It’s the 21st of December  today which makes it the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight. As we

set off at just after 8am when it’s still quite dark although the inclement weather makes it worse. After a weekend of rain there’s a particularly nasty depression passing through today bring more rain to fall on the waterlogged ground.  Several roads were flooded yesterday, this could make it worse, it’s not a good time to be driving about.

As we get to the harbour it’s still gloomy and a shower has just drenched the area. Beneath the leaden sky there are banks of mud as far as the eye can see, low water is an hour away and only 1.8

meters at that. There are few people about, it might be the weather, but more likely the announcement of Tier 4 restrictions have made folk think more carefully. We may be in Tier 2 this side of the harbour but the other side it’s Tier 4 as it’s in Hampshire, close to Havant and Gosport. It can only be a matter of time before we join them and have to live with more severe restrictions.

There’s not a great deal of activity out on the mud, only a few Oystercatchers and Redshank appear at first.  On closer examination the small birds have returned, the size of sparrows scurrying around. Having consulted an authority on such matters I’m now confident that these are Stints as they have been seen here in significant numbers even though they’re generally not very

numerous; it’s good to see them.

On the way back at about 9am there are several large flights of duck, about 30 at a time that rise, circle, then head south. At about the same time there are pairs of Mallard that fly around the Lavant landing in the fields close to the river that must be full of splashes. A lone wildfowler is out in the main channel, he’s chosen a good time but most of the duck are still too high, he fires two shots but there’s no retrieve for his dog.