CIRL BUNTING Twitch @ Wicor, Portchester

Last month, I managed to dip Hampshire's first Cirl Bunting for over 40 years, a true county mega. I was, of course, disappointed. So when it was found again a few days ago, I tried to figure out when I could get there soonest. I figured I could get down on Saturday morning, but would have to be back in Petersfield for 12:00 so needed to be out early. The bird had been seen early in the morning on the previous days, then disappeared for the rest of the day, so I was up before 6 to catch a 7:00 AM train to get me into Portchester at 8:00.

I arrived at the site hopeful that the bird would show. Instead of walking around the paddocks first as I did last time, I headed straight down the path towards the small pond in the field adjacent to the paddocks. About halfway down, about 5 other birders were gathered, so I stopped and asked if there was any sign of the bird. "Yep, it's just been seen", came the reply. Two of the birders there had seen it briefly in the bushes opposite, so I set up my scope and started searching for it there. We waited for about 15 minutes with no sign, so we started walking around the area to no avail.

I decided to walk the rest of the path down to the beach, chatting to another birder I'd met at the Killdeer twitch for a bit, before he went to the trees to look fr it there. I decided to stick at the corner so I could see the whole area- the hope was that if the bird turned up in the bushes by the pond in the southern part of the field I would be able to see it, and if it turned up in the middle where it had been seen before, I would be able to see it from here as well. Quite a few Brent Geese were out in the harbour, along with a few Great Crested Grebes. 

After another 15 minutes or so, a bit of a buzz seemed to be coming from the birders behind the trees, so I hot-footed it over there. As soon as I made it through the branches, the birder I'd talked to earlier informed me they'd just had it, but it had dropped down below the fence into the reeds. More and more time passed, with no sign of it.

I was really hoping it would pop back up. The chance of seeing it if I didn't now were very low; it has a habit of disappearing after just a few sightings in the morning. I did not want to dip this bird again...

There was still no sign, and I was thinking of moving to try and see if it had gone back to its original location. All of a sudden, someone said they'd got it. "It's on the last fence post!" I frantically looked for it through my camera and binoculars, but couldn't see anything. My heart rate was rocketing; the bird was here, and I couldn't see it! Someone said the bird had moved up onto the bushes, so I got my binoculars up to my eyes and frantically searched the branches. Briefly, and ever so briefly, I saw it. Wow. A Cirl Bunting in Hampshire. It seemed to fly up, and finally I saw it for a decent length of time. It had flown further up the bush and stayed put for a while, giving really good views. My camera didn't focus on it at all, but I got really, really good scope views, which made up for the poor photos.

The bird stayed out for about a minute, allowing for good views. But all too soon, it flew up and off over our heads, then turned towards the paddocks.

What a bird! The bright yellow colours and the dark markings are simply stunning. I was absolutely buzzing to finally see it after dipping it at the latter end of last year. It's the first in Hampshire for over 40 years, with the last coming in 1985, making this a county mega. The Cirl Bunting used to be a somewhat common breeder in Britain, especially in the south. Dorset, Hampshire, and Sussex all used to be common breeding locations, but these birds have been virtually non-present in the latter two of the listed counties since the 1990s. Dorset does have a few, but they are not common there by any means, with a few birds popping up here and there every year. Being the first in over 40 years, this is a brilliant Hampshire tick and a brilliant county mega, which I was so, so happy to see.

All of the 10 or so birders who had been behind the trees, looking at the bunting, went towards the paddocks, hoping we might see it there. 

A Blue Tit was there, along with plenty of Robins and Redwings, and two Canada Geese flew over, but no sign of the bunting. It had seemingly disappeared.

I decided to turn my attention to the harbour, where the high tide was looking very nice. A huge gathering of waders in the distance, including hundreds of Oystercatchers and presumably Dunlin, were flying up every now and again, putting on an impressive display.

After half an hour, I went back to the trees to see if the Cirl Bunting would return there. Quite a few birders were along the path now. The first fifteen minutes or so searching for the bunting produced a Stonechat and a Meadow Pipit. I actually took a photo of a Woogpigeon as well, which was perched in a nice position for a picture.

Despite the efforts of all the birders, there was still no sign of the bird. I decided to check the paddocks one more time before waving the white flag.

No luck in the paddocks, but all the previous species were still present, and a Dunnock was singing.

With still no sign, I reluctantly went over to my bike and headed home feeling very, very happy with the day's work.

Well, another successful trip! After such a slow start to January, the final 10 days or so have been blockbuster. An incredibly rare American plover, a brilliant time seeing some great species at Titchfield Haven, and now a huge mega for Hampshire. The month ends with two brilliant lifers seen; that sure is nothing to sneeze at! I'm still so pleased to have seen a bird, that's got to be one of my favourite ones I've seen. Those bright yellow colours. Such a stunning bird. Hopefully February will pick up where this month has left off. I believe that is number 215 on my British life list! It hardly feels like any time ago that it was at about 180. The past half a year has been incredible. Let's hope things continue that way. I'm lovin' it!

