17th - 19th January 2019

Saturday, 19th January: A very grey and gloomy morning, with drizzle never far away, though a little milder of late in a moderate south-easterly breeze ......

Selsey Bill: The highlight was undoubtedly a Black Guillemot west at 8.25am, though an Arctic Skua offshore was unusual, and there was plenty of auk, Kittiwake and Gannet movement - initially west in the hour after dawn and then back east. Full log below. (JA/IP/BI et al)
(0740-1040hrs)
Great Northern Diver - 2os
Red-throated Diver - 1E, 9W
diver sp - 3E
Slavonian Grebe - 10E
Fulmar - 2E, 1W
Gannet - 1205E, 1075W, 50os
Brent Goose - 3E
Common Scoter - 7E
Eider - 3E, 1W
Red-breasted Merganser - 27E, 14W, 24os
Arctic Skua - 1os
Mediterranean Gull - 5E
Common Gull - 3E, 2W
Kittiwake - 397E, 176W
Razorbill - 2461E, 2243W, 300os
Guillemot - 16E, 8W, 3os
Black Guillemot - 1W (8.25am)
auk sp - 159E, 1426W, 60os

This afternoon a white-winged gull, probably a Glaucous Gull, was distantly on the bar but unfortunately did not linger for more than a few minutes. (JA/IP)

Ferry Pool: There were just the usual 300+ Wigeon, and 30 or so Shoveler and Teal on the pool this morning. (AH)

Shoveler on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: A quick look early on produced the Firecrest near the car park, at least 500 Brent Geese, plus lots of Wigeon, Teal, Grey Plovers and Dunlin in the harbour and a dozen Mediterranean and Common Gulls, plus a few distant Gannets were offshore. (AH)

Brent Geese at Church Norton (AH)

Fishbourne Creek: A total of nine Goldeneyes, including three drakes, half a dozen Red-breasted Mergansers, c40 Pintails, c200 Wigeon and at least 1000 Brent Geese were on the water at high tide this morning, whilst six Greenshank, five Spotted Redshank and 100+ Black-tailed Godwits were among the roosting waders.
Also, at least six Rock Pipits and a Grey Wagtail were along the edges, four Yellowhammers were in the bushes and a Kingdfisher was briefly along the outflow channel. (AH/IP)

Greenshanks (above), Grey Wagtail, Goldeneyes, Red-breasted Mergansers, Yellowhammers, Pintail and Wigeon & Black-tailed Godwits and Grey Plovers in Fishbourne Creek (AH)

West Wittering: A Marsh Harrier was over Snowhill Marsh at about 1000hrs (PH)

Ivy Lake: Unfortunately the "scrub clearance" is still continuing apace along the lakes drastically reducing much of the habitat for small birds. Despite this a Tree-creeper was present around mid-day favouring the path between Ivy & Triangle Lakes along with a few Goldcrests, a Chiffchaff and a small mixed Tit flock. It remained quiet on the water with just a few Pochards of note. (BI/IP)

Treecreeper at Ivy Lake (BI)

Medmerry Toe End: Two Corn Buntings, one singing, were on the fence by the caravans today. (BI)

Corn Bunting at Toe End (BI)

Friday, 18th January: Another cold but mostly sunny morning, despite the moderate breeze coming from the south......

Selsey Bill: There plenty of Razorbills, Kittiwakes and Gannets going west early on, before many birds appeared to return eastwards. There were also another couple of Fulmars and a few Red-throated Divers. Full log below. (AH/IP/BI/JA/PM/TR)
(0745-0945hrs)
Red-throated Diver - 9W

Great Crested Grebe - 3os

Fulmar - 1E, 1W
Gannet - 290W, 202E, 400os
Brent Goose - 3E
Common Scoter - 1W
Red-breasted Merganser - 20E, 12os
Kittiwake - 155E, 156W

Common Gull - 25W
Mediterranean Gull - 2E, 3W
Guillemot - 5E, 5W, 1os
Razorbill - 90E, 1158W
auk sp - 1619E, 66W

Red-throated Diver (above), Razorbiill & Gannets at the Bill (AH)

Drayton Pits: The Great White Egret flew over, heading for the South Pit, this morning and later was sat on one of the islands. Also a Kingfisher, 11 Snipe, 140 Shoveler and two Chiffchaffs were on South pit, whilst 138 Pochard were on North pit (BI/OM)

Great White Egret at Drayton (BI)

Church Norton: A redhead Goosander was feeding busily in the harbour mouth this morning, with a Red-breasted Merganser nearby and two Goldeneye in the main channel. 

