4th - 6th August 2016

Saturday, 6th August: A fine, warm and sunny day with some high scattered cloud and a fairly light westerly breeze....

Selsey Bill: Nothing was really moving offshore - just 40 or so Sandwich and Common Terns feeding around the exposed bar, so I took a look around the gardens. A Wheatear was at the nursing home garden, a silent Whitethroat disappeared into the bushes where a couple had been seen in the spring, 3 Swallows and 4 Swifts passed overhead, and there was a flock of c50 House Martins around Oval Field first thing. (SR)

 

Wheatear at the Bill (SR)

 

Northern Selsey/Park Farm: This morning there was a Redstart, a Lesser Whitethroat, 20+ Willow Warblers, and a Chiffchaff, plus six Swifts over, around the rough ground near 'Ocean Air', and at Park Farm there were two more Willow Warblers, a Sparrowhawk and 100+ Swallows, but just a handful of Sand and House Martins. (S&SaH)

 

Ferry Pool: There were two Little Ringed Plovers, two Green Sandpipers and two Common Sandpipers on the pool this morning, plus a couple of the latter on the channel opposite, along with six Teal and 23 Shelduck. (AH)

 

Green Sandpiper (above), Common Sandpiper & Little Ringed Plover on the Ferry (AH)

 

 

Church Norton: This morning there was both a Hobby and a Peregrine over, plus a couple of Buzzards, and around the hedges there were two Blackcaps, six Willow Warblers and two Reed Warblers. Between the harbour and offshore there were still 10+ Little Terns and Sandwich Terns , 50+ Common Terns and 100+ Mediterranean Gulls. (S&SaH)

 

Blackcap (above) & sun-bathing Grey Heron at Church Norton (SH)

 

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Stilt Pool - It was generally quite quiet, with the resident Skylarks and Yellowhammers conspicuously quiet, though there were a few migrants about - notably 3-400 Sand Martins, with a few House Martins and Swallows with them, all moving west over the banks. There was also a single Wheatear and up to a dozen Yellow Wagtails around the Stilt Pool and fields opposite, and the hedges around Easton Farm had a dozen or more Willow Warblers (one even singing briefly) and a few Whitethroats, but there was little elsewhere.

The only waders of note were was a Whimbrel near the first sluice, a Green Sandpiper and two Common Sandpipers by the second sluice, and two more of the latter and three Little Ringed Plovers on the Stilt Pool.

The Little Owl was out and about at Marsh Farm, there were plenty of Stock Doves about, and wildfowl on the Stilt Pool included a single Wigeon, at least a dozen juvenile Gadwall, including the six youngsters with their mother, and c40 Canada Geese dropped in, whilst 25 Teal flew out from the pool before Marsh Farm. (AH)

 

 

Sand Martin, Swallow, Yellow Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail and Goldfinch, Little Owl, Stock Doves, Wigeon and Gadwall & Teal at Medmerry (AH)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, on the Stilt pools at about 13.00 – there were ca.200 hirundines, mostly Sand Martins are far as I could see. Four Little Ringed Plovers were present and about 50 Black-headed Gulls and 3 Sandwich Terns were roosting on the pools and a Kingfisher was on the drainage outfall, whilst I also heard a couple of Yellow Wagtails around the cattle, and a Greenshank out on the saltmarsh. Also at least 5 Kestrels were along the bank from Easton rife to stilt pools. (PH)

On another visit, there were 3 Common Sandpipers and a Green Sandpiper, 2 Yellow-legged and 50+ Mediterranean Gulls, 50+ Sand Martins over stilt pool and a steady trickle heading south, a Yellow Wagtail, several Whitethroats in the hedges and a Buzzard. (S&SaH)



  

 

Friday, 5th August: At long last a bit less breezy, dry and with plenty of sunny spells.....

Ferry Pool: There were two Green Sandpipers on the pool this morning, along with two Little Ringed Plovers and five Common Sandpipers, with another two in the channel opposite, plus four Teal and eight Shelducks. (AH)

Common Sandpipers (above), Green Sandpiper & Little Ringed Plover on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: A Raven flying west over the Severals was a surprise early on, but generally it was quiet, with no Little Terns in the harbour, suggesting the last chick has finally fledged, though there are still four or five Common Tern chicks not yet fledged on the island, with adults still bringing in food. Offshore there 100+ Common Terns and 30+ Sandwich Terns along with 2-300 Mediterranean Gulls on the beach and in the fields.

