7th - 9th September 2014

Tuesday, 9th September: A similar day to yesterday weather-wise, with high pressure prevailing, dry and sunny conditions and a light to moderate NE breeze, following a clear moonlit night which no doubt encouraged many migrants to move on.

 

Ferry Pool: The Little Stint was still on the pool early on, along with 6 Green Sandpipers, 5 Avocets, 8 Black-tailed Godwits and 40 Lapwings. (AH/DF)

 

Pagham Lagoon: There was a  huge flock of mixed hirundines - at least 1000 birds, evenly mixed between Swallow, Sand Martin and House Martin (and all juveniles) - on the wires this morning. Not much else of note, though - about 30 Tufted Duck, 6 Great Crested Grebes and 10 Little Grebes on the water being about it. (AH)

 

Mixed Hirundines (above) House Martin, Sand Martin, House and Sand Martin & Swallow at Pagham Lagoon (AH)

 

 

 

 

North Wall: Not much on the Breach Pool - a Kingfisher, 6 Black-tailed Godwits and 20 Teal was the sum, plus a Yellow Wagtail over, and singles of Reed and Sedge Warbler and Reed Bunting. In White's Creek there were 3 Curlew Sandpipers and 3 Spotted Redshank, plus a Bar-tailed Godwit, 30 Black-tailed Godwit, 50 Redshank and 12 Wigeon. (AH)

Later (1230) on the rising tide in White's Creek below the Salt House and at the old jetty were four juvenile Curlew Sandpipers - plus 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, some 10 Grey Plover and 9 Knot while ducks included 60 Wigeon and 8 Pintail. At high tide on the islands under Owl Copse some 20 Greenshank, very vocal and flighty (one flock of 11) and two Spotted Redshank with a further 8 at roost on the Breach Pool making 10 Spotted Redshanks in total! Two Whinchats were in the N Fields (ARK, per SOS website).

 

Curlew Sandpiper (above), Spotted Redshank & Kingfisher from the North Wall (AH)

 

 
Northcommon Farm: 1 Wheatear, 1 Kestrel, 2 Whitethroats,and the regular Green Woodpeckers.

Horse Paddocks, Warner Lane: A pair of Blackcaps, 1 Wheatear, 1 Willow Warbler, 4 Whitethroats, 36 Swallows, and 21 House Martins (SR).

Medmerry: - Easton Lane westwards this evening
4 Buzzard
1 Sparrowhawk
300+ Mediterranean Gull (but probably many more)
1 Snipe
2 Little Stint on stilt pool flew off with the Snipe
50+ Swallow
50+Sand Martin
70+ Yellow Wagtail
30+ Meadow Pipit
3 Whinchat
3 Wheatear
4 Reed Bunting
9 Roe Deer (S&SaH)

 

Monday, 8th September: Another bright, pleasant and sunny morning, though the NE breeze picked up a bit during the morning... but warmer by afternoon. The Little Stint was still present, whilst a Little Gull was a surprise.....

 

Ferry Pool: The Little Stint present again today, along with 20 Teal, a Buzzard, a Common Sandpiper, 5 Green Sandpipers, 7 Avocets, a Whimbrel, 12 Black-tailed Godwits and 30 Lapwing. (AH/OM/CRJ/TG)

 

Little Stint (above) & Avocets and Lapwings on the Ferry (AH)

 

Church Norton: The first two Stonechats of the autumn were in the horse's field this morning. There were at least 5 Wheatears along the beach, 10+ Whitethroats and a couple of Blackcaps along the path, and 4 Spotted Flycatchers, 5 Blackcaps and a few Chiffs around the churchyard, plus 2 Common Buzzards over. There was also a steady eastward stream of hirundines, mostly Swallows ,with lesser numbers of House Martins and just a few Sand Martins, but not much of note in the harbour on the high tide, bar a couple of Sandwich Terns and a Kingfisher that flew along the spit. (AH/OM/CRJ/A&YF)

 

Stonechat (above), Whitethroat and Wheatear at Church Norton (AH)

 

 

