28th - 30th November 2015

Monday, 30th November: Remaining very unsettled; gale-force WSW winds, heavy cloud and rain never far away....

Selsey Bill (0740-1115hrs): (Obs: C&ME/SR/AH/CRJ) Not as much moving as yesterday, but there were still Kittiwakes moving west, plus a few auks moving about and the Eider and four Great Northern Divers offshore. Full log below.....
Great Northern Diver - 4os
Gannet - 2E, 20W 
Great Crested Grebe - 1W
Brent Goose - 2W
Eider - 1os
Common Scoter - 3E, 4os
Red-breasted Merganser - 3E, 18W   
Pintail - 1W
Turnstone - 37 ob            
Guillemot - 7W 
auk sp - 10E, 30W
Kittiwake - 13E, 225W         

Church Norton: Not a lot going on in the dire weather - just two Red-breasted Merganser and two Mediterranean Gulls offshore, six Linnets flying east along the beach, 30 Wigeon in the creek by the horse field, and 800+ Dunlin and 200+ Knot out on the mud.
There was a flock of 20+ Long-tailed Tits in front of the hide, with a few Goldcrests among them, and about 30 Greenfinches in the adjacent hedge, but that was about it. (AH)

Wigeon (above) & Long-tailed Tits at Church Norton (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were three Avocets on the pool, with around 30 Black-tailed Godwits and 300 Lapwing in the field, and there were approximately 50 Shelduck, Shoveler and Teal along the edges and 200 Wigeon on the grass. (AH)

Shelducks on the Ferry (AH)



Chichester GPs: Ivy Lake - There were a few Common Gulls in with the Black-headed Gulls (one with a full hood) & Herring Gulls as well four Great Black-backed Gulls. Plenty of Cormorants including a group feeding voraciously on a shoal of fish were on the far side by the reeds; also 20 Great Crested Grebes, 30 Tufted Ducks, 8 Canada Geese, two Kingfishers, a Greylag Goose and five Little Egrets, with a highlight were 19 Pochard on the lee side of the lake. A few Long-tailed Tits and Great Tits in the scrub and a Green Woodpecker on the path. 

Drayton: More Pochard here with 10+, and c.20 each of Gadwall, Shoveler and Tufted Duck, a few Great Crested Grebes and Cormorants and 100s of Coot as usual.

Westhampnett: Very quiet and windswept. A few Black-headed Gulls and Tufted Ducks and a single Great Crested Grebe. (BI)

Pochards at Ivy Lake (BI)

Sunday, 29th November: A wild and windy day; cloudy with WSW gales 7-8, occasionally gusting up to force 9......

Selsey Bill (0720-1030hrs): There was a big westward movement of Kittiwakes this morning, totalling over 1400 birds, with at least 1000 of them moving between 9 and 9.45am across a wide front from the beach to the mile-basket line before passage suddenly stopped completely. There were also a Bonxie, five Red-throated Divers and 10+ Great Crested Grebes west, 150+ auks going both ways and an Eider, two Slavonian Grebes and six Great Northern Divers offshore. Full log below. (JA/SH/SR/AH/RJS et al)
Great Northern Diver - 6os
Red-throated Diver - 5W
Slavonian Grebe - 2os
Great Crested Grebe - 33W
Gannet - 3E, 7W
Brent Goose - 4E,  2W
Shelduck - 1E
Wigeon - 4W
Teal - 1W
Shoveler - 6W
Common Scoter - 1os
Eider - 1os
Red-breasted Merganser - 17W
Great Skua - 1os
Mediterranean Gull - 1W
Kittiwake - 1404W
Razorbill. - 4W
Guillemot - 2W
auk sp .- 6E, 187W

Kittiwakes (above), Great Crested Grebes off the Bill (AH)

This afternoon there was no movement at all offshore in a brief look, but the Eider (which appears to be a first-winter male) was in close and there were two Lesser Black-backed Gulls, six Mediterranean Gulls and four Common Gulls in with c200 Black-headed and c60 Herring Gulls feeding along the strandline. (AH)

Eider (above), Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gull & Mediterranean Gull off the Bill (AH)

Church Norton: There were around 200 Knot in the harbour, with about 80 Grey Plovers and 700 Dunlin on the rising tide, along with four Red-breasted Mergansers (with another three going west offshore), three Little and two Great Crested Grebes. A Sparrowhawk shot through in front of the hide and there were a couple of Goldcrests along the path, but that was about it. (AH/RJS)

A drake Goosander was off Tern Island on the high tide at 1.30pm, four Sanderlings went west along the beach and there was a total of ten Red-breasted Mergansers in the harbour and offshore. (S&SaH)

