Swifts are finally back over Portsmouth.

Wednesday 1st May 2024.

The view of the Solent from Curtain Moat this morning.

April this year was some month for rarities not only for the UK but also for Hampshire. Will the month of May follow suit? The weather was changing again late this afternoon with rain coming in (and possible thunderstorms) as the temperatures started to climb and along with it were my first Swifts over Portsmouth. At last! They are definitely later than last year, but the sound of them screaming overhead and picking them out over a greying sky is always a pleasing sight.

The Bowling Green. This regularly attracts the Blackbirds, Starlings and Pied Wagtails first thing in the morning. A Hoopoe would be nice?

My first shift this morning produced 15 different bird species sightings and although they were mostly the common birds around Old Portsmouth, it took the second shift to produce a pair of Swifts flying over to cap off a reasonable haul of birds. Earlier today, while eating my lunch around 1.45pm, I heard the distinctive call of another pair of Swifts high overhead as I watched the birds head off westbound. On my first shift, there was chaos around Pembroke Road when a Sparrowhawk belted through over the Bowling Green and then into the Holm Oaks, in turn scattering all the birds that were within there. 

Grasshopper Warbler recently photographed by Pete Appleton.

Fishlake Meadows was the place to be today with sightings of at least FIVE Hobbies and a couple of Cuckoos to the sound of the ‘booming’ Bittern in the background. It is only recently that I have been coming to this reserve and already, I can understand why birders keep coming back.

A Common Whitethroat photographed by Rob Porter.