A long day

Left the house at 6.45, got off the train in Bournemouth at 10am. Met by my friend P, straight into the car to travel east to a bird reserve near Lymington called Keyhaven, where we wandered all day, chatting and looking through our binoculars.  Lucky it was pure sunshine.  
I’ve never seen so many different kinds of birds in one place.  I can’t quite remember every one: black tailed godwits, avocets (first time I’ve seen one), snipe, redshank, egrets, herons, oystercatchers, Brent geese, shelduck, teal, pintail, shovellers, tufted duck, and most excitingly for me SPOONBILLS!! Which I sometimes get to see on blip posted by Fuentes 3 from the north coast of Spain.
Amongst all the amazing birds are at least two that were extinct in Britain - spoonbills and avocets, so it’s a tribute to RSPB and various wildlife trusts that they can now be seen here. More avocets than spoonbills at present. 
The main blip is as we were leaving, later in the afternoon, looking south. The tide has come in a lot so the places where many birds were wading are now covered.  I liked the diamonds. Also in the distance on the left is the Isle of Wight where I shall be going with P in the autumn.  You can just about make out the chalk stacks called the Needles at the end. 
The extra is pretty pointless really, but I’ve included it any way.  It’s a spoonbill! That white blurry blob about halfway up and just to the right of the centre. I saw some people who had cameras on tripods with lenses more than a foot long - I guess that’s what you need, but it would still be difficult as the birds really don’t ever stay still. 
It was a really wonderful day. I’ve been longing to see the sea for months. Back in Bristol 8.30 pm, I treated myself to a taxi up the hill:)