My first Wheatear of the year & on my local patch too!

Friday 15th March 2024

My first Wheatear of 2024. I found the bird perched quietly in Highland Road Cemetery this morning while taking the dogs for their usual walk. Well chuffed!

I was expecting a bit of a downpour first thing on my 1st shift this morning, but it never happened, thankfully. It was very overcast though and the threat of rain was definitely in the air and with a blustery south-westerly wind blowing, the signs did not look good. No moth box on last night as I like to put it on every other night now to avoid recapturing the same moths. This morning, there were a few notable sightings on my first shift and when I got home to take the dogs for a walk around Highland Road Cemetery, I would be in for a nice surprise there.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

A reasonable total of 16 species of birds seen this morning here on my first shift and it kicked off nicely at 8am with a male Sparrowhawk flying low overhead, with a Pied Wagtail, of all things, following the raptor! Very brave indeed! Up to 14 Brent Geese were on Governor’s Green and again, no sign of any Wheatears hopping about on there, though there were at least 30+ Wood Pigeons picking off the new shoots of grass coming through, as were the Geese. Sadly, not a great deal else of note this morning, bar a pair of Pied Wagtails on the Bowling Green nearby.

Above, the Herring Gulls had gathered in the Cemetery this morning on my arrival with around a dozen birds present on the wet grass. Below, a Goldfinch was singing in the remaining Pine in the south west corner.

Above, the remains of the fallen Pine tree in the south west corner and below, the female Wheatear.

Above and below, two more photos of the Wheatear.

Above, my final photo of the female Wheatear and below, this male Blackbird was giving off his alarm call as I walked slowly past over on the north-east side of the Cemetery.

Highland Road Cemetery:

A total of 18 species were seen on my walk around the Cemetery this morning and best of all was my first Wheatear of the year; a stonking female bird perched on one of the Gravestones. When I got to the southern half of the Cemetery, I  took a few photos of what was left of one of the Pine Trees that had been chopped down. Yes, it's a sad sight, but I suppose for safety reasons, it had to go. Walking on, a quick look on the gravestones to the north and I spotted something interesting. As soon as I saw it, I was in ‘panic mode’ trying to get the camera working and after a few swear words and scolding the dogs to keep still, I was soon taking photos of my first Wheatear of the year! I had one here in exactly the same spot several years ago, so a repeat performance was simply superb. Probably having just flown in early this morning, I noticed the bird looked tired as it was hunched up, but it soon perked up and flew to a nearby gravestone, flashing that brilliant white rump, where I took some more photos. What a good start to my walk.

Sadly, no sign of the Green Woodpecker today and I suppose the only other really notable birds seen this morning in the Cemetery included a brief sighting of a male Sparrowhawk flying south over the houses on the east side and also a Chaffinch flying overhead; calling in doing so. All the usual birds were present and correct, but no butterflies on the wing here again and just the one Bumblebee seen too. It is supposed to be getting very mild over the weekend and into next week; then maybe we will start seeing more around at last?

The following bird sightings were recorded this morning:

• Wheatear (female)
• Herring Gull
• Black-headed Gull
• Carrion Crow
• Magpie
• Wood Pigeon
• Feral Pigeon
• Collared Dove
• House Sparrow
• Starling
• Wren
• Robin
• Great Tit
• Blue Tit
• Blackbird
• Chaffinch
• Greenfinch
• Goldfinch