We took a short break away over the Christmas period. Not too far, just over to Chichester. The city is known for its cathedral, but the main attraction was the marina which is a haven for water fowl. I'm still sorting through the photos, so this post is something of a taster. We arrived on Christmas Eve, too late to go in search of wildlife, but with time to wander over to the Cathedral in tourist mode.
Chichester Cathedral on Christmas Eve
Statue of Saint Richard at the Cathedral
On Christmas Day we headed to the water, but the most exciting sighting of the day proved to be a raptor. More specifically a buzzard perched on a fence along the edge of a field. Other than in wildlife centres, this is the first time I've seen a buzzard perching. It was difficult to get a decent shot (it was in the shade and had the sun behind it), but too good an opportunity to let pass.
Buzzard
Like the buzzards that I often see nearer to home this one seemed to be in a constant territorial dispute with the local crows. I've never seen these minor skirmishes come to anything more than one or other bird (usually the buzzard) heading for its own nest, which in this case was in the trees just above the fence where it had been perching a little earlier. 
Crow and buzzard
But we were there for the water birds, and we weren't disappointed. Out on the marina itself, a black swan was gliding between the boats.
Black Swan
We followed the path that runs along the canal at the edge of the marina, and reached an area where the water opens out into a large expanse. A perfect site for the wading birds and water fowl which come in to feed at low tide.
A redshank
Shelducks
The last photo for today is a taster of what will follow. The cormorants were the undoubted highlight of the visit and I'll be posting many more shots in the next couple of posts. Meanwhile, this lone cormorant was sitting out on a jetty. 
Cormorant
Camera note: All shots were taken with the Canon 40D. The photos of the cathedral were with the EF17-40mm f/4L USM lens. All the others were with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
Ukwildlife
29 Dec 2009Nice photos, you've caught the black swans well
cakkleberrylane
29 Dec 2009Very successful day! It's so much more satisfying to see birds in the wild. Very nice shots.
Words
29 Dec 2009Neil, I've got some shots of white swans (and a juvenile) from the following days. They seem to like it there. The light was 'tricky' and for a lot of these I set the camera to manual exposure.
Words
29 Dec 2009Lois, I couldn't agree more. Although captive birds allow you to get closer, there's something special about entering their environment.
Words
29 Dec 2009Thanks Erwin!
Flying Red Fox Blog
30 Dec 2009Thats a very good place to stay for Christmas 😀
Words
30 Dec 2009Mark, it made a good break away and the bird life is just about guaranteed 😀
SittingFox
30 Dec 2009Chichester is a beautiful city, and it seems that you were ready to take advantage of that 😀 The cathedral windows are great, and I'm glad to see that buzzards do occasionally perch in the south-east :whistle: I've never seen one land down here either!
gdare
30 Dec 2009I haven`t seen a black swan in real. This is awesome photo of it.
Also, I like the photo of Cathedral :up:
Words
31 Dec 2009Adele, I have to admit to preferring the area around Chichester to the city itself. It's very pretty, but I tend to head out to the marina when I'm there (fairly obvious reasons why). I do like the statue of St Richard though.
Words
31 Dec 2009Darko, it's still a surprise to see a black swan. They're not native (they are Australian and were brought over as 'ornamental' birds for collections), but it seems likely that they are beginning to develop successful wild breeding populations in the UK.
anonymous
19 Apr 2010hamish.chedsey@hydromail.com writes:
hello all
Wulpen
19 Oct 2012Very nice photos