Friday 27th February - Winter Surfing Excursion

Today was a sunny but cold, and perfect for a coastal excursion - I purposely did not take a wet suit and stayed entirely out of the water. I went to Gosport, across the border in Hants down to the edge of the Solent at Stokes Bay. A male Surf Scoter had been seen there over the last couple of days and an adult male Surf Scoter is not only a very smart looking Sea Duck but pretty unusual on the South Coast. There are always a few each Winter reported from coastal locations around the UK but more often in the far North and not always a smart male.

On finding the correct car park, with lots of birders on the beach (non of whom had yet entered the water), it was within seconds that the Surf Scoter was visible, with 2 Common Scoters as companions. It was around 150m offshore so with good scope views it was a pleasure watching it for the next hour or so. It's facial markings clearly visible being an all black bird with a large white patch on it's nape and forehead and a beak which looks almost deformed compared to the common scoters, with yellow, orange and white markings.

I returned home around 1pm, the weather was still bright with a slight breeze and patchy cloud cover - perfect for raptors as it turned out. - At least 6 Common Buzzards,  2 Red kites, 2 Sparrowhawks and best of all a large (presumably female) Goshawk seen on 3 occasions between 1.30pm and 2pm. 2 Ravens also flew over and in the garden a brief burst of song from a Firecrest in the gully although remaining unseen, it will be interesting to see whether it stays through spring.

The Scoter pictures below are heavily cropped due to the distance - but you get the idea.



Left, Middle, Right, the male Surf Scoter

It's bill is double the size of the Common Scoter

 

Male Sparrowhawk in garden - possibly hungry due to repeated misses.