Still not 100%!

Thursday 26th October 2023.

Up to four or possibly more Short-eared Owls were seen on Farlington Marshes yesterday morning and were still present this morning. Photo by Emma Parkes.

I was still not feeling 100% today, but just about well enough to carry out my deliveries during the middle of the day, where I was for a short period over Old Portsmouth. That is where I heard the familiar call of a Chiffchaff and it didn't take long to find the bird in an ornamental small tree over at a private site off King Charles Street. The bird was seen flitting about in the tree and then flew to another tree to confirm it most certainly was a Chiffchaff. At this time of year, it's always best to double check these birds.

The Short-eared Owl on Farlington Marshes yesterday. Photo by Graeme Loader.

Above and below, two more of the same bird on Farlington Marshes yesterday. Above photo by Jan Dixon and the photo below by Emma Parkes.

If you could have heard the sound of my stomach today, I thought I had something growling in there! Thankfully, it was all bark and no bark if you get my drift, but that stomach bug I picked up really knocked the sails out of me. However, birding pals, Geoff Farwell and Andy Fisher had much better health as they went off yesterday to Farley Mount. They also had a good array of birds too that included the following: Goshawk, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite, Common Buzzard, 2 Raven, Marsh Tit, Stonechat, Woodlark, 100+ Redwing, 20 Fieldfare, 4 Redpoll, Crossbill, 50 Linnet and several Siskins. Not bad at all gentlemen.

A Great Northern Diver was off Hill Head a few days ago. Photo by Pete Appleton.

Andy even put the moth box overnight for Geoff to peruse and though there were apparently no moths, Andy found one later that day, which turned out to be a Red-line Quaker. The big news at present is the return of the Short-eared Owls to Farlington Marshes. Fellow ‘Lazee’ Andy Dickety was down there early this morning and at least one of the Owls was on the wing and later that morning, he reported that there was a huge number of ‘toggers’ (photographers) down there for the Owls - over 50 birders hoping to get a few photos of these gorgeous birds. I was tempted to go in the afternoon, despite the heavy showers, but my grumbling belly put paid to that. There were also up to 11 Bearded Tits showing well in the reedbeds by the Lake.

A Red-lined Quaker moth was found by Andy later in the day, a species I have yet to see this year.

Yesterday, Emma Parkes also got lucky with the Short-eared Owls and saw at least four, possibly five birds, but there could have been more present! Other birds seen of late included a juvenile Ring Ouzel on Portsdown Hill again and an immature Merlin seen over the Canal Path, Titchfield, by another fellow ‘Lazee’ James Cutting. On the UK rarity scene, Wales has come up with another interesting American passerine, a female Great-tailed Grackle. Whether it will be accepted as a genuine rarity we will wait and see, but it was most obviously ‘ship assisted’, but you can easily say that virtually all these ‘Yank’ passerines are.

This immature Merlin graced the Titchfield Haven Reserve today to the delight of 'Lazee' Birder Mark Francis who captured this superb photo. It was seen in various locations on the reserve, even in front of the Spurgin Hide and over the Canal Path.