Friday, 18th November: A morning that started cold and bright and ended up cold and wet.....
Selsey Bill: The highlight was two Scaup passing east, but otherwise it was fairly quiet, though there were still a couple of Great Northern Divers offshore, plus a large flock of Dunlin and a few Mediterranean Gulls moving west. Five hours watching were logged this morning although heavy rain set in and frequently interrupted viewing, finally defeating the last observer.....! Full log below....
0715-1215hrs: (JA/OM/SR)
Red-throated Diver - 1W
Great Northern Diver - 2os
Diver sp - 2E
Great Crested Grebe - 3W
Gannet - 2E, 1W
Brent Goose - 1E, 10W
Eider - 1E
Common Scoter - 1E
Red-breasted Merganser - 2E, 1W, 6os
Scaup - 2W
Oystercatcher - 5ob
Dunlin - 100W
Razorbill - 1E
auk sp - 1E, 3W
Common Gull - 2W
Mediterranean Gull - 26W
Pied Wagtail - 2W
Ferry Pool: There were two Black-tailed Godwits, two Redshank, c200 Lapwing, c60 Wigeon and a dozen Teal on the pool this morning. (AH)
North Wall: The Bearded Tits were calling, but not seen early on, and a Short-eared Owl was out hunting before going to roost. There were also six Reed Buntings along the breech pool with a similar number of Wrens. (PC/BI)
Later on there were around 80 Golden Plover in with 500 or so Lapwings and 50 or so Black-tailed Godwits on White's Creek, and a female Red-breasted Merganser was also at the North Wall end. (AH)
Pagham Lagoon: Very little of note on the lagoon, with just 75 Brent Geese, 30 Little Grebes, five Great Crested Grebes and 30 Tufted Ducks present this morning. From the nearby Yacht Club there were at least three Slavonian Grebes, five Great Crested Grebes and ten Red-breasted Mergansers offshore from the harbour mouth. (AH)
Ivy Lake Complex: I couldn't find the female Scaup this morning, and numbers of duck were generally low, with totals of c40 Pochard, c25 Tufted Duck, c25 Shoveler and c10 Gadwall, along with a couple of Common Gulls, c20 Great Crested Grebes and Little Egrets spread around the pits.
A Water Rail shot across the path and there were at least half a dozen Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests among the many Long-tailed Tits. (AH)
Church Norton: Confirmation of at least two Long-tailed Ducks in the area this afternoon when two flew in from the east and landed offshore together before one left to the west and the other drifted off in the tide.
Four Goldeneye, a male and three females, also went west, a Red-breasted Merganser went east and there were four Great Crested Grebes on the sea along with two Slavonian Grebes. In the harbour, the Black-necked Grebe was present for a while near Tern Island, there was a drake Goldeneye, two Red-breasted Mergansers, six Great Crested Grebes and half a dozen Little Grebes
The Whimbrel and a Curlew were by the bench at high water and the Kingfisher was on the breakwater along with a few Grey Plover, Dunlin & Knot. (BI)
Thursday, 17th November: The sort of autumn's day that has fortunately been in short supply this year, with a strengthening westerly wind and intermittent heavy rain and heavy drizzle and the odd brighter interlude....
Selsey Bill: The highlight was two Scaup passing east, but otherwise it was fairly quiet, though there were still a couple of Great Northern Divers offshore, plus a large flock of Dunlin and a few Mediterranean Gulls moving west. Five hours watching were logged this morning although heavy rain set in and frequently interrupted viewing, finally defeating the last observer.....! Full log below....