This evening there was a huge gathering of Swallows (500+) and Sand Martins (300+) over the end of the Long Pool and the adjoining uncultivated field, swirling around, and dropping briefly onto the vegetation before getting spooked into flight again. Also about 80 Yellow Wagtails went over west, there were 3 Whinchats in the field and at least 5 juvenile Reed Warblers in the reeds. (AH)

 

Sand Martin at Church Norton (AH)

 

This evening there was a Redstart at Park Farm, 9 Wheatears along the beach, a Stonechat and a Greenshank around the Severals, and 30+ Mediterranean Gulls on the sea. (S&SaH)
 

Northcommon Farm: No sign of the Pied Flycatcher this morning, and just one Spotted Flycatcher present. There were also a few Whitethroats, 2 Willow Warblers, 8+ Chiffchaffs, 2 Yellow Wagtails, plus a Buzzard and a Jay. Hirundine numbers were nothing special today; a mixed flock of perhaps 250 birds, the majority being Swallows with lesser numbers of House Martins and some Sand Martins. A dense flock of several 100's of Starlings was packed onto some electricity cables; one or more birds doing Coal Tit impressions!. (OM/CRJ)

 

Gathering of Starlings on electricity cables Northcommon Farm; a passable Coal Tit impression got me going for a while (OM).

 

Medmerry: Easton Lane - Quiet this morning: a Green Sandpiper in the first pool, a couple of Yellow Wagtails and Meadow Pipits over, plus 6 flyover Gadwall and 20 Teal, but little in the hedges save a couple of skulking Willow/Chiffs and a couple of Reed Buntings. (AH)
Easton Lane - Earnley Beach: 1 Yellowhammer, 1 Whitethroat, 3 Wheatears, c30 Yellow Wagtails in with the cattle, c60 Goldfinches, c80 Linnets, c100 Swallows, c120 House Martins.  Stilt Pool: 289 Canada Geese (yes I counted them!), 2 Greylag Geese, 1 White Domestic Goose (maybe from the North Wall?), 6 Tufted Ducks, 8 Teal.  Also 3 clouded yellow butterflies (SR).

West Sands - Breach: A late morning visit which coincided with the tide still being high, thus few waders on offer - just 9 Dunlin, 3 Ringed Plovers and a couple of vociferous Greenshanks. Two Sandwich Terns flew over the pools, whilst around the rubble piles were a couple of Wheatears and 60+ Linnets. A largish flock of  Herring and Black-headed Gulls, with at least 12 Meds amongst them, was actively feeding offshore by the mouth of the breach, sometimes settling on the sea from time to time. Viewing conditions were somewhat hampered by the bright sunlight and heat haze, and I thought for a second I'd found an unusual tern amongst the flock. Alas no, for I eventually got clinching views that confirmed it was in fact a fully juvenile Little Gull; even so a bit of a surprise! (OM/JH).
 

Chainbridge (West Sands) to Ham:  3 Whinchats, 6 Whitethroats, 10 Wheatears, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 30 Linnets, c55 Goldfinches, c150 Swallows, c100 House Martins, 9 Buzzards, 6 Kestrels, 2 Curlew, 1 Greenshank, 5 Black-tailed Godwits. (SR)

 

Heavily-cropped record shot of juvenile Little Gull (centre) off Medmerry breach (OM).

 

North Wall: There were 5 Curlew Sandpipers on White's Creek first thing along with 44 Black-tailed Godwits and a Whimbrel. All dispersed with the rising tide. On the Breach Pool 54 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Spotted Redshank and 1 Common Snipe. Moorhens in the hawthorn bushes at Owl Copse eating berries. A few migrants - 3 Spotted Flycatchers, 4 Common Whitethroat, and 1 each of Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler and Wheatear. A slow but steady eastward passage of hirundines. (JW)

 

Spotted Redshank from North Wall (JW)
 

Sunday, 7th September: Another glorious Indian summer morning, and still a few birds about, too. Well let's just hope they stay a while longer.... for having just returned from a week in the sun in southern Spain - a week in which I barely even bothered to raise the bins - I'm more than ready to try and catch up with some overdue year ticks. I noted from afar my predicted Pied Fly's duly appeared at Northcommon  farm, whilst Ospreys and Little Stints also put on a show; it's always a risk going away at this time of year, but perhaps the biggie is now just waiting for me! And well done again to AH for keeping the blog up to date; it was good to keep up with the news even if it did hurt a bit! (OM). 

