29th - 31st July 2018

Tuesday, 31st July: After a drop of overnight rain, another fine, warm and sunny day, despite the fairly blustery westerly breeze....

Selsey Bill: (0630-0900hrs) (PB)
Gannet - 7E, 69W
Common Scoter - 3E, 4W
Kittiwake - 1W
Sandwich Tern -c20os
Little Tern - 3os
Common Tern - 5os
Sand Martin - 4W
Pied Wagtail - 2W

Also, a migrant Whitethroat was along the vegetation at the top of the beach, before flying onto a chimney and then away. (GH/SR)

Pagham East side: Two (possibly three) Ravens flew over 'cronking' this morning, heading generally south-westwards towards the harbour. Along the channel and creeks there were five Greenshank and a Spotted Redshank with 80+ Redshanks and 30 Black-tailed Godwits, but no smaller waders at all, whilst on the mudflats at least 40 Mediterranean Gulls were amongst the Black-headeds. Three Willow Warblers were calling from the hedgerows and a couple of Reed Warblers were flitting about, even offering a brief snatch of song. (OM/BFF/DM)

North Wall: The higher water level has returned at the Breech Pool so few waders were present; just eight of Black-tailed Godwit and 10 of Lapwing being it - other than the Mallards and a couple of Teal! A single Yellow Wagtail flew up calling and circled round, before dropping into a field, and several family groups of Reed Warbler were active along the hedgerows and reed edges, but apart from a few Whitethroats it was otherwise quiet. (OM) 

Ferry Pool: Early on, there were two Green Sandpipers, four Common Sandpipers, four Little Ringed Plovers, three Avocets, five Lapwings and five Black-tailed Godwits on the pool and 73 Canada Geese on the adjacent stubble field. (PB)
A bit later on two Common Sandpipers  were busy chasing each other around this morning, and there were also a Green Sandpiper, two Little Ringed Plovers, the adult and juvenile Avocets, c40 Lapwings, five Black-tailed Godwits, three juvenile Shelducks and four Teal present.
There were up to half a dozen Lesser Whitethroats and c30 Whitethoats, plus a couple of Blackcaps, around the tramway circuit, along with a few Linnets and Goldfinches and c50 Swallows, with two or three Whimbrel out on the salt-marsh. (AH/BFF/DM)

Lesser Whitethroats (above), Blackcap, Whitethroat, Common Sandpipers & Little Ringed Plover around the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: By contrast, the bushes here were quiet, as was the harbour, where just a couple of Common Terns and c25 Sandwich Terns, along with a couple of Whimbrel among 20 or so Curlews, a couple of Black-tailed Godwits and a few Redshank could be found. (AH)
Later, at high tide, there were 40 Sandwich, six Common and two Little Terns present, along with five Whimbrel and the Pale- Pale and single Dark-bellied Brent Geese, and a Raven was calling near the Church. (BFF/DM)

Sandwich Tern (above) & Common Tern at Church Norton (AH)

Medmerry: Ham Farm - A quick look produced a Peregrine sat on the derelict building out on the reserve this morning, at least one singing Corn Bunting and a handful of Yellowhammers and Whitethroats, with c50 Swallows around the farm buildings, enjoying sitting on the solar-panels. (AH)

Peregrine (above), Yellowhammer & Swallows at Medmerry (AH)

Easton Lane to Stilt Pools: The star bird for us was a juvenile Cuckoo along the fence beside the beach - it was perched on posts and barbed wire and sometimes dropped to the ground to grab prey items. Also seen were three Common Sandpipers, one Little Ringed Plover, some 10 Black-tailed Godwit, four Teal and 700 Starling, plus a hybrid Barnacle x Canada Goose on the Stilt Pool.
Insects seen included Common Blues, a Painted Lady and two Black-tailed Skimmer dragonflies. (ARK/MH per SOS)

A walk down to the pools this evening (SH) produced the following:-
Mediterranean Gull - 100+
Black-tailed Godwit - 50
Greenshank - 2
Common Sandpiper - 1
Dunlin - 20
Whimbrel - 3
Kestrel - 4
Buzzard - 2
Swallow - 10+
On the Stilt pool the following were noted......(SH)
Whimbrel - 2
Little Ringed Plover - 3 (1 juv)
Avocet - 3
Common Sandpiper - 2
Sand Martin - 10
Swallow - 10  

Fishbourne Creek: This morning there were c.275 Mediterranean Gulls, mostly adults with a few juveniles among them. A couple of the adults were c-ringed but I was too far away to read them. The other regular gulls species were all present, with a few Herring and Lesser Black-backed adults accompanied by recently fledged young, and I watched a Lesser Black-back extract a long-dead rat from the intertidal mud and without pause, eat it whole!
Also present were seven or eight Whimbrel, eight Curlew, ten Lapwing, six Mallard and a Black Swan amongst the many Mutes. (PH)

Monday, 30th July: After a bit of early drizzly rain, a much better day, with a mix of sunshine and cloud and a brisk, if mild, south-westerly........

