Another great busy Saturday with the guys.

Saturday 16th September 2023.

Redshank off Northney, Hayling Island in the early afternoon.

Another busy day with both the moths and the birds today, with both Andy Fisher and Geoff Farwell joining me as we explored three areas around the south coast. The weather was glorious again, but very humid at times and even hot in places! Two new species of moth for my year list were found at Andy’s moth trap and although we never saw any new bird species for our respective year lists, there was a reasonable variety of birds to look at. However, I have to say, we struggled to find many migrant birds despite some very good likely areas.

My second Double-barred Tabby of the year after the one I had in June.

Kicking off with my moth box, my second Double-barred Tabby moth was arguably the best moth to be found and I would not of seen it until I was packing my stuff away in the back garden as I found it perched on the seat cover and thankfully, remained there so I could take a photo of it. There were 68 moths of 18 species this morning that included 4 Clancy’s Rustics, a species that was a real rarity in my moth box. Box Tree Moths were abundant yet again, but at least I don't get hundreds of them like some poor 'Moth-ers' do in various places in the UK.

The moths recorded in and around my moth box this morning included the following:

• 2 Old Lady
• 4 Lesser Yellow Underwing
• 4 Pale Mottled Willow
• 4 Willow Beauty
• 3 Garden Carpet
• 4 Clancy’s Rustic
• 1 Vine’s Rustic
• 9 Large Yellow Underwing
• 7 L-album Wainscot
• 2 Silver Y
• 1 Square-spot Rustic
• 1 Rusty-dot Pearl
• 1 Double-barred Tabby
• 5 Ruddy Streak
• 1 London Dowd
• 2 Light Brown Apple Moth
• 16 Box Tree Moth
• 1 Common Plume

I arrived at Andy’s house around 7.45am and was welcomed by a singing Chiffchaff in his back garden. I got a fleeting glimpse of it flitting about in his back garden as I made my way to his front door. WHile Andy made me a cup of coffee, I got stuck into the moths. Both Centre-barred Sallow and Frosted Orange were new for the year, two beautiful Autumn moths of which I was so pleased to see. 27 moths of 11 species were recorded, though a few flew off before I could identify them when I walked into the back garden. 

Frosted Orange.

The moths present this morning included the following:

• 2 Brimstone Moth
• 8 Willow Beauty
• 4 Large Yellow Underwing
• 2 Garden Carpet
• 1 Frosted Orange (NFY)
• 1 Center-barred Sallow (NFY)
• 2 L-album Wainscot
• 2 Pale Mottled Willow
• 3 Square-spot Rustic
• 1 Narrow-winged Grey
• 1 Light Brown Apple Moth

Centre-barred Sallow.

This week has seen some serious accidents on the roads around Portsmouth and this morning was no exception, as there was a car on its roof on the A3M opposite Farlington Marshes when I made my way to Geoff's house, in Drayton. Huge roadworks along the Havant Road in Drayton didn't help either as we eventually all made our way down to Sandy Point, on Hayling Island, for our first destination.

The birds seen around this Nature Reserve included at least five Sandwich Terns fishing within the harbour entrance and gave good views most of the time. There was a good movement of both Swallows and House Martins overhead, of which some flew just a few feet away from us and low down too. Meadow Pipits were also going through in good numbers and both Grey Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail flew overhead. Geoff was pointing out the plants on the shingle that included the gorgeous yellow Evening Primrose and the not so attractive Sea Spurge and Sea Holly. Today's date is synonymous with the arrival of Brent Geese and we saw a flock of 16 birds flying distantly heading west over Chichester Harbour. New arrivals?

From top to bottom: A flock of 16 Brent Geese flying distantly over Chichester Harbour, Sandwich Tern flying through the harbour entrance off Sandy Point and a Common Carder Bee on an Evening Primrose plant on the beach.

From nearby Sparkes Marina, the tide was slowly coming up at 11am and out in the creek, a pair of Redshank were seen well as was a Little Egret. Sadly, the sandbank on Black Point suffers terribly from disturbance, so resting waders are regularly flushed here as was a mixed flock of Ringed Plover and Dunlin that flew over the area a couple of times.

A pair of Redshank in the creek off Sparkes Marina and a fishing Little Egret.

Next stop was to be Northney and so parking up in the small car park, we walked north to view the small harbour by the Marina and also to check out the brambles and fields along the walk up to the houses near Spinnaker Grange. We searched hard for any migrants present and the best we could muster were a few Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap and Whitethroat that was heard only. The potential for a Wryneck or Shrike here seemed overwhelming, but no diamonds. On a positive side, there was a nice selection of waders near the small Marina that included a couple of Greenshank, three Whimbrel and around 60+ Redshank, of which the latter were jostling for space on the rising tide.

Both Kestrel and a Common Buzzard were seen and a Kingfisher was seen briefly flashing past below the footpath near the Marina. A Grey Wagtail flew down and landed briefly before flying off north. But it was the Swallows and House Martins pouring through that grabbed our attention. Literally hundreds were seen heading east low over the harbour and over our heads; an endless stream of Hirundines it seemed and though I tried my hardest to find a rarer Hirundine among them, they all were our regular birds. Truly an amazing Autumn spectacle. A few Migrant Hawker and Common Darter dragonflies were seen along our walk around Northney along with the micro moth, a Rush Veneer, which was only my second of the year.

Photos from Northney. From top to bottom: A pair of Greenshank with a Redshank, Whimbrel with a Black-headed Gull, Small Copper butterfly, Sandwich Tern, small unidentified Bumblebee, 3 Whimbrel with a Curlew and finally, a Swallow flying over the Whimbrel and Curlew.

After a bite to eat back in the car park, we then finished the day off around the countryside of Pigeon House Lane on top of Portsdown Hill. Geoff had a good list of sightings here Saturday and so parking up, we crossed the road and made our way down through the fields. A large number of Red-legged Partridges, easily 100+, were in the fields opposite the road along with huge numbers of both Feral and Wood Pigeons. However, despite a long walk across the fields, the only migrants we saw were a couple of Chiffchaffs, a single Wheatear and up to 30 Yellow Wagtails (a flock of 26, 3 and a single bird). A couple of Common Buzzards were seen and a distant Kestrel to round up our sightings here, but despite the lack of migrants, the view here made up for that. We are so lucky to have such spectacular countryside.

Photos from the fields by Pigeon House Lane, Portsdown Hill: Red-legged Partridges among Carrion Crows, a lone Red-legged Partridge, Roe Deer, a large gathering of Red-legged Partridge, the only Wheatear we could find and Storksbill flowers.

While getting back into the car, there was a report of a Long-tailed Blue butterfly nearby. However, I did not realise how close the insect was and I should have given the info more attention, but time was against me as I had to not only get the lads home, but also the long drive home back in Southsea. Tomorrow, thunderstorms are supposed to be rolling into the south coast, although I really do not trust the weather guys and their awful predictions.   

The Long-tailed Blue butterfly on Portsdown Hill. Photo by Andy Friend.