Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 17th

Wednesday, 19th October: A classic autumnal day, dry but a little cooler than of late, with a modest north-westerly wind and sunshine and cloud....

Selsey Bill: There was very little moving offshore bar a few Brent Geese, but there was a bit of visible migration overhead, including a Raven, several Siskins and a steady westward movement of Linnets, Goldfinches, Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails, plus a couple of House Martins. Also there were two Stonechats around the Bill House garden, a Wheatear on the beach and several Chiffchaffs in the vicinity. Full log below......
0730-1200hrs: (Obs: OM/AH/MJ)
Brent Goose - 8E, 29W
Woodpigeon - 65W
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1 Oval Field
Sandwich Tern - 2 os
Mediterranean Gull - 3 os
House Martin - 2W
Meadow Pipit - 25W
Pied Wagtail - 27W
Stonechat - 2 Bill House/gardens
Wheatear - 1 ob
Chiffchaff - 7 gardens
Blackcap - 1 gardens
Linnet - 40W
Siskin - 11W
Goldfinch - 320W
Greenfinch - 4W
Raven - 1SW

Raven (above) & Stonechat at the Bill (AH)

Wheatear on the beach at the Bill (OM)

Pagham Lagoon: A Black-necked Grebe was on the lagoon and showing well this morning. (TG)

It was still showing very well early this afternoon, along with the Red-breasted Merganser, four Great Crested Grebes and 20+ Little Grebes. (AH/BI)

Black-necked Grebe on Pagham Lagoon (top two TG, lower two AH)

Ferry Pool: There were three Green Sandpipers and a Snipe on the pool this morning, along with 85 Lapwing, four Teal and a Shelduck. (AH)

Green Sandpipers (above) & Snipe on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: A Firecrest was among a mobile flock of c20 Goldcrests and half a dozen Chiffchaffs near the hide, and at least three Jays were around the car-park area and five Swallows went over, and a Little Stint was in among c200 Dunlin in the harbour, but there was little else of note bar a Peregrine half-heartedly hunting.
Surprisingly, there was no evidence at all of visible migration along the beach, though there were at least three pairs of Stonechats present, plus a couple of Chiffchaffs. (AH)

Jay (above), Stonechat & Dunlin at Church Norton (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: The covey of ten Grey Partridges were between here and Greenlease Farm again this evening - they are a pair of adults with eight youngsters. Also there were two Stonechats and a Buzzard in the vicinity. (S&SaH)

Tuesday, 18th October: A cool and blustery day with the wind round to the north-west, but pleasant in the sunny interludes....

Selsey Bill: Predictably slow in the strong north-westerly...... Log below.....
10.20-1150hrs: (C&ME)
Brent Goose - 2W
Common Scoter - 4E
Arctic Skua - 1W (d/p)
House Martin - 5E
Swallow - 2E, 9W
Meadow Pipit - 59N
Pied Wagtail - 11W
Stonechat - 1 Oval field

Ferry Pool: There were two Green Sandpipers on the pool, along with four Black-tailed Godwits and c150 roosting Lapwings, and five Golden Plovers flew over. (AH)

Green Sandpiper (above) & Black-tailed Godwits on the Ferry (AH)

Pagham Lagoon and Spit: The first returning Red-breasted Merganser was back on the lagoon this morning, along with fifteen Brent Geese (including at least six juveniles), four Great Crested and 25 Little Grebes.
There were a further 20+ Brent Geese in the harbour and harbour mouth, but not much else beyond the commoner waders, whilst on/over the spit there were 20+ Meadow Pipits and Linnets, a lone Swallow and a couple of Skylarks. (AH)

Red-breasted Merganser (above), Brent Geese & Little Grebes on Pagham Lagoon, Meadow Pipit & Curlew on/from Pagham Spit (AH)

North Wall: There were c40 Black-tailed Godwits and c250 Lapwing roosting in White's Creek, and a Greenshank was out in the harbour, but there were no waders at all on the Breech Pool, with the water far too high again after the recent rain.

Along the wall there were a couple of pairs of Stonechats, a couple of Chiffchaffs and a dozen Reed Buntings, plus two Swallows over, but not much else of note. (AH)

Black-tailed Godwits (above), Stonechat & Reed Bunting from North Wall (AH)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the stilt Pool - Late this afternoon there were two Stonechats and three Yellowhammers along the banks, and a Buzzard and five Kestrels overhead. (S&SaH)

Monday, 17th October: A real 'four-seasons-in-a-day' morning, with some hot sun, heavy rain, and everywhere between flat calm and squally winds......

Selsey Bill: A bit of a theme this morning, with the weather being a good deal more eventful and colourful than the birding. There was little happening offshore, apart from a few Mediterranean Gulls and the 'regular' couple of Sandwich Terns, whilst visible migration was also fairly minimal, but a few Chiffchaffs and singles of Blackcap and Stonechat just about kept the interest going.....
0730-1200hrs: (obs: OM/SR/C&ME)
Gannet - 6E, 2W, 1os

Great Crested Grebe - 1W

Shag - 1E

Turnstone - 55 ob
Sandwich Tern - 2os
Mediterranean Gull - 2W, 3os
Stonechat - 1 Oval field area

House Martin - 2E

Swallow - 5E

Skylark - 4N
Meadow Pipit - 11NW
Pied Wagtail - 20W
Goldcrest - 1 gardens
Chiffchaff - 7 gardens
Blackcap - 1 gardens
Linnet - 15W
Goldfinch- 35p

A bit of a weather theme today......a big moon over the Bill soon after daybreak....but note the 'red sky in the morning shepherd's warning' and the gathering clouds... and (below) it wasn't too long before it all came true, producing the first rainbow. (OM)

Selsey: East Beach pond/area - Once again quiet with just three Chiffchaffs and a couple of Pied Wagtails over (OM)

Rainbow 2.....perhaps a pot of (birding) gold somewhere here over East Beach pond...but if so I couldn't find it! (OM)

Chainbridge field: A good check of the hedgerows didn't produce too much this morning....a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Swallows, 3 Stonechats, 2 Chiffchaffs, a couple of Goldcrests and 3 Reed Buntings were the best I could do. (OM)

Stonechat (above) and Reed Bunting at Selsey Chainbridge Field (OM)

Ferry Pool: There were just two Green Sandpipers on the pool, but Snipe numbers had increased to six, along with 75 Lapwing, eight Wigeon, ten Teal and a Shelduck. (AH)

Green Sandpiper (above), Green Sandpipers and Wigeon & Snipe on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: The weather was more interesting than the birds, with just a few Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests, a Blackcap and three or four Jays around the churchyard/hide area, and visible migration was restricted to four Siskins, four Skylarks, three Reed Buntings, eight Swallows, a Grey Wagtail and a handful of Meadow Pipits.

There were 25 Brent Geese and half a dozen Bar-tailed Godwits in the harbour, along with a couple of Black-tailed Godwits and a few Grey Plovers, whilst along the Severals there were a pair of Stonechats, along with 40 Linnets on the beach. (AH/CRJ)
Also, along the West Side there was also a Sparrowhawk, six Skylarks, a Grey Wagtail up to 17 Chiffchaffs and 18 Long-tailed Tits, as well as three Chaffinches and a Stoat, and in the Oak Copse and beach area there were three Mediterranean Gulls, four Stonechats, two Chiffchaffs and five Goldcrests. (CRJ)