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I had a late appointment on the Isle of Wight today and so I had booked the 3pm ferry from Portsmouth to give me some time for a spot of birding down at the beach at Seaview. The forecast today was showers but mostly, the Isle of Wight stayed dry. I watched a thunderstorm spread westwards over Portsmouth from the beach, which was quite interesting.
It’s been a while since I have last done some birding from here, but with my appointment at 6.30pm, I had some time on my hands. The tide was well out when I arrived at the seafront at Seaview and despite several good scans over the sea, the best I could find was the odd Sandwich Tern drifting past (all in winter plumage now) and a couple of fishing Cormorants on the water, but no Grebes yet.
Searching through the Gulls, I notched up at least 20+ Mediterranean Gulls either resting on the beach or flying past. They were all but one in winter plumage, with one bird being a 1st winter bird. I couldn’t find any Sanderlings on the beach though several Oystercatchers and a distant Curlew were seen.
The most notable sighting was of the Hirundines flying westerly in huge numbers. At one point, I was counting at least a hundred birds per minute going through over the beach and sea. Huge numbers were over the trees behind Hersey Nature Reserve also. They were mostly Swallows going through, but amongst them, I also picked out House Martens and Sand Martens too. Sometimes, a rare Swallow might be amongst them so I did some careful watching but to no avail!
Overhead, the call of a Common Buzzard attracted my attention and gazing into the bright Autumn sky, a group of four birds were circling very high. Not a great deal else, but I must mention the male Siskin that flew over my Office in Fareham this morning. This was a month tick and most grateful I am too. On the rarity front, an American Buff bellied Pipit has been found on St. Mary’s, Scillies, and a Greater Yellowlegs had a brief stay in Lincolnshire. The Snow Goose is still at Holkham, Norfolk, so I could be going for that shortly.
Left, one of the 20+ Mediterranean Gulls on the beach at Seaview. Right, a stormy looking Portsmouth in the distance from Seaview beach this afternoon.
