establish a permanent base around the Warblington farm.

Merlin: A male was again seen at Farlington Marshes on Dec 23

Avocet: Numbers in the Farlington Marshes area seem to have been gradually increasing from 2 in mid October to 13 on Nov 6 and 18 on Nov 25. 18 were still there on Dec 20 but the number again increased to 26 on Dec 23. These numbers seem typical of the birds which settle at any one site for the winter - a large core of birds seem to remain at the site for months while a few more restless birds move along the coast, spending a few days at each of various sites until they eventually settle down at the main wintering sites such as the Exe estuary or Poole Bay (where the count was 827 on Nov 30). The above comment is my view on the question of whether the flock now at Farlington is made up of the birds recently seen at Nutbourne Bay in Chichester Harbour. The latter flock has been building up since Oct 30 (5 birds) and had reached 20 birds by Nov 15 with 19 seen there on Dec 14. My guess would be that that flock is just as 'resident' as the Langstone Harbour one - the nucleus remaining for months, though perhaps moving about in the Nutbourne/Prinsted/Thorney Channel area than do the Langstone birds.

Golden Plover: The absence of a big flock in the Eastleigh area so far this winter is probably balanced out by the presence of flocks normally unseen by birders because they are on isolated farmland areas of inland Hampshire and a report for Dec 22 of more than 60 seen south of East Meon on the hill ridge running east from Old Winchester Hill tends to support this.

Knot: A report of 'many' in Pagham Harbour on Dec 20 was followed by a sighting on Dec 23 of 121 in the Broom Channel area of Langstone Harbour west of Farlington Marshes, and these support the idea of a recent influx of these birds into our area. They may stay with us or move on, as it seems did a flock of more than 400 which Jason Crook saw in the centre of Langstone Harbour some time around Dec 10.

Black-tailed Godwit: It seems that the large numbers of birds which seemed to vanish from Langstone and Chichester Harbours after Dec 9 have moved to flooded fields in the lower stretch of the Avon valley between Ringwood and Christchurch. First news of a large flock there came from John Clark doing a WeBS count on Dec 17 - he found 420 birds. By Dec 22 the number had risen to 500 plus but we are still a long way off the record of 3000 birds there on 8 Feb 2003

Sandwich Tern: Two were seen from Black Point in the mouth of Chichester Harbour on Dec 17 and on Dec 23 two flew past the mouth of the Hamble towards Southampton Water (at a guess these are birds wintering in Portsmouth Harbour but coming out and moving around in the Solent in search of food).

Great Spotted Woodpecker: Three more reports of drumming this week. On Dec 17 one was heard at Durlston in Dorset and on Dec 21 one was heard at Sway in the southwest of the New Forest while the other was in the Alresford/Cheriton area.

Woodlark: On Dec 16 three were in the East Park of the Stansted estate where a total of 15 had been seen on Nov 4

Blackbird: Both Mistle and Song Thrush have been singing recently but I was surpised to hear a 'dawn chorus' in Langstone village on Dec 19 including singing Blackbird(s)

Fieldfare: It seems that quite a few of these are now in Hampshire to stay the winter. On Dec 17 a total of 3056 were seen in the New Forest and on Dec 18 a flock of around 150 were in the Amberley area of the Arun valley while on Dec 23 a flock of 70 birds was in the Meon valley south of Soberton,

Blue Tit: There have been two recent reports of sickly Blue Tits showing similar symptoms of feathers dropping out to leave areas of bare flesh and the birds consequently shivering with cold. One was seen in a Christchurch/Bournemouth garden on Dec 19 with no head feathers left and the other was in the Ibsley area of the Avon valley just north of Ringwood a day or so earlier.

Great Grey Shrike: The New Forest Shrike survey on Dec 17 found three separate birds - one at Vales Moor between Burley and Ringwood, one at Crab Tree Earth south of Rhinefield House and the third on Ridley Plain north of Burley. One seen on Wilverley Plain on Dec 22 was probably from the nearby Crab Tree Earth site.

Rook: Although there are still plenty of Rooks around their numbers have been declining everywhere in the past 50 years and this has been noticeable in the Emsworth area where several small rookeries have vanished in the past few years. Surprisingly, on Dec 22, a group of 20 Rooks was back in one cluster of trees within the Emsworth built up area as if they had returned to guard and rebuild nests. Maybe it was just a party of 'pensioner Rooks' having a nostalgic day trip back to their childhood home but it will be interesting to see if they do use those trees again in the spring.

