7th - 9th November 2016

Wednesday, 9th November: A cold, mostly grey, day after overnight rain, with a strong and blustery north-westerly wind......


Selsey Bill: A surprisingly interesting morning, given the conditions, including a Red-necked Grebe east, two Bonxies and five Avocets west, around 200 auks east, including at least 30 Razorbills, along with a dozen or more Kittiwakes and Red-breasted Mergansers, plenty of Gannets and a few Common Scoter and Great Crested Grebes also on the move, plus a Great Northern Diver offshore. Full log below.... 
(0745-1200hrs)  (Obs: AH/PD/SR/PB)
Great Northern Diver - 2os
Great Crested Grebe - 4W
Red-necked Grebe - 1E
Fulmar - 1E
Gannet - 43E, 72W, 12 os.
Brent Goose - 9E, 44W
Eider - 1W
Common Scoter - 6E, 4W
Red-breasted Merganser - 6E, 11W, 3 os.
Teal - 3E
Dunlin - 1W
Avocet - 5W
Great Skua - 1E, 3W
Arctic Skua - 1W
Skua sp - 3W
Razorbill - 46E
Guillemot - 2E
Auk sp - 229E, 15W
Kittiwake - 37E
Mediterranean Gull - 3W
Common Gull - 2 os.
also a Red Admiral butterfly on beach
  

Great Northern Diver (above), Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Gull and Brent Geese & Mediterranean and Black-headed Gull at the Bill (AH)

North Wall: A Spoonbill flew over the wall this morning. (IL)

Ferry Pool: Similar to yesterday, with a Redshank and six Black-tailed Godwits on the pool, along with c60 Lapwing, a Shelduck, c30 Teal and at least 200 Wigeon. (AH)

Black-tailed Godwit (above) & Wigeon on the Ferry (AH)

Long Pool: Very little on the pool, but there were 20 or so Avocets at the far end of the channel, and a few Grey Plover, Black-tailed Godwits and Curlew also in the channel. (AH)

Avocets (above) & Curlew in Ferry Channel (AH)

Church Norton: Two Slavonian Grebes were offshore from the beach, plus a few Mediterranean Gulls around the Spit, and several Knot in the harbour. (KJ)
 

Ivy Lake Complex: A quick look at lunchtime produced at least 20 Little Egrets roosting in various trees, three different Kingfishers and collected totals from the various pits of c40 Pochard, c50 Tufted Duck, c25 Shoveler, 12 Gadwall, at least 30 Great Crested Grebes, including 22 roosting together on Ivy Lake and a Black Swan. 
There were also one or two Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests among a big Long-tailed and Blue Tit flock. (AH)

Pochards (above), Shovelers, Little Egrets & Black Swan around Ivy Lake complex (AH)

Tuesday, 8th November: A very sharp frost early on was followed by a bright and crisp morning before the cloud filled in and it became milder....though still with a light but cool northerly breeze.

Selsey Bill: It was a fairly slow morning at the Bill, with most birds quite distant, including a Bonxie. Otherwise, a few wildfowl and Brent Geese moved west, and some auks and Gannets moved east. Rook is a species that rarely features here, so two birds feeding on the beach to the west (but just inside the Bill recording area JA!) were noteworthy - especially as they were trying the old Carrion Crow trick of dropping shellfish from height to crack them. (OM)  Full log below......
0740-1040hrs: (Obs: OM/AH/DF/JD)
Great Northern Diver - 1os
Gannet - 25E, 2W
Brent Goose - 8E, 32W
Red-breasted Merganser - 8W
Teal - 54W
Wigeon - 40W
Great Skua - 1E
Kittiwake - 1E
Auk sp - 36E, 3W
Meadow Pipit - 2W
Rook - 2 ob feeding

 Rooks feeding on the beach to the west of the Bill-tip - quite a rare sight here (OM)

Church Norton: A Black Brant was among 50 or so Brent Geese at the new harbour mouth (viewed from the far end of Church Norton Spit, but closer to Pagham Spit!)
There wasn't too much else along the spit - a couple of pairs of Stonechat, a dozen Skylarks and one or two Meadow Pipits, Linnets and Greenfinches being about it, and offshore there were just a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers and Great Crested Grebes.

