4th - 6th March 2017

Monday, 6th March: A grey and fairly still start soon gave way to a bright and breezy morning....

Selsey Bill: Very quiet again this morning! (AH)
(0750-0825hrs)
Great Northern Diver - 3os
Slavonian Grebe - 2E, 1os
Great Crested Grebe - 2os
Gannet - 1W
Teal - 1E
Red-breasted Merganser - 2W, 2os
0915-1230hrs:  (SR/PC/C&ME)
Great Northern Diver - 4 os 
Slavonian Grebe - 1 os
Great Crested Grebe - 2W, 1 os
Gannet - 1W, 1os
Red-breasted Merganser - 4E, 6W, 12 os
Brent Goose - 12W

Sandwich Tern  - 2W

Medmerry Windmill: The Black Redstart was around the rubble pile just west of the Go-kart track this morning, but it was otherwise quiet, with just a single Curlew and Meadow Pipit on the field, and the Common Scoter flock - c40 birds, plus half a dozen Red-breasted Mergansers were well offshore from the breach area. (AH)

Black Redstart (above) & Curlew at Medmerry (AH)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Stilt Pool - Not too much about late this aftetnoon, but there were 21 Avocets on the Stilt Pool, and 50+ Fieldfares on the fields, with a Yellowhammer and a few Skylarks and Meadow Pipits along the banks and a Green Woodpecker about, too. (S&SaH)

Also seen were the wintering Common Sandpiper, two Mediterranean Gulls and the flock of about 60 Common Scoters just offshore, whilst around the breach there were 16 Ringed Plovers and a single Grey Plover. Also seen were two Red Kites heading towards the west and a Sparrowhawk near Marsh Farm. (D & J Killick per SOS)
Ferry Pool: The Water Rail popped out briefly, early on, and a Green Sandpiper was at the front, whilst later on there were 60 Lapwing and two Black-tailed Godwits on the pool and around 30 Shoveler, 40 Teal and 200 Wigeon on the creek in the field. (AH)
Also there were at least 100 Linnets in Yeoman's Field this morning. (TG-P)

Green Sandpiper (above), Green Sandpiper and Redshank & Shovelers on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: A look along the beach from the East Beach end produced two Slavonian Grebes and three Great Crested Grebes offshore, and a couple of Mediterranean Gulls and a big flock of c400 Dunlin and 50 Knot and Grey Plovers along the beach, before they flew off into the harbour.
Also, along the second Several there were a pair of Stonechats, several pairs of Linnets and a calling Cetti's Warbler, plus at least Tufted Ducks on the water. (AH)

Linnet (above), Stonechat & Dunlin, Grey Plover and Knot at Church Norton (AH)

Sidlesham: A Woodcock flew over and dropped into our neighbour's field on the west of the village, as I was walking the dog at dusk this evening. Presumably it had come from Keynor Copse, some 400m to the east. (AH)

Sunday, 5th March: Changeable, with sunshine, cloud and heavy showers - the latter dominating - pushed on by a fairly strong W/SW wind.

Selsey Bill: Not a lot today in less than pleasant conditions......
0630-0900hrs: (JA/SH/AH) 

Great Northern Diver - 1os
Slavonian Grebe - 2os
Great Crested Grebe - 1E, 1os
Fulmar - 2W
Gannet - 10E, 23W, 20os
Red-breasted Merganser - 11E, 1W, 1os
Common Scoter - 4E, 3W
Teal - 2E
Turnstone - 6ob
Curlew - 1E
Sandwich Tern - 3E
Kittiwake - 4W
Common Gull - 1W

Park Farm, Selsey; This afternoon there were singles of Kestrel, Buzzard and Grey Partridge. (S&SaH)
Earlier on, 40 Brent Geese went over east. (IP)

Northcommon Farm: A flock of c150 Brent Geese flew over towards Medmerry this morning, 57 Curlews were feeding amongst the sheep and a Red-legged Partridge was near the Golf Club. (SR)

Ivy lake: Both the Long-tailed Duck and the Scaup were showing well, and there were also a Cetti's Warbler and a couple of Chiffchaffs present. (SH)

Long-tailed Duck (above) & Scaup on Ivy Lake (SH)

Church Norton: A Dartford Warbler was along the west side, as were at least four Chiffchaffs, a couple of Goldcrests and a pair of Linnets, and there were at least 80 Knot among 400 Dunlin and 50 Grey Plovers.

