Sim Elliott
- Jan 18, 2022
- 3 min read

Birds in Langstone Harbour: the old Oyster Beds & Kench Reserves. 17.01.22

Updated: Jan 23, 2022

I visited Langstone Harbour/Hayling Island on a beautiful, sunny and cold day; and saw a large range of overwintering birds; along with some of the islands resident birds. I had first visited Langstone harbour last October, see Langstone Harbour & Hayling Island: Brent Geese 23.10.21. I took the train to Havant and caught the bus (30) to the top of the Island . This time after visiting the old Oyster Beds, I took the bus (30 ) to West Town and walked around Sinah Common, after which I visited the Kench Local Nature Reserve and then walked along the south coast of the island to Sandy Point (by then, 16.30, it was too dark to walk around the edge of the Sandy Point reserve; it is closed to visitors). I took the bus (30) back to Havant station Bus details: 30 Bus Route & Timetable: Havant - Hayling Island | Stagecoach (stagecoachbus.com)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chichester,_Langstone_%26_Portsmouth_Harbours.svg Hogweard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Hayling Island map | Fishery Creek Touring Park (fisherycreekpark.co.uk)

Birds seen:

Oyster Beds: Brent Geese, Greenshank, Redshanks, Curlew, Oystercatchers, Grey Plovers, Golden Plovers, Little Grebes, Red-Breasted Mergansers; Mallards, Little Egrets, Black-Headed Gulls, Starlings, Great Crested Grebes, Carrion Crows, Dunlin

Kench: Grey Heron, Brent Geese, Redshanks, Oystercatchers, Shelducks, Little Egrets, Black-Headed Gulls; Herring Gulls, Carrion Crows, Dunlin, Rock Pipit, Stonechats

Sinah: Magpies, Pied Wagtails, Woodpigeon, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock

Brent Geese, in the bay at the top of Hayling Island, just to west of the road onto the Island.

Brent Goose eating weed

The remains of the bridge of the former Hayling Billy railway line, see: History (haylingbillyheritage.org)

Little Egret, on the way to the Oyster Beds

Conservation grazing by Highland Cattle on Creek Common

The old Oyster Beds (West Hayling) Nature Reserve

See Langstone Harbour Nature Reserve, Hampshire - The RSPB for details of the old Oyster Beds reserve

The management of the RSPB Langstone Harbour reserve focuses on providing the best possible home for its host of breeding seabirds, wintering wildfowl and waders. Principle recent projects have been the EU Interreg funded Little Tern habitat restoration (2012-2015) and the EU Life funded Little Tern project (2015-2018). The successfully completed aims of these were to first partially restore and then maintain the tern nesting habitat within the harbour.

During 2017, an experimental (and extremely successful) Tern Nesting raft was placed at the West Hayling Oysterbeds with funding from EU Life and the Hampshire Ornithological Society. The regular conservation work on the reserve includes preparing the habitat pre breeding season each spring, intensive breeding colony monitoring, maintaining the offshore islands free of disturbance, adding to scientific studies and public engagement.

(January is the wrong time of the years to see Terns; they'll be back in the spring)

A Greenshank on the inland pool