A very good bird species total this morning.

Friday 6th March 2026.

The view from my Office window this morning.

A day of two halves regarding the weather. It was dry and bright first thing this morning when I walked the dogs and then checked my Moth Box and then it started to cloud over and in came the rain for the first time this week. I noticed early this morning that my car was dotted with the Saharan sand from a shower overnight, but all was washed away when the steady rain came down from around 11am onwards.

My Moth Box:

My first Common Quaker of the year.

This morning, I finally got my first ‘macro’ moth of the year in my garden. Though not the most glamorous of Moths, a Common Quaker sat on the outside of my Moth Box, which put a big smile on my face. Strangely, this species is not guaranteed to be annual in my garden, so I was rather pleased with this Moth. Sadly, the only other moths present in my garden were two Common Plume’s; the first for March.

One of two Common Plume moths today.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

A very good total of bird species were obtained at Pembroke Road this morning with a grand total of 20 species in all. It was sunny and bright on my first shift and a lot of birds were in fine voice and showed quite well, especially the Wrens, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Robins. By 8.20am, I had already reached 13 species and to see another 5 more species during the next  40 minutes was quite exceptional for this time of year.

While talking to a friend of mine, a Mute Swan passed by over Governor’s Green, heading eastbound towards Canoe Lake, no doubt. A small flock of 5 Brent Geese and a singleton following behind also headed east, while overhead, I could hear a small flock of Meadow Pipits flying over, but I could not find them within the blue sky. The Jay flew in and landed in one of the Sycamore Trees opposite where I stood, called several times and then flew off, flashing its bright white rump as it headed off down the road. Finally, the last notable bird was a Goldcrest that was heard calling somewhere within the Holm Oaks to round off a good morning here today.

The following bird species were seen or heard this morning:

Carrion Crow                                   Mute Swan                      Goldcrest
Jay                                                    Brent Goose                    Meadow Pipit
Magpie                                             Starling                  
Feral Pigeon                                     House Sparrow 
Wood Pigeon                                    Blackbird
Black-headed Gull (3)                      Wren
Great Black-backed Gull (2)            Robin 
Herring Gull                                     Great Tit 
Brent Goose (6)                                Blue Tit

In Hampshire today:

The Great Grey Shrike at Pig Bush, New Forest. Photo by Emma Parkes.

I expect most of the birds were seen this morning and so during that time, a Water Pipit and a White-tailed Eagle were seen at Blashford Lakes today. Nearby, the Great Grey Shrike was seen at Pig Bush, New Forest and also in the Forest, a Wheatear was seen at Holmsley Airfield (never heard of this place!). Nearer to home, up to 6 Purple Sandpipers were in the inaccessible area west of Southsea Castle. 

Nationally, migrants are coming in thick and fast with good numbers of both Sand Martin and Swallow being reported throughout the UK. Even Little Ringed Plovers have been turning up this week at various locations.

Yesterday, birding pal, Geoff Farwell took a stroll around the World’s End area near the Chairmakers Pub (west of Denmead) and had the following sightings: 3 singing Firecrest, 2 singing Chiffchaff, 2 singing Marsh Tits, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Stonechat, several Siskins, Goshawk, 2 Common Buzzards, 2 Kestrels and a Red Kite.

 

Just the one Moth this morning and a Redwing over Pembroke Road.

Wednesday 4th March 2026.

The dawn sun was rising over Highland Road Cemetery this morning while I was walking the dogs.

And yet another glorious day with wall to wall sunshine and a very light southerly wind for most of the day. It was still quite cool throughout my first shift in Old Portsmouth, but on my afternoon shift, fog had rolled in off the Solent and it actually became quite thick too on my drive home. In between shifts, I took an hour over Eastney, overlooking the harbour entrance for any possible migrants coming in.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

A good total of 15 bird species were recorded over the two shifts at Pembroke Road and pick of the bunch was a surprise Redwing that first called and then flew out of the Holm Oaks and headed off north. Once again, there were a lot of passerines singing, including Wren and Dunnock. One of the Wrens seen today was making a very strange noise as I pointed it out to a friend of mine making her way to work again. I really was hoping for a Hirundine overhead, but no sign yet, which gave me the idea of checking out the harbour entrance at Eastney.

Eastney Outfall:

There was no sign of the Light-bellied Brent Goose among the Dark-breasted Brent Geese on Southsea Common this morning.

Before my trip to Eastney, I had to check the Brent Geese on Southsea Common for yesterday’s Light-bellied Brent Goose, but despite a really good search through the 126 birds present, there was no sign of the bird. So I took a trip to the football pitches over Eastney off Halliday Crescent to check the Brent Geese there, but again, to no avail; but there were at least 190+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese there.

