You wait over ten years to see your 2nd Sabine's Gull, the juvenile in Kent, and then like buses another turns up in range a few weeks later and this one's an adult😲!! So with a bad weather forecast for the weekend I booked Friday off work and headed to Langstone Harbour just over the border in Hampshire, although I've been to the Hayling Island Oyster Beds and Farlington Marshes which are nearby, I'd not been to Southmoor Nature Reserve before, easy to find, though my sat-nav seemed determined to keep me off the A27 for some reason, luckily I triumphed over the machines and arrived about 7.45😁! Wasn't exactly sure where to go so headed right from the car park following some other Birders, we scoured the harbour to no avail, though loads of Brent Geese, Waders, Gulls and Red-breasted Mergansers in the channel which also held a few Goldeneye which were good to see, though too distant for pics. I gave up and headed back past the carpark to the flooded area near the breech. Several Birders here as well, no sign of the target bird though. Scanning I found a female Goosander and then a Greenshank! Gulls were coming in regularly and I'm pleased to say I was the first one to spot it!! Though I'm sure one of the other birders present would have got it eventually😂😂😂!!
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| Portsmouth |
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| Sunrise |
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| First view of the beauty! |
The bird performed well flying back and forth in the strong wind, have I mentioned the wind!! Battered is not the word very hard to keep the big lens steady! Yes I'm getting my excuses in early!!😂 The bird stayed fairly distant, the bright light, the wind meant it was challenging to get any decent pics, did I mention my lack of skill!!😁Still a few of my best efforts below, what a fantastic bird!!!
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| Comparison shot with a Black-headed Gull |
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| It did get a bit of hassle from the other Gulls! |
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| It seemed to come back and land in the same spot every time! |
Was a few other bits and bobs about as well!
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| Mallard Flypast |
I decided to leave, mainly because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life sorting out the photos😂, took over 3000 for the day! There was some confusion with the car park, I was in the bit you didn't have to pay for but seems there might have been a time limit, so having filled me boots with Sabine's goodness I decided to head round the corner to the Oyster Beds!
It says something for my lack of spatial awareness that I thought the Oyster Beds would be sheltered from the wind, when it turned out it was even worse😏 right in my face!! I bottled the entrance track which was flooded so parked in the street opposite and waded through the huge puddle, though was a little embarrassed to find that smaller cars than mine had made it through, not gonna risk it, not gonna be me on the news with a car abandoned in flood water😱!!
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| The flooded road!😱with the Rio in the background! |
Anyway I headed out into the wind! The Lagoons were quiet, with only a Cormorant and a couple of Little Grebes fishing in them, although bird numbers were much lower than at the Sabine's site they were a bit closer so was able to get some record shots!
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| Slightly different view of Portsmouth |
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| Curlew |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Cormorant |
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| Little Grebe |
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| Redshank |
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| With Margie sensibly staying at home out of the wind it was up to me to get a few landscape shots |
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| Flyby Red-breasted Merganser |
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| Brent Goose |
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| Redshank |
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| Brent Goose |
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| Blinged Up Greenshank! |
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| Flyby Brents |
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| Brent Goose |
The plan had been to make a day of it and head to Farlington Marshes to have a crack at Short-eared Owls, pictures of which have been filling my newsfeed for the last couple of weeks, however I was knackered, battered into submission by the wind, I felt it highly unlikely the Owls would be up in the wind anyway, so called it a day, which despite the wind had been pretty successful!
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