Bullfinch: In recent winters we have seen numbers of Bullfinch arriving in southern England for the winter, presumably fleeing the continent. So far this autumn there have been no reports of migrants to match the 164 birds on the north Kent coast on 5 Nov 2005, the 77 at Christchurch Harbour on Nov 4 or the 40 at Beachy Head on Nov 5. Those flocks of arriving migrants in 2005 were followed by many widespread inland records of smaller flocks (e.g. a party of around 20 flying over Finchdean, north of Rowlands Castle, on Nov 20. The first small indication of migrants here this winter comes from the Medina estuary of the Isle of Wight on Dec 23 when 9 Bullfinches were seen with large numbers of winter Thrushes and Meadow Pipits (and one 'migrant' Hawfinch)

Corn Bunting: These birds have not yet abandoned their last foothold in southern England - a flock of 82 was still present at Rye Harbour on Dec 23.

Butterflies: Two Brimstones and one Comma were still flying in Stansted Forest on Dec 16 and Red Admirals were still active on Dec 18.

Moths: Light Brown Apple moths were seen on Dec 14 and 15 and on Dec 17 both December moth and Winter moth were recorded. An interesting comment on the Rye Harbour website is that while the female Winter moths (whose caterpillars inhabit the centre of unsprayed apples) are flightless the males have wings and the larvae are also able to fly using the 'ballooning' technique by which spiderlings spread themselves. The moth caterpillars similarly climb to an exposed high point, stick their backsides up into the breeze, and pay out silken thread until thereis enought to catch the wind and bear the weight of the caterpillar which is then carried off (as if in a balloon) to whereever the wind is blowing.

Lesser Celandine: On Dec 23 the very first flower of the new season had raised its head to show a closed but bright yellow flower on the bank of the Lymbourne stream here in Havant

Sweet Violet: Several of these were flowering in the churchyard of St Thomas. Old Bedhampton, here in Havant on Dec 19

Blackthorn: The 'aberrant' tree at the Hayling Oysterbeds was still flowering on Dec 16 and on Dec 23 Tony Gutteridge told me he had also seen one tree in flower recently (not sure exactly where or when).

Dog Rose: A couple of bushes on the South Moors shore at Langstone (close to the mouth of the Langbrook stream) had a total of ten open flowers on Dec 21. On Dec 16 another bush near the Hayling Oysterbeds had a total of 15 flowers.

Ivy: It is now difficult to find flowers which still have anthers but I saw one or two on Dec 23

Hazel: Male catkins were fully extended and 'open' by the Hayling Billy trail where it passes the east end of Grove Road in Havant on Dec 16

Otter: On Dec 17 Bob Chapman told us of fresh Otter spraints seen by the Dockens Water flowing through the Blashford Lakes reserve at Ringwood

Red Deer: Also on Dec 17 Russell Wynn came on a single herd of 60 Red Deer in the New Forest somewhere not far from Brockenhurst

Fungi: The path at the end of my garden has acquired a thick bed of wood chips in the past couple of years since I bought a machine to dispose of a growing pile of garden rubbish. Earlier this autumn I commented on finding Jew's Ear fungus growing on a branch of Buddleia which was too thick and knotty to go through the machine, and in the past couple of months I have had a long drawn out display of what I took to be some type of Psyathyrella toadstool which I could not identify. This week the December issus of British Wildlife has an article by Peter Marren on 'Global fungal weeds - the toadstools of wood-chip beds' which describes a massive invasion of Britain by a host of fungal species whose spores have probably arrived on the wind from all parts of the globe and which have found their perfect haven in our newly ceated habitat of wood-chip beds. I think one of these illegal immigrants (Agrocybe rivulosa) could well be the species which has been puzzling me - it not only has the general features of this species as described and illustrated by Peter Marren but has the 'greasy cap' and radially wrinkled cap which he describes. Whether or not I have got the right name the article gives a fascinating insight into how quickly some life forms will discover and colonise newly available habitat, and also how our national boundaries (and even the seas and oceans which act as barriers to the movement of some species) are no obstacle to the spread of things as small and light as fungal spores.

Red-throated Diver: Locally there were reported sightings this week from the east of the Isle of Wight (Puckpool and Ventnor) and from the Hurst area (ones or twos) but a lot more must have been passing down Channel to give counts of 16 off Portland on Dec 10 (and 8 on Dec 12, 7 on Dec 13 and 14, and 4 on Dec 15)

Black-throated Diver: One was in Chichester Harbour, seen from East Head, on Dec 14 and a couple more went past Portland on Dec 10 (in addition to one in Portland Harbour on Dec 11)

Great Northern Diver: More of these have been arriving in the Channel with counts of up to 15 in Portland Harbour (Dec 11), 5 in Poole Harbour (Dec 9) and 4 in Southampton Water on Dec 9 when 1 was seen in Langstone Harbour from the Oysterbeds and another was off Selsey. On Dec 14 two were seen from East Head in Chichester Harbour, and two others have been in the Southwick Canal (eastward extension of Shoreham Harbour) - one of these has a fish hook caught near its eye with a metal spinner/lure still attached and I am awaiting news of this bird's capture by the Sussex Wildlife Ambulance crew if and when they can borrow a suitable boat.

