Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 10th

Sunday, 12th November: Despite there being plenty of sunshine it was a decidedly cold morning, with a very strong north-westerly wind blowing.....

Selsey Bill: Once again there were no numbers of birds, but of a fairly wide variety of species. Full log below. (JA/AH/SR/AF/RJS et al)
(0700-0900hrs)
Great Northern Diver - 1E, 1os
Red-throated Diver - 2E
Slavonian Grebe - 1E
Great Crested Grebe - 1E
Gannet - 13E, 24W, 30os
Shag - 1E
Grey Heron - 1W
Common Scoter - 2W
Red-breasted Merganser - 2E
Curlew - 1W
Mediteranean Gull - 1E, 1W
Kittiwake - 5W
Guillemot - 1W
Razorbill - 5E
auk sp - 10E
Pied Wagtail - 3W

Great Northern Diver at the Bill (AH)

An interesting gull was on the beach at Hillfield Road this afternoon with both pure Caspian Gull and Yellow-legged Gull being considered as possible IDs. After due consultation with the "Gull gurus" the consensus is a probable Caspian X Herring Gull hybrid, comments welcome though and there is more on this bird here: Hybrid Gull?

Also present were a single 2nd winter Great Black-backed Gull, several 1st winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls and the one footed Mediterranean Gull. (ESt)

Three views of a probable Caspian X Herring Gull at Selsey Bill (ESt)

East Beach: A Stonechat was on Lifeboat Green again today, along with two Pied Wagtails and a Meadow Pipit. (SR)

Stonechat at East Beach (SR)

Ferry Pool: There were just six Shelducks, c100 Teal and c150 Wigeon on the pool this morning. (AH)

Teal on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: The Velvet Scoter was still in the main channel this morning, apparently feeding on crabs, and there were half a dozen or so Little and Great Crested Grebes in the vicinity. There were hundreds of Dunlin and 50+ Grey Plover in the harbour, but not too many other waders of note, though a Greenshank was heard three times, but not seen.
The Pale-bellied Brent Goose was among the Brent Goose flock (c1000 in number), which were very restless, being repeatedly disturbed from their favoured field by a farm employee driving up and down, throwing lighted fire-crackers from his pick-up window!.
The two Peregrines were in the harbour, though unsurprisingly, there was little in the bushes beyond a couple of Goldcrests and Jays, whilst offshore there was still a Red-throated Diver and a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers. (AH/BI/AF/RJS et al)

Velvet Scoter (above), Pale-bellied and Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Brent Geese & Dunlin at Church Norton (AH)

North Wall: A cold wind was blowing along the wall this morning. In the horse field at Welbourne there were a Green Woodpecker and a Pied Wagtail, whilst early on White's Creek was alive with birds, including a Spotted Redshank among plenty of Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew, Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Lapwing,. Mallard, Wigeon, Pintail, Teal, Little Egrets and 200+ Starlings.
Water levels in the Breech Pool were high, but was home to around 30 Mallard, 50 Teal, 15 Wigeon and, unusually, a Pintail, whilst in the field behind were 110 Wigeon, three Grey Herons and two Roe Deer.
Also, a Ruff was later reported on White's Creek but I was unable to locate it. (JDW)

Pintail (above), Black-tailed Godwit & Green Woodpecker from North Wall (JDW)

Snowhill Creek/East Head: Snowhill Creek held good numbers Wigeon & especially Teal with over 100 of the latter present but few waders, just a single Redshank & three Black-tailed Godwits showing in the cold wind. A Dartford Warbler was briefly on the gorse here as were two Stonechats but smaller birds were wisely keeping their heads down in the breeze. East Head produced just a flock of Linnets, two Reed Buntings and another Stonechat and there was little out on the water other than a few Great Crested Grebes. On the fields near the cafe were c.500 Brent Geese. (BI)

Medmerry: Porthole Farm - The Barn Owl was out hunting again at dusk this evening. (AH)

Saturday, 11th November: A fairly gloomy day, with a brisk westerly breeze and lots of heavy cloud, though mostly mild and dry...

