It's been a mixed week of activities and news here in the eastern Solent but the weather has remained pleasant compared to the rest of the year and our much battered wildlife continues to rebound. The sun was very much welcomed at the weekend as the Langstone Harbour RSPB staff and volunteers took part in the Winter Wildlife Festival at Portsmouth Watersports Centre. Around a thousand people in total came along to sample kayaking and other water sports whilst also enjoying the chance to see and learn about the harbours amazing wildlife. RSPB volunteers were on hand to show visitors the local seals sunbathing via telescope as well as some of the large variety of wetland birds that are currently present. Alternatively, inside, visitors had the opportunity to learn all about our troubled Little Tern population and see just how they go about creating their nests!
Above: The Langstone Harbour winter spectacular! Thousands of Dunlin in flight. (Photo: M. Eagles).
.Above: Little Tern nest building 101. Construct the perfect scrape for your chicks. (Photo: Wez Smith).
Sadly, not everything is going well at the moment. The ocean continues to deposit its grim harvest from this winters storm season along the south coast. Auk corpses (mostly Guillemots with Razorbills and Puffins) have now started to wash up on the Hayling Island shoreline. In the past two days, I'm aware of four individuals that have washed ashore. Thankfully, none of the individuals I've examined have been oiled. They have however had a noticeable lack of fat on them which points towards starvation due to not being able to feed during the titanic weather over the past couple of months. If you do come across any dead seabirds washed up on the shoreline around the Solent, please report them to me at wez.smith@rspb.org.uk. It's important that the situation is monitored so that we can react if necessary to any non-natural die offs.
Above: A recently dead Guillemot, one of thousands of seabirds that have washed up in the western Atlantic sine the beginning of 2014. (Photo: Wez Smith).
On the west Hayling Island reserve, spring is starting to make itself heard in the form of displaying Mediterranean Gulls. These Gulls, with a unique sound have been gradually increasing in numbers around the harbour and it's great to see them back for 2014. Like many other gulls species, they lose their black head colouring during the winter months and so at present, many have a mottled appearance as they change into their breeding plumage.
Above: A mixture of gulls and an Oystercatcher settle in at the west Hayling Local Nature Reserve (photo: Mark Winkworth).
Above: Mediterranean Gulls displaying on the Oysterbeds site (photo: Mark Winkworth) .
Very busy times are ahead and hopefully, in terms of large scale work, they may begin within the next week. I look forward to keeping you all updated as we head into the spring, not too long to go now!
Above: Winter sunset at West Hayling (photo: Marianne Eagles).