Thursday 25 September 2014

25th - 27th September 2014

Saturday, 27th September: Another dull and grey start with low cloud, remaining dry with light winds but with a risk of fog patches.

Selsey Bill (0650 - 0930hrs): Cloudy, dull, light S/SW.  (Obs: SH/GH/JA/StH)
Gannet - 6E, 3W

Little Egret - 1W, 1ob
Brent Goose - 9W
Eider - 1 os
Common Scoter 25E, 14W, 5 os
Arctic Skua - 1W

Common Tern - 1E
Sandwich Tern - 8E
Med Gull - 67E, 20os
Skylark - 8E
Wheatear - 4 ob
Meadow Pipit - 300E
Pied Wagtail - 107E
Grey Wagtail - 1 p
House Martin - 2756E
Swallow - 2524E
Linnet - 58 p
Chiffchaff - 3 gardens
East Beach area: - 10+ Chiffchaffs, 2 Stonechats and Meadow Pipits, Swallows and House Martins still moving E (SH).


Church Norton:  A midday walk (from Selsey) produced a Kingfisher, 20+ Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap (SH).

Medmerry: Easton Lane (1600hrs) (SH)... 3 Kestrels, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard, 100+ Med Gulls, 100+ Meadow Pipits and 500+ Linnets.

Ferry Pool: Early this morning the Little Stint was still present, along with 2 Green Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper, 3 Dunlin, 6 Avocets, 8 Black-tailed Godwits and 40 Lapwing. Also a Kingfisher dropped in briefly and a Grey Wagtail went over. (AH)

Friday, 26th September: A mild, but grey and damp autumn morning with squally bursts of light drizzle and low cloud. Becoming drier and a bit brighter during the day, with a light WSW breeze 2-3.

Selsey Bill (0700-0845hrs): WSW 4 - Cloudy and very grey! (Obs: PM)
Gannet - 68W 

Brent Goose - 2W
Eider - 3 os
Sandwich Tern -  8W
Kittiwake - 1W
Med Gull - 12 os

Skua sp - 1W (very distant 08.20 - probably an Arctic)
House Martin -  2W
Swallow - 138W
Meadow Pipit - 11 W
Pied Wagtail - 2W


Selsey area: Coastguard Field: 1 Whinchat, 3 Meadow Pipits, 34 Swallows,  1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Wagtail, 4 Pied Wagtails, c50 Linnets.  Chainbridge Field: 1 Male Stonechat, 1 Wheatear, 3 Chiffchaffs, 2 Pied Wagtails, 1 Green Woodpecker, mixed flock of c50 Greenfinches & c20 Linnets, 5 House Martins, 9 Swallows.  Horse Paddock, Warner Lane: Pair of Stonechats as yesterday.  (SR).


North Mundham: A Nuthatch in my garden this morning. (CRJ)
 
Ferry Pool: The Little Stint was in the company of 3 Dunlin at the back of the pool this morning, and there were also 2 Snipe, 2 Green Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper, 7 Avocet, 6 Black-tailed Godwit and 30 Lapwing present. (AH)
 
Snipe (above) & Snipe and Teal on the Ferry (AH)
 
Long Pool/Ferry Channel: Considering the conditions, there was a surprising amount of activity around the vicinity of the Long Pool this morning, including at least a dozen Whitethroats and Blackcaps, a Reed Warbler, a couple of Chiffchaffs and 20+ Reed Buntings moving about the hedgerows, 6 Skylarks over and 2 Stonechats in the uncropped field. At least 300 Teal and 200 Wigeon flew into the harbour from the west and along Ferry Channel there were a Greenshank, a Spotted Redshank, 8 Dunlin and 40 Redshank. (AH)
 
Whitethroat (above) & Reed Bunting along the Long Pool (AH)
 