Offshore a Guillemot and a few Razorbills were on the sea, with more of the latter flying about, but otherwise there were only a handful of distant Gannets and half a dozen Red-breasted Mergansers and eight Great Crested Grebes on the sea.

The harbour was fairly quiet, with low wader numbers, though the Whimbrel and a Peregrine were present and several hundred Brent Geese were coming and going, whilst a Firecrest, a couple of Goldcrests and a small flock of Long-tailed Tits, plus a couple of Jays, were in the bushes between the car-park and the harbour and at least 30 Skylarks were along the spit. (AH/IP/BI/PM/TR)

Goosander (above), Red-breasted Merganser, Whimbrel, Skylark & Jay at Church Norton (AH)

Off Church Norton earlier on, there was a large passage of Razorbills, with one or two dropping onto the sea, along with a Guillemot on the sea, another flying west, and a Slavonian Grebe nearby, whilst the pair of Stonechats were on the horse-field again. 

Sadly a Peregrine killed a Curlew which had taken to grazing lately in a field along Rectory Lane. Initially it was mobbed by crows before they left it in peace. (AW)

Guillemot (above), Razorbills, Peregrine & Stonechats at Church Norton (AW)

Ferry Pool: There were 350 Wigeon, two Shelducks, 35 Shoveler and 25 Teal on the pool this morning, with c500 Lapwings around the field,and two Black-tailed Godwits and 80 Teal in the channel opposite. (AH)
Later on, a Green Sandpiper and at least four Snipe were around the pool, and two Stonechats were in the field, whilst the Water Rail was in Red Barn Ditch and at least 25 Avocets were at the far end of Ferry Channel. (SA)

Teal (above), Black-tailed Godwit & Shoveler and Wigeon at the Ferry (AH)

Thursday, 17th January: A very cold but bright morning, with the fresh breeze veering back round to north-westerly......

Selsey Bill: It was inevitably quieter than yesterday, but there were still hundreds of Razorbills on the move, along with reasonable numbers of Kittiwakes and Gannets, plus three Goosanders, three Eider, a Slavonian Grebe and a few divers. Full log below. (AH/OM/IP/PC)
(0745-1015hrs) 
Red-throated Diver - 3E, 7W
Great Northern Diver - 1W
Slavonian Grebe - 1os
Gannet - 92E, 50+ os
Brent Goose - 21W
Eider - 3W
Common Scoter - 4W
Red-breasted Merganser - 12E, 30W
Goosander - 3W (redheads)
Kittiwake - 125E, 40W, c.100 os
Common Gull - 3E, 10W
Mediterranean Gull - 4E, 2W
Guillemot - 3W (the only ones identified!)
Razorbill - 140E, 480W

auk sp - 100E, 360W

Red-throated Divers (above), Kittiwake & Razorbills at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: Two Green Sandpipers were on the concealed pool, whilst at least 500 Lapwing and 300 Wigeon were around the field and pool, along with a couple of Shelduck, c20 Shoveler and c40 Teal. (AH/PC/OM)

Lapwing and Wigeon on the Ferry (AH)

Westhampnett North Pit: The first-winter Yellow-legged Gull was back on the pit this morning. (GH)

Church Norton: There was no sign of the Barnacle Geese this morning, though large numbers of Brent Geese were flying around over the North Wall, whilst in the harbour there were two Goldeneye, a Peregrine, the regular Whimbrel and a few Knot.

There were at least 50 Gannets feeding offshore, with similar of auks (all of which that were identifiable being Razorbills) and up to 20 Red-breasted Mergansers, whilst among the huge gathering of gulls there were at least a dozen Mediterranean Gulls and Kittiwakes and 50+ Common Gulls. (AH/IP/AW)

Gannets (above), Whimbrel, Mediterranean Gull & Knot at Church Norton (AH)

Fishbourne Creek: A low-tide visit, not helped by a man out bait-digging in the channel, but even so there were good numbers of birds present, especially several hundred each of Wigeon and Brent Goose. Three Spotted Redshanks and two Greenshank were busily feeding, whilst Dunlin, Grey Plover, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits were all obvious too, although passerines were restricted to a couple of Rock Pipits, a Grey Wagtail and a solitary Yellowhammer. (OM)