Fishbourne

Day sail to Fishbourne IOW with Lewis and Terry, stopping for lunch at Cowes. Something of a grey day but very pleasant nonetheless. We ran aground at least four times on trying to reach the pub at Fishbourne and eventually gave up, but as the river was flooding we were confident of getting out of trouble. Does not bode well for trying again however, as three hours later and it may be too close to call the outcome. Barely enough room for the ferry to get in, and not even turn around... it reversed back out to sea down a very narrow channel we observed!

Quite spectacular sighting of Lapwing on the Beaulieu River as we set off. First group of about 150 were joined by some others, making a group roughly three times the size. A few minutes later they flew ahead of us towards Needs Ore, and the pheasant philanderers on the Beaulieu Estate started shooting which put up a swarm of Lapwing which I estimated at over 5000. I have never seen so many all together, the sky was black, and with their unmistakable flight pattern made me sure they were all Lapwing. Maybe it's been a good year for them, maybe I was just lucky?