North Wall: On arrival this morning there seemed to be nobody about and comparatively few birds; I began to wonder if everyone knew something I didn't but decided to persist anyway. The Breach Pool held 79 Black-tailed Godwits and 3 Snipe, plus 2 Water Rails (one seen and another heard) but little else except a few Teal and Mallard. The bushes held 6 Reed Buntings, 8+ Chiffchaffs and 2 calling Cetti's Warblers, whilst a couple of hundred Swallows passed through, but overall there was little of note. I checked White's Creek from the sluice and found that very quiet too; it was low tide so the waders were spread out, but all there seemed to be were Redshanks, Lapwings and Wigeon with none of the more interesting things from recent days. A walk down the Creek and the east side was a good deal more productive and eventually I came across a group of 6 Spotted Redshanks with a seventh calling from the harbour. Four Greenshanks were also logged but there was no sign of any Curlew Sands today; indeed there were also very few Dunlin and rather few Grey Plover on the mudflats. Another 20 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Bar-tailed were also present; one of the latter was missing a right foot and hopping while feeding but seemed otherwise okay... I presume this might be the bird previously reported with a badly broken leg? Other sightings included 60 Great Black-backed and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 1 adult Yellow-legged Gull and 2 Kingfishers, another Cetti's Warbler and 6 more Chiffchaffs (OM).
Following my visit, I was soon upstaged a bit by PM ......... 4 Curlew Sandpipers in the Creek for c5 minutes only on rising tide, 3 Greenshank, 9 Spotted Reds on Breach pool roost + 1 in harbour and 50+ Golden Plover. Kingfisher on Breach pool, 3 Stonechats on fence behind, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel over fields (PM).
 
 
Lesser Black-backed Gull (right) with a Great Black-backed on the mudflats east side (OM).
Spotted Redshanks on the Breach Pool (below with Black-tailed Godwit preening) (PM) 
 
Church Norton:  1 Whitethroat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, c10 Blackcaps and a Peregrine on the island (PM).
 
Thursday, 25th September: Another fine autumn day, still early on before the westerly breeze picked up....
 
Ferry Pool: The Little Stint still present this morning, along with 3 Green Sandpipers, the Snipe, 8 Avocets, 6 Black-tailed Godwits and 40 Lapwing, and the Common Sandpiper in Ferry channel (AH)
 
Little Stint on the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: Plenty of wader activity along White's Creek - 4 Curlew Sandpipers, 4 Spotted Redshanks, 3 Dunlin, 20+ Black-tailed Godwits and 70+ Redshank. A Yellow-legged Gull was close by. On the Breach Pool 67 Black-tailed Godwits, 6 Common Snipe, 3 Spotted Redshank and a Greenshank. A few migrants along the Wall - Whinchat, Blackcap and Chiffchaffs (JDW)
 
Whinchat on the North Wall (JDW)

Medmerry: West Sands to the Breach - At least 10 Wheatears this morning around the rough ground and beach, along with 3 Reed Buntings, 2 Pied Wagtails, 100+ Meadow Pipits and 500+ Linnets. At least 100 House Martins and double that of Swallows were about overhead, a Sandwich Tern went west, and on the mud towards the breach there were a Mediterranean Gull, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 6 Curlew, 40 Dunlin and 75 Ringed Plovers. (AH)

Linnets & Mediterranean Gull (above) & Wheatear at Medmerry (AH)
 
Church Norton: Pretty quiet this morning, particularly for migrants in the bushes. A Stonechat was along Rectory Lane, as were another flock of 20 or so 'released' juvenile Grey Partridges, but all I could find around the hide/churchyard area (not helped by the multiple power tools in operation) was a couple of Blackcaps.
A Greenshank was in the harbour, along with a Whimbrel and 2 Bar-tailed and 20 Black-tailed Godwits, and a walk along the spit produced a Green Woodpecker, a Wheatear, a Skylark and 20 or so Meadow Pipits. (AH)

Greenshank (above) & Green Woodpecker at Church Norton (AH)
 
Horse Paddocks, Warner Lane: Late this afternoon there were a pair of Stonechats, 3 Pied Wagtails, 5 Linnets, 3 Meadow Pipits, 1 Chiffchaff and 8 Swallows over. (SR)
 

No comments:

Post a Comment