It was still quiet in the bushes, with maybe a dozen Willow Warblers and a couple of Blackcaps and Whitethroats around the churchyard/hide area, plus a Sparrowhawk over, and not much at all elsewhere. (AH/TC)

Raven (above), Willow Warbler, Blackcap & Mediterranean Gull at Church Norton (AH)

 

This evening there were at least ten Little Terns - nearly all of which appeared to be juveniles -  in the harbour, plus at least 50 Sandwich Terns and 100 Common Terns between the harbour and offshore, with at least 300 Dunlin, 50 Redshank, 30 Curlew, six Whimbrel and  30 Ringed Plovers on the mud. (AH)

 

Juvenile Little Terns (above) Curlew & Redshank at Church Norton (AH)

 

North Wall: There were four Spotted Redshanks feeding in White's creek channel early this morning, plus 20 Black-tailed Godwits, a Whimbrel and a Common Sandpiper, whilst nearby a near adult Yellow-legged Gull was on the saltmarsh. There was a bit more warbler activity around the Salthouse area with at least eight Willow Warblers, three Whitethroats and a couple of Reed Warblers, but otherwise it was a bit disappointing with higher levels of water again in the Breech Pool and little of interest there. (OM/BFF)

Common Sandpiper at White's creek (OM)

Fishbourne Creek: The most obvious interest this morning was a large gathering of Mediterranean Gulls roosting in the channel. We set about counting them immediately on arrival, but then inexplicably about half the flock took flight for no apparent reason, wheeling around and moving off, leaving the other half still present. It wasn't therefore possible to be exact but we made a good estimate of c.900 birds present. It was fairly quiet otherwise with just two Greenshanks amongst the local Redshanks and Curlews, whilst passerines included five Willow Warblers, four Whitethroats, a couple of singing Yellowhammers and a small number of Linnets, plus a dozen House Martins over the paddocks. (OM/BFF)

Linnet at Fishbourne Creek (OM)

Medmerry, Easton Lane to Stilt Pool: Quiet this morning with the only birds of note being two Green Sandpipers by the second sluice & a Common Sandpiper on the Stilt Pool. (BI)

Thursday, 4th August: A generally bright, but cool and very windy day, with the nagging westerly keeping birds down....

 

Selsey Bill: (0715-0800hrs) (AH)

Great Crested Grebe - 1W

Gannet - 23W

Sandwich Tern - 14W

Common Tern - 8W

Swift - 2W (well offshore)

Park Farm, Selsey: There were 50+ House Martins, 50+ Sand Martins, 20+ Swallows, a Peregrine and a Buzzard were about this evening. (AH)

 

Medmerry: Not much this morning apart from three Wheatears - two juveniles and a female - along the back of the shingle bank west of the breach. I have seen two there for the last week. (T. Roe)

Wheatear at Medmerry (T. Roe)

Ferry Pool: There were two Little Ringed Plovers and three Common Sandpipers on the pool this morning, with another three of the latter in Ferry Channel, along with 24 Lapwings, four Black-tailed Godwits, seven Teal and 19 Shelducks. (AH)

Little Ringed Plover with Common Sandpiper (above), with Teal & Lapwings on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: There were still a few terns about, though numbers are much reduced from a few days ago, with rough counts of 10 Little Terns, 40 Sandwich Terns and 100 Common Terns, and there were still at least 200 Mediterranean Gulls between the harbour, the beach and the fields. Around the harbour there were still half a dozen Whimbrel and a flock of c250 Dunlin, though not much of interest was amongst them beyond a few Turnstones and Ringed Plovers, whilst passerines were very scarce, with just a couple of Skylarks on the beach, a couple of Sand Martins over and a single Chiffchaff, plus a few Goldfinches noted. (AH)

 

Sandwich Terns (above), Common Tern, Mediterranean Gulls, Skylarks, Dunlins & Little Egret at Church Norton (AH)

This evening there was just a Gannet and 100+ Mediterranean Gulls about, plus just a couple of Little Terns and a few Common and Sandwich Terns. (SH)

 

North Wall: There were two Marsh Harriers - an adult male and an adult female -  hunting over ditches north of the salthouse today. Also there were 13 Little Egrets together and numerous Curlews about. (M.McManus per SOS)