7th - 9th February 2017

Thursday, 9th February: A cold, grey morning, with a fairly biting and stiff north-easterly breeze.....

Selsey Bill: A quieter day than yesterday, but still a busy one by the standards of most winters! There were still at least 1000 auks offshore, initially all moving westwards, but then almost as many went back east, with many settling on the sea. Again, all bar a couple of Guillemots, those identified were Razorbills. There were also 200+ Gannets present again, and a few Red-throated Divers on the move. Full log below. (AH)
(0800-0930hrs)
Red-throated Diver - 7E, 18W, 1os
Great Northern Diver - 3os
Fulmar - 3W
Gannet - c.200 os
Brent Goose - 35E
Red-breasted Merganser - 7E, 2W
Mediterranean Gull - 5os (towards Lifeboat Station)
Guillemot - 2os
Razorbill - c500os
auk sp - c500os

Fulmars (above), Razorbills, Gannet & Mediterranean Gull at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: Around 150 Lapwing were on the pool this morning, along with three Shelduck and six Teal, with c100 Wigeon on the creek in the field. (AH)

Lapwings on the Ferry (AH)

Chichester Marina/Birdham Pool: Very quiet at both sites, with just a handful of Little Grebes, c40 Shelduck, 20 Wigeon and 200 Wigeon on the water at the former, and a dozen each of Tufted Duck and Mallard at the latter. (AH)

Little Grebes (above) & Brent Geese at Chichester Marina (AH)

North Wall: Quiet and gloomy along the Wall this afternoon. Nothing happening on the Breech Pool but there were 60 Wigeon and 19 Curlew in the field behind. A small gathering of waders was at Owl Point - 33 Lapwing, 24 Redshank, 5 Grey Plover and 1 Dunlin. Where Bremere Rife enters the Harbour there were 260 Wigeon and 11 Black-tailed Godwits, the first time I have ever recorded Godwits at this site. A pair of Stonechats amongst the reeds here and a bored-looking Grey Heron was tucked in behind the hedge. (JDW)

 Wigeon and wildfowl at Bremere Rife (JDW)

Wednesday, 8th February: A cool and mostly grey morning, with a moderate northerly breeze....

Selsey Bill: There were still plenty of birds feeding and loafing offshore this morning, with very conservative estimates of 1000 Razorbills, 1000 auk sp, 300 Kittiwakes and 500 Gannets. Also five Shags went east, five Sandwich Terns were lingering offshore and over 50 Red-throated Divers went west, plus a few east. Full log below.... 
0745-1045hrs:  (AH/C&ME/IB/PJ et al)
Red-throated Diver - 21E, 56W, 4os
Great Northern Diver - 3os 
Slavonian Grebe - 2os
Gannet - c.500 os
Shag - 5E
Brent Goose - 10E, 4W                         
Shelduck - 3E
Red-breasted Merganser - 15E, 4W, 4os
Razorbill - c.1000 os
auk sp - c.1000 os
Sandwich Tern - 5 os
Kittiwake - 300 os                          
Mediterranean Gull - 1W


1315-1500hrs: (IL)
Red-throated Diver - 4E, 1W, 1os
Great Crested Grebe - 3os
Fulmar - 1W
Gannet - 500 os
Common Scoter - 2 os
Red-breasted Merganser - 4 os
Arctic Skua - 1E
Kittiwake - 13E
Mediterranean Gull - 3E, 2W, 3ob
auk sp - 45E, 476W

Gannets (above), Sandwich Terns, Red-throated Divers, Red-breasted Mergansers & Razorbills off the Bill (AH)

Coastguard Station: There were still c40 Common Scoter offshore, plus three Red-breasted Mergansers, and two Red-throated Divers went west. (AH)
Also, two Great Northern Divers were on the sea, and a Black Redstart was on the nearby rooftops. (PJ per SOS)

Common Scoters off the Coastguard Station (AH)

