nice side of our city

Wall art Southampton

the sad face of a city.

Having an early morning walk through the centre of Southampton I was sad to see nearly 20 people rough sleeping in the city and it’s parks . Some may say this is people’s own choice but I do wonder how many have fallen on hard times and how close any of us are from a fate where we are less safe than we are now. Every town council will tell us they are doing there bit to support the homeless but in 2017 is this right. It is warm this time of year but winter is coming.

end of the day

Another fine sunset over Southampton Water this evening. After a hot Bank Holiday the cool sea breeze and a swim in the sea finishes off the day well.

 

 

Lapwing reflection

fishing wars

The Grey Heron is a tall, prehistoric looking bird with long legs, & a long beak. I include an in flight picture of this older bird but it is not as sharp as I would have liked. The older in flight bird flew in and chased off the younger bird below when I was taking these pictures. I put it down to fishing wars.

Blocks

These large blocks on the beach at the West end of Hayling Island Hampshire were anchorage blocks for sections of the Mulbury Harbour called Phoenix caissons.

Hayling Island played its part in  WW2 in the construction of the Mulbury Harbour which was constructed prior to D-Day and then towed across the Channel after the invasion to create a serviceable harbour at Aromanche Normandy. Construction of Phoenix Sections was undertaken on Hayling Island. These sections were fabricated on the beach and then launched into the sea where they were submerged until needed. One section broke its back after launch and was towed into Langstone Harbour where it can still be seen. For the invasion of France the Phoenix sections were re-floated and towed to Normandy  once in place the  caissons were again flooded so the sections sank to form a breakwater in front of the of the floating Mulbury sections.

 

Tern Fly Past.

 

Common Tern fly past. This beautiful silver-grey and white tern  has a long tail which has earned them the nickname ‘sea-swallow’.
Noisy in flight often seen hovering before diving into the water to catch a small fish.

Seal spotted

Sitting at the sea wall at Titchfeild  Haven this morning a seal popped up and then down again then up again and by the time I had got my long lens on was heading towards the Isle of Wight. So sorry no photo’s to prove my sighting.  Maybe next time. But I have never seen any Seals in the area before.

http://www.hiwwt.org.uk/solent-seals-project

So the best I could offer is a Common Oyster  spotted as the tide went out.

 

Big old shell

Hard clam

A thick shell, light brown to grey in colour with a violet border and often with concentric bands on the shell . The inner shell is shiny with a purplish-blue tinge around the edge. It can grow up to 12 cm in length. I often find large hard clam shells on the shore on Southampton Water one of these is the largest one  I have come across.

 

 

They are found in UK waters (buried in muddy/sandy sediment at low tide in esturies and bays) recorded from Burnham-on Crouch, the south coast of England, Pembrokeshire and Loch Sunart, Scotland. (not recorded in Ireland.)

They were introduced from North America where it is known as a quahog clam into British waters several times since the middle of the nineteenth century. The first live specimen was found in 1864 in the Humber.  It successfully introduced from the USA into Southampton Water in 1925.

On line I found this information :- A clam dredged from Icelandic waters had said to lived for 400 years. Is this the longest-lived animal known to science.

low tide habitat

 

 

–

 

Ruin

old munitions factory and stores Gosport Hampshire.