Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 7th

Friday, 9th December: Mild but rather dull and murky at first, though remaining dry with some brightness through the cloud later and a light W/SW breeze....

Selsey Bill: Rather slow this morning although four Slavonian Grebes were logged and a small party of Knot were perhaps unusual for the time of year.....
0830-0930hrs: WSW2, cloud, mist. (JA/JD/DS)
Red-throated Diver - 4E, 1W
Great Northern Diver - 1os
Slavonian Grebe - 1E, 3os
Great Crested Grebe - 1os
Gannet - 1E, 1W
Common Scoter - 1E
Knot - 11E
Guillemot - 2E, 1os
Razorbill - 1E, 1W, 1os
Auk sp - 3E
Kittiwake - 1E, 8W
Stonechat - 1 p

East Beach: A Stonechat was along the kids' cycle track this morning. (SR)

Coastguard Station to the Windmill: There were 60 or so Common Scoter offshore still, plus two Red-throated Divers went east, but a walk along the front to the Go-kart track produced nothing more than a couple of Meadow Pipits. (AH)

Common Scoter off the Coastguard station (AH)

Medmerry Breach: There were a Stonechat, and c30 each of Linnet, Skylark and Meadow Pipit around the rough ground, whilst on the pools there were ten Gadwall, a few Wigeon, Pintail and Teal, c20 Grey Plovers, c10 Ringed Plovers and c40 Dunlin. (AH/A&YF)

Stonechat (above), Linnet, Ringed Plovers, Grey Plover & Dunlin at Medmerry (AH)

Ferry Pool: Just 40 Lapwing and a dozen Teal were on the pool his morning. (AH)

Church Norton: Nothing much out of the ordinary, with the Whimbrel and three or four each of Black- and Bar-tailed Godwits among large numbers of the commoner waders, nothing offshore and just a few Little Grebes in the harbour,
Around the churchyard area there were a couple of Chiffchaffs, perhaps a dozen Goldcrests and a Jay and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. (AH)

Chiffchaff (above), Whoimbrel, Little Grebes & Brent Geese at Church Norton (AH)

Thursday, 8th December: A near-repeat of yesterday, with a pleasant morning of sunshine and cloud, but becoming duller and cloudier later, with a moderate south-westerly breeze....

Selsey Bill: (0800-0930hrs) (AH/JD/DS/NS)

Great Northern Diver - 1E, 1W

Red-throated Diver - 1E, 1W, 1os

Great Crested Grebe - 1os

Gannet- 4W

Cormorant - 26E

Common Scoter - 12W

Ringed Plover - 5E

Turnstone - 35W

Dunlin - 1W

Mediterranean Gull - 2os

Kittiwake - 3W

Sandwich Tern - 1os, then W

Sandwich Tern at the Bill (AH)

Coastguard Station: There were still around 100 Common Scoter, some of which were fairly close inshore, but hard to count in the choppy conditions. (AH)

Common Scoter off the Coastguard Station (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were exactly 50 Teal and 73 Lapwings on the pool, but nothing else this morning. (AH)

West Itchenor: A look around the pond produced a Tree-creeper, a dozen Goldcrests and c40 Goldfinches before the men with chain-saws arrived for a bit of 'tidying.'

From the harbour side there were at least 20 Red-breasted Mergansers in the channels, and along the edge there were a Black-tailed Godwit with three Bar-tailed Godwits, about 400 Lapwing, 50 Brent Geese and a scattering of Grey Plover, Dunlin, Redshank and Curlew, plus a fly-over Rock Pipit. (AH)

Tree-creeper (above), Goldcrest, Brent Geese and Lapwings, Red-breasted Merganser & Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwits and Red-breasted Mergansers around West Itchenor (AH)

Wednesday, 7th December: Another very pleasant morning, mild and with just a light southerly breeze, though clouding up as the day progressed......

Ferry Pool: There were close to 200 Lapwing on the pool this morning, plus 40 Teal and a Grey Wagtail flew over, whilst there half a dozen Shoveler among 50+ Teal and 200+ Wigeon on the creek in the field, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the trees opposite. (AH)
A Marsh Harrier went over the pool just before 3pm. (MD)

Lapwing (above), Teal, Wigeon & Great Spotted Woodpecker around the Ferry (AH)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Stilt Pool - It was generally quiet, but the Scaup was still on the big pool opposite the Stilt Pools, and a Greenshank and a Redshank were on the pool itself, along with a pair of Gadwall, ten Shovelers and lots of Wigeon and Teal. There were more Wigeon and Teal, plus another 30 Shoveler out on the reserve, along with a couple of Buzzards and at least 50 Skylarks and a few Linnets and Meadow Pipits.

A lot of Brent Geese were coming and going, with a big flock of 200+ sitting on the sea before flying off, only to be replaced almost immediately by another similar sized flock.

Along the banks there were at least four Stonechats, plus 50 or so Meadow Pipits and a few Reed Buntings and Goldfinches. (AH)

Also, a Kingfisher and a Green Woodpecker were near the Stilt Pool (PLS)