27th - 28th April 2014

Monday, 28th April: A light north-easterly appears to have put a temporary end to sea passage at the Bill, but still there were a few bits to see....

 

Selsey Bill (0530-1300hrs): Dry and mainly sunny with some heavy cloud. Wind NNE-NE2-3. (Obs: CN/OM/MJ/ES/AH/CRJ/SR/SH/DS et al). A good degree of coverage by those observers present today despite the slow going. Quiet on the sea bar a Bonxie east, but a Garden Warbler singing and showing in the bushes by the Oval Field early on, and a Hobby and a couple of Yellow Wagtails in off the sea were some consolation. Also an Eider on the sea, and a big build-up of terns - 85 Common, 12 Little and 8 Sandwich - feeding over the spit on the rising tide. Full log follows (AH/OM)..
Great Northern Diver - 10 os
Red-throated Diver - 1E
Black-throated Diver - 1E
Great Crested Grebe - 1E
Gannet - 13E, 2W
Fulmar - 7W
Eider - 2 os
Common Scoter - 3E
Whimbrel - 1E
Oystercatcher - 2E
Sanderling - 15 ob
Hobby - 1N
Great Skua - 1E
Little Tern - 14E, 12 os
Common Tern - 31E
C/A Tern - c.85 os, most apparently Commons, eventually drifted E/N
Sandwich Tern - 37E, 8 os which later drifted off E
Black-headed Gull - 10E
Swallow - 20N
Yellow Wagtail - 2N
Wheatear - 2 ob
Garden Warbler - 1 singing/showing Oval field hedge 0615hrs was gone an hour later
Blackcap - 1 gardens
Willow Warbler - 3 gardens

Additional 1715-1900hrs: (Obs: SH/GH/AH)

Gannet - 9E, 1W
Shelduck - 1 pr present

Eider - 1 os
Curlew - 1E

Whimbrel - 2E

Little tern - 15 os
Common Tern - 78E, most feeding then drifting off east
Sandwich Tern - 10E

Eider (above) and Common Terns off Selsey Bill (AH)

 

 

 

Please excuse the nostalgia, but it's been a while since the four members of the 'Sunday club' have been together at the Bill, where it all began a good few years ago, though we're not quite so twitched-up now! Left-to-right are Mervyn Jones (on a visit, now resident in Wales),  Eric Soden (Surrey resident), Chris Janman and I (OM). 

 

Selsey, Northcommon Farm: Dead today; just a distant Whitethroat, a pair of Red-legged Partridges, a Great Spotted and a Green Woodpecker (SR/OM).

 

Medmerry: Not much to report from the West Sands end - a nice singing Corn Bunting, a couple of flighty Wheatears and just a single Grey Plover and Dunlin in all that lovely new habitat! (AH)

Corn Bunting at Medmerry (AH)

 

North Wall: Much more lively today. A Yellow Wagtail in the stable field and a lonesome Ruff in the flooded field north of the stables. Also 4 pairs of squabbling Tufted Ducks on Breech Pool and 2 Common Terns were fishing there for a while. A Greylag Goose in the field behind. There was birdsong all along the Wall - Reed,Sedge and Cetti's Warblers, Common Whitethroat, Linnets and Chiffchaff. Lots of weird and wonderful sounds emanating from the Owl Copse Little Egret colony. The Little Grebe nest at Owl Point is almost submerged and I have not seen the previous occupants for several days. Pairs of Tufted Duck on Pagham and Bremere Rifes. Cuckoos at Honer and Halsey's Farms. (JW)

Yellow Wagtail at the North Wall (JW)

 

Church Norton: Little evidence on any inward migration today. Up to 10 Little Terns in the harbour and offshore - where there was also an Eider on the sea and a distant Gannet west, as well as 20+ Common and Sandwich Terns, and just a few Whimbrel evident on the high tide. Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Sedge Warblers were well represented, but all seemingly singing from their favoured territories. (AH)