Slavonian Grebe: Three were seen in Chichester Harbour from Black Point on Dec 9 and at least one was still in that area on Dec 14. Other singles were seen off the Hayling Oysterbeds on Dec 10 and in the Warsash/Hook area on Dec 12

Black-necked Grebe: The peak count in Langstone Harbour remains 17 seen on Dec 9 with 15 seen there on Dec 10 when another 6 were in Little Sea lake at Studland (mouth of Poole Harbour) with two more remaining at the Abbotsbury Swannery near Wyemouth. Of local interest one was on Ivy Lake at Chichester in Dec 9

Balearic Shearwater: Although there have been no local sightings these are becoming more frequent visitors to the English Channel each year - at Portland this is the first time the birds have ever been seen in December and by Dec 13 they had already recorded four this month.

Leach's Petrel: The HOS website has sightings at Sandy Point of 2 of these on Dec 5 and 5 on Dec 7. Maybe some of the birds involved in the recent massive wreck were driven round the north of Scotland and down the North Sea as Dungeness had its first sighting of one heading west on Dec 11 (when maybe the same bird was seen passing Bexhill). Dec 11 is the last date for which I have seen any sightings (including one passing Ventnor plus sightings from Fort Victoria on the IoW and Milford on sea.

Shag: A peak count of 5 were off Southsea Castle on Dec 8 with one again there on Dec 14 when two were seen in the mouth of Langstone Harbour near the ferry (first sighting there for this winter). On Dec 16 birds at Durlston were already showing their new breeding crests.

Bittern: One seen at Pett Level near Hastings on Dec 11 was said to be the first of the winter there and may presage the arrival of others elsewhere.

Little Egret: At dusk on Dec 14 Jason Crook saw 29 Egrets in the Warblington field south of the Old Rectory. This may mark the start of the winter flock which has spent its days feeding in those fields in each recent winter but it may have been just a brief 'pre-roost gathering' of birds that had been feeding elsewhere during the day and which were heading for the nearby Langstone roost trees.

Bewick's Swan: A total of 15 were in the Pulborough/Amberley area on Dec 10 but I think they were just stopping off on passage (maybe to Slimbridge) as it looks as if there were only two there on Dec 14.

Black Swan: One turned up at Rye Harbour on Dec 14, probably a bird feeling the call of the antipodean spring and flying around in search of a mate - maybe we will again see one locally at Emsworth or Gosport?

Pale-bellied Brent: Up to three were being seen in Portland Harbour through November but on Dec 12 the count increased to 5 and on Dec 14 there were 9 birds there - maybe others have been arriving in our Solent area?

Shelduck: More than 80 were present in the Emsworth to Langstone neck of Chichester Harbour on Dec 12

Mandarin: Another duck species that thinks spring is here - a pair had been seen mating at Horsham on Dec 3 and on Dec 9 a party of 20 males were displaying to 4 females on the Weir Wood reservoir in north Sussex

Mallard: On Dec 15 a family of newly hatched ducklings were seen on the Test at Romsey following the sighting of other ducklings at Arundel on Dec 2

Pintail: 44 were present in Nutbourne Bay of Chichester Harbour on Dec 14 (the flock at Pulborough had dropped from 300 to 200 on that day)

Scaup: Still no local sightings but up to 7 have been seen at the Abbotsbury Swannery at Weymouth this week

Eider: On Dec 9 there were 86 off Titchfield Haven and on Dec 10 there were 13 in the Hurst area at the other end of the Solent. On Dec 14 a party of 4 were in Chichester Harbour off East Head (two of them were smart males)

Common Scoter: On Dec 11 a total of 420 went west past Dungeness heading our way.

Velvet Scoter: Six went west past Ventnor on Dec 10

Goldeneye: There are still very few of these about but on Dec 10 the first of the winter arrived at the Blashford Lakes (just one bird). Maybe there was a small influx that day as there were also reports from Langstone Harbour and from the Ryde/Puckpool area of the IoW

Goosander: On Dec 6 there were 16 Goosander on Janesmoor Pond near Fritham in the New Forest

Merlin: The nearest sighting to Havant last week was of one at East Head in Chichester Harbour on Dec 14

Coot: The first report of Coot on the open sea this winter came from Christchurch Harbour on Dec 10