Selsey Bill: Disappointing to say the least, with only four species making it onto the Log - soon dashing any hopes of stray sea-birds re-positioning themselves after yesterday's gales in the Channel! Very little was moving this morning beyond a few Gannets, though at least 30 Sandwich Terns were feeding offshore and the summering Eider put in an appearance. Log below:
(0700-1000hrs):  (OM/AH/BI).
Gannet - 7E, 13W
Eider - 1os
Common Tern - 1W
Sandwich Tern - 30+ os....most drifted off W

 Sandwich Tern at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: The adult and juvenile Avocet remain on the pool, with 28 Lapwings, eight Black-tailed Godwits, an adult and three juvenile Shelducks and four Teal. (AH)

Black-tailed Godwit on the Ferry (AH)

Later on there were three Common Sandpipers and two Little Ringed Plovers present on the pool, plus a couple of Willow Warblers and Whitethroats around the Visitor Centre. (OM/AW).

Also, a Common Sandpiper and a Common Tern were in Ferry Channel earlier on. (TG-P)

Common Sandpipers on the Ferry (AW)

Church Norton: Early this morning there were around 20 Sandwich, four Little and a Common Terns in the harbour, whilst the seven Pale-bellied and the single Dark-bellied Brent Geese were out in the middle. There was also a small flock of Dunlin which included what appears to be a juvenile. (AW)

Little Tern (above), Sandwich Terns and juvenile Mediterranean Gull, Sandwich Terns, Pale-bellied Brent Geese and Dunlin at Church Norton (AW)

Later on there were up to 40 Sandwich Terns and a dozen Common Terns on the mud, along with several Whimbrel and Ringed Plovers, with 30+ Swallows and a few Sand Martins moving through, though the bushes were quiet beyond the odd Linnet and a flock of c100 Goldfinches. (AH)

Little and Sandwich Terns (above), Sandwich Terns, Whimbrel, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Redshank at Church Norton (AH)

This evening the seven Pale-bellied Brent Geese were still in the harbour, along with 50+ Sandwich Terns, 10+ Common Terns, three Little Terns, 50+ Mediterranean Gulls and at least three Whimbrels. (S&SaH/AH)

Common Tern at Church Norton (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: There were 80 Pied Wagtails on the fields and 10+ Sand Martins, 20+ House Martins and 40+ Swallows feeding overhead. (S&SaH)

Chichester GPs: Westhampnett Pit - A Common Sandpiper was on the pit this morning and c30 House Martins went over. (GH)

North Wall: A Green Woodpecker was in the stable field, whilst along White's Creek there were eight Black-tailed Godwits, 20+ Redshank, a Spotted Redshank and a very successfully fishing Little Egret, with the Swallows were feeding young on the sluice gates. 

Breech Pool is nearly full again, and the Black-tailed Godwits were very fidgety, with much coming and going, with 17 the most seen together. It was very quiet along the Wall, with just a single very yellow Willow Warbler and at least 30 Goldfinches who are beginning to flock up to report. (JDW)

Spotted Redshank (above), young Swallows & Little Egret from North Wall (JDW)

Sunday, 29th July: A pretty dreadful morning, with heavy and persistent rain settling in early, driven on by a gale force southerly....

Selsey Bill: Two Balearic Shearwaters went west together at 6.40am (SH/BI), but otherwise it was quiet in the dire conditions. (SH/BI/JA/OM/AH/IP)

(0600-0830hrs)

Balearic Shearwater - 2W (0640)

Fulmar - 3W

Gannet - 2E, 22W

Mediterranean Gull - 1E

Sandwich tern - 1E, 15W

Common Tern - 4E, 2W

Sandwich Tern (above) & the hardy few at the Bill (AH)

(1050-1200hrs) (SH)
Gannet - 54E, 10W
Eider - 1os
Sandwich Tern - 2E

(1300-1630hrs) (SH/JA/BI)
Gannet - 6E, 14W
Sandwich Tern - 2E, 6W
Common Tern - 2W

Ferry Pool: Just the Avocet and its youngster - a juvenile now, along with two Black-tailed Godwits, three juvenile Shelducks and four Teal were on the pool this morning. (AH)

Juvenile Avocet (above) & juvenile Shelduck on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: There were still a couple of Little Terns and Common Terns among c40 Sandwich Terns in the harbour this morning, along with five Whimbrel, a dozen Curlews, c50 Redshank, c50 Dunlin and a handful of Swallows. (AH)

Little and Sandwich Terns (above), Whimbrel & Redshanks at Church Norton (AH)