Langstone Harbour (30 April 2024)
18 of us enjoyed a sunny day birding around Langstone Harbour in Hampshire. We met at the Ship Pub then walked along the harbour wall to Langstone Mill Pond to see the heronry where Cattle Egrets, Little Egrets and Grey Heron nest together. 5 yellow beaked Cattle Egrets were obvious, sporting peach-coloured breeding plumes on their backs, breasts and crowns, but there are at least 10 pairs nesting here. It was only 2019 when this was the first nesting site in Hampshire. In the next field Swallows hunted and landed to pick up nest material. A Cetti’s Warbler called loudly over the Mill Pond, a Reed Warbler shot into the reeds and Mute Swans were nesting very close to the path. It was low tide and almost nothing was around on the mud apart from a very distant Whimbrel. By the end of the day people were saying “Oh it’s just another Whimbrel” but they are a Spring treat as they migrate north to their breeding sites. Hopefully, everyone learnt to recognise their stripey heads and distinctively bent beaks.
Our next stop was West Hayling NR, with its disused oyster beds, just over the bridge on Hayling Island. A couple more Whimbrel were spotted from the car park but with them, also heading north, were 3 probing Bar-tailed Godwit and 18 Brent Geese in the shallows. Walking towards the oyster beds we had our first views of Mediterranean Gulls flying overhead. Next followed a good game of ‘Pick out the 2 Med. Gulls from the all the nesting Black-headed Gulls’ on the two islands. A few Common Tern landed amongst them and added to the Where’s Wally experience for some! Great Crested Grebes could be seen distantly in the harbour and a kestrel hunted over the scrub. Heading on towards the old railway line path we were watching a few more Whimbrel and Oystercatchers when a pair of Little Terns were glimpsed appearing and then disappearing as they fished behind the seawall. Such tiny, delicate birds popping up and down as if they were on elastic. Whitethroat giving their scratchy song from bush tops, wheezy Greenfinch, Cetti’s Warbler, a Song Thrush, House Sparrows, Blackcap, Starling, Chiffchaff, Goldfinch and Collared Dove gave the soundscape as we followed the Hayling Billy line inland but along the coast it was gulls and terns. Med. Gulls calls are quite distinct from BHGs sounding like a cross between a mewing cat and Frankie Howerd.
Lunch was spent sitting on the beach in the sunshine watching the gulls, Brent Geese, Godwits and Whimbrel before we drove back on to the mainland for a walk around the sea wall at Farlington Marshes. There was a strong SE wind which made it hard to hold telescopes steady and the area was badly flooded earlier in the month which limited what birds are around. The lake at Farlington was still high with no muddy edges so waders were in short supply. However, we still had nice views of a pair of Wheatear on anthills, several Linnets, Skylark and Meadow Pipits giving their parachuting song flights. Three Ringed Plover were feeding on the wet grassland and flew to a pool as we walked past. A beautiful female Marsh Harrier hunted over the reedbeds, Sedge Warblers could be heard in a sheltered hedge and Shelducks and Lapwing were easily picked out on the marshes with the Canada and Greylag Geese. The highlight was another pair of Little Terns fishing so close that you could make out their yellow bills without binoculars.
After paddling over Point Field we found that the exit gate was padlocked so had to squeeze through the fence! Back on to the sea wall the tide had covered the mudflats and Med. Gulls and Black-headed Gulls streamed out over the harbour back towards the central islands. Everyone had become more proficient at picking out their white plumage and pure black heads with white eyelids and at looking up as their distinctive call signalled their presence overhead.
Frustratingly it was too windy to look at these distant islands through our telescopes but there were hundreds of gulls out there including many Med. Gulls. A few flocks of waders skimmed the water and joined them on the islands but annoyingly we couldn’t quite make them out. Thankfully, Frankie’s photo later showed one flock to be black arm-pitted Grey Plovers with a Turnstone. The lakes on the east side of Farlington were a bit more sheltered and less flooded giving us Redshank, Avocet, a pair of Gadwall and a 2nd summer Common Gull. By now time was getting on and people headed for the welcome shelter of the path through the fields and reed beds. The stiller conditions produced hunting Swallows and some loafing gulls, this time Great Black-Backed and Lesser Black-backed. Shoveler were at last seen by everybody here and Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinch and Blackcap completed our rather long, but enjoyable day! “Deluxe triple nature reserves” to slightly misquote Frankie.
by Rebecca Dunne
67 Species: Avocet, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Black Cap, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Corw, Cattle Egret, Cetti’s Warbler, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common Tern, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Green Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jay, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Little Tern, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Mediterranean Gull, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pheasant, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Ringed Plover, Robin, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Skylark, Shoveler, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Tufted Duck, Wheatear, Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren.