1st - 3rd March 2016

Thursday, 3rd March: A much better day; mainly dry with sunny periods, some cloud and a brisk NW wind - still quite strong but much reduced from yesterday's gales....

Selsey Bill (0740-110hrs): (Obs: C&ME) A little more moving this morning, including  15 Golden Plovers east and there were six Great Northern Divers and the regular Eider offshore. Full log below.....
Red-throated Diver - 1E
Great Northern Diver - 1W, 6os
Slavonian Grebe - 1W, 1os
Great Crested Grebe - 1E
Gannet - 1E
Brent Goose - 2E
Shelduck - 1W
Eider - 1os
Red-breasted Merganser - 6E, 6W, 1os
Common Scoter - 4E, 2os
Wigeon - 3W
Turnstone - 12ob
Golden Plover - 15E
Razorbill - 1E
Sparrowhawk - 1 area

Ferry Pool/Long Pool: A Green Sandpiper, two Avocets and 20 Redshank and Teal were on the pool, and there were 30 Curlew, 200 Wigeon and 500 Lapwing on the field.
On the Long Pool there were two pairs of Little Grebe and 30 Tufted Duck, whilst a pair of Yellowhammers were on the bushes at the far end, and a Cetti's Warbler, a Chiffchaff and two or three Reed Buntings were along the hedges. (AH)

Yellowhammers (above), Little Grebe & with Tufted Duck along Long Pool (AH)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Stilt Pools - There were three Green Sandpipers this morning - two by the first sluice and one by the second (near Marsh Barn), and there were a Fieldfare and at least three Redwings near the poplars.
There were plenty of Yellowhammers, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks along the banks/hedges, plus at least four pairs of Stonechat and 20 Stock Doves, whilst on the Stilt Pool there were four pairs of Avocet, a pair of Gadwall, a pair of Wigeon and 40+ Teal. (AH)

Fieldfare (above), Green Sandpiper, mating Avocets, Stock Dove, Yellowhammer & Skylark at Medmerry (AH)

Chalder Farm, Sidlesham:  A Firecrest was along the hedge near the farm, 3 Siskins were feeding in an  Alder tree near the car park and c30 Rooks were busily refurbishing their nests.  Also seen were 4 Buzzards, c100 Lapwing, 2 Chiffchaffs, a Stonechat and a Green Woodpecker. (SR)

Wednesday, 2nd March: Although sunny at first it soon became another fairly dismal day, with gale force westerly winds and heavy squalls, including a hail storm.....

Selsey Bill: (0900-1200hrs) (Obs: OM/SR)

Great Northern Diver - 4os
Great Crested Grebe - 1W
Common Scoter - 1W
Red-breasted Merganser - 4E, 2os

Common Gull - 2W

auk sp - 1W
Pied/alba wagtail - 1N

1330 - 1500hrs : strong WNW  (Obs: C&ME).
Red-throated Diver - 1E 
Great Northern Diver - 1os
Fulmar - 1E
Gannet - 1E
Brent Goose - 2E
Eider - 1os
Red-breasted Merganser - 8W, 3os
Common Gull - 1E              
Mediterranean Gull - 2W         

Hail storm at the Bill late morning. It was after this had passed through that the skies brightened a little and the wind eased just a notch, allowing 4+ Great Northern Divers to be seen on the rough sea. (OM)

Chichester GP's - Ivy Lake complex: The two Red-crested Pochard were still being elusive under the trees on Ivy Lake, though they did briefly fly around before returning under cover, and the two Egyptian Geese and a dozen Pochard were also present.

The White-fronted Goose was also still present on East Lake. (AH)

Also, a Firecrest was along the path at the eastern end of Ivy Lake. (DP/MP)

Red-crested Pochards (above), White-fronted Goose & Egyptian Goose at Ivy Lake complex (AH)

Ferry Pool: There was a Green Sandpiper, plus two Avocets, four Redshank and ten Teal on the pool, and c500 Lapwing, c200 Brent Geese and c200 Wigeon on the field. (AH)

Green Sandpiper (above) & Brent Geese at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: The Whimbrel was still in residence, but there were less waders on the mud, with just 40 Knot, 29 Grey Plover, Redshank and Curlew and about 300 Dunlin evident, plus a few Shelduck and 200 or so Brent Geese, and there was nothing of note in the hedges. (AH)

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

 

North Wall: Wet and windy along the wall this morning. White's Creek was a wind tunnel and there were just a few Redshank and Wigeon sheltering near the sluice gates, whilst there was also very little on Breech Pool apart from 28 Teal and a Cormorant. A flock of some 120 Black-tailed Godwits attempted to land but the water appeared too deep for them, 15 eventually settled close to the reeds. The Brent Geese were spread across Honer 1, 2 and 3 fields, I counted 2300, and there were 70 Curlews amongst the geese. Grey Herons were still busy in Owl Copse flying in with sticks and twigs. (JDW)

North Wall -  Brent Geese at Honer Fields, Black-tailed Godwits and Teal at the Breech Pool and Grey Herons near Owl Copse (JDW)

Fishbourne Creek: A walk around the west side of the creek as the wind was too strong on the east side produced 56 Knot, 25 Pintail and two Greenshank as the highlights, whilst around the Riding School paddocks at Apuldram there were 40 Yellowhammer. (BFF)

Tuesday, 1st March: The first day of spring - meteorologically speaking at least - but it doesn't feel much like it with a band of heavy rain due to sweep through all this morning and a blustery SW wind....

Selsey Bill: (0750-0850hrs) (AH)

Great Northern Diver - 1os

Fulmar - 1E

Gannet - 2W

Brent Goose - 2E

Common Scoter - 4E

Common Gull - 1W

auk sp - 4W

Ferry Pool: There were just four Avocets and a dozen Teal on the pool and four Gadwall in the rife, but nothing on the field this morning. (AH)

Avocets (above) & Gadwall at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: In the harbour there were the regular Whimbrel, 40 Black-tailed Godwits, 280 Knot, 20 Grey Plover, 12 Curlew, 40 Redshank and 700 Dunlin, whilst along the sheltered hedges there were a couple of Chiffchaffs, a Jay, a Song Thrush, a Green Woodpecker, half a dozen Long-tailed Tits and a few Greenfinches and Goldfinches. (AH)

Whimbrel (above), Black-tailed Godwits, Knot & Song Thrush at Church Norton (AH)

Chi GP's: East Trout Lake - The White-fronted Goose was again present this afternoon, still on its own and distant from other geese (C&ME/BI et al)
The two Egyptian Geese flew into Ivy Lake early this evening and the Black Swan was also present. (SH)