Dunlin (above) & Red-breasted Mergansers and Little Grebes at Church Norton (AH)

The Goosander couldn't be refound later on in the harbour, but there were ten Red-breasted Mergansers, the Whimbrel, a Kingfisher and three Mediterranean Gulls in with c75 Common Gulls. (AH/BI)

Common Gulls (above), Red-breasted Merganser and Teal & Whimbrel at Church Norton (BI)

Ferry Pool: There were hardly any Lapwing this morning, though there were 30+ Black-tailed Godwits in the field, and there were around 75 Shelduck along the pool's edge, as were similar of Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler, whilst around 250 Brent Geese went over west. (AH)

Shelduck on the Ferry (AH)

East Head: There were nine Sandwich Terns seen from the Hampshire side of the harbour, opposite East Head, this morning, which is a higher number than have been recorded in the last couple of winters. (KF/JM)

Saturday, 28th November: After a bright and chilly start it was a day that went steadily downhill, with gale force winds and heavy showers by the afternoon.....

Selsey Bill: (0720-0900hrs) (Obs: JA/SH/AB/C&ME/SR)

Great Northern Diver - 4os

Red-throated Diver - 1W

diver sp - 1E

Slavonian Grebe - 3os

Great Crested Grebe - 2E

Gannet - 3W

Little Egret - 1E

Brent Goose - 4E,  5W

Common Scoter - 7W

Red-breasted Merganser - 3E

Kestrel - 1p

Grey Plover - 4W

Sanderling - 2W

Dunlin - 300W (in one flock)

Arctic Skua -1W (juvenile)

Common Gull - 59W

Kittiwake - 355W

Guillemot - 5W

Razorbill - 2E, 1W

auk sp- 13E, 33W

Redpoll - 1N

Sunrise at the Bill (AB)

1400-1530hrs: Wind SW7, heavy showers (Obs: JA/BI)
Red-throated Diver - 2W
Great Northern Diver - 2os
Gannet - 37W

Great Crested Grebe - 3W
Red-breasted Merganser - 5W
Kittiwake - 41W
Guillemot - 3W, 1os
Razorbill - 4W
auk sp - 22W

Ferry Pool: There were around 160-170 Golden Plovers on and over the field this morning with as many as 1000 Lapwing, 48 Black-tailed Godwits and a few Curlews. It was quite a spectacular sight when one of the local Buzzards dropped onto the field and upset them all. Also an Avocet was on the pool with c60 Shoveler, 150 Wigeon, 75 Teal and 30 Shelduck, plus a pair of Canada Geese. (AH)

Golden Plovers (above), Black-tailed Godwits, Lapwings & Buzzard on/over the Ferry (AH)

Later on there was havoc at the Ferry - with a Buzzard buzzing the Lapwings and an immature Peregrine that swooped in and took out a Starling...then drifted off to the fields to eat it. (AB)

Peregrine & Lapwing (above) & Buzzard among Lapwings and Golden Plovers at the Ferry (AB)

Long Pool: First thing this morning a Spotted Redshank was with a dozen Redshank and couple of Grey Plovers in the channel, while a Rock Pipit was on the bank. There were half a dozen Reed Buntings and similar of Goldcrests along the hedges, while a Redwing went over and a Song Thrush was singing from the Tramway. (AH)

Spotted Redshank (above) & Rock Pipit from Long Pool (AH)

Church Norton: Two Goldeneye were in the harbour mouth this morning and a Red-breasted Merganser, a couple of Great Crested Grebes and one Little Grebe were on the water, whilst there were plenty of the regular waders, including a few Knot, and wildfowl present before the tide rose.

A Kingfisher shot through the harbour and eight Pintail went over, but small birds were few, save a Chiffchaff and one or two Goldcrests.

Offshore a Razorbill was feeding very close in and there were also  five more Red-breasted Mergansers, a couple of Great Crested Grebes and a dozen Common Gulls present. (AH)

Also, the Dartford Warbler was again in gorse near the second Several and there were a number of Kittiwakes among the large number of gulls distantly offshore. (S&SaH)

Razorbill (above) & Grey Plover at Church Norton (AH)

Birdham to Itchenor: Nothing spectacular, but had a pleasant walk through the fields from Birdham to the water at Itchenor. On or near the water were Brent Geese, Grey Plovers, Black-tailed godwits, Teal, Redshank, and a resident Kingfisher, near the sluice.

On the way back, in the Spinney were Long-tailed Tits, a pair of Goldcrests and a Redwing, whilst above was a young Buzzard. (GT)