1st - 3rd December 2017

Sunday, 3rd December: Another grey but fairly pleasant day, with just a light northerly breeze...

Selsey Bill: Another day with moderate numbers but a good selection of species, including Velvet Scoter, Slavonian Grebe and Guillemot. Full log below. (JA/SH/PB/IP/AH/SR)
(0730-0900hrs)
Great Northern Diver - 3os
Red-throated Diver -10E, 3W
diver sp - 1E
Slavonian Grebe - 1W
Great Crested Grebe - 4E
Gannet - 10W
Shag - 2E
Pale-bellied Brent goose - 1E
Brent Goose - 2W
Shelduck - 3W
Teal - 1W
Velvet Scoter - 1W
Common Scoter - 9W
Red-breasted Merganser - 4E, 15W, 3os
Dunlin - 2W
Common Gull - 2W
Kittiwake - 32W
Guillemot - 1E
Razorbill - 3E, 7W, 3os
auk sp - 10E, 34W

Pale-bellied Brent Goose (above), Razorbills & Shag at the Bill (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: There were a Stonechat, a Grey Wagtail, two Mistle Thrushes, a Reed Bunting and a Jay around the fields, along with c40 Curlew and ten Oystercatchers, plus a Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk over. Also a Stonechat was on the roof of a house at the sea end of Park Lane. (AH)

Grey Wagtail (above) & Stonechats at Park Farm, Selsey (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were eight Shoveler, a Redshank, four Black-tailed Godwits, four Shelduck, c40 Teal and a Pheasant on hte pool, with c200 Wigeon on the adjacent arable field. (AH)

Shovelers and Teal on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: There was a good selection offshore again this morning, including up to 17 Slavonian Grebes, four Great Northern Divers, 15 Common Scoter, two Eider, half a dozen Red-breasted Mergansers, Great Crested Grebes and Gannets and two redhead Goosanders which flew out from the harbour and worked there way westwards all along the high-tide line from the Severals to Park Lane before flying back east.

In the harbour the Velvet Scoter and three Goldeneye were still present, as were six Red-breasted Mergansers and plenty of Pintail, while among the commoner wasders were the Whimbrel, a Spotted Redshank, a flock of eight Bar-tailed Godwits and c40 Knot.

There wasn't too much on the landside, though the pair of Bullfinches were near the mound,  a Stonechat, a couple of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks and  hte flock of Linnets and Greenfinches were on the spit and a pair of Sparrowhawks were watched successfully chasing down a thrush (possibly Song or Redwing) over the Priory Wood. (AH/IP/BI/S&SaH/PB/P&JW)
Also, a Black-throated Diver was offshore with a Great Northern Diver this morning. (M&S Radbourn)

Slavonian Grebes (above), Goosanders, Bar-tailed Godwits & Dunlin, Knot and Grey Plovers at Church Norton (AH)

North Wall:  At 1000am there were 1400 Brent Geese in the harbour close to the sluices before most flew off north-west but soon returned back to the harbour. A Grey Wagtail was around the old sluices and a Kingfisher was along the Wall, whilst on Breech Pool there were 21 Black-tailed Godwits and 17 Common Snipe. 

In the field north-east of Honer Reservoir were 54 Mute Swans and two Black Swans, whilst on the reservoir itself was the Long-tailed Duck and a Pochard. Also, two Coal Tits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were on my garden feeders. (JDW)

 Long-tailed Duck, Black Swans with a Mute and Brent Geese at the North Wall (JDW)

Chichester Marina:  The fields alongside the canal are always good for thrushes and today they didn't disappoint, two noisy Mistle Thrushes were unsuccessfully defending their berries against a flock of 11 Redwing.  There was also a Kestrel, a Buzzard, 3 Stock Doves, 2 Pied Wagtails, 15 Tufted Duck, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 11 Long-tailed Tits and c30 Lapwing overhead. (SR)

Birdham Pool:  Two drake Mandarin Ducks were displaying to a single famale alongside the far bank, there were 2 Grey Herons, 8 Little Grebes, 11 Gadwall, 14 Tufted Duck, a pair of Mute Swans and c25 Mallard. (SR)

Mandarins on Birdham Pool (SR)

Saturday, 2nd December: At long last the northerly winds eased, leaving a cool and grey, if still, morning....

Selsey Bill: Highlight of a fairly busy morning was a Little Auk heading west at 8.35am, that was tracked right across the horizon, mid-way out and surprisingly always quite high above the sea. Otherwise there were 21 Red-throated Divers, a few Common Scoter and Wigeon and lots of unidentified distant auks and ducks also heading west, and two Slavonian Grebes and three Great Northern Divers on the sea. Full log later. (JA/SH/AH)
(0730-0930hrs)
Great Northern Diver - 3os
Red-throated Diver -7E, 21W
diver sp - 2E, 1W
Slavonian Grebe - 2os
Great Crested Grebe - 4E
Gannet - 2E, 1W
Brent Goose - 4W
Shelduck - 5W
Wigeon - 54W, 20E
Teal - 11E
Shoveler - 3W
Gadwall - 2W
Common Scoter - 8E, 16W
Red-breasted Merganser - 19E, 7W
Mediterranean Gull -1W, 2os
Common Gull - 9W
Kittiwake - 1E, 1W
Little Auk - 1W
Razorbill - 3E, 2W, 2os
auk sp - 4E, 180W

Red-throated Divers (above) & Common Scoters at the Bill (AH)

Coastguard Station: A quick late morning look produced two Great Northern Divers, two Razorbills and a Great Crested Grebe offshore. (AH)

Great Northern Diver off the Coastguard Station (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: There were two Grey Wagtails and a Stonechat in the fields this morning. (S&SaH)

