Tuesday 26th April 2022.
The Brindled Pug I found at The Oaks Crematorium on Monday.
Not quite midweek yet, but I thought seeing I had the time, I thought I would have a quick update on what I have seen over the past few days and also a bit of ‘gen’ of what has been around on the south coast. The weather has been, dare I say it, glorious; with temperatures just below 20 degrees and a lot of sunshine thrown. However, the winds have been coming in from the north-east, but it has been quite cold overnight. Sadly, the moth box is out of action as I have a Landscape Gardener redesigning my back garden for the next two to three weeks, but I will keep an eye out at my usual locations during the week.
Kicking off with moths, Portchester Crematorium has been nearly void of moths with just a few Double-striped Pugs noted, but nothing at all around the exit of the South Chapel, the prime spot. However, over at The Oaks Crematorium, I found a rather smart Pug moth and one of the top experts agreed it was a Brindled Pug, which was perched on the Book of Remembrance building and still present today. Though the moths have been poor this week at Portchester Crematorium, I found a gorgeous male Brimstone butterfly perched on one of the flower bay windows (see photo).
A probable St. Marks Fly at Portchester Crematorium which was found on Monday morning.
Back at Portchester Crematorium, yesterday a Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen flying low over the Crematorium. I do know they breed here as I have found the nest site and there is a Green Woodpecker in the vicinity too, but I have not seen or heard it this week so far. At least two, possibly three male Blackcaps are in song here, but have remained elusive this week. Over on Portsdown Hill, at least two Red-legged Partridges have been seen in the arable field close to Skew Road.
Ground Ivy grows abundantly by the woodland at The Oaks Crematorium.
Today, there was a bit more excitement when I spotted from our Chichester Branch window, a pair of Swifts flying over the rooftops, the male attracting the female with quivering wings too! My first Swifts of the year, but everyone is talking about how low the number of Hirundines are at the moment. I did see another Swallow today as I took the back road to Chichester this afternoon, along with a very close male Kestrel hovering by the main road. Again in Chichester today, I found a pair of nesting Sparrowhawks high up in a tall Conifer; with both the male and female present near the nest. A Magpie was brave to go near the nest, but the female quickly flushed it away.
This is Colin the Cuckoo which has returned to Thursley Common, Surrey, for the past few years. It has come down to mealworms put out by the bird photographers and one of the Lazee gang, James, managed to film it earlier this month.
Despite the winds from the North East, up to 14 Arctic Skua and 5 Bonxies went past Selsey Bill today and also all three common Divers went through as well. Back in Hampshire, the long staying Black-throated Diver was still in Chichester Harbour and off Hill Head, a Black Tern was noted among the Terns offshore. A lot of the ‘Lazee Birders’ are in southern Spain at present and regularly send photos of the superb birds on the Whatsapp site, which is thoroughly entertaining. Hopefully, I might be adding a few on here during the week if I am allowed. The laugh of the week so far was the mis-identification of a male Wheatear for a Lesser Grey Shrike. Hopefully, no one made the long journey to go and see the bird. I know we all make mistakes, but really???
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