My first moth in a while!

Wednesday 29th December 2021.

The Pond at the southern end of The Oaks Crematorium this morning. 

I was back to work today for just one day this week, which took me to The Oaks and Portchester Crematorium and also a jaunt across the top of Portsdown Hill and therefore, I was hoping to see a few notable sightings throughout my day. The weather first thing morning was simply grim, with heavy low cloud and drizzle and a blustery wind, which eventually gave way to bright sunshine and a bit of cloud. Again, temperatures remained very mild for this time of year, into double figures to be exact and the Met Office are predicting the warmest New Years Day ever recorded!

The Double-striped Pug at Porchester Crematorium. I had to use my mobile phone camera to take a poor image of the moth which was some 12 feet up at the exit of the South Chapel.

OK, I did not see all that much today, with just a Kestrel hovering over Portsdown Hill was the only noteworthy bird along there. The Oaks offered just a Jay and a thrush species sighting, though the weather was awful around midday and hardly anything else was seen, but I noticed the water level in the Pond was at an all time high here. Portchester Crematorium didn’t really offer any bird sightings, but I saw my first moth here in ages, a Double-striped Pug, that was perched high up in the exit of the South Chapel. 

Some of the Glossy Ibis at Brading Marshes today. Photo by Isle of Wight birder, Linda Hammant.

In Hampshire today, an adult Little Gull and a Great Northern Diver were by the harbour entrance at Sandy Point, Hayling Island and a Black-throated Diver was seen in the area later in the day. Blashford Lakes hosted both the long staying female Red-crested Pochard on Ibsley North Lake and the drake Ferruginous Duck was still on the Kingfisher Lake. On Ibsley Water, a Caspian Gull and 8 Yellow-legged Gulls were counted. On the Isle of Wight, a flock of up to 11 Glossy Ibis are still present on Brading Marshes; an incredible number. Another incredible record is the long-staying Swallows at Porthole Farm, at Medmerry RSPB Reserve. Whatever next?  

A large Fairy Ring in the Cemy this afternoon.

Monday 27th December 2021.

Highland Road Cemetery in the sunshine.

Yet another damp day, but in between the heavy showers, there was a bit of respite and the sun actually came out now and then, revealing a bit of blue sky too! Along with this wet weather came very mild conditions with temperatures up to 11 degrees and a breezy southerly wind. I took Scruff for a nice walk around Highland Road Cemetery early afternoon hoping for a nice surprise for me there. 

A male Greenfinch high up in the Chestnut trees. This species has nationally decreased by 92% over the past 25 years, so how long are we to have this species breeding in the UK? There was a small flock here this afternoon. 

Just the one Jay seen this afternoon. 

I notched up a total of 16 species of birds on my walk round, which is about average here for this time of year, which included a single Jay and at least 4 flyover Pied Wagtails. There were no Green or Great Spotted Woodpeckers today and I have noticed a lack of Goldcrests within the Cemy of late too. This week is a continuation of mild and wet weather, but I think we really need to have a good long cold snap to bring the more unusual winter birds down south. With ‘Global Warming’ and our winters getting milder and wetter, these ‘cold winters’ will probably be a thing of the past?

Good numbers of Carrion Crows in the Cemetery as usual.

A female/first winter type Blackbird over on the north side of the Cemy.

Species present on my local patch this afternoon included the following:

• Carrion Crow
• Jay
• Magpie
• House Sparrow
• Starling
• Feral Pigeon
• Wood Pigeon
• Collared Dove
• Herring Gull
• Robin
• Blue Tit
• Great Tit
• Pied Wagtail
• Greenfinch
• Goldfinch
• Blackbird

Probably the most commonest plant in the Cemy, the Smooth Sow-thistle, which occupies many a grave! 

There were quite a few flowering plants on show including the obligatory Smooth Sow-thistle along with Yarrow, Daisies, Nipplewort, Groundsel and even a few sprigs of Common Germander, with its tiny blue flowers. I was keeping an eye out for hoverflies around the flowering Ivy, but all I could find was House Flies enjoying nectaring on the plants. It was on my second lap through the Cemy, under the Holm Oak clump, that I came across a ‘Fairy Ring’ of Toadstools! I am pretty well convinced that they are Honey Fungus, for this species is a common variety of Fungi in this location.

