Live from Langstone Harbour
As of 2024, the Solent is home to at least 12,000 pairs of breeding seabirds. These nest on the shingle and saltmarsh island of our natural harbours, on small islands in saline and freshwater lagoons, on set aside areas of our beaches, and occasionally on our rooftops!
The largest colonies within the Solent are home to Black-headed Gulls, the most abundant breeding seabird on this part of the coast. These colonies are shared with a mix of other birds though, like Sandwich Terns, Common Terns, Mediterranean Gulls, Oystercatchers, Ringed Plover and Little Terns, along with others.
This webcam shows a colony site on the RSPB’s Langstone Harbour reserve, just a couple of miles from Portsmouth. On the left hand side in the video below is one of the harbour’s breeding Sandwich Tern colonies, whilst the rest of the ridge is occupied predominantly by Black-headed Gulls nesting. Chicks should start becoming visible in late May.
This livestream was funded and installed as part of the RSPB’s LIFE on the edge project, and will continue as part of the Solent Seascape Project with our RSPB partners for future years. The technology was supplied by Wildlife Windows.
Project LIFE on the edge: improving the condition and long-term resilience of key coastal SPAs in S, E and N England is supported by the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
The Solent Seascape Project is working to restore, create and enhance seabird colony sites across the Solent, with the aim of seeing the population declines halt, stabilise and then start to recover. Discover more in the video below:
