SE Nature Notes for w/e Oct 8th

10 October 2011

Portsmouth & Portsdown

Birds at Farlington Marshes on 3rd included 5 bearded tits, 3 curlew sandpipers, 2 water rail, a hobby, a spotted redshank and 33 greenshanks.
Common calamint was in flower on the north face of Portsdown on 5th.
Sparrow hawks have been seen in a Cosham garden and over Portsdown this week.
On 6th a razorbill was seen in the Langstone Harbour entrance.
A seal was seen off Milton shore on Friday 7th.
In Portsmouth Harbour a flock of over 300 Brent geese was seen on 7th. On the same day two peregrines flew west over the Naval Base.
Another peregrine was spotted on the Highbury College building on 9th.
A grey wagtail was on the stream at Hookheath Meadow on 4th. Other interesting items were a golden scaly cap fungus and marsh woundwort still just in flower.

Havant hayling & Emsworth

A ring ouzel was feeding on blackberries on one of the bunds between the Budds Farm lagoons on Monday.
A grey wagtail was at the Homewell spring pool in Havant on 4th.
A great northern diver in breeding plumage was in the entrance to Chichester Harbour where there were also 9 eiders, 1 arctic and 23 common terns. Later in the week up to 4 great skuas were seen on the sea.
The first little grebe of the winter on the Emsworth ponds was seen on the Slipper Mill Pond on 6th.
At Pilsey Island south of Thorney an osprey was fishing for about 10 minutes on 6th. Over 1,000 dunlin were present on the falling tide.
The Thorney Island cattle egret roosted with 139 little egrets at the Little Deep on 7th. On 9th there were also 500 grey and 40 golden plovers and a peregrine on the island.
There was a handful of wigeon in Nutbourne Bay on 7th compared with the hundreds at Pulborough. There were also around a dozen very active skylarks in the air.
A yellowhammer was a nice surprise at Mill Rythe on 8th. Other birds there included wheatears andchiffchaffs.
Flowers seen in Havant this week included small-flowered cranesbill in Juniper Square; cow parsley at Brook meadow; weasel’s snout in the New Lane cemetery ( a new site); and narrow-leaved Michaelmas daisy in Emsworth.
Brown rats are becoming a threat to the water voles in Brook Meadow so control measures are being considered.