Avocet: On Dec 14 Brian Fellows found 19 at Nutbourne Bay to the east of Thorney Island and Anne de Potier added that they have been winter resident there since Nov 19 when she had a distant view of around 27 birds. Jason Crook tells us that this flock is not related to the group of around 15 birds which have been in the Farlington Marshes area for about the same time (the first report of 13 birds there was dated Nov 18 but two had been there as early as Oct 18 and the count was up to six by Nov 13)

Golden Plover: Counts of between 1000 and 2000 birds in the Langstone/Northney area of Chichester Harbour in mid-November have diminished to 500 or less there in the past week but another 300 were seen in the West Wittering area helping to confirm my view that a total of over 1000 remains in Chichester Harbour, sometimes roosting in one large group and sometimes splitting up to spend their days in smaller groups in different places (no doubt dependent on tide times and heights, the weather, and food availabilty among other factors). It must be remembered that when night falls these birds split up into very many small groups and spread out to feed all over the local countryside, so it may be just a matter of chance which roost area they use when dawn breaks.

Purple Sandpiper: Although the count of 8 at Southsea Castle on Nov 27 has not yet been beated there were 6 there on Dec 13

Jack Snipe: Kris Gillam tells us that a total of 7 seen in the Blackwater village area south of Newport on Dec 10 was the highest day count on the Isle of Wight since 1998.

Black-tailed Godwit: There have been no counts of more than 100 along the Emsworth shore since Dec 6 and virtually no birds there since Dec 10. Brian Fellows has spent some time searching the north shore of Chichester Harbour since then but cannot find any trace of a large flock. The birds may have moved abroad but I suspect they could be found at Titchfield Haven if there was any news coming from that reserve (their website was last updated on Nov 5). Jason Crook has commented that Blackwits commonly move away from the harbour shores to feed in fields when the fields become wet enough to force all the worms to come to the surface, and a look at last years reports from Titchfield shows that the flock feeding there increased notably after rain on Dec 3 (when at least 200 were seen there) growing to a count of 368 on Dec 23. (Before Dec 3 the highest count was of 142 on Nov 12). Of course the birds may have flown further west - an additional 100 from Emsworth would hardly be noticed among the flock of 919 around Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour on Nov 30 - and nearer home they could be feeding in the MoD Defence Munitions land on the north west shore of Portsmouth Harbour to which there is no public access.

Bar-tailed Godwit: In contrast to the Black-tails a flock of around 40 Bar-tails had re-appeared on the Warblington shore of Chichester Harbour on Dec 16 where numbers had built up to more than 400 by Nov 9 only to vanish until now

Whimbrel: The single bird wintering in Pagham Harbour was seen off Church Norton on Dec 13. There may well be 2 others wintering in the Emsworth channel east of Thorney Island where they have been a regular sight in recent winters, but the last sighting there that I know of there was on Oct 8, and there is probably one in Langstone Harbour which was last reported in the HOS news as being present throughout November

Spotted Redshank: Three of these were definitely seen in the Nore Barn area west of Emsworth on Dec 13 where they were seen on two days at the end of November. What was probably a different bird was at East Head on Dec 14.

Greenshank: Up to 10 probably remain on the shore west of Emsworth where they were seen on Dec 10 and 8 or 9 were present on Dec 12.

Med Gull: There is no need to go searching for these but if you want to be sure of seeing one locally the Tipner Lake area by the M275 into Portsmouth is a good bet, particularly at low tide. Tim Doran saw 8 there on Dec 10. Further afield 53 of these gulls were in Pagham Harbour on Dec 10, concentrated around Pagham village

Ring-billed Gull: The regular bird is still at the Gosport Cockle Pond but on Dec 10 a newcomer turned up at Christchurch Harbour, maybe going on west to be seen off Portland Bill on Dec 14. On Dec 15 I saw what was possibly another adult close to the Broadmarsh slipway

Lesser Black-back: A total of 68 flew high over Langstone Harbour heading south west, maybe going on across the Channel, on Dec 8. This movement was long after the normal autumn passage of these birds from summer to winter quarters and no one has come up with a reason for them moving at this date.

Sandwich Tern: Jason Crook has told us that four of these are wintering in Langstone Harbour (though maybe making day trips on to the Solent outside the harbour to account for sightings such as that of one seen from the Ryde/Seaview area of the IoW on Dec 10) and it seems likely that there are also at least three resident in Chichester Harbour - on Dec 9 I saw two together fishing of the shore west of Emsworth and on the same day one was seen from East Head near the harbour mouth.

Guillemot: On both Dec 14 and 16 some were seen at Durlston Head in Dorset and it was noted that some were already in summer plumage - it was also suggested that the birds seen there recently on their breeding ledges were only there to escape severe weather out at sea with no thought of breeding now.

Little Auk: One was still passing Selsey Bill on Dec 9 when another (maybe the same bird?) went past Hurst Castle in the west Solent.

