15th - 17th MARCH

Sunday 17th March: Selsey Bill (0600-1130hrs): Cloudy and grey, cool and showery, wind S/SSE 4-5. I arrived at 0830hrs to find Sam Hill, Ian Pitts, Paul Bowley and Sarah Russell in situ on the wall, all looking like they had hypothermia. I'd missed a few things like a Little Gull and Bk-throated Diver but nothing major. Sam had started at 0600 and he and the early crew left at 0930 for a warm up so I took over the log. Andy House joined me for a short while and we decided to move to the southeast corner where there was more shelter; I managed to watch until 1130 when the sea was all but dead. Joint seawatch totals:-
Brent Goose - 39E, Med Gull - 1E, Sandwich Tern - 8E & 6 o/s, R/b Merganser - 45E, 30W & 6 o/s, Razorbill - 1 o/s, Auk sp - 5E & 5W, Kittiwake - 1E, 9W & 6 o/s, Common Scoter - 2E, 6W & 32 o/s, Little Gull - 1E (imm), Gt Northern Diver - 5E & 3 o/s, Red-throated Diver - 10E, Black-throated Diver - 1E, Diver Sp - 6E & 2W, Grey Plover - 1W, Fulmar - 5W, Gt Crested Grebe - 1 o/s, Gannet - 14E & 13W and Turnstone - 10E.
Sarah also logged a Stonechat at East Beach pool en route to her sea-watch and Sam & Sandra had a Barn Owl over at West Fields.

Wheatear, Selsey West Fields (photo: Andy House)

After seawatching, Andy went to check out Selsey West Fields/sewage works area and came up with the first Wheatear for the area.He also found a White Wagtail, 3-4 Chiffchaffs, a Scandanavian Rock Pipit, 6 Reed Buntings (and a Little Owl at a private site). Meanwhile I visited Ivy Lake (Chi GPs) where there were c.40 Gadwall, and after some difficulty a couple of fem Ruddy Ducks. However as I stepped onto

a waterside fishing platform at the east end of the lake, I unwittingly flushed a super Bittern which took off just 10 metres from me and flew casually over to the reedbed in front of the chalets giving ace views.

Saturday 16th March: A walk from Park Farm (Selsey)-Church Norton produced a newly-arrived Chiffchaff, 2 Yellowhammers behind the farm, and c.30 Fieldfares and a Redwing in adjacent fields (Ian Pitts). Also belated news of a male Brambling in Sam & Sandra Hills' garden in Selsey on 10-11th March.
 
Friday 15th March: Selsey Bill 0830-0930hrs: 3 Great Northern Divers & 2 Slavonian Grebes offshore, 5 Red-throated Divers, 1 Common Scoter & 2 Kittiwake E, 1 Sandwich Tern & 8 Red-breasted Mergansers W (Andy House). The only area report was from Ivy Lake (Chi GPs) where 5+ Chiffchaffs, 40 Gadwall and 5 Ruddy Ducks (2m, 3 fem) were seen (J.Dodd & D.Sneller; note the latter info was posted at the express wish of the latter observer, it is not considered a breeding record, and other circumstances indicate there is no point in withholding this info).