Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 20th

Tuesday, 22nd January: Another cold, bright and fairly sunny morning, with a moderate north-westerly breeze ......

Selsey Bill: There were still plenty of birds about this morning, including - somewhat surprisingly - the first Bonxie of the year, a few Red-throated Divers and reasonable numbers of Kittiwakes, Gannets and Razorbills. Full log below. (AH/IP)
(0745-0915hrs)
Great Northern Diver - 1E, 1W, 1os
Red-throated Giver - 6E, 14W, 1os
diver sp - 1E
Slavonian Grebe - 1os
Gannet - 40E, 249W
Brent Goose - 2E
Red-breasted Merganser - 12E, 6W
Bonxie - 1W
Mediterranean Gull - 1E, 1W
Common Gull - 25W
Kittiwake - 50E, 153W
Guillemot - 1W
Razorbill - 200E, 450W
auk sp - 100E, 250W

Bonxie (above), Great Northern Diver, Red-throated Divers, Kittiwake, Guillemot & Razorbill past the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: A Green Sandpiper was on the concealed pool, though there were no Lapwings at all. On the pool there were two Shelduck, c30 Shoveler, c80 Teal and c200 Wigeon. (AH)

Green Sandpiper on the Ferry (AH)

Marsh Farm, Sidlesham: There were seven Cattle Egrets in the fields west of the dairy buildings this morning, with another near Bramber Farm. (IP)

Cattle Egrets at Marsh Farm, Sidlesham (IP)

North Wall: A Marsh Harrier was again present this morning. (IH)

Church Norton: At least eight Red-throated Divers and a Razorbill were offshore this morning, though distant, along with at least half a dozen Great Crested Grebes and a big feeding flock of c75 Cormorants, with a dozen Common and Mediterranean Gulls along the beach.
Five Red-breasted Mergansers were in the harbour, with ten Avocets, 300 Golden Plover and 1000+ Brent Geese seen at the far end, whilst the Whimbrel was in its usual spot and 100+ Knot and 50+ Grey Plovers were with at least 500 Dunlin out on the mud. (AH/IP)

Whimbrel (above), Common Gull & Turnstone at Church Norton (AH)

East Head: A lovely, cold and sunny morning around East Head, and certainly less crowded than usual, with far less dogs and their minders. On a rising tide finding birds was a real problem, with just a few Sanderlings along the tide line, whilst out in the harbour there were just a handful of Red breasted Mergansers and Great Crested Grebes to be found, and eventually, after an hour of intense scanning, a single Guillemot!

The usual flock of Skylarks, but little else, was in the vegetated tidal areas, whilst at Snowhill Marsh we found 400 Golden Plover and a single Greenshank roosting. (BFF/DM/NR/TB)

Monday, 21st January: After a very sharp frost, another cold, bright and sunny morning, with barely a breath of wind ......

Selsey Bill: There was still a bit around, including a couple of Eider and eleven Red- throated Divers, with up to five Great Northern Divers present, too. full log below. (AH/IP/BI)
(0745-0900hrs)

Great Northern Diver - 2W, 3os

Red-throated Diver - 11W

Gannet - 23W, 10os
Brent Goose - 17E
Common Scoter - 1E, 2W
Eider - 2E
Red-breasted Merganser - 15E, 12W
Kittiwake - 20E, 40W
Razorbill - 30E, 50W
auk sp - 75E, 20W

Eider (above), Red-throated Diver & Razorbills at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: A dozen Snipe were on the edge of the concealed pool and at least 500 Lapwing were present, but no wildfowl were on the frozen pool. (AH)

Snipe on the Ferry (AH)

East Head: Seen from the fishing boat, just off Hayling Island, there was a raft of 34 Eiders, though only twelve adult males were among them. When I was young this was common in the winter, but it’s the first good count I’ve seen for years ! (CW)

Eider off East Head (CW)

North Wall: Two different Marsh Harriers were hunting north of the Breech Pool this morning. (PC/IH)

Medmerry: Toe End - A pair of Stonechats were on the rough ground, four Red-breasted Mergansers were in the tidal pools and five Sanderling were on the beach, with 100= Dunlin, 30+ Grey Plovers and 20+ Knot also present. (IP)

Medmerry: West side - A Marsh Harrer was out hunting here, too, near the Easton Viewpoint, and up to a dozen Snipe were on the Stilt Pool. (SR)

West Itchenor: A Raven circled over at 1.30pm before drifting off south-west. (PH)

Church Norton: Offshore this morning there were a Red-throated Diver, two Slavonian Grebes and at least half a dozen Red-breasted Mergansers and Great Crested Grebes, but there wasn't too much of note in the harbour beyond a lot of Brent Geese at the far end and, the two Peregrines in their regular area, a few Skylarks on the spit and a few Grey Plover and Wigeon and Teal on the mud. (AH/IP/AW)

Slavonian and Great Crested Grebes (above) & Grey Plovers at Church Norton (AH)

Late this morning there was a feeding frenzy of birds off Church Norton which included two Red-throated Divers, at least two Guillemots, 20+ Razorbills, 50+ Cormorants and a few Gannets. Also at sea were four Red-breasted Mergansers while there were four Goldeneye in the harbour including one drake. (AW)

Red-throated Diver (above), Gannet, Razorbills, Razorbil and Guillemot & Goldeneyes at Church Norton (AW)

Pagham Lagoon: A quick look this morning found a Rock Pipit along the gorse but little on the water other than a pair of Little Grebes, a small flock of Canada Geese and a few Tufted Ducks. (BI)

Sunday, 20th January: A bright and sunny, if very cold, morning, with just a light northerly breeze ......

Selsey Bill: It was another busy morning, with a big feeding flock of Gannets offshore and lots of auk movement, plus over 30 Red-throated Divers west. Full log below. (JA/BI/IP/PM/AH/RHa/SHa)

(0745-1000hrs)

Great Northern Diver - 1W, 2os

Red-throated Diver - 2E, 29W, 2os

diver sp - 1E, 3W

Slavonian Grebe - 1E, 2os

Fulmar - 2E

Gannet - 170E, 90W, c250os

Brent Goose - 4E

Red-breasted Merganser - 28E, 10W, 13os

Mediterranean Gul - 2E,4W

Kittiwake - 30e, 13W, c120os

Razorbill - c200E, c400W, c1200os

Guillemot - 8E, 15W, 2os

auk sp - c300E, c1100W

Grey Wagtail - 1p

Kittiwake (above), Guillemot, Razorbills, Red-throated Diver & Gannets at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: A Green Sandpiper was in the concealed pool, with c500 Lapwing on the field and c30 Shoveler and Teal and c200 Wigeon on the pool. (AH)

Green Sandpiper (above) & Shovelers and Wigeon on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: There were at least eight Red-throated Divers on the sea, with another eight going west and four east, whilst there were 20+ distant Gannets, 100+ Razorbills/auk sp moving distantly in both directions, around a dozen Great Crested Grebes and Red-breasted Mergansers were on the sea and similar of Common and Mediterranean Gulls were patrolling the strandline.

In the harbour the two Peregrines were on their island, at least 150 Knot were among the roosting Dunlin and Grey Plover, the Whimbrel was in its usual haunt and c40 Pintail were among many Wigeon, with at least 500 Brent Geese dropping in near the North Wall. Also, the Firecrest was again at the bottom of the path to the harbour. (BI/IP/AH/RHa/SHa)