Black Redstart: On Dec 11 at least one was still in the area just west of the Hayling Beachlands Office, where a goup of four have been seen recently.

Whinchat: It is very rare for this species to remain in England in the winter (though it has been known in Hampshire) so one seen in the River Ouse Valley just upstream from Lewes on Dec 14 was highly unusual - the latest date for one in Sussex prior to this year was Dec 2.

Redwing: Fieldfare have been present on the Isle of Wight since Nov 2 with counts of 130 on Nov 26 and 150 on Dec 8, and Redwing have been seen there in smaller numbers since Oct 12, there have been no similar reports from the area around Havant so the arrival of 15 Redwing in the East Park of the Stansted estate on Dec 6 is of local interest.

Cetti's Warbler: One was singing at the Budds Farm pools in Havant on Dec 15. I thought I heard one there about a month ago but have not heard other reports of them at that site.

Lesser Whitethroat: The Hampshire Bird Report gives the 'latest ever' date for this summer migrant in the county as 31 Oct 1982 so a definite sighting of one by Tim Doran at the Portsmouth IBM site on Dec 10 set a new record. Tim is pretty sure he saw the same bird earlier in December at the same place but on that occasion could not be sure of its identity.

Common Whitethroat: On Dec 13 Tim Doran added a sighting of a Common Whitethroat at the Portsmouth IBM site though this is not as dramatic as the species has been known to overwinter in Hampshire (and one was seen at the IBM site in Nov 1995)

Raven: There have now been seven separate sightings of a pair of Ravens in the Stansted Forest area since Oct 29, the latest being on Dec 11 - several of these sightings have been of birds flying west over the Stansted East Park area around dusk, presumably heading to some night roost after foraging in Sussex by day.

Starling: For those who have seen Bill Oddie enthusing about the sight of many thousand Starlings swirling in the sky before diving into their night roost Alan Cox on Dec 12 told us that we can see a similar spectacle in the area of the Frensham Ponds.

Escapees: On Nov 18 Brian Fellows found four Fulvous Whistling Ducks on the Chichester Gravel Pit Lakes and published some excellent photos of them on his website so when Geoff Jones announced on Dec 9 that he had seen two of the same species at Titchfield Haven I had a clear idea of what they looked like.

Brimstone: The latest sighting of this species was on Dec 6 in the New Forest

Red Admiral: At least 8 were active in Stansted Forest on Dec 9 and the latest to date was seen in Sussex on Dec 12

Peacock: One of these was seen at Kingley Vale, north of Chichester, on Dec 9.

Flowering Plants: Halfway through the month my December list of flowering plants has 92 species on it. The most surprising are listed below...

Hazel catkins: Male catkins were 'open for business' on two trees in Havant on Dec 16 - I think these trees were probably imported from a foreign country where spring comes earlier than normal for England and planted by the local council

Orchid leaves: The leaf rosettes of Bee Orchids are a regular sight in December but this month I have also seen the leaves of Green-veined Orchid and Lizard Orchid (the latter was my first ever encounter with the species but I have to admit it was a 'captive specimen' in a flower pot which had originally grown in France)

Lesser Celandine: No flower buds have yet appeared at any of the 'early flowering' sites that I know of and where I have found flowers open on Dec 14 in at least one recent year.

Winter Heliotrope: I smelt the strong scent of these plants for the first time on Dec 14

Roe Deer: The daily diary from Durlston Country Park for Dec 16 reports the sight of a Roe buck already showing lumps on its head marking the start of growth of its antlers that have to be ready for the rut next May.

Fungi: Early this week a single Meadow Waxcap appeared in my garden lawn here in Havant - a few of these have appeared in each of the last few years but this year there was only one and it remained small (not more than 3 cm across) but still had the delightful smooth peach coloured cap that they always have. At the end of the week I saw my first Common Inkcaps in the roadside grass at Langstone, and in Durlston country park I see they have recorded Dead Man's Fingers as well as the much commoner Candlesnuff fungus.

Red-throated Diver: There have been eleven sightings of these in the past week and John Shillitoe has had two close encouters with them swimming close to the causeway leading out to Black Point in the mouth of Chichester Harbour (Dec 4) and on the shore at Titchfield Haven (Dec 8) where Steve Mansfield had less good sightings of two (maybe three) on Dec 2.

