A trip to Southsea Castle and the Harbour Entrance.

Sunday 11th November 2026.

A lone Great Black-backed Gull flying over the rocks in front of Southsea Castle. Despite a difficult search for the Purple Sandpipers, they were not to be seen today.

The weather this morning did not look that great, but I was determined to take my dogs for a good walk this morning and so after filling the car up with petrol, I took a drive down to Southsea Castle to see if I could find anything of note. A strong southerly wind was coming in off the Solent and rain was forecast this afternoon. I was well wrapped up against the cold as the temperature was hovering around the 8 degree centigrade mark, but it felt a lot colder in the wind.

Southsea Castle, Southsea:

One of two Oystercatchers were seen on the rocks below the promenade.

The strong onshore wind did not help viewing the rocks below from the new promenade as I searched in vain for the Purple Sandpipers. True, there has only been a handful on show this week, but a good long walk from in front of the Castle up to the old Blue Reef Aquarium building produced only a couple of Oystercatchers, several Black-headed Gulls and a single Great Black-backed Gull, with nothing whatsoever on the choppy sea. A Razorbill and Great Northern Diver had been seen off here recently this week, but nothing like that today.

A strong onshore wind was crashing the waves against the rocks on a dull overcast morning.

I was annoyed to see a lot of dog mess on the new promenade and with a lot of dog owners not having their dogs on leads was quite shocking. OK, they all behaved, but there is always the danger of one rogue dog that could turn nasty. Surely, there should be a law against dogs off leads here? Never mind, the dogs had a good walk and so I decided to try my luck by the harbour entrance at Eastney.

Harbour Entrance, Eastney:

Black-headed Gulls huddled up against the strong southerly wind in Lock Lake.

Sadly, though the sea in Langstone Harbour and the Harbour entrance looked less choppy, the only bird on the water was a distant Cormorant when I got out of the car to check the area. The tide was out within Lock Lake off the spit and waders present were distant Oystercatchers and a few Redshank on the mudflats. I checked the nearest Gulls for a possible Med Gull, but all I could find were Black-headed and Common Gulls on the mudflats. So that was the sole content of my birding this morning and so I headed off home.

A lone Redshank searching for food on the mudflats.

My Garden:

Incredibly, despite the grim weather with drizzly rain now falling and the wind howling, both the female Black Redstart and male Blackcap were present again; the former was perched in the tree behind my garden and the latter was still singing deep within my neighbours tree!  

In Hampshire today:

The rough seas in the Solent produced a Gannet, Kittiwake, 2 Common Scoters and a couple of Shags of Barton on Sea this morning. Up to 6 Glossy Ibis were still on the Bridge Street Floods this morning and a flock of 20 Fieldfare were over the Meadows further south. A female type Scaup was on Sinah Warren, Hayling Island, today. Could it have been the bird Andy Fisher and I saw on New Years Day off Budds Farm?

One of the Glossy Ibis at the Bridge Street Floods yesterday. Photo by Emma Parkes.