Five more species added to year list.

Friday 14th January 2022.

Black-necked Grebes in Langstone Harbour off Hayling Oyster Beds this morning.

A beautiful day on my ‘day-off’ and what made it even better was that I was ‘birding’ most of the day. I had in mind where I was going to go today and on a frosty start to the day, after checking the tide times in Langstone Harbour, I made my way to the Hayling Oyster Beds. Both Black-necked Grebes and the Long-tailed Duck were on my radar after parking in the ‘Pothole’ car park (now named after the terrible pot holes and trenches in this god-forsaken car park!), I grabbed my scope and checked out the harbour looking west. The sea state was dead calm and so picking up anything swimming in the harbour was going to be easy.

A Redshank by the Oyster Beds.

Brent Geese flying past the Oyster Beds.

There were large groups of both Red-breasted Mergansers and Great Crested Grebes on the water and waders were packed on the nearby spit that included mostly Oystercatchers and a few Curlew. These were later to be joined by a large flock of Grey Plover along with a few Golden Plover among them (my first of the year). Good numbers of Brent Geese also swam on the high tide and along the shoreline, there was a single Rock Pipit feeding amongst the seaweed. Scanning the harbour, I soon came across the tight flock of 6 Black-necked Grebes that rarely left each other's side (yet another new species for my year list). But where was the Long-tailed Duck?  

Red-breasted Mergansers on one of the Beds. 

Grey Plover about to land on the Oyster Beds.

On reaching the Beds, there was a bit of activity there including at least four Mergansers and a lone Little Grebe on the water. Good numbers of waders were roosting on the rocks, including my first Greenshank of the year, which was joined by Oystercatchers, Redshank and Turnstone. On reaching the western end of the Beds, I set up my scope overlooking the islands and harbour to the west and spent the next 30 minutes checking every bird on the water. The Black-necked Grebes swam much further south from where I first saw them and good numbers of Goldeneye, including many drakes, were noted. Though I scanned the harbour several times, there was no sign of the Long-tailed Duck and so resigned to the fact it has either gone or lurked somewhere else in the harbour. One of the Harbour Seals was also seen a few times while checking the harbour.

The lone Greenshank was my first of the year.

Grey Plovers. 

After a hearty breakfast in Greggs, I decided to try my luck down Sandy Point and on arrival, the tide was now well up. All was fairly quiet from the footpath leading to the beach and making my way to the Lifeboat Station, I scanned the harbour from here. I picked up a  lone Razorbill almost immediately just offshore and a further 4 more Razorbills and two Guillemots were seen within Chichester Harbour. Despite several sweeps through the scope, there were no Slavonian Grebes or DIvers on show this morning. I then took a walk to the roadside to view the harbour to the north and came across at least 3 fishing Sandwich Terns. A flock of 10 Mergansers were picked up in one flock and a further four more were seen a little later. I really didn't fancy walking all the way down to Black Point and thankfully, a fellow birder came up to me and said all was quiet down there, bar at least 20+ Sandwich Terns!

Very frosty along the footpath leading to the harbour entrance at Sandy Point.

A Razorbill in the harbour entrance.

On the walk back, making my way down the footpath to where I parked my car, I was hoping for a possible Firecrest to add to my year total, but instead, a noisy Green Woodpecker flew in and over my head! Again, my first of the year! A small flock of Long-tailed Tits showed well, with one individual showing down to about 6 feet! Not a great deal else along here, but what if a Red-flanked Bluetail could be lurking about in the scrub? Maybe Andy Johnson might come up with one again?

The harbour looking north with Hayling Sailing Club in the background.

One of the Long-tailed Tits along the footpath.

What turned out to be my last stop of the day was down in Lee-on-Solent of all places! I did have the Velvet Scoters off Hill Head and the Barn Owl near Posbrook Floods on my agenda, but while driving down to Gosport, the male Black Redstart off Archers Road, Lee-on-Solent proved irresistible. I only saw just the one bird last year and that was in January too and to see a male bird would be the icing on the cake. So, parking near the Gosport Airport terminal car park, I made my way around the most likely areas for where the BR might hang out.

The male Black Redstart in Archers Road.

I spent the next 30 minutes wandering around all the old factories and scrubby areas where the bird might haunt, but drew a blank. Then I met up with another birder who turned out to be one of the ‘Lazee Birders’ - Graeme Loader. We spent the next 30 minutes checking the area and chatted seemingly non stop about our own birding exploits, but still drew a blank until we went our separate ways. I decided to get back into the car and head off to Hill Head for the Velvet Scoters as I felt the BR had gone. However, my phone began ringing when I was nearing HIll Head and it was Graeme informing me the Black Redstart had returned. So, back I went to Archers Road.

And again!

Rejoining both Graeme and another birder (sorry, didn’t grab his name), we waited patiently for the bird to pop out on where it was seen last and sure enough, the gorgeous male bird popped up briefly to give me my fifth new species for the year. Huzzah! And what a stunner it was too. In the bright sunshine (and it was amazing how warm that sun was on our backs!), the bird showed superbly well over the next 40 minutes or so and I managed to reel off some reasonable photos of this exquisite bird. Well happy with this superb sighting, I thanked Graeme and headed off home after booking a table at the Chairmakers Pub for tonight with my wife.

Just a few more photos, honestly!

In Hampshire today, a Glossy Ibis spent the afternoon at Farlington Marshes and a Bittern was seen in flight passing the Suffern Hide at Titchfield Haven. Another birding morning with Andy tomorrow and possibly, Farlington Marshes could be first on the agenda?