Saturday, 9th December: A lovely cold and bright winter's morning, with just a light northerly breeze.....
Ferry Pool: There were just a handful of Lapwings and c30 Wigeon on the largely frozen pool this morning, whilst there were two or three Song Thrushes and 20+Chaffinches by the Visitor Centre. (AH)
Long Pool: A Spotted Redshank was in Ferry Channel this morning, along with c20 Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit and c300 Wigeon, with c200 Brent Geese and c40 Canada Geese flying over west.
Around a dozen Avocets were at the far end of the channel, along with plenty of Wigeon, Teal and Shelduck, but the Long Pool itself was frozen up and the bushes held just a couple each of Goldcrest, Song Thrush and Reed Bunting, plus a couple of Meadow Pipits over, and 20 Lapwings were on the adjacent ploughed field. (AH/IP)
Spotted Redshank (above), Lapwings, Brent Geese & Wigeon around Long Pool (AH)
Church Norton: There was a Firecrest at either end of the churchyard this morning, along with one or two Goldcrests, a female Bullfinch and several Jays, but there was no sign of the Velvet Scoter in the harbour.
At least 1000 Brent Geese dropped in on the far side, and there were similar numbers of Dunlin on the mud, but just one or two Knot were to be found, whilst a Bar-tailed Godwit and the Whimbrel were also about.
There was one Goosander in the harbour-mouth and on the far side from the spit there were the three Goldeneye and up to eight Red-breasted Mergansers, whilst offshore there were three Eider, up to eight Slavonian Grebes and a distant Great Northern Diver going east. A visiting birder reported possibly seeing a Snow Bunting that flew off, but otherwise there were half a dozen Skylarks, a couple of Meadow Pipits and c50 Greenfinches on the spit and a Kingfisher on the metalwortk. (AH/IP/AW/S&SaH)
Goosander (above), Firecrest, Whimbrel, Dunlin & Brent Geese at Church Norton (AH)
West Wittering: There was a flock of a dozen Redwings in the garden (to the north of the village) this morning. (GM)
Redwing (above), Blackbird, Long-tailed Tit & Little Egret at West Wittering (GM)
Chi GPs - Drayton Pits: Nothing out of the ordinary on the largely-unfrozen pits, but 185 Shoveler and 16 Snipe were good cold-weather counts for the site. A Mistle Thrush was defending a berry-laden holly tree against a few Redwings, but otherwise passerines were few. (OM)
Medmerry: The Spoonbill was at Toe End feeding on the incoming tide at 1230 and there were 3 Stonechats in the area. I walked to Ham Farm on the bank and in the small pond were 4 Gadwall and 9 Tufted Duck, plus 3 or possibly 4 Kestrels on the walk. (MJ)
Pagham Spit/Lagoon: A Goosander was showing well from the end of the spit this morning, feeding briskly at low tide, and nearby were three Goldeneye, a male and two females, and four Red-breasted Mergansers. There were two Stonechats along the spit itself, four Rock Pipits were working the shore by the remains of the old hide and on Little Lagoon were three Little Grebes and a Redshank. On Pagham Lagoon were another Redshank and a few Little Grebes but little else other than 20+ Tufted Ducks. (BI)
Goosander, above, Red-breasted Mergansers & Goldeneye from Pagham Spit (BI)
Almodington: On the winter bird survey of the large industrial-scale horticultural fields in Almodington there were 150 Lapwings, which I haven't had there before, along with reasonable numbers of feeding Black-headed Gulls (200), and a single Snipe, as well, which was a nice surprise. (GM)
Friday, 8th December: A bright, but very cold, morning, with a brisk and unrelenting north-westerly breeze....