Titchfield Haven 29/01/26

After finishing some tasks in Fareham in the morning, Joe, Peter, and I headed down to the haven for a few hours to see if anything interesting was about. I'd somehow managed to forget my jumper, gloves, and buff, so only had shorts, a t-shirt and a thin base-layer on in the freezing winds...not good.

We arrived in freezing cold conditions, got our stickers and headed straight into Meon Shore. I got my shoes soaking wet as we tried to get past the flooded path on the way in, which didn't really help in my bid to stay warm...

It was incredible in the hide, as the water levels were so high. All the islands were gone, and the causeway at the back was submerged as well.

Everything was closer to the Pumfrett Hide, but a few things were visible, including a Moorhen, a few Mute Swans, Egyptian Geese, Teal, Shoveler, and Shelduck at the back.

Peter soon found the resident Goosander with two Shelduck near the Pumfrett Hide.

With everything much closer to the Pumfrett Hide, we decided to hotfoot it over there to try and see the Goosander well.

Thankfully, the Goosander was still close and showing very well in dodgy lighting. The Egyptian Geese, Shoveler, and all the other wildfowl were much closer.

He was really giving good views, and swam a bit closer before going with the Shelducks to what was left of the cuaseway to stand up.

It was really great to see this cool guy. He's been at the haven for a long time and was my first ever Goosander. Back then, he was in eclipse plumage, so he had a red head instead of that dark green colouration. It was a great bonus to see such a cool bird so well on what looked to be a relatively ordinary trip.

The bird was soon back out swimming, but the lighting was proving very tricky.

A Marsh Harrier appeared, putting on a good display before disappearing. Really cool birds.

The Goosander soon went behind some reeds, so I turned my attention to photographing a COMMON Snipe (iykyk) that was showing relatively well.

We had about half an hour left before we had to head, and by this point, I was absolutely frozen. My hands were without feeling and were turning a worrying shade of blue. The biting wind was gushing into the hide via the open windows, so I sat tight next to a closed one. 

The Goosander appeared again, so I somewhat reluctantly opened the window to get some more photos. 

It headed out further away, so with nothing else much happening and time gone, we decided to brace the winds and get to the car.

The lack of any shelter seemingly did for my hands, as they succumbed to the cold and felt as though they were frozen in place, whilst also turning into weird shades of purple and red I've not seen before. I definitely won't be making this mistake again... 

We soon made it to the car and blasted the heating on full... still took ages to warm up lol

So, a very nice trip with some very cool species seen. Goosanders are always great to see, they're always much larger than I remember! I really enjoyed all the species, albeit having to suffer from the cold. Silly me huh. It has been a very quiet month, but it was great to get out again, and there's a possibility I might be going out again on Saturday- the Cirl Bunting has been seen again, a month after it left in Portchester, a true Hampshire mega. I dipped it last month on another freezing day, apparently it had flown off the evening beforehand, but wasn't reported to have done so. Unfortunately, the cold that time did for my slight cold and sent me into a pretty horrible state of illness (it wasn't actually that bad). Let's hope that doesn't happen again... We'll have to see what happens, but after a very slow start to the year, things do seem to be picking up. Looking forward to the migrants starting to arrive in the coming months. One thing I should note is that there are already Egyptian Geese goslings down at the Heath Pond. January?! Really? They do nest early, but this early? I really must go and get some photos soon before they grow larger and less cute...

Good night, hope everyone is enjoying great birds:)

KILLDEER Twitch @ Ripley Farm Reservoir- 23/01/25

Well, to say 2026 has started slowly would be an understatement. I've tried to get out quite a few times, but bad weather has got in the way. There's also not too much about, so I've just not gotten out and about. I have been spending a lot of time birding out my bedroom window, looking at the garden, though, it's brilliant. I might start doing weekly updates of what I see... usuals include a group of about 20 Linnets, 5 Bullfinches, Song Thrush, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a few other decent things. Anyway, enough about that, onto today. As I'm sure you can imagine, as soon as I saw that a Killdeer was in Hampshire, I started planning when I might be able to go, and if I could. After a bit of digging, I figured I could go down to Christchurch station and then bike the 6 miles up to Ripley. I had been planning to go on Saturday, but this plan was abandoned when the news that a shoot was planned on the farm on that day, and the weather looked better for Friday. So, I've pushed all my schoolwork onto tomorrow, and went today.

The journey was easy. Southwestern direct to Southampton, then another Southwestern to Christchurch. The journey took only two hours in the end, which isn't too bad for travelling all the way to Dorset (Christchurch station is in Dorset, the Killdeer is hardly a mile into Hampshire). I'd decided to wait until the bird was seen before I went, to make sure I didn't travel all that way for nothing. Before long, it was reported, so I quickly finished my breakfast and headed down to the train station. Midway through the journey, I checked Birdguides to see if it had been reported again, only to be met with a severe blow to my eyes- a big, sad face emoji. The bird had flown off high southwest. Ouch. But, after a tantalising period of time, it was reported again. I was very pleased to say the least.

