10th - 12th February 2017

Sunday, 12th February: Still cloudy, cold and fairly grey, with the brisk E/NE wind persisting....

Selsey Bill: No sign of yesterday's Iceland Gull by mid-morning.....much to the chagrin of the Bill regulars, as the bird chose to show briefly to a lone fortunate visitor in-between their two periods of sea-watching! (Well done and thanks to CJH for the pic's).

Still lots of Razorbills and Gannets offshore this morning, though by 10am they had almost all moved off eastwards. Also a Long-tailed Duck went east, a few Red-throated Divers went west and five Great Northern Divers were offshore. Full log later. (JA/PB/SH/AH/IP/EL)

(0730-1000hrs)

Great Northern Diver - 5os

Red-throated Diver - 11E, 6W, 2os

diver sp - 1W

Slavonian Grebe - 2os

Great Crested Grebe - 2E, 1os

Fulmar - 1E, 3W

Gannet 144E, 6W 100os

Shag - 2os
Common Scoter - 2W

Long-tailed Duck - 1E

Red-breasted Merganser - 2E, 3W, 14os

Sanderling - 1p

Mediterranean Gull - 3E, 1W

Common Gull - 1E

Kittiwake - 1E, 1W, 4os

Guillemot - 2os

Razorbill - 200os/E
auk sp - 55E

Guillemot (above), Razorbills, Fulmar, Great Northern Divers, Red-throated Diver and Gannet & Gannets at the Bill (AH)

Coastguard Station: The Black Redstart was along the bottom of the Medmerry Cliff again this morning, whilst offshore there were a Great Northern Diver, 14 Red-breasted Mergansers and c40 Common Scoter, wit a dozen Gannets moving westwards. (AH)

Black Redstart (above), Great Northern Diver & Red-breasted Mergansers around the Coastguard Station (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: There were just three Stonechats and 70+ Meadow Pipits this morning. (S&SaH)
Also a flock of 20 Shoveler flew over later on. (IP/EL)

Church Norton: There was a good selection offshore from the beach this morning - presumably some of the birds that departed east from the Bill - including three Great Northern Divers, five Red-throated Divers, eight Slavonian Grebes, plus two going east, one Common Scoter east, one Red-breasted Merganser west, 100+ lingering Razorbills and Gannets, and a single Kittiwake.

Also there were 20+ Mediterranean Gulls along the beach, a Peregrine on its island and 300+ Lapwing and 50+ Golden Plover came up from the back of the harbour. (S&SaH)
Also, off the eastern end of the reserve later on, a Fulmar and six Red-throated Divers flew past eastwards. (IP/EL)

Ferry Pool: There were c400 Lapwings, c200 Wigeon, c20 Teal, a Black-tailed Godwit and six Curlew on the pool today. (AH)

Lapwings on the Ferry (AH)

Ivy Lake: The Long-tailed Duck was still present, but there was no sign again of the Scaup, though there were very few Tufted Ducks present, either. Also about were 50+ Pochard, 50+ Shoveler, 10+ Gadwall, 16 Great Crested Grebes, 12 Little Egrets, two Greylag Geese and 20 Canada Geese. (AH)

Long-tailed Duck and Tufted Ducks (above) & Shovelers on Ivy Lake (AH)

Drayton Pits: Not much to report from the usual selection of c30 Gadwall, c20 Pochard, c10 Shoveler and a few Teal. (AH)

Runcton: A quick look at the fields by Saltham Grange produced the two Egyptian Geese in with c30 Greylag Geese, c50 Canada Geese and c50 Wigeon. (AH)

Egyptian Geese, Canada Geese and Wigeon at Runcton (AH)

Saturday, 11th February: The spell of cold weather continues, with a brisk and sharp north-easterly and heavy cloud, and even a few flurries of snow.....

Selsey Bill: Yet again there were large numbers of Razorbills and Gannets offshore, but very little beyond a few Red-throated Divers on the move. Full log below. (JA/AH)

(0720-0945hrs)

Great Northern Diver - 4os

Red-throated Diver - 4E, 31W, 7os
diver sp - 3E

Great Crested Grebe - 2E,1os

Fulmar - 1E, 2W

Gannet - 300 os

Shag - 4E
Cormorant - c150os

Red-breasted Merganser - 10E, 3W, 9os

Mediterranean Gull - 1E, 1os

Common Gull - 7E

Kittiwake - 2E, 2os

Guillemot - 20os

Razorbill - 1800os
auk sp - 1200os

Red-throated Divers (above), Razorbills & snow at the Bill (AH)

At 10.32am an immature white-winged gull appeared from the west close inshore. I assumed it was the Glaucous Gull recently seen in Hampshire and at Selsey, too. The bird landed on the sea just to the east of the viewpoint, where it was dive-bombed by Common and Black-headed gulls. It didn’t look too well. On closer inspection it didn’t look like a Glaucous, its head was smaller and rounded and the bill not particularly large, without the snouty appearance of Glaucous, and it didn’t look that much bigger than the gulls that were bombing it as it drifted east.