Two Oystercatchers were seen by the Car Park at Eastney this morning.

After parking up within Ferry Road Car Park and carefully negotiating the awful pot-holes here, I first checked out the enclosed area by the Water Treatment Works and there were at least 8 Stock Doves present near Fort Cumberland and also two Oystercatchers on the grass. One of the birds flew over my head and had a drink and washed in one of the large puddles. A Meadow Pipit was heard but not seen and in the distance looking west, a Common Buzzard was circling high over and being followed by a Carrion Crow and a Herring Gull.

Above, this Common Gull joined several Herring Gulls by the perimeter fence and below, Eastney Pier jutting out into the harbour entrance.

Above, I picked out this Common Buzzard drifting high over Eastney and being carefully watched by a Carrion Crow and a Herring Gull. Below, the harbour entrance looking north.

There was absolutely nothing within the harbour entrance and even looking south from the Pier, all was quiet bar a loafing Black-headed Gull on the shoreline. From the car looking east, I still could hear Skylarks singing from the Golf Course over on Hayling Island! No early Wheatears here I’m afraid, though I am sure it will not be long if these southerlies carry on. More nice weather on the way tomorrow, so who knows what might turn up?

In Hampshire today:

Up to 4 Great Northern Divers were seen off the Weston Shore this morning and up to 2 Common Sandpipers were on Lower Test Marshes. The male Ruddy Shelduck was still in its usual place near Ranvilles Lane with 8 Egyptian Geese and nearby, two Glossy Ibis were on Posbrook Floods. A impressive count of 112 Avocets were roosting on the Lake at Farlington Marshes early evening.

Yesterday evening, one of Hampshire’s top listers, Andy Fisher, ‘ticked-off’ a Woodcock over at West Walk last night to go equal fourth in the table.

My Moth Box:

My second Beautiful Plume of the year was my only moth this morning.

I had my Moth Box on overnight, but all that was present was just the one moth, the micro moth Beautiful Plume. These clear nights are not helping at all, but I suppose its better than rain?

Butterflies showing well in the sunshine.

Tuesday 3rd March 2026.

This Peacock butterfly showed well basking in Highland Road Cemetery.

This week's fine, dry weather continued today and though a tad cool first thing, the afternoon’s temperature climbed up to around 16 degrees and I certainly am not complaining. I am keeping an eye out for migrants flying over as good numbers of Sand Martins have been seen at various locations on the south coast and also plenty of Blackcaps heard singing. I have yet to hear a Chiffchaff singing, but I bet it will not be too long.

I learnt today that Car Parking charges will be taking place at the end of April within the car parks within the New Forest. True, it has angered a lot of people and has raised the question: is it just the Council fleecing the public yet again? How they are going to check the vehicles in all those Car Parks sounds interesting, but on the other side of the coin, hopefully, some of the money will go towards fixing the terrible pot-holes and idiots fly-tipping here. I, for one, will probably buy a ‘Years Pass’ for it would be far cheaper for the amount of times I do go to the New Forest.

Today, I did my usual two shifts at Pembroke Road in Old Portsmouth and also, between the shifts, I took my dogs for a walk around Highland Road Cemetery.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

A stunning cloud formation over Pembroke Road early this morning.

The weather was just perfect here at Pembroke Road this morning as I notched up a total of 15 species today. All the usual suspects showed well today and plenty of the passerines were in full song close to where I stood. Three species of Gull: Black-headed, Herring and Great Black-backed, all showed well. It will not be long for the first Mediterranean Gulls to be flying over. I shall look forward to that. The Jay reappeared after about a week's absence and showed well as I pointed it out to a friend of mine that was on her way to work.

Just before I started my second shift at Pembroke Road, a Peacock butterfly fluttered around my parked car and flew off southbound over the houses. Yesterday, a total of 17 species were recorded here and the pick of the bunch was a Meadow Pipit that was heard flying over and heading off southbound; the first I have seen here this year.

Highland Road Cemetery, Southsea:

Always warming to see the Cherry trees in blossom here in the Cemy.

It certainly felt so Spring-like here in the Cemetery as I slowly walked my dogs along the main footpath. There were a variety of birds seen here today and I was really pleased to find a male Blackcap here in song over on the east side of the Cemetery. The bird wasn't easy to photograph and showed only briefly in one of the tall bushes before flying off into another bush. A small flock of four Long-tailed Tits were also unexpected as they flew north into the bushes in the southern end of the Cemy. Sadly, they never showed again and I can only assume they flew off east.

