I’d seen Goosander and Slavonian Grebe at Hill Head on Boxing Day and so I returned to see if I could see them again for the new year. Unfortunately there was no sign of either and so I settled for a sketch of a Ringed Plover perched on one of the groynes at high tide. An adult Mediterranean Gull also floated off shore.
Compared to Ringed Plover a Little Ringed Plover would be slimmer with a longer rear end, darker legs, less of a white flash around the eye and it would show a pointed lower border to the ear coverts. A Little Ringed Plover is also unlikely to be encountered in the winter.
Hawfinch can be a tricky bird to see and that would be my next target for the day.