A Sparrowhawk went over the harbour and there were plenty of the regular wildfowl and waders about, including half a dozen Bar-tailed Godwits, whilst a Firecrest showed nicely in the churchyard, but there was little else to report bar a couple of Goldcrests. (AH/CRJ)

Walking out we eventually had good views of the Black Brant; also feeding with them were 2 Avocet. Scanning a dead flat sea we found a 1st-winter Long-tailed Duck and a single Slavonian Grebe plus 5 Great Crested Grebes and a Red-throated Diver; on the shingle were 10 Greenfinch. (BFF/DIS/DM)

Black Brant and Brent Geese (above), Firecrest, Sparrowhawk, Skylark, Stonechat & Bar-tailed Godwit at Church Norton (AH)

DIS, DM and BFF starting the long walk along the spit! (AH)

East Beach Pond: Just eight Goldcrests, a Chiffchaff, eight Linnets and a flock of five Goldfinches could be found around the pond this morning. (SR)

North Wall: At least 3 Bearded Tits were feeding close to the bank early afternoon with perhaps another further out. (BFF/DM/DIS)

 Bearded Tits at the North Wall (DM)

Ferry Pool: There were six Black-tailed Godwits and a Redshank on the pool this morning, along with c200 Wigeon, c40 Teal and c60 Lapwing. (AH)

Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit (above) & Wigeon on the Ferry (AH)

Medmerry (east side): A search of the area around Medmerry cliffs and the go-kart track produced only 2 Stonechats and a couple of Meadow Pipits. On the rough ground at the end of the caravans ('Toe-end') passerine numbers were disappointing; just 20 Linnets, 5 Skylarks, 2 Meadow Pipits and a Rock Pipit  were the best on offer - although unfortunately there was a good bit of disturbance around the rocks due to ongoing works with a large digger. At the Breach viewpoint a nice Merlin flew past westwards; I didn't see it again but doubtless it was the cause of the few Grey Plover and Redshank present going into a frenzy and the Teal flock taking flight. (OM)
A Slavonian Grebe was just offshore this afternoon, viewed from the sea-defence rocks (PH). 

Two views of the ever-eroding Medmerry 'cliffs'.... (above) looking east and (below) looking west (OM)

 Stonechat and Rock Pipit at Medmerry (OM)

Chichester Marina: Very cold start this morning with a heavy frost on the coast, we had plenty of sun with only light winds backing around to NW.  The channels were fairly quiet with only 25 Little Grebes and single Whimbrel being the highlights. (BFF/DM/DIS)  

Monday, 7th November: A cold and windy morning, with a strong and gusty northerly breeze, though pleasant enough in the sheltered spots......

Selsey Bill: Highlight was a Little Auk that came in from the east at 8.39am and veered round in a big arc before flying straight out to sea again (AH). Otherwise there were still a few Gannets and auks about, mostly Razorbills, a Shag went east, a few Brent Geese and 50+ Wigeon went west and a Redwing came in from far offshore. Full log below......
0740-1110hrs: (OM/CRJ/AH)
Red-throated Diver - 1E
Great Northern Diver - 1os
Gannet - 15E, 5W, 20os
Shag - 1E
Brent Goose - 19W
Shelduck - 6W
Common Scoter - 11E, 2W
Red-breasted Merganser - 2W
Teal - 1W
Wigeon - 53W
Pintail - 1W
Little Auk - 1 generally W
Razorbill - 6E
auk sp - 12E, 2W
Mediterranean Gull - 1W
Common Gull - 2W
Meadow Pipit - 2N
Redwing - 1N

Common Gull at Selsey Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were three Black-tailed Godwits present this morning, along with a Shelduck, 12 Teal and at least 200 Lapwings and similar of Wigeon. (AH)

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

Long Pool: There was very little along the pool - just a Snipe and two Teal in the reeds and a couple of Reed Buntings along the hedges, but Ferry Channel was better, with a Spotted Redshank, eight Black-tailed Godwits, four Grey Plover and numerous Redshank and Curlew along the edges. Also, at the far end there were 27 Avocets and several hundred roosting Teal, plus a Meadow Pipit over. (AH)

Spotted Redshank (above), Spotted Redshank and Redshank, Avocets, Redshank & Curlew in Ferry Channel (AH)

Chalder Farm/Marsh Farm, Sidlesham: A walk around  the circuit produced a Green Sandpiper by a puddle in a field), a pair of Stonechats and a Grey Wagtail by Sidlesham Church Pond. (S Allday)

Church Norton: All I saw here this morning was a single Chiffchaff! (CRJ)

Runcton: A flock of 20 Goldfinches this afternoon contained a single Redpoll. (CRJ)