Golden Plovers on the seafront.

Thursday 15th November 2022.

It has been many a year since I have seen Golden Plovers on Southsea seafront.

Another very cold day again with the temperature around the freezing mark throughout the morning, but at least it was dry and sunny with not a cloud in the sky. Yesterday's interesting news of some Golden Plover on the Mini Golf Course grabbed my attention and so I took a drive down there to see if the birds were present this morning. Luckily for me, there were two birds present and showed very well.

Two Golden Plovers were present this morning and most likely the same birds as yesterday that were reported here.

I parked up on the seafront, crossed the road carefully and watched the birds and took a few photos of them, pecking on the frosty ground. I have only ever seen Golden Plover down this end of Portsmouth just once, and that was when it snowed heavily overnight and there were still some flurries later that day. A lot of birds were dispersed that day, including a lot of waders, but that was about ten years ago. So it was nice to see these two birds here and though I searched the grounds of the old Royal Marine Museum, all that were present were a small number of Brent Geese and some Herring Gulls.

Above, the family group of Brent Geese on the same field as the Plovers and below, a pair of Herring Gulls (2nd calendar year on the left and a third calendar year on the right) on the Royal Marine Museum field.

I was joined by a fellow ‘Lazee Birder’, Chris Geary, who rode up on his push bike as we watched the birds for around ten minutes and had a quick chat too (There is a lot of ‘Lazee’s about!). A small party of Brent Geese were right in front of me as well, chomping on the short grass; a family group most likely of two adults and a juvenile.

Above, an Oystercatcher flying into Langstone Harbour through the harbour entrance and below, three adult Herring Gulls perched on a post within the entrance.

I did not really fancy giving the Gorse Bushes a try on Fort Cumberland Common due to the large amount of dog crap around there, despite recent reports of Dartford Warblers being present; therefore I took a very cold walk up to the Hayling Ferry to check the harbour entrance and the spit opposite for anything of note. 

Above, three of the six Cormorants fishing in the harbour entrance and below, the Greenshank I found on the mudflats at Lock Lake.

Within the harbour entrance, where the tide was on the way out, I counted at least 6 Cormorants fishing together on the water, but no Auks or Divers this morning. All the usual Gulls, Starlings and House Sparrows were present as normal, hoping to grab a morsel of bun or any other food the visitors throw at them. Looking north, I had a quick check of the harbour for any wildfowl and only found one pair of Red-breasted Mergansers that was over on the Hayling Island side, but nothing else. Looking west towards Lock Lake, there was a variety of waders on show upon the mudflats including Dunlin, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshank and Grey Plover. I also found a lone Greenshank in a small pool, which was a bonus.

Above, a lone Oystercatcher along the shoreline and below, a Turnstone was busy searching for food among the clumps of seaweed.

The nearby Burger Van was tempting, but I had a bad stomach upset eating from here a few years back after eating a Burger, though the gorgeous smell certainly had my stomach rumbling. As I was getting into the car, a Dunnock popped out of the neighbouring bush, literally about four feet away! I was so glad I got out for an hour or so to do a spot of birding. Yesterday, I was driving through Portsmouth and just about to turn into Velder Avenue, when I spotted a Lapwing flying high over heading east, probably towards Langstone Harbour. As I said to my passenger, I do not often see them flying over Portsmouth and normally only due to cold, harsh weather. Stop press: a drake American Wigeon has been found this morning on the Pit opposite the car park off Lower Pennington Lane, Pennington; the first in Hampshire since 1999!

Some film footage of this morning's Golden Plovers on the Mini Golf Course, Southsea.