Common Field-speedwell was abundant on the graves. Below, looking north from the south-west corner.

Above, this singing male Blackcap was a nice surprise and below, my first Red Admiral butterfly of the year.

Plenty of birds were singing including a Dunnock, which are scarce here, but I could not get a sighting of the bird. I had more luck with the Blackbirds and Robins proclaiming their respective territories. A Jay showed very well above my head in trees close to the Mausoleum.

Above, Leaf buds are starting to appear on the Horse Chestnut trees and below, several Blackbirds were seen today searching for food in the long grass.

Above, this was one of several Common Furrow Bee's seen today and below, a queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee enjoying the flowering Heather. 

There were plenty of insects on the wing today, making the most of the gorgeous sunshine, that included two species of butterfly. My second Peacock of the year was sitting on a gravestone and basking in the sunshine and a little later, I found my first Red Admiral of the year that was nectaring on the Cherry blossom.

Above, another of the Cherry trees in full blossom and below, a Drone Fly nectaring on the same tree.

Bees and Hoverflies were abundant too with so much blossom on show and other flowering plants that included Buff-tailed Bumblebees, Drone Flies and also a lot of Common Furrow Bees (a species of Solitary Bee). I was sure I also saw my first male Hairy-footed Flower Bee, but it was too quick for me to grab a photo.

Above, this Jay was just above my head near the Mausoleum and below, a Starling is searching for food in the grass close by.

As I have always said about my ‘local patch’, it's not just the birds I like to find and look at, but also the wealth of nature here at this quiet and beautiful place. Yes, there are a lot of dog-walkers at times, but most are very chatty and it is nice to chat about the various types of wildlife within my favourite location.

In Hampshire today:

Though I have not heard any singing Chiffchaffs as yet, up to 6 singing birds were on Lower Test Marshes today and a Common Sandpiper on the reserve too. Up to 5 Purple Sandpipers were in front of Southsea Castle this morning and a Light-bellied Brent Goose was with the more common Dark-bellied Brent Geese in the closed off area on Southsea Common this morning. A singing male Black Redstart was in Fratton today, though my female bird in my garden seems to have gone now and has not been seen since last week. Someone spent 90 minutes waiting for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker to show up in its usual tree at Acres Down today and never showed up (sounds familiar!), though two Crossbills put in an appearance. 

This Rock Pipit was seen by the River Hamble at Bunny Meadows last Saturday.

A trio of 'year-ticks' in southern Hampshire.

Saturday 28th February 2026.

The Spotted Redshank at Bunny Meadows was our third 'year-tick' of the day.

Andy did the driving today as he, Geoff and myself toured the southern half of Hampshire by frequenting three different areas. There was no way Andy wanted to drive up to Fleet Pond for the Ring-necked Duck (though there were no reported sightings of the bird today) and so I suggested Sandy Point first for possible seabirds. The Ruddy Shelduck was reported again today at Ranvilles Lane and I found out yesterday that a Spotted Redshank was overwintering for the second year running at a place called Bunny Meadows, near Warsash.

A breezy westerly wind was blowing, but it was dry and mostly sunny today as we made our way to our first destination. I had my Moth Box on overnight, despite the light rain overnight, and thankfully, there were some Moths to check out.

My Moth Box:

The micro moth, Varied Tortrix, was my first for the year.

Despite the poor weather overnight, my Moth Box was blessed with three Moths this morning that included two that were new for the year: Beautiful Plume (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla) and a Varied Tortrix (Acleris hastiana). The other moth was a Light Brown Apple Moth, my first for the garden this year. Sadly, no ‘macro’ moths yet for my garden this year, but it is only a matter of time.

Though a very common moth in my garden, this Beautiful Plume was my first for the year.

Sandy Point, Hayling Island:

A male Stonechat by the Sandy Point Nature Reserve. This was one of a pair seen here by the perimeter fence.

There was a strong, cold breeze blowing from the west and so the idea was to get down by the rocks and view the sea and harbour entrance  from there. It paid off at first with an adult Kittiwake passing by heading east with a couple of Herring Gulls; but that was all we saw bar several Cormorants flying low over the sea. Nearby, we heard a Stonechat calling and so checking behind us by the perimeter wooden fence, we found a pair of Stonechats perched on the Gorse bushes. A possible Dartford Warbler was seen with the birds very briefly, but Andy couldn't be 100% sure if it was one and so did not add the species to his Hampshire Year List.

Above, the sea from Sandy Point was very quiet bar a few Gulls and Cormorants flying over. Below, a Meadow Pipit flew up and landed on the perimeter fence.