0715-1215hrs: (JA/OM/SR)
Red-throated Diver - 1W
Great Northern Diver - 2os
Diver sp - 2E
Great Crested Grebe - 3W
Gannet - 2E, 1W
Brent Goose - 1E, 10W
Eider - 1E
Common Scoter - 1E
Red-breasted Merganser - 2E, 1W, 6os
Scaup - 2W
Oystercatcher - 5ob
Dunlin - 100W
Razorbill - 1E
auk sp - 1E, 3W
Common Gull - 2W
Mediterranean Gull - 26W
Pied Wagtail - 2W
At the Bill this morning: Common Gull, Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls on the beach and Mediterranean Gull passing. (OM)
Ferry Pool: There were two Black-tailed Godwits, two Redshank, c200 Lapwing, c60 Wigeon and a dozen Teal on the pool this morning. (AH)
Black-tailed Godwit (above), Lapwings at the Ferry (AH)
North Wall: The Bearded Tits were calling, but not seen early on, and a Short-eared Owl was out hunting before going to roost. There were also six Reed Buntings along the breech pool with a similar number of Wrens. (PC/BI)
Later on there were around 80 Golden Plover in with 500 or so Lapwings and 50 or so Black-tailed Godwits on White's Creek, and a female Red-breasted Merganser was also at the North Wall end. (AH)
Red-breasted Merganser (above) & Golden Plovers from North Wall (AH)
Short-eared Owl at the Breech Pool (BI)
Little Grebes on Pagham Lagoon (AH)
Ivy Lake Complex: I couldn't find the female Scaup this morning, and numbers of duck were generally low, with totals of c40 Pochard, c25 Tufted Duck, c25 Shoveler and c10 Gadwall, along with a couple of Common Gulls, c20 Great Crested Grebes and Little Egrets spread around the pits.
A Water Rail shot across the path and there were at least half a dozen Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests among the many Long-tailed Tits. (AH)
Tufted Ducks (above), Common Gull & Little Egret at Ivy Lake (AH)
Church Norton: Confirmation of at least two Long-tailed Ducks in the area this afternoon when two flew in from the east and landed offshore together before one left to the west and the other drifted off in the tide.
Four Goldeneye, a male and three females, also went west, a Red-breasted Merganser went east and there were four Great Crested Grebes on the sea along with two Slavonian Grebes. In the harbour, the Black-necked Grebe was present for a while near Tern Island, there was a drake Goldeneye, two Red-breasted Mergansers, six Great Crested Grebes and half a dozen Little Grebes
The Whimbrel and a Curlew were by the bench at high water and the Kingfisher was on the breakwater along with a few Grey Plover, Dunlin & Knot. (BI)
Thursday, 17th November: The sort of autumn's day that has fortunately been in short supply this year, with a strengthening westerly wind and intermittent heavy rain and heavy drizzle and the odd brighter interlude....
Ferry Pool: There were c400 Lapwing on the pool early on, along with c200 Wigeon, 40 Teal, eight Shovelers and four Black-tailed Godwits. (AH)
Lapwing (above) & Wigeon on the Ferry (AH)
Long Pool: There was not much along the pool, just a couple of squealing Water Rails, a couple of elusive Chiffchaffs and two fly-over Snipe, whilst at the end of Ferry Channel there was a Spotted Redshank, 20+ Avocets, 200 Lapwing, 100+ Teal and a few Grey Plover, Curlew and Redshank. (AH)
Spotted Redshank (above), Avocets, Teal and Wigeon & Brent Geese from Long Pool (AH)
Church Norton: There was a Mistle Thrush and a dozen Red-legged Partridges along Rectory Lane, but the harbour was very quiet on the low tide, with just the Whimbrel, half a dozen Bar-tailed Godwits and a few Grey Plover of note, and the bushes were devoid of life, bar a couple of Goldcrests and a dozen Greenfinch. (AH)
Mistle Thrush (above), Red-legged Partridges, Goldcrest, Whimbrel & Bar-tailed Godwit and Grey Heron at Church Norton (AH)
Selsey: The only news from the Selsey area was of a fairly tame Kestrel in Golf Links Lane that posed nicely for a photo taken from my car window. (SR)
Kestrel at Selsey (SR)
Wednesday, 16th November: A bright and breezy day, with the wind round to the west, though still very mild....