Selsey Bill: Fairly quiet, though two Purple Sandpipers on the beach before flying off west were a bonus. Full log below. (JA/SR)
Great Northern Diver - 1E
Slavonian Grebe - 1os
Gannet - 2E
Teal - 1W
Red-breasted Merganser - 2W
Purple Sandpiper - 2p, then W
Grey Wagtail - 1p

Ferry Pool: There were eight Snipe on the concealed pool, with six Shelduck, c30 Teal and c100 Wigeon on the main pool. (AH)

Snipe on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: The Velvet Scoter was in the main channel of the harbour again this morning, bringing a steady stream of admirers despite the conditions.
Also about in the harbour were a Goosander, early on but not later, five Red-breasted Mergansers, several Little Grebes, a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits and a dozen Knot and Avocet among the Dunlin and Grey Plovers and at least 1000 Brent Geese, commuting to and fro from the arable fields.
Offshore there were two Eider, a Great Northern Diver and two Red-throated Divers. (AH/AW/BI/SR et al)

Eider (AW) (above), Velvet Scoter, Goosander, Great Northern Diver, Red-throated Diver, Bar-tailed Godwit & juvenile Brent Geese at Church Norton (AH)

This afternoon the Velvet Scoter was still in the harbour and there was a Great Northern Diver and three Eider offshore. (AW) The Pale-bellied Brent Goose was also present in the gloom late afternoon before the flock flew into the harbour, the five Red-breasted Mergansers were on the edge of Tern Island and two Goosanders, a male & female, flew in, landed briefly, and then flew further down into the harbour. (BI)

Great Northern Diver at Church Norton (AW)

Friday, 10th November: A bright and blustery day, with plenty of winter sun, but kept cool by the nagging north-westerly....

Selsey Bill: Quiet again offshore, though, as always, the odd diver and auk moving about, and there was a small amount of visible migration, too. Full log below.....

0730-1100hrs: (C&ME/AH/SR/JA)
Red-throated Diver - 3W
Great Northern Diver - 2E, 1os
Slavonian Grebe - 2E
Great Crested Grebe - 2E
Gannet - 1E, 9W
Shag - 1E
Brent Goose - 1E, 4W
Red-breasted Merganser - 3W
Common Scoter - 7E, 8W
Wigeon - 6W
Curlew - 2W
Great Skua - 1W
skua sp - 1E
Common Gull - 3W
Kittiwake - 4W
auk sp - 18E, 3W
Stock Dove - 31W
Meadow Pipit - 8W
Pied Wagtail - 15W
Grey Wagtail - 1W
Stonechat - 1 ob
Goldcrest - 1 gardens
Goldfinch - 25 p

Goldfinches at the Bill (AH)

East Beach: A Stonechat was on Lifeboat Green again this morning. (SR)

Stonechat at East Beach (SR)

Ferry Pool: There were just six Snipe and 16 Teal on the pool and c85 Wigeon on the adjacent cropped field this morning. (AH)

Wigeon at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: The Pale-bellied Brent Goose was among the 1000+ Brent Geese in the harbour, being constantly disturbed - as was everything else - by the very loud bird-scarers set by the farmer in the nearby fields. Also out in the harbour were at least 30 Knot and a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits among the large numbers of Dunlin and Grey Plovers, the Whimbrel in its usual haunt and eight Little Grebes together, whilst on the spit there were half a dozen Skylarks and Meadow Pipits.

The hedges were quiet, though the pair of Bullfinches and a couple of Jays showed briefly, a Buzzard went over and a few Goldcrests were keeping well hidden in the undergrowth. (AH)

Late in the afternoon, an interesting-looking duck was found in the harbour by AW..... initial views from one photo hinted perhaps at something rarer - with Surf Scoter being considered and even one of the white-winged scoters (!) - but other views and photos soon clarified the situation with the bird soon being identified as a Velvet Scoter. Nice try though.