I arrived in Christchurch at about 10:30, and set off on the 6-mile bike up to Ripley Farm. The very strong winds were luckily in my favour as I peddled furiously towards the bird. I really didn't want to miss it. It had flown off just an hour earlier, but had returned. It was very possible that before I got there, it would fly off once more, never to be seen again. I didn't want to take that risk, so I just went as fast as I could. I figured if I kept my eyes to the skies, I would see the bird if it flew in my direction...

I arrived at the gate to enter the track leading to the reservoir and saw another birder coming. "Still here?" I asked. "Yep", came the reply that sent waves of relief through me. I locked my bike up, got my camera and binoculars out, and walked as fast as my tired legs would carry me. After walking the length of a field filled with pigs with the reservoir on my left, I reached a group of about twenty birders. I made my way over to a free space and asked where the bird actually was. Through some very good and detailed directions, I got onto it. It was facing away, so all you could see was its back, and the sun was directly behind it, but there it was, all the same. Brilliant- a Killdeer in Hampshire!

I was so relieved to have seen it. I really didn't want to miss this one. I was as excited as I was relieved. Here I was, staring at an extremely rare American vagrant on a Friday morning. Wow.

I set up my scope and got pretty good views of what was visible of the bird. It was relatively distant (about 170 meters, I checked on Google Maps), but was just about visible with the naked eye. A big struggle was the wind. It was very, very blustery. Here's a picture of all the birders.

There were more birders to the left along the track as well, I reckon about 30 were present overall, although many kept on coming and going.

After fifteen or so minutes, the bird moved, facing more towards us, revealing the striking double-band on its front. What a bird!

This is only the second Killdeer in Hampshire, with the last being over 40 years ago in 1980. There was possibly one more in the 1800s, but it's not confirmed as far as I know. The bulk of these birds is found off mainland Britain, with this being one of about ten seen on mainland Britain this century, making these mainland megas. Killdeer are North American plovers and are found over a large part of the continent. Being very rare vagrants to the UK, I was more than thrilled to see it, as I'm sure you can imagine!

The bird started moving around a bit, feeding in the grass.

The lighting continued to be pretty poor, but you could really see the birds' beautiful plumage when it was facing us. 

I was really enjoying myself, despite the bitingly cold wind. Killdeer has always been a kind of bucket list rarity for me. Being so, so rare on the British mainland, I was enjoying this so much. The sun was out, providing the little warmth there was against the strong winds. The clear, bold banding on the front was absolutely striking, and the whole shape of the bird is just so brilliant.

All of a sudden, the Little Gull appeared, putting on a brief show before flying out of view.

It soon landed in a field giving good views.

I do really like Little Gulls, they're one of the cooler gull species in my opinion. 

It soon flew off, and with the Killdeer not doing much, I walked along the path back in the direction of my bike to find some shelter from the wind to eat lunch. As I walked along the field with the pigs, a Pied Wagtail dropped in. One of the pigs seemed a bit curious, giving it a stare before going back to eating.

I was now at the furthest point of the field, looking at the other side of the reservoir to the Killdeer, but could still just about see it.

A few Blue Tits flew about, and a Robin dropped onto the fence just in front of me. Two Shelducks noisily flew around before landing, and another two Egyptian Geese were on the banks of the reservoir.

As I was tucking into my lunch, a huge noise seemed to be heading towards me. It got louder and louder, and all of a sudden, a huge Airbus A343 burst out of the line of the trees, presumably on final approach to Bournemouth Airport. I was surprised it didn't send any of the birds up- it was making such a noise!

I soon finished my lunch and started to head over towards the Killdeer again. A Red Kite was being mobbed by a Crow, and two Pied Wagtails were in the fields.

The time by now was around 13:15, and I was planning to take the 14:30 train home, so decided I would need to leave here at about 13:40 to give me ample time to bike back. I figured if it had taken me 30 minutes to get here, it would take much longer to get back- I would be going into the wind nearly all the way.

The Killdeer hadn't moved much and was still being watched by a much diminished group of birders; the rest had gone to get lunch, I presume.

I had a look at what was on the reservoir itself, and it held plenty of Shovelers and Wigeons, along with some Mallards.

Time was virtually gone now, so I took one last look at the incredible American plover on the other side of the reservoir and headed back along the path.

I made it back to my bike, unlocked it, packed my bag up, and biked off to Christchurch station in time for my train.

Well, what a trip! After a very frustrating start to 2026 with weather and various things getting in the way, I'd finally managed to get out birding. And what a brilliant first birding trip. A lifer American vagrant, pushing my British life list up to 214 (I think). I'm finishing this post the following morning, still feeling exhausted by yesterday's exertions. It still feels a bit surreal that I actually saw the bird. A Killdeer. Wow. Apparently, the bird is still present as of this morning. I would be surprised if it stays during the farm shoot, but birds never cease to amaze. There's not much else about at the minute, but there are some woods nearby with a very cool bird I've missed a couple of times. I might bike there when I've got time... What an incredible bird to have as a first lifer of 2026. Hopefully, there will be more to come in future days, weeks and months, but who knows what might happen. I'm gonna end here, as I've exhausted my word bank.

Hope you all have a good day and are enjoying great birds.

As always, many thanks to the finder.