A quieter day in Pembroke Road and a Brent Goose flock back in the harbour.

Wednesday 30th September 2026.

A wet start here in Southsea where I took a bit of a soaking while walking my dogs at 6.30am. However, the weather did improve a little as the rain had stopped by the time I got to my first shift in Old Portsmouth, though it was dark and cloudy with a blustery southerly wind. But what was most noticeable was how mild it was as temperatures were around 19 degrees.

On the BBC news this morning, the local edition reported a male Pallid Harrier seen and photographed over Testwood Lakes last year by a chap with the same name as one of our ‘Lazee Birders’ and a bit of confusion reigned. Sadly, this bird was suppressed by the finder and not the first time this person has done this. It also begs the question that should I find a major rarity in Highland Road Cemetery, my ‘local patch’. should I put it out to everyone to see the bird and risk idiots trampling all over the graves to get that ‘money shot’?  I shall ‘cross that bridge’ when I come to it. I would obviously discuss this with the appropriate Hampshire Recorders.

I started listening to the Birdguides Podcast for the first time yesterday and after an hours listening, I was beginning to get a bit bored. OK, I was hoping for a variety of topics about birding in the UK, but it was mostly aimed at ‘twitching’ and the various rarities that has turned up over the past few months. However, on a positive side, they did bring up some interesting memories when I was ‘twitching’ including the Black Lark at South Stack in June 2003 and various other rare birds. I shall be listening to future editions of the Podcast as it could be more interesting as time goes on.

 

Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth:

Thankfully the rain had stopped when I arrived at Pembroke Road, but there was still a lot of heavy dark cloud around.

Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time I got Pembroke Road, but it was quite dark with the thick heavy cloud overhead. A band of blue sky could be seen way over in the south and by the time I finished my shift, a lot of the cloud had moved on leaving behind a lot of blue sky and again, so very mild for this time of year.

Once again, the usual bird species were present, and the only birds of note included a pair of Pied Wagtails on the Bowling Green and the lovely sound of a Robin in full song nearby. Black-headed Gulls, normally scarce here, were arriving from the coast in numbers again this morning, though only one Great Black-backed Gull was seen flying over towards Curtain Moat.

Sadly, there were no new species added to my day total here and in fact, there were hardly any birds seen bar the usual Crows, Magpies and Herring Gull. At least the weather was nice with warm sunshine and a gentle breeze.

The bird species seen or heard today included the following:

• Magpie
• Carrion Crow
• Herring Gull
• Black-headed Gull
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Blackbird
• Great Tit
• Blue Tit
• Pied Wagtail (2)
• Robin
• Wood Pigeon
• Feral Pigeon

 

In Hampshire today:

A juvenile Black Tern was reported past Hill Head this morning by ‘Franno’ and a very early Purple Sandpiper was found at Southsea Castle yesterday. The first flock of Brent Geese were also seen in Langstone Harbour yesterday, signalling the return of these fantastic birds from their breeding grounds in the high Arctic.

This Osprey was seen last weekend at Pennington Marshes. Photo by Emma Parkes.

The Semi-palmated Sandpiper was still present at Pennington Marshes and should it still be here on Saturday, I will probably take the long drive down to view the bird myself and hopefully, some other interesting birds will be present.  A Ruff and a Curlew Sandpiper were on nearby Normandy Marshes.  A few Ospreys were reported in Hampshire today.

Personally, though I never saw any notable birds between my Pembroke Road shifts, I did hear a couple of Chiffchaffs calling from people’s gardens. I also saw a Clouded Yellow butterfly flying down a street in Eastney and a few Red Admirals on the wing there while driving along. As its the last day of September, I can conclude that I saw 71 species of Moths for this month and although nowhere near as many as last month, it was still a reasonable total with the likes of Delicate, Centre-barred Sallow and Straw Underwing being the most noteworthy.

A new release out soon by the Funky Wardens. Also in picture disc.