At the end of Ferry Channel there were the Spotted Redshank and half a dozen Black-tailed Godwits, and there was a minimum of 78 Avocets on the mud. Presuming that the 40 at Medmerry were still there, on there nesting area, there could be around 120 Avocets on the Peninsula at the moment, almost certainly a record high count. (AH)

Laer on there was a Stonechat on the concrete spit, 23 Tufted Ducks on the second Several and two Common Scoters, four Red-breasted Mergansers and a Great Crested Grebe offshore. (S&SaH)

Chiffchaff (above), Spotted Redshank and Redshank, Avocets, Knot and Dunlin & Wren at Church Norton (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were two Black-tailed Godwits, four Shelduck and 40 Teal on the pool, and c50 Lapwings, c20 Shoveler and c200 Wigeon on the field, all put up by a low-flying Buzzard. (AH)

Teal on the Ferry (AH)

Saturday, 4th March: A rather calm and spring-like start, with just a light SSE breeze and sunshine, but cloud building by late morning with the wind backing SSW and becoming cooler and fresher..... then after a couple of heavier showers becoming sunnier again with the wind swinging back SSE.

Selsey Bill: A reasonable selection species-wise, though little moving through overall, except for a few flocks of Brent Geese perhaps on early passage..... 

0630-1230hrs: (JA/SH/PB/IP/AH/SR/OM)

Red-throated Diver - 4E, 1W, 3os

Great Northern Diver - 8 os

Diver sp - 2E, 1W

Slavonian Grebe - 7E, 8 os

Great Crested Grebe - 1E, 3 os

Fulmar - 2W

Gannet - 2W

Shag - 2E, 1os flew off W

Brent Goose - 68E, 110W

Common Scoter - 7E

Red-breasted Merganser - 5E, 8W, 24 os

Shoveler - 1 os

Turnstone - 12E, 2W

Sparrowhawk - 1 gardens

Guillemot - 1 os

Razorbill - 7 os

auk sp - 2 os

Sandwich Tern - 6 os

Mediterranean Gull - 3W

Meadow Pipit - 3N

Pied Wagtail - 1N

Red-throated Divers (above), Great Northern Diver & something very large being towed up the Solent at the Bill (AH)

(1520-1620hrs) (SH)

Gannet - 2W

Shag - 1os
Common Scoter - 4E

Red-breasted Merganser - 2E, 2W

Razorbill - 1E, 1W
auk sp - 1E

Selsey Coastguard Station: There were c50 Common Scoters well off to the west, but not much else. (AH)

Church Norton: A Peregrine, a Raven and 8 Buzzards were up high over the north of the Reserve, whilst a Stonechat was in the horse field and the Severals held 19 Tufted Ducks, 4 calling Cetti's Warblers and a Sparrowhawk. Offshore there were 4 Red-breasted Mergansers, and a Fulmar flew west then an Avocet also flew west close inshore (S&SaH)

Ferry Pool: The Water Rail was down near the front again, and a Green Sandpiper was at the back this morning. Also about were c200 Wigeon, c5 Shoveler, c20 Teal, c80 Lapwing , two Black-tailed Godwits and four Shelducks. (AH)

Water Rail (above) & Green Sandpiper at the Ferry (AH)

Ivy lake: Both the Scaup and the Long-tailed Duck were showing well this afternoon, along with c20 Shoveler and eight Gadwall, plus the usual Tufted Ducks and Pochard, whilst two Shelduck flew over, a Chiffchaff was singing and half a dozen Little Egrets were roosting in the waterside bushes. (AH/AB)

Scaup (above), Long-tailed and Tufted Ducks, Pochard, Shelduck & Little Egrets at Ivy Lake (AH)

Scaup (above), plus Tufted Duck, plus Long-tailed Duck, & plus Pochard on Ivy Lake (AB)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Stilt Pools: On the first sluice pool were six Teal and opposite on the marsh were another group of Teal & some distant gulls and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was in the poplar trees here, too. Good numbers of singing Skylarks along the banks and in the fields on the way to the pools and a small flock of Yellowhammers was around Marsh Barn along with a few Reed Buntings. Along the fenceline was a single Stonechat and six Meadow Pipits and two Red-legged Partridges were visible from the viewpoint. 

A good mix of ducks on the pools but all in relatively small numbers including Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Shoveler and Gadwall. Four Shelducks dropped in for a wash and there were nine Canada Geese present. Among the  Black-headed Gulls was a Lesser Black-backed Gull whilst there were exactly 40 Avocets and 28 Lapwings on view near the middle island. Very quiet offshore and along the beach with only a Great Crested Grebe showing on the sea. (BI)

Avocets & Red-legged Partridge at Medmerry (BI)