Sunday 8th May 2022.
A very calm and quiet sea off Gilkicker Point this morning.
With a promise of a good seawatch this morning from Gilkicker Point, I got permission from my wife to make my way, nice and early, down to the site this morning and to put it bluntly, I should have stayed at home! Some twat on the M27 decided to play ‘silly buggers’ on the road and nearly went into the back of my car and on arrival, I got a phone call from Andy House that he would not be making the trip to Gillkicker due to a Temminck's Stint being found at Pennington Marshes this morning.
So, I was all on my lonesome this morning, up until another ‘Lazee Birder’, JB turned up though soon got back into this car and made his way to Pennington too. Half an hour later, Andy Tew arrived and he was disappointed that no-one else was here and doubly disappointed by the lack of birds going through. Yes, there were a lot of Gulls out in the Solent, hundreds in fact, but very little else of note passing through. Just one Sandwich Tern and 5 Common Terns all heading east, was the sum total of a very quiet sea-watch; plus 1 Little Egret heading west, 2 Ringed Plover flying east and a pair of Oystercatchers (both still in winter plumage?) and finally, a single Swallow heading north off the sea.
Sea Kale was abundant on the beach here at Gilkicker.
A Common Seal was seen about half a mile out, attracting the attention of a small number of Herring Gulls and apart from a few Cormorants fishing offshore and a Great Black-backed Gull eating something on the surface of the water (fish or a dead bird?), it was too quiet and by 8.30am, it was time to drive back to Southsea. A few Starlings and House Sparrows came down to search for food among the flowering Sea Kale growing on the beach and behind the shelter, a Common Whitethroat was heard singing somewhere on the brambles.
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