Great Northern Diver: With seventeen reports during the week these seem to have been the commonest diver (especially in Portland Harbour where a 'flock' of 19 birds was seen on Dec 8. Locally one was off the Langstone South Moors on Dec 2 when another was seen near the mouth of the Hamble river and further up Southampton Water four of them were present on Dec 9

Great Crested Grebe: No flocks of these on the sea so far this winter but on Dec 6 there were still at least 43 on the gravel pit lakes at Chichester, including a pair displaying to each other as they had been back on Nov 18

Red-necked Grebe: One was on the sea off the north east corner of the Isle of Wight on Dec 2 and 7 and maybe the same bird was at the west end of the Solent (seen from Hurst Castle) on Dec 5

Slavonian Grebe: One remains in the Lymington area and on Dec 8 two were seen in Chichester Harbour off West Wittering.

Black-necked Grebe: Singles of these remain at the Blashford Lakes and on the sea at Lymington. In Langstone Harbour I saw ten south of Budds Mound on Dec 8 but these birds were widely spaced (not in a compact bunch) and there could well have been more (14 remains the highest reported count for this winter)

Storm Petrel: Among the hundreds of Leach's Petrels seen during the past week there was just one sighting of a Storm Petrel, seen off Milford on the sea on Dec 7

Leach's Petrel: This week's gales drove a huge number of these pelagic birds to our shores - in the Portland area there were well over 150 seen on Dec 5 with more than 130 there on Dec 7 - while others were blown far inland to give reports from the Alton area of Hampshire and Farmoor in Oxfordshire. The last two inland birds were only noticed through being found dead and from these reports I learnt that the birds which die in these 'wrecks' do not necessarily do so from exhaustion and lack of food - those factors no doubt contribute to their demise but in two cases the corpses were found to have serious damage to the back of their heads and both Carrion Crow and Magpie have been seen delivering such blows to the heads of low-flying, fluttering Petrels. This discussion of predation on wrecked Petrels also produced a report of how, during the Storm Petrel 'wreck' of last May, a Newfoundland Dog was seen swimming in the sea 250 metres off shore apparently trying to grab one of these Petrels fluttering just above the surface of the water (note that the dog was not seen to catch one and may have just been enjoying a bit of innocent fun, as was the House Sparrow which we saw on TV this week - in Johnny Kingdom's Exmoor programme - pecking at a fluttering Hawkmoth until it became supper for the Sparrow). Coming back to local sightings of Leach's Petrel Hayling Bay had a small share, originally found by Andy Johnson but staying long enough to give George Spraggs a pre-21st Birthday present in his first every sighting of the species, though his joy was somewhat dampened when he discovered that he had taken a string of no doubt excellent photographic shots without a flash card in his camera to record the pictures! Simon Woolley did better in this respect, getting a shot which framed both a Petrel fluttering along the water's edge and a large (but totally innocent) dog on the sand within feet of the bird. Hampshire was for once just within the area where many Petrels were seen - on Dec 7 both Milford and Titchfield Haven produced a minimum of ten birds for the watchers - while very few were seen further east.

Cormorant: Rough weather at sea encouraged Cormorants to fish in inland waters and on Dec 3 a total of 120 were doing so in the Blashford Lakes - a feeding frenzy of these birds in the deeper water of the lakes drove many small fish to the shallow water at the edges where they were gratefully gathered up by the resident Great White Egret and a large entourage of Little Egrets. On Dec 6 I went to the Chichester Lakes and saw at least 68 Cormorant there, some of them up in the roost trees and one, despite the high wind, perching on overhead power cables on which many sometimes roost despite the improbability of large webbed feet grasping such a perch while the bird sleeps as effectively as the claws of a small passerine would do.

Little Egret: On the evening of Dec 8 I watched 49 Egrets enter (and remain in) the Langstone Pond roost trees. My previous attempt to count the roost on Nov 30 saw only 7 birds go into the roost and all 7 come out again to head to Thorney Island for the night. Another feature of the Dec 8 count was that the majority of the birds arrived at the roost from the north, showing that they had been feeding on inland fields and waters rather than in the harbours to the south of the roost.

Bewick's Swan: Up to eight have been seen at the Dungeness RSPB reserve where the first five arrived on Nov 10. The last report of these birds at Dungeness was dated Dec 2 and that was followed on Dec 4 by a sighting of two touching down on Warnham Mill Pond (Horsham) before continuing north, and on Dec 6 a group of three arrived at Pulborough Brooks. This made me think that the group at Dungeness had dispersed but that was cast into doubt when on Dec 5 there was a report from Dungeness RSPB of six Whooper Swans (no follow up on this). My reaction was that some visitor to the reserve had misidentified Bewick's as Whoopers but if so where did the Horsham birds come from?

Black Swan: All six of the captive birds at West Ashling pond (west of Chichester) were present and 'bill marked' when I looked in there on Dec 6. No sign of any of them nesting this winter. Also on the pond was one 'flat faced' Chinese Goose with a flock of 11 white Embden geese plus a couple of white Aylesbury ducks. Checking on the identity of the Chinese Goose on the internet at www.waterfowl.org.uk I was able to resolve another personal confusion between Embden and Roman geese - both are white and look similar but this website showed me that the large white geese on Sinah gravel pit (Hayling) and those at West Ashling are Embdens as Roman geese are only half their size and weight.

