Hayling Oysterbeds and Farlington Marshes- 30/12/25

Two days left. This year has really flown by, and we are down to the final couple of days. After the disappointment of missing the White-fronted Geese and Cirl Bunting on Saturday, I was free to go out again today, and Mum was up for a trip to the coast, so we found ourselves getting up early and getting out on our way to Hayling Island Oysterbeds. The aim here was Red-necked Grebe, a species I have not really come close to seeing yet this year. From there, we planned to go to Farlington to try again for some White-fronted Geese that had arrived the day after I went.

It was a beautiful morning- if a bit... if very cold. 

After getting to a place where I could see the full harbour, I set up a new scope I have been loaned from HOS, and about 20 minutes were spent scanning the harbour, with plenty of Red-breasted Mergansers present and three Goldeneye. A decent start. No sign of the Red-necked Grebe though.

The lagoons on the way towards the second harbour held quite a few Redshank, a Greenshank, a Little Egret, a few Shelduck, and three Curlew.

There were plenty of Great Crested Grebes out in the harbour, all trying to look as much like a Red-necked as possible to get me hoping for a second, but none of them were of note.

When I got to the main lagoon, I immediately noted the three Red-breasted Mergansers on the water, but athoer then them, there was nearly nothing on the lagoon.

A Curlew flew around calling, and the Red-breasted Mergansers moved away, so I walked along to the other side to join a pretty large group of other birders scanning the harbour.

I was really hopeful for the Red-necked Grebe. After a pretty drab December, the final two days promised to be quite packed with birding, and I was really hoping that I would break the dipping run this month since the Ferruginous Duck. The only new bird since then was an incredible self-found ringtail Hen Harrier. And so I was hoping I could make up for the quiet first 29 days with a flurry at the end.

A Slavonian Grebe turned up far, far out in the harbour, and 20 minutes later, a Black-necked Grebe turned up. Both were much too distant for the camera, unfortunately. 

Half an hour slipped by, then an hour, and still no sign of the Red-necked Grebe anywhere, despite the large group of birders scoping the harbour. I was pretty sure the bird wouldn't turn up now, but the possibility was still there. And the possibility was what made this a bit of a headache. You see, we had to be home for somewhere around 13:30, and I was still hoping to go to Farlington to try for the White-fronted Geese. It was coming up to 11:00, and we needed to do a little shopping in Havant on the way to Farlington. 

A further 15 minutes spent produced only two Great Northern Divers and no sign of the grebe. So I decided to give up here and walked back to the car with a severe case of diptitude. Red-necked Grebes are such cool birds, and I've only ever seen them once distantly.

After picking up some stuff at Havant, we were discussing what to do. I was feeling as though no matter what, I would miss the bird. It was just how things were going, really. Along with the fact that there had been no reports, I was pretty sure the birds would have left. But, we decided to give it a shot. 

We arrived at Farlington with about an hour to play with, so I set off quickly towards the visitor hut with an aim of the deeps. After I had passed the visitor hut, I got a message from Mum saying that a juvenile goose had been reported "on the deeps." My pace picked up. 

I made it up onto the seawall and briefly scanned the hundreds of Brent Geese, and was surprised at the huge number of Curlews around. This shot shows at least 14.

With no sign of any grey geese there, I continued on. And on, and on. The walk had never been longer.

I was so, so hopeful the bird would be there. I really wanted to see it, as White-fronted Geese are very cool, and it would be a much-needed boost to the yearlist. And it would be yet another lifer.

Judging by the fact that the bird had been reported "on the deeps" and the pin was apparently on the water, I was fully expecting to arrive at a packed deeps with hundreds of geese and a white-front in amongst them. And so as the water became more and more visible, and more and more of it was empty, the more my heart sank. Surely not again? Before long, the full lake was in view, and all of three Brent Geese were on it. Hope was not entirely lost, as hundreds of geese were behind the deeps and around. But with little time and such a large number of geese over such a large area, the situation wasn't looking good.

I made it to the first bench and sat down to start scanning. Got the scope set up, and started looking threw the geese, from left to right. Brent, Brent, Brent, Brent, and. Ooh. Surely? There in full view were two, yes two, not one, geese sleeping. But these weren't any geese; the brown colouration gave the ID away. And soon, another bird of the same species came into view, with bright orange legs and a pink bill shining brightly in the morning sun. These three were indeed my first-ever Greater White-fronted Geese. What incredible birds.

The bird that was awake was a juvenile, which is possible to ID due to the lack of extensive white on the head from which this species gets their name. Soon, though, it went to sleep, and I was extremely pleased to see an adult bird wake up and start walking about- stunning.

It was walking about, seemingly feeding.

It soon also fell asleep with the others, so I sat down to review the photos I had gotten. 

The Greater White-fronted Goose is found with two subspecies, the Greenland and Russian White-fronted Goose. Russian (or European, depending who you ask) are found more commonly in the south and east of England, whereas Greenland are found in the north and west.

All three birds woke up, allowing a good view of them.

I was getting absolutely smashing scope views. The photos don't do them justice. There is something very, very cool about these geese- I was loving the experience.

The birds were alternately getting up and feeding for a bit and then going back to sleep. Time seemed to fly by as I was watching them. I got so many shots of them... I was just loving it.

I moved around and managed to get slightly better views of them.

There has been a huge influx of these and Tundra Bean Geese to southern England in the past week due to the cold weather in Russia and easterly winds pushing these gems to our shores. 

Unfortunately, time had abated me, so I took a few more shots of the birds and had to rip myself away and swiftly walk back to the car.

It's always sweeter when you get a bird after missing it. And how sweet it was. Number 206 in the year (i think) and another brilliant bird to have seen.

I'm not going to spend long finishing this. I've got to get to sleep, and still have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow. There are a few options. Hopefully, I will be able to pick up a thing or two, if things go well. The Tundra Bean Goose at Pennington is horribly tempting, but I'll have to see if that's possible. Anyways, good night and, very soon now, a Happy New Year.

Many thanks to the finder of the birds as always.