Langstone Harbour – The Day of the Whimbrel! (27 April 2023)
Our very small party of 5 met at the Ship Inn carpark by Langstone Bridge. A Whimbrel flew over giving its characteristic fast rippling call all on one note, a Kestrel hovered over the marina and a Greenshank fed on the mudflats. We felt chilly and put on extra clothes before driving over to The Oyster Beds on Hayling Island. Looking out from the car park we had a couple more Whimbrel and 16 Bar-tailed Godwits. Walking up to the old RSPB managed Oyster Beds we found a few hundred nesting Black-headed Gulls with about a dozen Mediterranean Gulls dotted through them and many more flying over and giving that strange nasal call rather like “meow”. Sandra spotted a pair of Common Terns, which breed on nesting platforms here, then facing the shoreline we found 8 more along with Turnstones, a Curlew and a couple more Whimbrel. Suddenly a raptor like bird flew rapidly in off the harbour and straight off north – but it wasn’t a raptor, it was an all too brief view of a Cuckoo. As we continued our circular walk Swallows dashed low overhead and more Whimbrel appeared amongst the seaweed and rocks. Two egrets flew over and were distinguishable as a Little Egret and a stockier and yellow billed Cattle Egret. A pair of Great Crested Grebes displayed to each other in the harbour and 2 Black-tailed Godwit fed in a pool with a couple more Whimbrel. Everyone was getting good at Whimbrels by now – beak shape and stripey heads! Whitethroat song scratched from the bushes and one particularly productive, tiny bit of hedge produced Blackbird, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit and Robin. House Sparrows were added in a hedge by a manure heap! Next, we had a quick pit stop in the Ship Inn car park before a five-minute drive along the A27 to Farlington Marshes, where there’s always plenty to see whatever the weather.
By now the weather was closing in but we made it ¾ of the way round the 2½ mile sea wall in the dry, although it was very windy. It was hard to hold our telescopes still enough to see through which was frustrating when a cloud of thousands of gulls rose off the islands in the harbour where they breed. We couldn’t make out what had scared them however you could tell that there were a fair number of Med. Gulls among them. Star birds on this walk were 2 Little Terns, 3 Wheatear, many more Swallows, Grey Plover (including a couple in full breeding black and white), Dunlin (some with the dark bellies of their breeding plumage), calling Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, lots of Meadow Pipits, 2 Brent Geese and finally a couple of Ringed Plover which we’d been searching for all the way around. Oh yes …and more Whimbrel. We had at least 20 during the day and at The Point one stood obligingly next to a Curlew so that we could really see the differences. The rain came on heavily for the last 20 minutes but luckily there was almost nothing on the lake and we could hurry back to our cars pausing very briefly at 3 Greenshank. A stop at The Ship Inn provided welcome teas and coffees before the drive home. It’s a warm and cosy pub and we could have stayed longer! (see photos from Pippa and Jeremey on the Group’s Facebook page.)
Species seen: Avocet, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blackcap, Bluetit, Brent Goose, Canada Goose, Cattle Egret, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Common Tern, Coot, Cormorant, Cuckoo, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Feral Pigeon, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Little Tern, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mediterranean Gull, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Ringed Plover, Robin, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Skylark, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wheatear, Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren.
by Rebecca Dunne