14th - 16th March 2016

Wednesday, 16th March: A colder, cloudier start to the day, with more north in the brisk wind....meanwhile, the slow start to the spring is making the sea-watching feel like a bit of an endurance test at the moment...!

Selsey Bill (0715-1130hrs): (Obs: C&ME/IP/AH) Very little happening this morning, though still five Great Northern Divers and a couple of Common Scoter offshore, several Red-throated Divers passing and a handful of Meadow Pipits in off the sea. Full log below....
Red-throated Diver - 3E, 1W
Great Northern Diver - 5os
Great Crested Grebe - 1E
Fulmar - 1W
Gannet - 1E
Brent Goose - 1W
Red-breasted Merganser - 10E, 8W, 3os
Common Scoter - 2E, 2W, 3os
Grey Plover - 3E
Sandwich Tern - 2W
Common Gull - 1E                     
Mediterranean Gull - 1E, 1W               
Meadow Pipit - 19N
Pied Wagtail - 1N                                          

Great Northern Divers off the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: More or less a cut-and-paste of yesterday's report with still six Black-tailed Godwits, six Curlews, four Avocets and four Redshank present on the pool, though  there were 30 Teal today and 20 Lapwings, too, whilst on the field there were still around 300 Brent Geese and 150 Wigeon. (AH)

Avocet (above) & Brent Geese at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: Bleak and almost birdless this morning, save a few hundred Brent Geese near the harbour mouth and a thin scattering of Wigeon, Curlews and Grey Plovers on the mud. (AH)

Wigeon at Church Norton (AH)

There was a smart drake Pintail opposite the hide this afternoon. (S. Webb)

Pintail at Church Norton (S Webb)

Runcton: A pair of Reed Buntings came to my feeders this morning, rather interesting that the female had much black on the ear coverts; not much else around Runcton, apart from a pair of Mallard on the Mill-stream and a flock of 8 Meadow Pipits flying north. (CRJ)

Tuesday, 15th March: More of the same weather-wise; dry, mainly sunny with some cloud and a cool, fairly brisk NE wind....

Selsey Bill (0730-1200hrs): sun/cloud NE4 (Obs: M&CE/DF/JD/TR et al). A few bits and pieces to once again give just a hint of spring  passage, including almost 150 Meadow Pipits arriving and what appears to be yet another Stonechat in Bill House garden....
Great Northern Diver - 5os
Great Crested Grebe - 1E, 1os
Fulmar - 1E
Gannet - 2E
Brent Goose - 10E, 7W
Red-breasted Merganser - 16E, 5os
Common Scoter - 27os
Shoveler - 17E
Meadow Pipit - 149N
Pied/alba Wagtail - 10N
Stonechat - 1 Bill House garden
Med Gull 2ob

Ferry Pool: Very few birds on the pool this morning - just six Black-tailed Godwits, six Curlews, four Avocets, four Redshank and 12 Teal, whilst on the field there were just a handful of Lapwing, plus 300 Brent Geese and 150 Wigeon, and in the rife there were a pair of Gadwall. (AH)

Black-tailed Godwit (above), Curlews & Brent Geese at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: Highlight was a Firecrest with three or four Long-tailed Tits in the churchyard, but otherwise it was quiet. The only other birds of note were one or two Linnets and Skylarks along the west side and a singing Reed Bunting, whilst in the harbour there were 60 Black-tailed Godwits, along with similar of Grey Plover and Curlew, plus a few Dunlin. (AH/MR)

Male Reed Bunting in full song (MR)

Firecrest (above) & Grey Plovers at Church Norton (AH)

North Wall: Very quiet this morning - the Breech Pool held 60 Teal and 34 Black-tailed Godwits but as I left more and more of the latter were flying in. Still no Wheatears, though there were signs of Spring however, with Lapwings displaying in fields behind the Breech Pool and three pairs of Reed Buntings along the Wall, a Chiffchaff at Owl Water and a pair of 'whinnying' Little Grebes at the same location. There was no sign of any Brent Geese this morning. (JDW)

Medmerry: A White Wagtail was on the stilt Pool this morning, two Common Scoter were offshore and there were two Peregrines out on the saltmarsh. (PH)

Birdham: Despite the cold start a Red Admiral was sunning itself on the Ivy in my garden! (PLS)

Runcton: For the second day running a male Reed Bunting visited the feeders in my Runcton garden, and one of our regular Comma butterflies made it’s first appearance of the year. (CRJ)


Monday, 14th March: It looks like we are set for a run of cold, bright and fairly windy weather, with the high pressure bringing a strong north-easterly airflow our way......so the slow start to the spring is perhaps not surprising, though it's very early days yet!

Selsey Bill (0715 - 1215hrs): Sunny, dry, cool NE4, (Obs: C&ME/OM/SR/AH) Still nothing much moving at sea - just the odd Gannet and Red-breasted Merganser, plus four Great Northern Divers on the sea and a handful of Meadow Pipits arriving. Full log below....

Red-throated Diver - 1E
Great Northern Diver - 4os

Great Crested Grebe - 1os

Gannet - 2E, 1W, 3os

Red-breasted Merganser - 18E, 3W, 4os

Common Scoter - 2W, 2os

Mallard - 2 p over gardens

Wigeon - 17E

Oystercatcher - 22 ob

Curlew - 2E
Turnstone - 12 ob

Kestrel - 1 p over gardens

Sandwich Tern - 2E, 1os

Mediterranean Gull - 7W

Meadow Pipit - 28N

Pied/alba Wagtail - 3N

Song Thrush - 1 Bill House garden

Ferry Pool: A Green Sandpiper was present early on, and something unseen flushed out about a dozen Snipe from the roadside reed-bed. The Lapwing flock seems to have dispersed and there were just a handful present, well spread out and occasionally display-flighting.

Other birds seen were two Gadwall at the back of the field, four Avocets, ten Black-black-tailed Godwits, four Redshank, three Curlew and 28 Teal on the pool, and around 200 each of Wigeon and Brent Geese, mostly on the fields. (AH)

Green Sandpiper and Redshank (above), Gadwall, Black-tailed Godwits & Brent Geese at the Ferry (AH)

Long Pool: There were twenty Avocets roosting in Ferry Channel this morning - the most here for a while, but it was pretty quiet along the hedges, with just a scattering of Chiffchaffs, Reed Buntings, Linnets and Meadow Pipits, all keeping low. Also a Grey Partridge was with half a dozen Red-legged Partridges on the ploughed fields. (AH)

Avocets (above) & Reed Bunting from Long Pool (AH)

Chichester Marina: Very little around the marsh; a ticking Cetti's Warbler and a squealing Water Rail around the reed-beds, a pair of Canada Geese seemingly home-hunting and a single Reed Bunting. The now-lonely Black Swan was on the old canal with several Tufted Ducks, whilst in the channel at least 12 Red-breasted Mergansers were present with several Great Crested and Little Grebes, and just 20 or so Black-tailed Godwits. (OM)

Birdham Pool was also uneventful, although two Water Rails showed well (on different sides of the pool), whilst the only other birds of note were 2 Little Egrets, 10+ Little Grebes and 10 Tufted Ducks. (OM)