East Head: With hardly a breath of wind the sea was really flat,scoping from the beach we quickly found 2 Great Northern Divers in the main channel and several parties of Sanderling feeding along the high tide line.They were very tolerant of passing walkers and their roaming dogs.
At the northern end of the head we scoped the main channel finding another Great Northern Diver and nearby a delightful Black-throated Diver. Also out  on the water were 15 Common Scoters, they all looked like female or 1st winter birds. Good numbers of Red-breasted Merganser - 25 - and similar number of Great crested Grebes were the highlights.
Over head a Short-eared Owl was probably put up by a dog from the dune slack,giving us good although short views as it disappeared back in the dunes.Out on a navigation marker a Peregrine was  sitting looking rather menacing, whilst in the dunes a couple of Stonechats a small flock of Skylarks were noted, as well as Meadow Pipit and Reed Bunting.
On the east side of the head stacks of waders were roosting with hundreds of Dunlin, 80 Golden Plover with a few Redshank and Grey Plover, and at least 100 Ringed Plover were counted in the  area. As we were walking back towards the land end I noticed a Reed Bunting in flight and just in front of it a Snow Bunting flying north. It called briefly and dropped down over the dunes at the far end where it began feeding on the beach at the edge of the dunes, giving cracking views .
There was a Mediterranean Gull in the car park and then up to Snowhill Marsh and the lane.In the creek as the tide was a falling nice winter plumage Greenshank and on Snowhill stack of Teal and Wigeon, also seeing Black-tailed Godwit and a few hiding Common Snipe, whilst in the sallows in the lane we found Goldcrest and stunning Firecrest.
Returning we scanned the mudflats noting  a flock of Knot and single Bar-tailed Godwit that disappeared into a gulley. (BFF & the SOS)

Snow Bunting at Eat Head (BFF)

Ferry Pool: There were in excess of 300 Wigeon on the pool this morning, along with 40 Teal, 30 Lapwings, three Shelduck, three Redshank and a Black-tailed Godwit. (AH)

Black-tailed Godwit (above) & Wigeon at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: Offshore this morning there were two Great Northern Divers, 11 Slavonian Grebes and half a dozen Great Crested Grebes, with a Red-throated Diver and four Red-breasted Mergansers going west, along with at least 30 Teal and 80 Wigeon, with more of the latter on the sea, too.
In the harbour on the high tide there were three Goldeneye, six-Red-breasted Mergansers and the Velvet Scoter, plus plenty of Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Brent Geese.and roosting commoner waders.
There were two female Bullfinches in the first Several and a another pair behind the hide, and ttere was a Firecrest, several Goldcrests and four Song Thrushes in the churchyard.
Also, sadly, an injured Barn Owl was retrieved from a ditch on Greenlease Farm by a dog-walker and taken into care. (AH/AW/S&SaH/P&JW)

Slavonian Grebes (above), Great Northern Divers, Goldeneyes, Goldeneyes and Red-breasted Mergansers, Firecrest & Goldcrest at Church Norton (top four AW, others AH)

Injured Barn Owl at Church Norton (SH)

Friday, 1st December: Another chilly day, with a fresh northerly breeze and a bit more cloud than of late.....

Selsey Bill: (0745-0900hrs) (JA)

Red-throated Diver - 2E

Gannet - 1E, 20W, 10os

Shag - 1os

Brent Goose - 1E, 5W

Wigeon - 27W, 1os

Teal - 12W

Common Scoter - 9W

Red-breasted Merganser - 4os

Dunlin - 2W

Common Gull - 9W

Mediterranean Gull - 1W

Kittiwake - 1E

Razorbill - 4W

auk sp - 6E, 33W

Pied Wagtail - 1p

Medmerry::Where we have been putting out some seed on the stubble field near Marsh Farm, it has helped attract 40 Yellowhammers and there were also 300 Linnets on the nearby bird crop, whilst also, the farmland surveyors had a Short-eared Owl at Ham two days ago. (BO'D)

Medmerry: Toe End - A Short-eared Owl was seen briefly over the banks today and a Fieldfare flew over the site, while offshore there was still an Eider and 30+ Common Scoters. (sH)

North Wall: The two Ruff were still on the Breech Pool, along with at least a dozen Snipe, c600 Black-tailed Godwit, a Pintail, eight Wigeon and 40 Teal, whilst along the hedges there were a Redwing and half a dozen Song Thrushes, plus a dozen Reed Buntings. There were at least 500 Brent Geese and a lot of Wigeon in hte harbour, but most of the waders were roosting out in the middle. (AH/PC/IH at al)

Ruff (above), Snipe, Redwing, Reed Bunting & Wigeon from the North Wall (AH)

Pagham Lagoon/Spit: There was little of note on the lagoon beyond a couple of Pochards and the usual Little Grebes and Tufted Ducks, whilst out in the harbour from the spit were three distant Goldeneye, including the drake, a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers and ten Great Crested Grebes, plus the Velvet Scoter viewable on the other side of the harbour.

There wasn't much on the spit beyond a couple of Skylarks, whilst offshore there were more Great Crested Grebes and a couple of Gannets, feeding quite close inshore. (AH)

Goldeneye (above), Little Grebe & Gannet around Pagham Spit (AH)

Honer Resrrvoir: The Long-tailed Duck was present again on Wednesday (per IH), but not today, though there were c40 Fieldfare, a handful of Redwing, a dozen Yellowhammers and at least 20 Reed Buntings around the maize field and a Peregrine went over. (AH)

Fieldfares (above), Yellowhammer & Peregrine at Honer Reservoir (AH)