North Wall: In breezy conditions I first heard, then eventually saw, three very mobile Bearded
Tits in the reeds on the edge of the Breech Pool just below the North Wall at
9am this morning. (PC)
Early high tide at the Breech Pool, there were, at the back, four Spotted Redshank , two Black-tailed Godwits and some 30 Common Redshank, and in the field behind were 80 Curlew with their heads down. (ARK per SOS)
Pagham Spit/Lagoon: At the big high tide say 500 waders were crammed onto a shingle islet in the Church Norton Spit breach, mostly Dunlin and Grey Plover but with some Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Knot and Oystercatcher.
On the sea just here was the Long-tailed Duck again, underwater for the most part! and a male Red-breasted Merganser in smart breeding plumage, while on the barbour-side was a redhead Goosander and on the Lagoon a redhead Goldeneye.
A Merlin - female from size - flew along the Spit and later was watched by myself and two colleagues flying down across the Harbour, very close to the water before rising up a bit and then going down towards Church Norton spit - really entertaining. (A|K per SOS)
Early high tide at the Breech Pool, there were, at the back, four Spotted Redshank , two Black-tailed Godwits and some 30 Common Redshank, and in the field behind were 80 Curlew with their heads down. (ARK per SOS)
Pagham Spit/Lagoon: At the big high tide say 500 waders were crammed onto a shingle islet in the Church Norton Spit breach, mostly Dunlin and Grey Plover but with some Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Knot and Oystercatcher.
On the sea just here was the Long-tailed Duck again, underwater for the most part! and a male Red-breasted Merganser in smart breeding plumage, while on the barbour-side was a redhead Goosander and on the Lagoon a redhead Goldeneye.
A Merlin - female from size - flew along the Spit and later was watched by myself and two colleagues flying down across the Harbour, very close to the water before rising up a bit and then going down towards Church Norton spit - really entertaining. (A|K per SOS)
Church Norton: One of the Long-tailed Ducks was just about viewable offshore near the harbour mouth and there were also four or five Slavonian Grebes and Great Crested Grebes offshore, but they were all well out in the choppy water.
Along the spit there were around 20-30 each of Skylark, Linnet, Meadow Pipit and Greenfinch, whilst in the harbour there were a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers, half a dozen Little Grebes and at least 1000 Brent Geese, spread throughout. There were also up to 80 Knot among many hundreds of Dunlin, and at least 40 Ringed Plovers were about, along with eight Bar-tailed Godwits. (AH)
At high tide, the Black-necked Grebe and a Long-tailed Duck were in the harbour with another Long-tailed Duck, four Slavonian Grebes and a flypast Black-throated Diver offshore. (RJF per SOS)
At high tide, the Black-necked Grebe and a Long-tailed Duck were in the harbour with another Long-tailed Duck, four Slavonian Grebes and a flypast Black-throated Diver offshore. (RJF per SOS)
Skylarks (above), Teal & Brent Geese at Church Norton (AH)
Ferry Pool: First thing there were two Green Sandpipers, four Black-tailed Godwits, six Redshank, 250 Lapwing and 80 Wigeon, but late morning there were just 15 Shoveler, a Shelduck and two Curlews on the pool, plus a hunting Kestrel by the road. (AH)
Green Sandpiper (above), Black-tailed Godwit & Kestrel at the Ferry (AH)
Chichester Marina: A late morning visit but it was decidedly quiet....there were two Grey Wagtails on the marsh with a dozen Mallard, a squealing Water Rail and two Cetti's Warblers, with another of the latter nearby on the canal close to the ever-present Black Swan. Small birds were at a premium today, with four Goldcrests, several Chaffinches, 15 Long-tailed Tits and a small flock of Goldfinch being about it! Nearby at Birdham Pool were 25 Cormorants, a Little Egret and two Grey Herons in the roost, with 17 Little Grebes, a single Gadwall, two Wigeon and a few Mallard on the pool. (OM)
On a quiet day at the Marina with little to photograph, there's always the Black Swan on the canal...! (OM)
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