The Fairy Ring beneath the Holm Oak Clump. Below, a close up of the Honey Fungus.

On Saturday, New Years Day, Andy and I will be trying to beat our day record of 92 species  and this year, we shall be only concentrating on Hampshire only. Currently, there are some nice birds to be had in Hampshire and so weather permitting, it should be a challenging but interesting day. 

Goldfinches flying south over the houses.

Andy is going to be picking me up (yay!) at dawn and will probably kick off with Southsea Castle to get the Purple Sandpipers of which there were 14 there this morning. The 6 Velvet Scoters were still off Hill Head this morning along with a Slavonian Grebe and a few Hawfinches were seen in some lucky persons' gardens in the New Forest. Yesterday, one of the ‘Lazee Birders’ had a good day around Blashford Lakes with Siskin, Brambling, Goldeneye, Goosander, Green and Common Sandpiper and Water Pipit seen.   

Plenty of Auks around Eastney.

Sunday 26th December 2021.

Razorbills in the harbour entrance.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, for I know I did, despite the horrid weather. I only had one bottle of beer and a late drop of Bailey’s yesterday as I offered to drive and so this morning, no hangover for me! Yay! Still, we had a good lay in this morning and I promised to take our Scruff out for a walk and so, took him over for a walk around Eastney and the harbour entrance.

View overlooking the west side of the harbour.

One of the Harbour Seals swimming into the harbour.

High tide was to be much later in the afternoon and so, checking the harbour after parking the car, I took a slow walk to view by the Hayling Ferry Terminal. It was overcast and so getting any sharp photos of the birds with my Bridge Camera was going to be ‘iffy’, but with help of Photoshop, some came out reasonably well. The usual House Sparrows and Starlings were present within the car park, but I didn't expect an adult Mute Swan to stand up in one of the large puddles there!

This Mute Swan was a surprise find in the car park by the Harbour entrance. 

Another large number of Brent Geese were in the harbour.

Scruff and I passed the Lifeboat station and took a walk to the spit overlooking the west and northern half of the harbour. A small group of 7 Red-breasted Mergansers were swimming over the west side of the harbour until four of them took flight and landed a little closer. A pair of Guillemots were fishing together near the boats and showed really well at times and were joined by a Razorbill that ended up fishing close to the Ferry Terminal. Auks have been abundant of late within our local harbours and today was no exception as I found three more Razorbills near the Eastney Outfall.

Above and below, Red-breasted Mergansers in the harbour this morning.

One of the Harbour Seals swam into the harbour, but I only watched the animal briefly as it soon dived and simply disappeared. I do know from experience that Seals can swim underwater for a very long way and hold their breath for up to 30 minutes! I did scan the harbour thoroughly for anything else interesting, but drew a blank. A few wader species were on show including Dunlin, Grey Plover, Redshank and a few Turnstone plus a distant Curlew.

Dunlin feeding along the shoreline near the Ferry Terminal.

Close up of one of the Razorbills that swam by the Ferry Terminal.

Getting back into the car, we took a ride to the big car park to the south where I came across a large flock of Gulls feeding on grain someone had put down. Both Black-headed Gulls and Herring Gulls were present and a couple of juvenile Great Black-backed Gulls joined the birds also. Behind them, a small flock of finches perched on the perimeter fence including both Goldfinch and Greenfinch. I was pleased to see that there was hardly any rubbish around, for this place is a favourite area for fly-tipping. Large bins have been put out to discourage people from just dumping their rubbish. Let's hope it works.

One of the juvenile Great Black-backed Gulls flanked by Herring Gulls.

A male Pied Wagtail walking about the many puddles in the car park. 

Oystercatchers passing the Outfall.

Scruff and I took a walk along the Outfall and I managed to grab some more photos of the Razorbills before they disappeared, but I found at least two of them swimming / fishing close to a resting flock of Oystercatchers on the concrete spit. There were no signs of any Divers out on the sea and so I made my way back to the car and back home as the rain began to fall again. Earlier today, both a Black-throated and Great Northern Diver were seen in Chichester Harbour and an unusually large number of Gannets were fishing offshore in the Solent, roughly 62 in number.  

 The harbour entrance looking north from the Eastney Outfall.