One of the 7 Snow Buntings on Hayling Island this morning.
Now I can celebrate! A superb day's birding on Hayling Island secured the 200th species to finally be added to my year list - a distant, but most welcome, Red-necked Grebe swimming out in the Solent. Andy grabbed another 4 ‘year-ticks’ today, which put him on 182 for the year and a very fine list of nice birds seen today on both Hayling and Thorney Island.
Sanderling on the beach at Gunner Point, Hayling Island.
Skylarks on the beach at Gunner Point.
We kicked off the trip for the seven Snow Buntings (the largest flock in Hampshire for many a year and easily my highest in Hampshire) down the east side of Hayling Island. Parking up in the car park south of the Ferry Boat Inn, we paid the small fee to park and then made our way south to the upturned blue boat, catching a glimpse of a pair of Sandwich Terns flying into Langstone Harbour. We met up with some of the ‘Lazee Birders’ who drew a blank in finding the birds, though we did get good views of the Sanderling on the incoming tide. Also, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were feeding on the seeds of beach plants along with a large mixed flock of both Goldfinch and Greenfinch.
Above and below, Dunlin, with a lone Oystercatcher feeding on the foreshore at the Kench, along with Oystercatchers.
There was a false alarm as Birdguides told us that they had been seen behind the car park and a hasty walk to see the birds proved fruitless! Grumble! So, I had a quick look around the Kench, after pulling the car over in a lay-by and checked out the birds here. Good numbers of Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Ringed Plovers were on the foreshore, while out in the harbour, I found a distant small group of Red-breasted Mergansers swimming near a small island. A male Sparrowhawk flew over, putting up all the local Starlings into flight and as it turned out today, it was going to be a very good day for raptors.
Yellow-horned Poppy still growing abundantly at Sandy Point.
So, ‘dipping’ on the Buntings, we tried our luck down at Sandy Point and parking up near one of the big car parks off Southdown Road, we took a walk along the promenade, via the shingle beach, and scanned for both anything on the calm sea or a possible Black Redstart on the adjacent houses. All was very quiet except for the usual Gulls and so we got back into the car and headed to Sandy Point itself. From here, we walked to the beach and scanned the harbour entrance. A Razorbill was a nice surprise, seen flying into the harbour low over the water and then settled on the breakwater. It then flew up again and headed towards us and then settled back out on the sea. Shortly afterwards, I managed to get onto the distant female Velvet Scoters by picking out two flying large ducks, with flashing white wing-bars. I quickly got Andy onto the birds through the scope. His first ‘year-tick’ of the day.
Not the best photo of the Peregrine I'm afraid, but still it was a fine sight as it flew overhead.
I picked up a male Peregrine chasing a Wood Pigeon over the harbour, but the Peregrine gave up the chase and flew off towards us and then out to sea. It was a shame my camera never got a clear enough photo of the bird. But a great addition to our raptor list today. The news then came up on Birdguides that the Red-necked Grebe that had been seen here earlier this week, had been found again and sitting nicely out in the Solent.
The Razorbill in the harbour entrance.
Viewing from the Shearwater Court building along Southwood Road, we joined several other birders present who were viewing the Grebe. They very kindly put us onto the bird, although it was very distant and trying to pick the bird up with Binoculars would have been near impossible and so through the scope, I eventually found the Red-necked Grebe, though it was busy fishing most of the time and only stayed up on the surface for a few seconds. Still, it was my 200th species for the year and a fist pump into the air had to be done. It was nice to meet a few more of the ‘Lazee Birders’ present in this small group, which included Andy Dickety and a lady called Becky (who found the bird earlier this week). Andy also picked out a flying duck going across the sea while he was looking at the Grebe through my scope, which turned out to be a female Common Scoter, which flew off east.
Andy spotted this Small White butterfly caterpillar on the footpath in front of Shearwater Court. I quickly picked it up and placed it in some nearby vegetation.
Very happy with the Red-necked Grebe, I wanted now to concentrate on these Snow Buntings and from the info on the Going Birding website, they had been seen just east of the big car park near the Golf Course. Parking up and ignoring the broken parking meters, we walked around 50 yards west and joined several other birders studying an area of rough ground and sure enough, there were the Snow Buntings - all seven of them! They performed superbly for all of us there and allowed us very close photos. This was Andy’s third ‘year-tick’ of the day (I had my first Snow Bunting over at East Head) as we enjoyed these delightful birds and carefully and politely asking dog walkers and alike, to keep their distance from the birds. True, they did get flushed a few times during the week by dogs mostly, but the general public were most helpful I believe.
Some of the many photos I took of these superb Snow Buntings in the early afternoon.
Our next stop was to be Hayling Oysterbeds for the Black-necked Grebes, for two had been seen here earlier today. However, a trip to Greggs was on the cards and as there is one very close to the Oyster Beds, good old Andy treated me to a nice warm meal and coffee. Pulling up within the car park, I spotted a couple of lady Birders looking out into the harbour and quickly getting their attention (for I had seen them at the Red-necked Grebe site), they gave us the ‘gen’ on where to look for the Grebes and it didn’t take long for me to pick them up within the harbour.
Video footage of the Snow Buntings on Hayling Island this afternoon.
Andy now had his fourth ‘year-tick’ of the day in the bag as I checked out the rest of the harbour from the car park, picking up at least a dozen Great Crested Grebes and several Mergansers on the water. I really did not fancy walking the trek along to the Beds after getting the ‘Black-necks’ and so suggested a trip to the east side of Thorney Island to round off the day for a possible Short-eared Owl. Off we went!
The female Marsh Harrier quartering over the reedbeds on Thorney Island.
We parked up in the Marina car park and headed off east along the footpath to view the fields to the south overlooking the Landing Lights. From here, we spent the next 90 minutes studying the fields and the big pool near Security Checkpoint. A female Marsh Harrier was quartering the reedbeds there and showed several times during our stay, while Common Buzzard, two Kestrels and another female Sparrowhawk was also seen. A Cattle Egret was seen sitting in the reeds and then flew over to the other side of the pool which held good numbers of both Wigeon and Pintail. I counted at least 7 Little Grebes in the same pool. A Grey Wagtail flew over several times and over the nearby Chichester Harbour, a mixed flock of Golden Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit flew high over until splitting into two and going their separate ways. A Cetti’s Warbler was calling all the time we were there in the bushes in front of us, but no sightings of the bird during our trip here.
Curlews flying over the Landing Lights field.
Sadly, no sign of any Short-eared Owls but I later learnt that up to FIVE birds were seen later in the afternoon on the west side of Thorney Island! Incredible! I am more than tempted to take a look tomorrow to see for myself. There ended yet another superb day’s birding with some memorable sightings and I would like to thank the superb co-operation of all those birders we met today.
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