A quiet, but pleasant walk around the Cemy.

Sunday 2nd November 2025.

This Jay showed well between the gravestones, burying acorns in the tall grass.

After last night's heavy rain that went into the early hours of this morning, the rain eventually departed to the east and bright sunshine took its place. There were a few ominous clouds around when I took the dogs for their walk this morning, but thankfully, it remained dry this morning and into the afternoon. I took the dogs back over the Cemetery this morning, before me and the family spent the afternoon at Whiteley, shopping. 

The Great Grey Shrike was seen again this morning. Photo by Emma Parkes.

However, in Hampshire, the Great Grey Shrike appeared again in the New Forest and this time it was between Shatterford and Denny Wood, where Emma and Matt Parkes briefly connected with the bird and Emma managed to grab a record shot of this gorgeous bird. Then news came in of a probable Grey-tailed Grackle being found at Calshot Spit. This North American bird, if it is truly a wild bird, was probably ship-assisted and after one was found on the Azores earlier this year, its credentials of being ‘tickable’ is still out there. It certainly attracted a lot of ‘Twitchers’ and ‘Lazee’s’ for this potential Hampshire ‘tick’.

Highland Road Cemetery, Southsea:

Wood Pigeons were abundant within the Cemy and overhead, several large flocks were moving too; most heading westbound.

It was back over the Highland Road Cemetery this morning with my dogs and I virtually had the whole place to myself bar a couple of dog-walkers. Though there was nothing to report on the Hants Birding website this morning, it was still a pleasant walk although very few birds were singing or calling. I did notch up 18 bird species during my 45 minutes here that included a pair of Jays, a calling Chiffchaff, Skylark and Meadow Pipit and most of the usual birds to find here for this time of year.

The Jay showed well as I was making my way out of the Cemy and below, the Green Alkanet plant was still in flower.

Above, one of at least 10 Magpie's seen here today. They seemed to be having a battle with several Carrion Crows and very noisy too. Below, a large clump of Honey Fungus growing in the southern end of the Cemy.

Above, there was a lot of Common Groundsel growing abundantly around the Cemy and below, Wood Pigeons catching the early morning sunshine high up in the Lime Trees.

There were few toadstools on show today, but I found a few growing by the footpath. However, the App I am using to help ID these gave conflicting views on what species they were. Hopefully, the guys on the Facebook page might help. We shall see.

The bird species seen here this morning included the following:

• Herring Gull
• Wood Pigeon
• Feral Pigeon
• Blackbird
• Meadow Pipit
• Siskin
• Skylark
• Chiffchaff
• Blue Tit
• Great Tit
• Goldfinch
• Wren
• Starling
• Robin
• Carrion Crow
• Jay
• Magpie 

There were not many plants flowering in the Cemy, but the likes of Common Groundsel, Yarrow and Smooth Sow-thistle were abundant still and a single bloom of Green Alkanet was still growing and flowering by the Mausoleum. I couldn't find hardly any insects around the sweet smelling Ivy Plants, though the odd Bumblebee passed over me a couple of times. Most of the deciduous trees have now lost their leaves and the remaining trees holding onto their last of their leaves were shining yellows and golds in the bright sunshine. Beautiful.

The probable Grey-tailed Grackle at Calshot Spit this afternoon. Film footage by Simon Colenutt.