A few birds of note within the Cemy.

Sunday 1st September 2024.

Looking west from the east side of the Cemy towards the Mausoleum.

Though I never put my Moth Box on last night, I wanted to have something to write about on my blog for the first day of September (officially the first day of Autumn!); so I took the dogs for a walk around Highland Road Cemetery. In fact, walking around the Cemy at 8am this morning, there was plenty to look at including a few surprises. The easterly wind was still blowing, though gently over the Cemetery, but this could spell a lot of migrants from northern Europe arriving in the UK. We shall see. The weather was nice too with warm, bright sunshine and a bit of high cloud coming in from the south-east.

Above and below, the Grey Heron flying over Southsea.

Above, one of the two Chiffchaffs showed well in the south-east corner and below, this tatty looking juvenile Blackbird showed well on a gravestone nearby.

It started to actually liven up with birds when I saw a Grey Heron about 20 minutes in, flying west high over Southsea. The bird eventually disappeared over the rooftops but not before grabbing a few photos. The large bushes area in the south-east corner held a showy calling Chiffchaff, with another heard nearby, but little else apart from a Small White butterfly landing on the brambles here The Green Woodpecker was heard but not seen; but I assume it was the adult bird calling? I managed to get up to 16 species here this morning, with all the common birds seen along with a few uncommon birds here. A Grey Wagtail flew north low over the Cemetery, but too quick for a photo. I also got my first two moths of the month with a Vapourer Moth flying over the Cemetery and earlier today, a Vine’s Rustic moth was fluttering about on my garden patio.

In the centre of the Cemetery, there were at least four Robins hopping around close to one another.

The birds recorded in the Cemy included the following: 

• Great Tit
• Blue Tit
• Grey Heron
• Green Woodpecker
• Blackbird
• Herring Gull
• Wood Pigeon
• Feral Pigeon
• Collared Dove
• Chiffchaff
• Goldfinch
• Grey Wagtail
• Carrion Crow
• Magpie
• Starling
• House Sparrow

In Hampshire, this morning, a Curlew Sandpiper and a Little Stint was on Fishtail Lagoon on Pennington Marshes and a Black Tern flew past Hill Head this morning. Probably more to follow.

Above and below, a juvenile White-winged Black Tern at Dungeness. Matt & Emma Parkes took a trip to Kent yesterday to see this 'lifer' for them. Photo by Emma Parkes.