Ring-necked Parakeet in Portsmouth.

Thursday 12th February 2026.

A grey murky start to the day as I walked my dogs past Highland Road Cemetery early this morning. However, both Robin and Blackbird were in full song.

Low and behold, yet another horrible wet morning on my first shift at Pembroke Road today. However, on a better note, the rain kept off long enough to do a spot of ‘Birding’ around the east side of Portsmouth this morning to check out if the Ring-necked Parakeet was still present and also a trip over to the harbour entrance at Eastney. Yes, it stayed dry long enough for a good search, though a breezy cold south-westerly made it feel a lot colder than it actually was, especially by the harbour entrance.

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

It was wet with light rain when I arrived at 7.45am this morning in Pembroke Road and I certainly was not looking forward to standing in the rain for the next hour or so, but I needed to and I wasn't all that surprised to see just 12 bird species this morning. A Wren and a Dunnock was singing behind the Bowling Green and the chap with this dog was feeding the Carrion Crows and Herring Gulls again with lots and lots of seeds in the field to the east of the Bowling Green.

There was just the one flock of Brent Geese this morning heading east from Portsmouth Harbour, but not a great deal to be seen in the now heavy rain. Hopefully, it might be a bit drier this afternoon.

East Portsmouth:

I decided not to give the exact location of the Ring-necked Parakeet sighting this morning due to the fact that the local residents might put up with a fuss should there be a crowd of birders present in their street. I parked up around 9.15am and it didn't take long to hear the Parakeet call and then, luckily for me, flew over my head and headed off north over the houses. Though not the most sought after of species, it was a ‘year-tick’ and saved me the horrible trip into Southampton to see the birds at Queen’s Park! Many thanks to Chris for the ‘tip-off’. As the finder told me, it will not be long before they colonise Portsmouth, for Southampton has many pairs within the city.

Harbour entrance, Eastney:

The harbour entrance at Eastney looking north-east.

As the Langstone Harbour entrance was only about a 15 minutes drive away, I took the short journey there and parked up by the small car park overlooking the harbour entrance. The tide was up and small numbers of Brent Geese were swimming and walking about by the shoreline. I never took my coat with me and began regretting it when I reached the Hayling Ferry Boat Jetty. That south-westerly wind was damn freezing which made me cut my trip here short, though I did record a few notable sightings during the 20 minutes I was here.

Above and below, this confiding Curlew on the shoreline eventually flew off over the harbour.

Above and below, House Sparrows showed well in their usual bramble bush by the car park.

Above and below, this Great Northern Diver was very distant as it successfully caught a probable Eel over on the Hayling side of the harbour.

A Great Northern Diver was fishing over on the Hayling Island side of the harbour entrance and was seen busy trying to digest its prey it had just caught. At least 6 Great Crested Grebes were in the area and a male Red-breasted Merganser was seen swimming in Lock Lake. A Curlew was also feeding along the shoreline before flying off west over the water and several Oystercatchers were seen flying over the harbour. Good numbers of Black-headed Gulls were roosting on the small boats within Lock Lake and a calling Med Gull was seen flying into the harbour and heading northbound. I was tempted to check out the Jetty near Fort Cumberland, but my frozen hands put paid to that idea!

Above, a Great Crested Grebe swimming in the harbour entrance and below, a Brent Goose calling to its fellow Geese nearby.

Above, a distant drake Red-breasted Merganser in Lock Lake and below, a small number of Brent Geese on the shoreline.

Above, a Great Crested Grebe swimming in the harbour entrance and below, a lot of Black-headed Gulls were roosting on the small boats within Lock Lake.

My Garden:

The male Blackcap in my garden this morning.

Again, the Blackcap was singing this morning in my garden and was in full song around 7.30am today and later seen when I got back from Eastney, perched up in the tall bare tree at the back of my garden. I was pretty sure there was the second male bird in the same tree but it flew off too quickly to grab a photo. Up to four Blackbirds were also in the same tree. All this when the heavens opened for another deluge of rain!