Ivy Lake: At least 20 Common Terns present this afternoon. (PC)
 

Sunday, 27th April: The Big Day that never was! After yesterday's disappointments, there were high hopes for today, and the forecast of a fresh south-east wind with cloud and showers on a late April day would surely do the business in producing a good seabird passage. So it was that I and half a dozen others were in position at the Bill well before 0600, and by 0730 there were 24 of us. So everything looked good and we were all ready, expecting the 'Big Day'  - but it just didn't happen. The wind blew, heavy showers came and went, but birds were there few! An incoming Hobby, a few Arctic Skuas and a Little Gull were about the highlights, and a full log will appear later, but it would be fair to say that spirits were fairly low by the end of the morning - not helped by a final report of 11 Black Terns in the Solent at Stokes Bay (Hants), which failed to show at the Bill. It surely has to improve soon (OM). Full log below.....

Selsey Bill (0515-1315hrs): Cloud, frequent heavy showers, brighter later. Wind S5 at first, becoming SE4 later. (Many obs).

Great Northern Diver - 6 os

Red-throated Diver - 2E

Great Crested Grebe - 2E

Fulmar - 4E, 12W

Gannet - 104E, 28W

Grey Heron - 1 over gardens, mobbed by gulls

Brent Goose - 15E

Eider - 2 os

Shelduck - 1 os

Common Scoter - 42E

Velvet Scoter - 2W

Whimbrel - 7E, 1W

Bar-tailed Godwit - 1E

Sanderling - 1E

Turnstone - 35 ob

Hobby - 1N

Razorbill - 1E

Guillemot - 1E

Auk sp - 1W

Great Skua - 2E, 1W

Arctic Skua - 5E

Little Tern - 23E

Common Tern - 20E

Arctic Tern - 1E

C/A Tern - 31E

Little Gull - 1 os moved E

Common Gull - 5E

Pied/alba Wagtail - 3E

Swallow - 4S, 2N
Additional hour  - to 1415hrs: (BJ/SR)

Sandwich Tern  - 4E

Commic Tern  - 5E

Gannet 2E, 4W 

Diver Sp  - 1E

Swallow  - 1N

Curlew  - 2E

And from1600 to 1900hrs. (SH/SR/CN/AH)
Great Northern Diver - 3os

Red-throated.Diver  - 1E, 1os
Gannet - 22E, 6W

Shelduck - 3p

Eider - 3os

Whimbrel - 2E
Grey plover - 13E

Arctic Skua - 3E all dark phase
Black Tern - 2E

Common Tern - 27E
Little Tern - 9os
Sandwich Tern  - 21E

Swallow 1N

 

Images of today's sea-watch...........

Arctic Skuas moving east (OM)

 Little Gull lingering offshore (OM)

 Common Terns (OM)
 

Bonxie (above) & Little Gull off the Bill (AH)

 

 Observers braving heavy showers  -  view from under my cosy umbrella! (OM)

A windswept Paul Bowley sees the funny side whilst behind him our determined log-keeper Justin Atkinson is busily scribing (OM)

 

Thanks Chris. Mr Janman returns my wrecked umbrella after borrowing it for a few minutes! (OM)

 

Who says seawatching isn't fun? (AH)

 

Selsey: Northcommon Farm: 1 female Redstart feeding along the fence line (SR)

Pagham Hbr: North Wall: The lack of activity at the Bill was reflected along the Wall. Plenty of Reed Warblers and a few Sedge but very little else. A Little Tern was over the Breech Pool. A pair of Tufted Duck on the small pond near Marsh Farm. Two singing Blackcaps along Church Lane (JW).

Church Norton: At least 10 Whimbrel still in the harbour today at high tide, plus a single Bar-tailed Godwit, 3-4 Little Terns, similar of Common Terns and a dozen Sandwich Terns, but the bushes were quiet. (AH)

Chi GPs: Westhampnett: Twenty Common Terns present this afternoon (BI).