Selsey Bill: It was very quiet this morning, though a couple of Slavonian Grebes were offshore, with a couple more and half a dozen Great Crested Grebes west and a couple of Red-throated Divers going east. Full log below. (C&ME/PB/AH)
(0730-1015hrs)
Great Northern Diver - 2E, 2W
Red-throated Diver - 2E
Slavonian Grebe - 2W, 2os
Great Crested Grebe - 9W, 1os
Gannet - 1E, 7W
Shag - 2E
Brent Goose - 3W
Pintail - 1W
Common Scoter - 4E
Red-breasted Merganser - 1E, 13W, 2os
Mediterranean Gull - 2E, 2W
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1W
Guillemot - 1W
auk sp - 1E, 2W
Song Thrush - 1p
Shag (above), Mediterranean Gull & Lesser Black-backed Gull at the Bill (AH)
Ferry Pool: There were two Shelducks and a Redshank on the pool, with c40 Golden Plovers among c500 Lapwings on the field, along with c40 Canada Geese and at least 250 Wigeon. (AH)
Church Norton: The Velvet Scoter was once again in the main channel, along with the two Goosanders, three or four Red-breasted Mergansers and half a dozen Great Crested Grebes.
There were at least 200 Knot and 1000 Dunlin out on the mud, as were three Bar-tailed Godwits, whilst the Whimbrel was in its usual area, too. At least 80 Golden Plover were up at the back of the harbour with c500 Lapwing, and at least 500 Brent geese were about, too, though small birds were restricted to a handful of Skylarks on the spit and a couple of Goldcrests near the hide. (AH/PB)
Later on, one of the Goosanders was close in on the west side. (AW)
Golden Plovers & Lapwings (above) & Wigeon and Lapwings at the Ferry (AH)
Church Norton: The Velvet Scoter was once again in the main channel, along with the two Goosanders, three or four Red-breasted Mergansers and half a dozen Great Crested Grebes.
There were at least 200 Knot and 1000 Dunlin out on the mud, as were three Bar-tailed Godwits, whilst the Whimbrel was in its usual area, too. At least 80 Golden Plover were up at the back of the harbour with c500 Lapwing, and at least 500 Brent geese were about, too, though small birds were restricted to a handful of Skylarks on the spit and a couple of Goldcrests near the hide. (AH/PB)
Goosander (above), Velvet Scoter, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwits, Knot & Curlew at Church Norton (AH)
Later on, one of the Goosanders was close in on the west side. (AW)
Goosander at Church Norton (AW)
Pagham & North Wall: Two
Coal Tits were on the feeders in my
garden and 8 Fieldfares along Church Lane. On Pagham Beach were 58
Oystercatchers and 40 Turnstone, whilst a female Goosander was in the Harbour entrance
and nearby were 4 Red-breasted Mergansers. Water levels are high
again in the Breech Pool and the only waders were 38 Black-tailed Godwits. (JDW)
Coal Tits at Church Lane, Pagham (JDW)
Selsey: A Black Redstart was in a garden in Barnes Close at 3pm before flying off (S.Bell)
Thursday, 7th December: A pretty dire morning, with a gale force south-westerly blowing and heavy rain setting in after a fairly dry start....
Ferry Pool: There were two Lapwing, a Redshank, four Teal and eight Shelduck on the pool and c100 Wigeon on the field this morning. (AH)
Lapwings and Shelduck (above) & the new hide taking shape at the Ferry (AH)
Medmerry: Toe End - Offshore today there were a Razorbill, a Red-throated Diver and at least 15 Common Scoters. (SH)
Northern edge of Selsey: There were three Redwings present today. (SH)
Church Norton: The Velvet Scoter was still in the main channel, along with a handful of Little and Great Crested Grebes, and at least 500 Brent Geese were out on the mud. Also, around 140 Knot were with 500 or so Dunlin and the usual Grey Plovers, Curlews and Redshanks, but there wasn't too much else to report, with a couple of skulking Jays, Song Thrushes and Goldcrests being about it for the bushes. (AH)
Velvet Scoter (above), Knot, Knot and Brent Geese, Brent Geese & Dunlin at Church Norton (AH)
A quick walk at a blustery Church Norton at lunchtime showed very little on the rough sea except a group of 10 Great Crested Grebes and a small group of Red-breasted Mergansers, whilst a Great Northern Diver and the two Goosanders flew along towards the harbour mouth.
The Velvet Scoter was still present and there were a further 6 Red-breasted Mergansers in the harbour, along with approx 1000 Brent Geese. (AW)
Great Northern Diver (above), Goosander & Red-breasted Mergansers at Church Norton (AW)
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