Midweek update.

Wednesday 2nd March 2022.

A wet dreary day did not put off the bird life here at The Oaks Crematorium. This is the woodland to the west of the Crem where a Firecrest showed well briefly. 

Though it has been relatively a cool week, it certainly has been damp with rain yesterday and today. Thankfully, there have been no storms down on the south coast and now that we are into March, it is evident to see that the blossom is now out on a lot of trees, hopefully bringing along some Spring-like weather to go with it. Already, a few migrants have made landfall in the UK as expected, with sightings of Osprey, Wheatear, Willow Warbler and Little Ringed Plover all seen in various parts of the UK. I have not heard a Chiffchaff singing as of yet, but I expect to hear one over the coming weeks. Some chap even claimed he heard a Cuckoo on the Isle of Wight today? 

This fungi was growing on one of the wooden tributes within the gardens of the Crem. 

Interestingly, a pair of Black-throated Divers have taken up residence in Portsmouth Harbour this week, notably seen off Portchester Castle and another off Sandy Point along with a Great Northern Diver and Slavonian Grebe. A Short-eared Owl was reported on Farlington Marshes today, despite the inclement weather. This week, I have been keeping an eye and ear out for the birds on my work travels and on Monday, I was at our Cosham Branch and at the back of the branch within Albert Road, my work colleague asked me ‘what on earth is that’? As he pointed out to the bird in question, it was a Red-legged Partridge of all things. It walked briefly by the road and then tried to fly over a wall, but failed. It then crossed the road and walked under my vehicle only to walk down the small road behind our branch and then out of view! This species is well known to turn up in the most unusual places. In fact, Andy Fisher had one in his garden once!

A Nuthatch that I saw within the woodland at Acre's Down last Saturday.  

Other birds seen on Monday included 3 Kestrels over Portsdown Hill and a single Common Buzzard. On Tuesday, the same stretch of road produced one Kestrel, a female Peregrine with prey in its talons and also a female Sparrowhawk! Just the one Skylark was seen as well over the adjacent ploughed field. Today, in wet conditions all day, Portsdown Hill produced one Kestrel, a single Skylark and at least 4 Red-legged Partridge, the latter seen while driving down B2177 in fields as I was heading towards Southwick Village. Over The Oaks Crematorium, there was a nice variety of birds present that included a Nuthatch flying over my head and into nearby woods. I took a walk down by the back field and a superb Red Kite lazily flapped low over the field and then headed off east over the woodland. Mistle Thrush, Blackbird and Song Thrush were all in song within the woodland and a Skylark was heard singing somewhere high above nearby.

Another photo of the 'drumming' Lesser Spotted Woodpecker within Acre's Down last Saturday.

I got a brief view of a Firecrest hovering beneath an Ivy Clump on the edge of the woodland, before disappearing back into the woodland, while up to 4 Great Tits and probably the same amount of Blue Tits were busy chasing one another. I did hear a Marsh Tit calling and probably saw the bird high up in some trees, but it was just a silhouette. Later in the day, a Long-tailed Tit was observed flying past me and my work colleagues near the main entrance. On the way back to our Fratton Branch, the big Crane by the M275 had finally been towed back to whence it came from near the bridge by Portsmouth Harbour after it slipped its moorings during Storm Eunice last week, causing the M275 northbound to be closed till midday!

I have had a few of these micro moths, Monopsis crocicapitella, within my kitchen area of late.