Saturday 24th January 2026.
A very choppy Solent this morning from Sandy Point.
Strong onshore winds last night meant that a sea-watch was going to be the order of the day and so we all headed to Sandy Point on Hayling Island, to try our luck at this site instead of Gilkicker (which has been very disappointing in the past). A strong south to south-easterly was blowing in off the Solent and a rather cold wind too, but at least it remained dry to late afternoon.
From Sandy Point, around midday, we made our way to the north of the County, Woolmer Pond to see if we can pick up our first Woodlarks of the year and maybe something extra; however, the red flags were up when we arrived and so, the furthest we got was the Cottage garden.
Cowplain Marsh (Andy’s house):
I arrived a tad early to Andy Fisher’s house (around 7.35am!) and already bought myself a coffee from the nearby Tesco Express, the guys had their breakfast as we chatted about the week that had gone by. From Andy’s garden, a few Redwing passed overhead as did several Goldfinches and a Siskin was heard a couple of times. When Andy went outside to his garden, he saw a Raven flying over, but it was too quick for us to see the bird.
Andy had bought a Tripac for his telescope and tripod along with a new Telescope waterproof cover! However, instead of buying one of those very expensive ones, he bought one from a well-known retailer on the internet. It was the fraction of the price of what I have seen for my Swarovski telescope and I seriously might order one myself.
Sandy Point, Hayling Island:
An adult Med Gull flying over the sea.
With the strong winds overnight spilling over to this morning, the signs of picking up some seabird ‘year-ticks’ looked promising. However, not only did we have a problem in trying to keep out of the wind, but during the 90 minutes or so we were there, it was a bit too quiet. We did find some solace with a big pile of rocks to get behind, but the wind still managed to make viewing the sea uncomfortable. The long walk from Seafarers Walk was bad enough in the cold wind and the only bird we saw of note was an adult Mediterranean Gull heading low east over the waves.
Not today!
Eventually, we settled behind a big pile of rocks and looked from there. There were a lot of distant Gulls (probably Herring Gulls), but very little else. A few Cormorants went through and after some 20 minutes or so, we were joined by fellow birder Pete Gammage, but even he gave up shortly afterwards. And who could blame him! Geoff then found a small group of 5 Common Scoters on the sea, but with the sea so choppy, they were a nightmare to pick up at times, though I was sure there were 3 females and 2 drakes. Another probable Common Scoter was flying at speed low over the sea on the horizon, but even that bird was very difficult to pick up through the scope. The only other bird of note was a Great Crested Grebe flying low over the sea as the bird literally flew over the Scoter flock, heading eastbound. And that was the sum total of a very disappointing 90 minutes here. If there was some better shelter out of the wind, we probably would have stayed a lot longer. So, we all agreed to go back to the RNLI Station, out of the wind and search the harbour entrance and Chichester Harbour from there.
Brent Geese flying into Chichester Harbour.
We had more luck with bird sightings from the RNLI Station, especially when I found a pair of adult Kittiwakes flying out of the harbour entrance and quickly shouted out to the guys to get onto the birds. The Kittiwakes certainly didn't hang around and sped out towards the sea. Within Chichester Harbour, the water was much calmer as we picked out at least 4 Sandwich Terns in various parts of the harbour. A distant Diver looked good for Great Northern Diver and also a pair of Mergansers and a Great Crested Grebe was seen. A Slavonian Grebe was a welcome bonus which was seen in the harbour entrance, though the choppy sea put paid from prolonged views of the bird and it was only seen again by Geoff briefly a little later. Putting the telescope on maximum magnification, I picked out small numbers of Sanderling on East Head, on the opposite side of the harbour entrance, though people letting their dogs of their leads didn't help the birds there whatsoever! It was nearing midday and I asked the guys where to go next. I did suggest Northney to try our luck for the Black-throated Diver seen there earlier in the week, but Andy said that it was extremely muddy there and so Woolmer Pond was suggested instead.
Woolmer Pond, nr Bordon:
The water level on Woolmer Pond was very high due to the excessive rain we have had of late.
The water level on the Pond (should be really called a lake or lakes!) was very high, which did attract a good number of Tufted Duck on the water along with a lone drake Gadwall and Little Grebe. The wind wasn’t so strong here this afternoon and it was bright sunshine too. On arrival, noticing the flags were up (which was disappointing), we walked anticlockwise first around the track to view the southern end of the site, but sadly, there was very little of note here. No Stonechats, Dartford Warblers and in fact, birds in general!
Above, good numbers of Tufted Duck were on the water along with this drake Gadwall. Below, Geoff identified these small flowering plants as Common Chickweed that was growing along the main footpath.
Walking to the Cottage area for lunch (I was now very hungry!), we saw more from the Garden than anywhere else! Resting by the huge fallen Oak tree, we must have flushed a Common Buzzard from the garden as it flew off and headed slowly over the wasteground northbound. Hopefully, it would have avoided the Firing Range in the distance which was being used today by the Army boys.
Above, this Hairy Curtain Crust fungus was growing abundantly on the fallen Oak Tree in the Cottage Garden. Below, one of two Crossbills that was also seen in the garden.
Above and below, this Treecreeper gave us good views as it climbed a Silver Birch tree.
A small flock of Goldfinch flew in briefly and landed in the Silver Birches behind us and a showy Treecreeper flew in and showed very well climbing a nearby tree. A Goldcrest briefly flew in and landed in a nearby Holly Tree and then flew off and disappeared into a Conifer. A pair of Crossbills were heard and then seen landing in the utmost bare branches high up in a tree until flying off over our heads and towards Woolmer Forest. Lunch over, I knew I had to get home rather earlier than normal today and so we made our way west along the footpath by the wasteland area where we saw a large flock of Corvids (Rooks and Jackdaws) searching for food on the short grass. There were a few birds around on the short grass and bushes that included a pair of Blackbirds, a single Song Thrush and a male Pied Wagtail on the short turf. The walk back to the car also produced a flock of Long-tailed Tits, roughly around a dozen birds and among them, a Coal Tit and a Goldcrest were noted to round off our day here.
Above, a male Pied Wagtail was seen in the wasteland north of the Pond and below, we encountered a sizable flock of Long-tailed Tits on the way back to the car.
Driving home along the A3, a Red Kite sailed high over the road as I pointed it out to Geoff. I think Andy was asleep in the back of the car! Birding pals, Emma and Matt Parkes, took a dawn trip to Ripley Farm Reservoir and joined the 100+ birders there to see the long-staying Killdeer and successfully saw the bird. Afterwards, they went back to Lee-on-Solent to see the Black Redstarts there and found a cracking male bird on show.
This cracking male Black Redstart was photographed in Lee-on-Solent by Emma Parkes today.
.JPG)
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