A Meadow Pipit flew up from the restricted area and perched on the perimeter fence briefly, but little else of note here.

This adult Shag was fishing in the harbour entrance.

After checking out the sea, we made our way to the Lifeboat Station and as I got out my coffee from my flask, I set about, along with Geoff, to check the harbour and harbour entrance with our scopes. An adult Shag was fishing in the harbour entrance and a possible second was nearby, while out in the harbour, we found at least two Great Crested Grebes swimming on the water. 

There was a lot of boat activity going on in the northern half of the harbour, but I soon picked out a distant Diver fishing just south of Thorney Island. The light was now excellent and once the Diver came up again, I could clearly see it was the Black-throated Diver that was seen earlier this week! A very good ‘year-tick’ for our Year List, but I had to wait nearly 15 minutes for another good view as the bird simply disappeared. On refinding the bird, I quickly got Andy onto the bird through the scope and a very happy man he was too! Several flocks of Sanderling flew over the harbour and several more were seen along the tideline over at East Head.

We even took a look further up the shoreline towards the Sailing Club, just in case the Snow Bunting might be there, but it was a ‘no show’ and so we made our way back to the car and got some lunch at Greggs!

Ranvilles Lane, Fareham:

The Ruddy Shelduck near Ranvilles Lane today. Film footage by Dolly Hawkes.

We had got the heads up that the Ruddy Shelduck had returned to its usual field off Ranvilles Lane, Fareham and so that was our next ‘port of call’;  but the bird took some finding at first. When we parked up in Ranvilles Lane, a good scan over the field produced absolutely nothing. I knew the bird was with two Egyptian Geese and so I took a walk south down the road and eventually, I picked up the Egyptian Geese, but no sign of the Ruddy Shelduck.

I thought I would walk further down the road. Andy then gave the shout that the bird was present and so after watching the bird for around 5 minutes, I walked back to the car to grab my camera but on return, the bird had disappeared again behind a dip in the field. I couldn't be asked to walk all the way around the field and so we got back into the car and headed off to Bunny Meadows for, hopefully, our third ‘year-tick’ of the day. As we passed the same field along the new Daedalis Way road, we had a brief sighting of the bird again with the Egyptian Geese, but not long enough for a photo. Fume!

Bunny Meadows, Warsash:

This Grey Heron flew in and landed in the creek by the main entrance to Bunny Meadows.

Bunny Meadows was a ‘Reserve’ tick for us and with the power of Google Maps, we managed to find our way to the Car Park at Holly Hill Woodland Park. From here, we had to walk some distance through some slippery, muddy woodland to get to the reserve that was adjacent to the River Hamble. The whole area was packed with dog-walkers and people out for a walk, but it was a decent looking site to do some birding though, with plenty of wildfowl and waders to sift through on our walk around the Reserve. I was hoping to come across the Spotshank almost immediately as there was a good number of birds present by the main entrance, but it turned out we had to do a lot of walking before we finally saw the bird. We nearly gave up and started to make our way back and it was by the main entrance that Andy gave the shout that he had found the bird.

This Little Grebe, now in summer plumage, was on the large lake within Holly Hill Woodland Park. Below, Bunny Meadows was at low tide when we arrived.

There were a variety of waders out on the shoreline of the River, with Grey Plover, Oystercatcher, Redshank and Dunlin all showing well and a reasonable number of Wigeon and Teal in one of the creeks. The Spotshank could have been hiding in any of the small creeks, but it wasn't till we arrived back at the same site where we first started, that the Spotshank was found and it certainly showed very well for us too.

Above, Wigeon and a female Teal in the creek by the main entrance and below, one of several Oystercatchers present here.

Above, a few Grey Plover were also around along with several Dunlin by the edge of the River Hamble.

Above, the Spotted Redshank in the creek and one of many Redshank present.

Other sightings here included a Common Buzzard and a male Kestrel by the woodland and a very confiding Rock Pipit on the shoreline close to the entrance to the Reserve. So with three more ‘year-ticks’ under our belts, we then made our way through the woodland back to the car park. I think we certainly got our ‘Steps’ in today as we certainly put on a sweat by the time we got back into the car. The Woodland held a number of singing birds that included at least three Firecrests, a couple of Goldcrests and also Nuthatches, Treecreepers and a variety of other woodland birds. There was a large lake within the woodland that held several Mallard, Moorhens and a lone Little Grebe. It could be one site for the future during the Spring time here; possibly a Pied Flycatcher or Wood Warbler perhaps?

The Spotted Redshank at Bunny Meadows today.