Church Norton: There were just three Red-throated Divers and three Great Crested Grebes offshore, plus a few Common and Mediterranean Gulls along the beach, the Whimbrel was in the harbour with plenty of the common waders, and a dozen each of Wigeon and Teal were in the creek by the horse field. (AH)

Whimbrel (above) & Wigeon at Church Norton (AH)

Ivy Lake: The Long-tailed Duck was showing well near the chalets today, but the Scaup was not present. Also there were three Little Egrets on Triangle Lake. (AB)

Long-tailed Duck and Tufted Duck on Ivy Lake (AB)

Tuesday, 7th February: Despite the modest north-westerly breeze, and a foggy start, a lovely late winter morning with plenty of sunshine and a bit of warmth in the sheltered spots......

Selsey Bill: Yet another morning with huge numbers of auks, nearly all Razorbills, and plenty of Kittiwakes and Gannets, too, plus an Arctic Skua west. There was a huge movement of Razorbills/auks, many close in, with over 2000 birds counted heading west during the first 45 minutes as a bank of fog moved in, though many settled on the sea, and birds continued to move all morning. Quite astonishing....full log below.

(0755-1130hrs) (AH/JD/DS/CRJ/MJ/ES/OM/et al)

Great Northern Diver - 3os

Black-throated Diver - 1W

Red-throated Diver - 22E, 30W, 2os

Slavonian Grebe - 1os

Fulmar - 2E, 1W

Gannet - c500os

Shag - 2E

Red-breasted Merganser - 8E, 4W, 5os

Arctic Skua - 1W

Mediterranean Gull - 4E, 2W

Common Gull - 25E

Kittiwake - c300os

Razorbill - c2000W/os

Guillemot - 20W/os

auk sp - c1000W/os

Razorbills and Guillemots (above), Shags, Red-throated Diver & Gannet off the Bill (AH)

....and a bit of a gathering of observers too this morning (OM)

Coastguard Station: Just a Red-throated Diver and a distant flock of c40 Common Scoter on the sea, plus a couple of Red-throated Divers east and a handful of Gannets on the move. (AH) Later there were also 2 Great Northern Divers offshore (DAP/NB)

Church Norton: A look along the eastern end of the beach produced a Red-throated Diver, four Great Crested Grebes and a dozen Common Scoter offshore, and half a dozen Common and Mediterranean Gulls along the beach, with two Tufted Ducks and two Little Grebes on the second Several. (AH) The most attractive bird of the morning - if not the wildest(!) - was the escaped Harris's Hawk (wearing jessies) which made its presence felt and caused a large mixed flock of Dunlin and Grey Plover to take flight. The regular Whimbrel was less impressed however, and remained in its usual area. (CRJ/ES/MJ/OM et al) 

Red-throated Diver (above) & Mediterranean Gull at Church Norton (AH)

Chichester GPs - Ivy Lake: The drake Scaup was still present but was hard to locate, mainly sleeping amongst a flock of c.60 Pochards, but there was no sign of the Long-tailed Duck. (MJ/ES/OM). The Bittern was also briefly seen again, flying from reeds then disappearing into vegetation near the pontoons (DAP/NB)

North Wall: Very quiet today along the Wall. Not much was happening on White's Creek with just a few Wigeon and Teal, 3 Redshank and 12 Black-tailed Godwits, whilst the Breech Pool is very full and only a few Teal and Mallard could be seen. Along the fence wires at the back were a pair of Stonechats and in the field itself were 109 Curlew. Even on a low tide Bremere Rife was very high and had burst its banks at several points, whilst a Buzzard was watching proceedings from a nearby tree. Interestingly, in the fields along Pagham Road where Hanbury Properties hope to build 400 houses, were 120 Gulls, 42 Curlew, a Grey Heron and 2 Roe Deer. (JDW)

 A flooded Bremere Rife and a Buzzard on the lookout (JDW)