It was, in fact, an Iceland Gull, (C J Harris)

Iceland Gull at the Bill (C Harris)

(1430-1600hrs)
Great Northern Diver - 4os

Red-throated Diver - 1os

diver sp - 1E

Great Crested Grebe - 1os

Fulmar - 1W
Gannet - 44E, 3W, 100os

Red-breasted Merganser - 1os
And not a single auk!

Ferry Pool: There were c200 Lapwing and 300 Wigeon on and around the pool today, but not much else besides a dozen Teal, and a dozen Curlew were on the arable field nearby.. (AH)

Lapwings (above) & Lapwings and Wigeon on the Ferry (AH)

East Head: The two Snow Buntings were intermittently on show at the far north-western tip, though they were surprisingly flighty, never settling for long. There were also about 20 Sanderlings on the beach, but nothing on the water at all. 
There were a couple of Stonechats in the dunes and at least three Rock Pipits among the Meadow Pipits and Skylarks on the salt-marsh, and plenty of Dunlin and Redshank roosting on the rising tide.
There was a big flock - (1200+) - of Brent Geese on the fields, but only a few dozen Lapwing and 30 Golden Plover were among them. (OM/AH)

Snow Buntings at East Head (top/centre OM, lower AH)

Rock Pipit (above), Skylark, Sanderling & Dunlin at East Head (AH)

Snowhill Marsh: Surprisingly quiet, with just regular wildfowl and waders in fairly low numbers, the only birds of any note being 2 Greenshank and a couple of Knot roosting amongst a Dunlin flock, plus a pair of Stonechats along the hedge. (OM)

Park Farm, Selsey: Three Stonechats and 70+ Meadow Pipits were present early afternoon. (SH)

Church Norton: Offshore there were just 4 Red-breasted Mergansers and a single Red-throated Diver, with another single of the latter moving west. (SH)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the stilt Pool: Very quiet in the windy conditions, though the Common Sandpiper was still in residence on the Stilt Pool, and one or two Great Northern and Red-throated Divers were offshore. (JW)


Pagham Village: A Blackcap was on the feeders in our garden today. (PC)

Sidlesham: In the paddocks opposite the Birdham end of Mapson's Lane this afternoon there were c70 Redwing and c50 Fieldfares, along with a Mistle Thrush and c300 Starlings, and a Raven flew over going east. (AH)

Redwings (above), Fieldfare, Redwings and Fieldfares & Raven at Mapson's Lane, Sidlesham (AH)

Kipson Bank Farm, Hunston: There were around 150 Fieldfares in the cropped field south of the farm this afternoon, along with at least 500 Starlings. (AH)

Friday, 10th February: Another cold, grey morning, with a brisk north-easterly wind.....

Selsey Bill: There were still a lot of Razorbills about, though less Gannets, and there were six Great Northern Divers together on the sea at one stage. (AH/JA/SM/PD)

(0730-1000hrs)

Great Northern Diver - 6os

Red-throated Diver - 16E, 6W, 5os

Great Crested Grebe - 1os

Fulmar - 3W

Gannet - 40E, 20W, 60 os

Shag - 1E

Brent Goose - 31W

Shelduck - 3W

Pintail - 16E

Common Scoter - 30os

Red-breasted Merganser - 3E, 4W, 6os

Mediterranean Gull - 1W, 1os

Common Gull - 11E, 4os

Kittiwake - 5E

Guillemot - 2os

Razorbill - 1200os

auk sp - 800W

Guillemots and Razorbills (above), Razorbills, Fulmar & Great Northern Divers off the Bill (AH)

Coastguard Station: There were still c40 Common Scoter offshore, whilst there were a Black Redstart and a Rock Pipit feeding along the bottom of  the 'Medmerry Cliff''. (AH)

Black Redstart (above) & Rock Pipit by the Coastguard Station (AH)

Selsey East Beach: A quick look off of East Beach produced c30 distant Gannets, a Red-throated Diver and four Great Crested Grebes on the sea and half a dozen Common and Mediterranean Gulls along the beach. (AH)

Mediterranean Gull (above) & Common Gull of East Beach (AH)

Runcton: this afternoon there were 28 Mute and a Black Swan, 45 Canada and 20 Greylag Geese. (CRJ)

Black Swan at Runcton (CRJ)

Medmerry: Quite a bit reported offshore at Medmerry today, as follows..... (IL)

Red-throated Diver - 9

Black-throated Diver - 1

Great Crested Grebe - 2

Gannet - 2

Common Scoter - 18

Velvet Scoter - 1

Red-breasted Merganser - 4

Razorbill - 10

auk sp - 2

also a Common Seal

 East Head: Two Snow Buntings were along the beach side before relocating to the north west tip of East Head early afternoon. In the dunes were a few Skylarks and Meadow Pipits and on the tide line were at least 15 Sanderlings. In the fields were c.300 Brent Geese. (BI)

Snow Buntings at East Head (BI)