A trip to the Oyster Beds and Budd's Farm.

Sunday 20th November 2022.

Waders, mostly Dunlin, Grey Plover and Turnstone resting on the Oyster Beds.  

There was no birding yesterday as I had the opportunity to move some garden furniture to my daughters house, courtesy of using our friend's van and therefore, I had to priortise what was most important. Hence, that is why I went birding this morning with Mr Andy Fisher today. As I had to abort birding at the last moment, Andy had put his moth box on overnight and sent me a photo of the only moth present, a Feathered Thorn. I told him to hold onto it for this morning.

Above, the Feathered Thorn moth at Andy's house and below, the Jasmine Moth that was by my moth box this morning. 

I, however, put my moth box on overnight and was well rewarded with a massive total of 3 moths again! At least one of them was a ‘year-tick’, a superb Palpitra vitrealis or commonly known as a Jasmine Moth! An immigrant moth, they are pretty much annual to my garden, but this was the first for the year, which I shall be releasing tonight. The other two moths were both Light Brown Apple Moth. I managed to get to Andy’s  house and the usual time and got to see my first Feathered Thorn of the year and then released the moribund individual back into this garden.   

Above, Red-breasted Mergansers on the Oyster Beds and below, an Oystercatcher totally outnumbered by Redshank also on the Oyster Beds.

The weather was looking good today, despite overnight rain and I had already decided to go to Hayling Oyster Beds to try for the Long-tailed Duck that had been seen here yesterday within Langstone Harbour. This species had eluded me this year so far and with this individual being seen over the past week around the northern half of the harbour, the game was afoot. Not only that, but Andy still needed Black-necked Grebe for his year list. He was over this neck of the woods yesterday and told me that the entrance to the car park was flooded, but, thankfully, the water had receded as we parked up and made our way to the Beds.

Above, Grey Plover and Dunlin roosting on the Beds and below, one of many Great Crested Grebes present here.

The tide was high when we arrived, with small numbers of Brent Geese nearby and waders gathering on the spit to the west. On the Beds themselves, there was a good number of Mergansers on the water with up to around 12 birds present and showing relatively well. Rock Pipits were flying around near us, settling on the shoreline at times and as we neared the end of the footpath overlooking the harbour to the west, I then set up the scope. Unfortunately, there was a strong westerly blowing over the harbour, making viewing a tad difficult and despite a good search over the harbour, all I could find was about 12 Great Crested Grebes and a few more Mergansers. A large flock of Cormorants flew over and landed on the water of which I counted 53 birds in total!

Above, Dunlin and other waders whirling around the Oyster Beds at high tide. Below, another Great Crested Grebe showing well. 

Above, the old Hayling Billy Railway Line adjacent to Langstone Bridge. 

Andy suggested looking north towards Southmoor for the Long-tailed Duck and so we made our way to the northern  side of the reserve  where we had many more sightings of Great Crested Grebe and at least three Goldeneye (two gorgeous drakes and a female bird) not too far away from Langstone Bridge. We made our way to the Hayling Billy Trail and after Andy brought back a couple of coffees from the nearby Garage, we took a walk to the end of the old railway line. From here, a Sandwich Tern drifted past and headed east towards Emsworth Harbour and a Kingfisher briefly put in an appearance as it belted past us, calling in doing so. A quick check on the ‘Lazee Birders’ Whatsapp revealed that fellow ‘Lazee’, James Cutting, had a pair of female Goosander among the Mergs from nearby Southmoor. Checking through my scope, I could just make out a single bird swimming among the Brent Geese. 

Above, one of the drake Goldeneye within the northern harbour and below, the three Black-necked Grebes in the south part of the harbour. 

Above, two of the four Greenshank present on the pools by the Water Treatment Works.

By now, the overhead cloud had disappeared and the sun had reappeared and so we retraced our steps and viewed again from the south side of the Oyster Beds. Again, all the usual wildfowl were present within the harbour, but this time, I found the Black-necked Grebes with three birds swimming close together just to the south of where we stood (see photo). Andy was well pleased after adding this species to his year total and then found out that James Cutting had just found the Long-tailed Duck swimming close to Long Island, from Southmoor. 

Above, an interesting looking female Tufted Duck sporting a lot of white around the bill along with another female Tufted Duck on the Budds Farm pools. Below, some of the large flock of Cormorants flying overhead by the Oyster Beds.

Heading back to the car, all was fairly quiet on our journey there and we soon headed off to Southmoor to find this elusive Long-tailed Duck. We parked up on top of Budds Farm overlooking the harbour, but with the glare of the sun on the water plus the breeze blowing into our faces, viewing was not so easy. Again, plenty of Great Crested Grebes, Mergansers and Goldeneye, but no sign of the Duck. Grumble!

Above, there were not too many passerines around the Oyster Beds today, so these Goldfinch were nice to see. Below, some of the many Brent Geese over the harbour this morning.

So, we tried our luck from Southmoor itself and as the tide was now receding, I scanned the whole northern end of the harbour several times but to no avail. I got to see the female Goosander again, this time swimming very close to the shoreline, but you would have had to use a scope to get a reasonable view of it. There was nothing out of the ordinary here and so we finished off checking out the Water Treatment Works at Budd’s Farm instead. From here, there was a variety of wildfowl here, notably Teal, Gadwall, 2 drake Pochard, Mallard and several Tufted Ducks. I counted at least 14 Little Grebes on the water and around the reedbeds and over on the far side, four Greenshank were resting on the water's edge.

Above, a pair of roosting Oystercatchers on the Beds and below, a Little Egret doing exactly the same thing.

Above, the resplendent drake Red-breasted Merganser also on the Beds.

A Kingfisher, our second of the day, flew over the water and eventually settled within a Willow tree and a Water Rail was heard calling deep within the brambles below. It was now around 2pm and I decided to call it a day. Though frustrating on ‘dipping’ out on the Long-tailed Duck, I am sure we will eventually get to see one over the winter. Nevertheless, it was a good morning's birding with some lovely sightings, especially watching the aerial flights of the many Dunlin present around the Oyster Beds. Magical.

Another photo of the Black-necked Grebes off the Oyster Beds.