Purple Sandpipers back at Southsea Castle.

Friday 11th November 2022.

Five of the eight Purple Sandpipers on the rocks in front of Southsea Castle this morning.

I took a drive south down to Southsea Castle around midday to check on how the sea-defences are getting on and whether or not the Purple Sandpipers are taking a dislike to all the building work going on. Earlier today, Andy Friend had four Purple Sandpipers on the rocks there, so I thought I would give it a try myself. 

Above, a few Robins were 'ticking' around the Castle and area. Below, a bemused Fox wondering how to get back to land?

I parked up in the big car park behind the D-Day museum and made my way up the Castle embankment to walk along the top of the path overlooking all the building work. There was bright sunshine here today, though a south south-westerly wind was blowing in off the Solent, but it wasn't too bad and still relatively mild for this time of year. I scanned the new rock layout before me, but couldn't locate the Sandpipers and so I took a walk further east past the Castle and noticed something sat on the tall pile of rocks just offshore. It was a dog Fox standing on the rocks and probably cut off from the shoreline from the high tide. Then I found another one fast asleep further to the east! However, still no sign of the Sandpipers.

One moribund Fox. At least the sea will not get this high in the future......or will it?

So, I retraced my steps and looked west further up the new rock formation and directly in front of the new wall being built, there were the Purple Sandpipers. I counted a maximum of 8 birds, but one soon disappeared, probably further west behind the wall, while the others sat on the rocks, occasionally getting splashed by the incoming waves. Though they were not a ‘year-tick’, it is always nice to see the returning birds coming back to this location on the south coast. Building the sea defences here will not be completed too well into 2023, so I hope they do not get disturbed too much during that time.

Above, seven of the eight Purple Sandpipers. The regular Spitfire on manoeuvres over the Solent again.

I checked around the Bandstand and the Castle for a possible Black Redstart, but no sign of any this morning. They were reported here last weekend, but it was probably a lot quieter then. A few Pied Wagtails and a Robin were seen and a Wren was heard singing on the construction site! A check over the Solent for anything of note revealed only a flock of 10 Brent Geese heading east low over the water. 

The Southsea Bandstand is now surrounded by Building material and Portacabins!

News and a photograph of a Great Grey Shrike flashed up on the 'Lazee Birder' Whatsapp site late morning, with a bird seen at Black Down, Haslemere. I was hoping one might be found this Winter and so I could be going for this bird tomorrow. Other sightings today included a Velvet Scoter in the Solent viewed from the Chilling Cliffs along with a flock of 22 Eider. Yet another very rare moth has turned up, this time on the Isle of Wight, with the discovery of a Diasemiopsis ramburialis, which is mainly seen in southern Europe and the Tropics.