Canada Goose: A flock of more than 150 Canadas at Titchfield Haven on Dec 2 included one leucistic (seemingly all white) and one with brown replacing black on its head and neck and with the orange feet of a Greylag. The white bird may well be the same bird that has been around for several years (certainly since Jan 2003)

Brent Goose: We know that the geese had a very poor breeding season this year and further proof of this comes from the WeBS count on Dec 2 when the count at West Wittering was of 1474 Brent with only 17 juveniles among them. On Dec 8 I had a slightly different view of the statistics when walking the Langstone South Moors at high tide and seeing only four Brent, a family of two adults and two juveniles, on the grass by the Tamarisk pool. Not being a statistician this made me wonder how the breeding success is calculated - as the two adults had produced replacements for themselves did this give a 100% breeding success, or was it 50% because 2 out of 4 were young, and what if the parents had laid six eggs but had only brought two birds to near adulthood - would that reduce the success to around 30%??? No doubt the real statisticians take other factors into account and maybe for them 100% success is achieved if each adult bird replaces itself sometime during its lifetime.

Mandarin duck: On Dec 3 a pair of these were seen mating at Warnham Mill Pond (Horsham)

Mallard: On Dec 2 two new hatched ducklings were seen at the Arundel wildlfowl reserve.

Pintail: By Dec 6 the count at Pulborough Brooks was over 300

Garganey: A late bird was still in England on Dec 1 (at Blunham gravel pits in Bedforshire)

Ferruginous Duck: One which was seen among the wild birds at Arundel on Dec 2 was quickly found to be a very local escapee from the wildlfowl reserve collection.

Scaup: Up to Dec 1 there had been no reports of this species further west than Rye Harbour but on Dec 4 a group of four were on The Fleet behind Chesil Bank in Dorset, presumably having overflown Hampshire on their way there.

Goldeneye: In addition to the very few reported in my last weekly summary we now know that 6 were in Portsmouth Harbour (including 3 in Fareham Creek) for the Dec 2 WeBS count.

Goosander: The HOS website has a report of 9 on Janesmoor Pond (near Fritham in the New Forest) back on Nov 28

Ruddy Duck: The number on the Blashford Lakes was estimated to be 10 on Dec 3

Common Crane: I was aware that Cranes were occasionally seen in Norfolk in recent years but it was not until I saw one of Chris Packham's 'Nature's Calendar' programmes on TV this week that I learnt that some have been resident on the Norfolk coast for several years and that one pair at least has bred there. These birds also featured in Lee Evans' weekly twitchers bulletin which said that 31 birds were currently being seen near Horsey (on the coast north of Yarmouth close to the Broads).

Ringed Plover: Brian Fellows had a good count of 350 at Black Point on Hayling during the Dec 2 WeBS count.

Golden Plover: The first report for this winter of a flock in the Fareham Creek area comes from Trevor Carpenter who saw 130 there on Dec 2. Another flock of around 200 has been around the mouth of the Hamble river for the past six weeks

Knot: The Emsworth/Northney/Langstone area of Chichester Harbour normally has a good show of Knot in the winter but after my own sighting of two birds on Oct 4 and Brian Fellows’ sighting of 28 on Oct 30 there have been no reports of them until Dec 6 when two turned up on the west shore of Emsworth

Little Stint: None were reported from the West Wittering area during the Dec 2 WeBS count but one was almost certainly seen in Fareham Creek on that day when Trevor Carpenter saw a much smaller wader in company with five Ringed Plover.

Purple Sandpiper: One was seen on the Titchfield Haven shore on Dec 8

Black-tailed Godwit: These are only occasional visitors to Rye Harbour but on Dec 9 two were seen there, both wearing colour rings.

Spotted Redshank: One or more are still being seen on the Emsworth west shore - two were there on Dec 5 and one up to Dec 8

Greenshank: The Emsworth west shore had ten or more on Dec 5 and four were still there on Dec 8

Grey Phalarope: On Dec 7 two were in Chichester Harbour north of East Head and two more were in the Portland area that day. At least one was still in the Portland Chesil area on Dec 8 with another on the W Sussex sea at Elmer (east end of the Bognor shoreline)

Little Gull: These are still being seen all along the south coast and on Dec 8 Bill Marjeram at Titchfield Haven demonstrated that they will come to bread - the Black-headed Gulls try to make sure that their small relatives don't get any but the Little Gulls wait patiently at the back of the crowd of Black-headeds and sneak in when they can.

