The Ferruginous Duck is back again.

Wednesday 10th December 2025.

After yesterday’s wet and windy weather, today was a much brighter affair with plenty of blue sky and sunshine first thing this morning, though it did become a lot cloudier in the afternoon. It was mild again with temperatures around the 14 degree mark with a south westerly wind. It has been a little quiet in Pembroke Road regarding anything really noteworthy over the past couple of days, but I am still getting double figures in bird species still.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth: 

Up to 13 species were recorded today from both shifts and probably the best of the sightings were the distant flock of Brent Geese, around a dozen birds, heading east past the harbour wall by Curtain Moat. Governor’s Green held around 40+ Herring Gulls searching for worms on the wet grass again and scores of Wood Pigeons were flying over throughout the day. A Wren narrowly avoided being hit by a car as it flew across the road close to where I stood and quickly sang when it landed in some vegetation.

In Hampshire today:

The drake Ferruginous Duck on Brownwich Pond. Photo by Bob Marchant.

The return of the drake Ferruginous Duck on Brownwich Pond this morning was probably the highlight of today's Hampshire sightings and a fine photo of the bird too (see below). A Great Northern Diver and a female Velvet Scoter was again off Weston Shore and a good count of 8 Common Sandpipers were wintering at Lower Test  Marshes. Two Great Northern Divers and a Red-throated Diver flew into Chichester Harbour this morning and over at Normandy Marshes, up to 22 Spoonbills were counted and a Spotted Redshank was present too.

Further afield, the Lesser Crested Tern was still in the Exe Estuary near Powderham this time and in South Wales, the Scops Owl was still present at Killay, Glamorgan.

Several Marmalade Hoverflies were around the Ivy in my garden this afternoon.

In my garden during the early afternoon, during a spell of bright sunshine, I was checking out the Hoverflies still on the wing here and included several Marmalade Hoverflies (Episyrphus balteatus) and at least one female Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae). The crazy thing is, it should be near freezing around this time of year, but the insects keep coming due to the mild weather.

A female Migrant Hoverfly was also sunbathing in my garden.

The Scops Owl at Killay, Glamorgan. Photos by Simon Craft.

More heavy rain on the way.

Monday 8th December 2025.

This Buff-tailed Bumblebee was nectaring on this Penstemon plant near where I stood in Pembroke Road.

Another weather warning from the Met Office for this week as heavy rain and strong winds are set to batter the south coast again. The Met Office have named it Storm Bram and is set to come in overnight and into Wednesday. You can forget about doing a sea-watch from Gilkicker again this Saturday too!! It is bound to be empty of birds as well.

The week got off to a reasonable start in Pembroke Road this week as the weather wasn’t too bad this morning and bird species got into double-figures too.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

A dark and overcast start to the day in Pembroke Road.

Up to 13 species were recorded this morning with pick of the bunch going to a very low flying flock of 3 Cormorants flying over the road and heading southbound and a small flock of 5 Brent Geese heading east over the Curtain Moat area. On arrival, there must have been around 30+ Herring Gulls on Governor’s Green searching for worms on the sodden grass, which was a good count.

Both Dunnock and Robin were heard calling and the House Sparrows were seen several times in their usual hedge by the Bowling Green. I managed to grab a photo of the Buff-tailed Bumblebee nectaring on a small cluster of flowering Penstemons that were growing in a nearby flowerbed. The extremely mild temperature of 12 degrees is still encouraging the insects to be on the wing and I have even seen a few Garden Spiders around too.

This Rusty-dot Pearl was perched on a window.

On my travels around lunchtime, I found a Rusty-dot Pearl moth perched on a window on a Retirement Building. Moths are still out and about and I do keep an eye out for outside lights on buildings in case a Moth is perched.

In Hampshire today:

Fellow ‘Lazee Birder’ Gary Fennemore had a good selection of bird sightings around Hayling Oysterbeds this morning with sightings of 2 Marsh Harriers on the Binness Islands, Med Gull, Raven, Black-necked Grebe (sadly, numbers have really dwindled of this species over the last few years here in Langstone Harbour), 2 Whimbrel, Great Northern Diver and up to 5 Goldeneye. 

A very wet walk around the Cemy.

Sunday 7th December 2025.

Whatever the weather, there is always something to see here in the Cemetery.

The wet and very windy weather continued into today, but after having done a lot of our morning chores, I took the dogs for a very wet walk around Highland Road Cemetery again. I decided to not take my camera along due to the rain, but I did manage a photo from my mobile phone camera of the superb place. OK, one Cemetery might look like any other Cemetery, but I have grown to love the place over the many years I have come here and there is always something to see, despite the weather.

HIghland Road Cemetery, Southsea:

Apart from the usual Gulls, Pigeons and Crows here today, seeking out an existence within the blustery wet weather, I did see a smart Jay perched on one of the gravestones and would have made a lovely photo if I had had my camera. Sadly, not a great deal else was seen regarding the birds, but a small group of Great Tits within the trees and bushes over in the south-east side were the only other notable sighting here today. I have not seen any Woodpeckers, especially the Green Woodpeckers, on my ‘local patch’ for several months now, which is worrying. Maybe they will be back in the Spring? As I was making our way out of the Reserve, I was sure that a Goldcrest was calling somewhere deep within the Cedar tree by the main entrance.

Sadly, I got a really good soaking, though my trusty waterproof coat kept the top half of me nice and dry, but my jeans and shoes were soaked. It was worth it.

In Hampshire today:

Yet again, the probable escaped Boat-tailed Grackle was still in its usual garden in Holbury, Southampton and the three Velvet Scoters were also in the usual place off Weston Shore. A Jack Snipe flew in with 12 Common Snipe on Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marshes this afternoon.

Also in Hampshire, two new micro moth species for Hampshire were recorded at Pamber Forest Nature Reserve; notably Gelechia scotinella and Haplotinia insectella, which were found earlier this year using moth traps. Another bonus for the site was that 20 new species were found at the same site this year.

Above, some of the birds (from top to bottom, Kingfisher, Redwing and Goldcrest) seen on my walk by Hilsea Moat, Portsmouth six years ago. Because of rising sea levels, a lot of work has been carried out at this site as the footpaths have been raised and redeveloped in case of flooding which has happened several times in the past.