Hidden in dense reedbeds, the bittern has a reputation for being one of Britain’s most secretive birds. Part of the heron and stork family, the bittern is an expert at camouflage. Until it blinks, you might be looking straight at one and not know it’s there.
Easy to mistake for a moorhen; although they’re a little larger, and with a white bill and forehead, rather than the red and yellow bill of the moorhen.
The magnificent cormorant is a year-round resident of the Solent. With its gothic black silhouette, it has a primitive, almost reptile-like appearance with its wings described as ‘like a broken umbrella hung out to dry’.
The highlight of this birds’ courtship display is the ‘weed dance’. Both birds dive down to collect weed in their bills and then rise up out of the water, face to face.
Its size, long legs, and smart grey, black and white feathering makes this bird an unmistakeable sight around the estuaries and coastline of the Solent.
You’ll find kingfisher around the Solent all year-round: generally in still or slow-moving water habitats such as lakes, canals, and rivers, where they hunt for fish and aquatic insects from perches.
Their bright turquoise head and back and orangey-copper breast are a dazzle of colour and make this bird easy to identify.
Little egrets are one of the easiest birds to identify on the Solent coast without binoculars due to its dazzling white plumage.⠀
During the breeding season it has a bright chestnut throat and cheeks and pale patch next to it’s bill. It can be noisy quite noisy, with a distinctive whinnying call.
A dark-coloured bird with brown and bluey-black feathers and long, yellowish-green legs. Easily confused with coots but with a red and yellow beak, rather than white.
Their orange bills distinguishes them from the other two swans found in the UK: the Bewick’s swan and the whooper swan.
Very similar to the cormorant, this large, dark diver is most distinguished by a slim bill and steep forehead, which follows up to a small crest. They are fish specialists, spending most of their time at sea or around cliffs.
A rare diving bird most likely seen during the winter, sporting a black-and-white plumage with red eyes. Also known as the horned grebe, their summer plumage is a contrast of orange ear tufts, black cheeks and a red body.
They are named after their impressive spoon-like bills which are full of sensors to pinpoint the smallest movement from their prey.