Sabine's Gull: Richard Coomber had a good Hampshire tick with an adult seen flying west past Milford on sea on Dec 5 when a first winter bird was still to be seen at West Bay (Bridport) on the Dorset coast.

Glaucous Gull: The only representative of this species currently on the south coast is a first winter bird that was still in the Dungeness area on Dec 7

Great Blackback Gull: A flock of more than 40 were resting on the Southleigh Farm fields just east of the Denvilles area of Havant on Dec 4.

Sandwich Tern: Two were fishing in Chichester Harbour off Nore Barn (west of Emsworth) on Dec 9 - these may come from the group of four based in Langstone Harbour for the winter but are more likely to be resident in Chichester Harbour although I have seen no reports of any elsewhere in the harbour since there were two off East Head on Nov 9. Other sightings this week have been of a single on the Titchfield Haven shore on Dec 7 and 8 (this could well be a bird based in Portsmouth Harbour where one was seen on Dec 2)

Little Auk: One was seen from Milford on sea on Dec 7 when another was at Portland.

Great Spotted Woodpecker: Bob Chapman heard one drumming at the Blashford Lakes as early as Dec 4

Shorelark: The first four of the winter to be seen in southern counties were on the north Kent coast on Dec 1

Swallow: A late bird was seen at Portland Bill on Dec 8 (2 House Martins were still at Cromer in Norfolk on Dec 1)

Waxwing: The first for this winter were a party of 35 at Aberdeen in Scotland on Dec 3.

Great Grey Shrike: The second to be seen in the New Forest this winter (after the one seen at Ocknell Plain on Nov 6) was based in the Burley area from Nov 29 to Dec 2 at least.

Brambling: Although counts of up to 85 migrants on the move were made in Oct and Nov the first report of a settled flock of around 100 Brambling comes from Black Down near Haslemere on Dec 4

Greenfinch: These seem to have been in very short supply so far this winter but there was a flock of 180 in the Shoreham Harbour area on Dec 4

Goldfinch: For some reason small numbers of these have been flying south over Portland Bill (heading into gales) from Nov 28 to Dec 8 at least.

Hawfinch: Four were seen in the West Dean Woods north of Chichester on Dec 2, hopefully the first of a larger number that will arrive to spend the winter there.

Common Darter: A very late insect was still on the wing at Titchfield Haven on Dec 2

Brimstone: Singles were flying in the Winchester area on Dec 3 by the Itchen and at Crab Wood.

Holly Blue: Late news of one still flying at Gosport on Nov 27

Red Admiral: As might be expected at least three were on the wing in different parts of Sussex on Dec 6

Painted Lady: One was seen at Portland Bill on Dec 2

Winter Moth: A few came to an outside light at Edburton in West Sussex in the nights up to Dec 5. Also seen there were a few examples of The Sprawler.

Silver Y: This 'summer migrant' was still arriving at Portland on Dec 2 when seven were in the traps. The last report I have seen was of one at Horsham on Dec 3

Black Medick: This was still flowering in Havant on Dec 8

Crown Vetch: This was also still flowering in Leigh Park on Dec 4 (when fresh Red Clover was out at Emsworth)

Meadow Sweet: Two plants in fresh flower by the Lavant stream in Leigh Park on Dec 4

Apple of Peru: The plant in Juniper Square in Havant had produced two new flowers on Dec 7

Winter Heliotrope: By the end of this week this was in flower at most of its sites

Creeping Thistle: Still flowering at south Hayling on Dec 6

Yellow Iris (aka Yellow Flag): One stem of this bearing a single flower, found at the Langstone South Moors on Dec 8, was the big surprise of the week.

Goose Barnacles: Hundreds of these have been washed ashore all along the south coast as a result of recent gales. Goose Barnacles normally spend their life out in open sea, hanging from the underside of any flotsam in large clusters and looking vaguely like a herd of upside down Ostriches with long flexible 'necks' ending in 'heads' which can twist in any direction to gather food from the passing water. These 'Ostriches' lack the body and legs of the bird (the flotsam to which they are attached has to fill those roles) but they do have sturdy flexible 'necks', brown in colour and up to 20 cm long, connecting the 'head' to the flotsam substrate. The 'head' looks a bit like a silvery mussel shell but all types of barnacle are crustaceans, more closely related to shrimps and crabs than to any mollusc, and a close look shows that the 'head' is made up of five separate whitish plates of 'shell', and that the front plates can be opened to extend flexible legs ending in feathery tendrils which catch particles of food as they float past. The shell covered head part of the imaginary Ostrich is up to 5 cm long. Some of those coming ashore at Southsea have been rescued and taken to the Sea Life centre where you may be able to see them living in one of the display tanks.