Selsey Bill: 0700-1000 (JA SH SR)
Fulmar - 1W
Gannet - 3E, 1W
Turnstone - 37 ob
Mediterranean Gull - 2W
Sandwich Tern - 9os
Common Tern - 4E, 2W
Sparrowhawk - 1 ob
Peregrine - 1N
Swift - 1W 1E
Swallow - 411E, 41W
House Martin - 188W, 24E
Sand Martin - 2W, 1E
Grey Wagtail - 2E
Yellow Wagtail - 33W, 4E
Pied Wagtail - 1W, 1E
Meadow Pipit - 1E, 4S
Wheatear - 1 ob
Willow warbler - 4 in gardens
Jay - 1 in gardens
and a Great Spotted Woodpecker ( a rarity at the Bill) on the Oval Field

Yellow Wagtail (above) & Wheatear at the Bill (SH)

Finding the sea-watching slow, JA is reduced to counting Swallows! (SR)

 

Medmerry: Breach - A rather lost-looking Spotted Flycatcher was at the viewpoint this morning. Also at least 3 Wheatears and 50+ Linnets about, 4 Yellow and 2 Pied Wagtails over, and in the pools there were 3 Knot, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 20+ Mediterranean Gulls, 20+ Ringed Plovers and 3 Grey Plovers. (AH/BI/A&YF)



Spotted Flycatcher at the Breach viewpoint (AH)
 

Easton Lane westwards - An Osprey went over north-west at 12.20pm. Also in the area were 3 Whinchats, a few Yellow Wagtails and Meadow Pipits, a Greenshank and 2 Common Sandpipers. (PH)

Northcommon Farm: Still a Pied Flycatcher present at Flycatcher Corner, but being very elusive, along with 5+ Spotted Flycatchers and 2-3 Whitethroats. (AH/BI)

Pied Flycatcher at Northcommon Farm (AH)

 

Warner Lane horse paddocks:
1 Whinchat
2 Wheatear
2 Redstarts - one male, one female
Plenty of Whitethroats and a few Willow Warblers (BI)

Selsey: A male Redstart by the Ocean Air factory to the north of the town this morning, and 2 Yellow Wagtails on East Beach park this afternoon. (SH)
 

Hunston: A Little Owl early this morning on the buildings at Reedbridge Farm. (BI)

Ferry Pool: A Little Stint was at the back this morning (BFF), along with 5 Green Sandpipers, 7 Avocets, 16 Black-tailed Godwits and 60 Lapwings. (AH) And a Reed Warbler by the road. (PB)

Little Stint at the back of the Ferry (AH)

 

Church Norton: Two Marsh Harriers were in the harbour early on before heading out to sea. In the harbour there were 2 Greenshank, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, 140 Dunlin, 10 Wigeon and 2 Sandwich Terns, and 4 Whitethroats and 2 Reed Buntings were along the severals. (PB) There were also 30+Yellow Wagtails and 3 Grey Wagtails over, 2 Lesser Whitethroats in the first Several and 4 Sparrowhawks overhead. (IP)

There were still 5+ Spotted Flycatchers around the churchyard area, and a few Whitethroats and Blackcaps. Along the west side and Long Pool there were 3-4 Whinchats, a Redstart, 2-3 Wheatears, a Lesser Whitethroat and several Whitethroats, 2-3 Sedge Warblers and 4+ Reed Buntings, and there were many hundreds of House Martins and Swallows, with a few Sand Martins amongst them.

In the harbour a Curlew Sandpiper was amongst roosting Redshank, and there were 3 Whimbrel and 2 Greenshank also present. (AH/BFF et al)
This afternoon there were 2 Kingfishers from the spit, along wiith 2 Common Terns, 11 Wheatears and 2 Whitethroat. (S&SaH)

Reed Bunting (above) & House Martins and Swallows at Church Norton (AH)

 

Kingfisher at Church Norton (SH)