Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 27th

Tuesday, 28th May: Rain all morning but with a touch of east in the wind and a calm sea; it sounded promising even if a bit late in the spring, so it had to be worth a go. My last throw of the dice perhaps? Well probably, but I was there at the Bill from 0630hrs full of hope, though yet again in this crazy spring I was to be disappointed as passage was dead slow or stop for most of the time. It was a lonely vigil too, mostly spent under an umbrella or watching from the tailgate of the car, although I was glad of the company of JD/DS/GJ for a couple of hours and AH for a briefer spell. I was actually thinking of packing it in early when my pager gave news of a Pom at Portland - so I just had to hang on (in vain of course!) I eventually stayed until 1300hrs but the list for my efforts was meagre indeed and made dismal reading...... and yet when I left I did so reluctantly, still with the ominous feeling that something must happen today. Two dark-phased Arctic Skuas were about the only highlight, though another gathering of feeding terns offshore included c.120 Commons, many of them displaying on the beach and groynes.

Common Tern displaying on beach groyne (above) and Common and Sandwich Terns (below)

Selsey Bill (0630-1300hrs): Overcast, with light/moderate rain persisting all morning and well into the afternoon. Wind very light, NE1 - E2, sea calm. (Obs: OM et al).
Little Egret - 1W
Shelduck - 2 p, settled os for some while
Common Scoter - 130E, 19W
Fulmar - 2W
Gannet - 29E
Sanderling - 39E (some settled ob then moved off)
Turnstone - 20 ob
Arctic Skua - 2E
Common Tern - 15E, 120 os (slowly drifted away E)
Sandwich Tern - 15E, 30 os (slowly drifted away E)
Little Tern - 3E, 6os
Also a mixed flock of c.50 Swifts, Swallows and House Martins feeding high up in the clouds, but quickly dispersed. (And that was it - dismal!)
Evening watch: (1730-1830hrs): Wind SW 2-3. (Obs: SH et al)
Gannet - 102E, 16W
Fulmar - 1E, 1W
Common Scoter - 1E
Auk sp - 4W
Skua sp - 2E (both very distant 1 at 1740hrs and 1 18.20)
Common Tern - 14E
Sandwich Tern - 8 os
Swallow - 35W (along the mile basket line)

Park Lane, Selsey - a male Pied Flycatcher seen briefly along the Lane (SH). Female Kestrel showing well (see pic)

fem Kestrel, Park Lane area (photo: Sam Hill)

Peninsula: No news yet, hopefully an update later. No reports of yesterday's Roseate Tern received...

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(Bank Hol) Monday, 27th May: Pleasantly sunny and dry for a Bank Holiday, but still with a fresh and fairly cool westerly wind. Sea passage at the Bill was dominated by Common Scoters (600+) this morning and other highlights were predictably few; a distant Arctic Skua, a gathering of 150+ Commic Terns feeding offshore around the shingle bars, and another 6 Jays.
Later at Medmerry a number of Avocets and a Little Ringed Plover were located, then a Roseate Tern was present for a short while at Church Norton...

Roseate Tern (right) and Sandwich Terns, Church Norton (photo: Andy House)

Quite a low tide this morning, exposing both the near and far shingle bars, which attracted feeding terns.

'One for sorrow' ... never a good omen for a spring seawatch when the weather vane on the Bill House tower points West and then a Magpie reinforces the message !!

The small gathering this morning watching intently...all except Sam Hill that is (front left) who appears to be in despair (is he crying?)

Selsey Bill (0530-1030hrs): Sunny, dry and breezy; wind W4-5, becoming SW5 later.

(Obs: JA/SH/PM/OM et al)

Red-throated Diver - 1 os

Diver sp - 1E

Great Crested Grebe - 1 os

Common Scoter - 635E, 12W

Fulmar - 3E, 10W

Gannet - 130E, 20W

Sanderling - 8E, 1W

Dunlin - 3W

Arctic Skua - 1E

Kittiwake - 11E, 4W

Common Tern - 150 os, later drifted off E

Sandwich Tern - 40 od drifted E

Little Tern - 15 os

Swift - 2N

Swallow - 9N

Jay - 6W

Peninsula: A late morning visit to Medmerry (West Fields) produced a few waders (AH/OM) - we logged 6 Avocets (some defending territory), 1 Little Ringed Plover, 3 Ringed Plovers and a Redshank. Also at least 7 pairs of Lapwing noted (one with young).
At Pagham Harbour a Turtle Dove near the North wall and other sightings include 2 Spotted Flycatchers , 2 Little Ringed Plovers, a pair of Med Gulls, 3 Brent Geese, a Whimbrel and a Dunlin. (GH)

Avocet at Medmerry (photo: Andy House)

AH later reported " I am pretty certain I had a Roseate Tern at Church Norton this pm. Things in its favour - all black bill, a hint of rosiness not obvious in pics but what first caught my eye, obvious long tail streamers, very pale plumage which compares well with Sandwich Terns, narrow dark wedge on wing and no dark trailing edge. Downside it was distant, there were no Commics about to compare, it was only there for about 5 minutes before all the terns (about 15 Sandwich) took off and I couldn't refind it." Not much else to report - 2 Whimbrel, 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Dunlin." Andy supplied a selection of photo's (below - which I've had to compress for the blog) but there seems little doubt it was indeed a Roseate Tern.