16th - 18th February 2019

Monday, 18th February: A cool and grey day, with a bit of light drizzle turning to moderate rain by afternoon, and a light south-westerly breeze.....

Selsey Bill: It was fairly quiet this morning, with a few Gannets going west, a Shag east and a few Red-throated Divers moving both ways the best on offer. Also, the Chiffchaff was again singing in the Bill House garden. Full log below....... 

0740-1040hrs:  (AH/OM)

Red-throated Diver - 10E, 4W

Great Northern Diver - 1E, 1os

Great Crested Grebe - 1os

Gannet - 69W

Shag - 1E

Common Scoter - 42os

Red-breasted Merganser - 12E, 4W

Razorbill - 1os

Kittiwake - 3W

Mediterranean Gull - 4os

Chiffchaff - 1 gardens (singing)

Great Northern Diver (above), Red-throated Diver, Gannets and Mediterranean Gull at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were just a dozen or so Shovelers and Teal and eight Shelduck on the pool, with around 200 Wigeon in the creek in the field this morning. (AH)

Church Norton: There were about a dozen distant Gannets offshore, along with about 20 Common Scoters, four Great Crested Grebes and eight Red-breasted Mergansers offshore, with another six of the latter in the harbour this morning. There were plenty of Knot, Dunlin and Grey Plovers in the harbour, too, along with a few Ringed Plovers, Peregrine, c40 Pintail, c50 Brent Geese and a few Wigeon and Teal, but not too much else on the high tide, whilst 20 Skylarks were along the spit and a couple of Goldcrests were along the path to the harbour. (AH)

I should add that the wintering Whimbrel was also present in its usual area...actually the first time I've seen it this year! (OM)

Peregrine (above), Ringed Plovers, Red-breasted Mergansers & Knot, Dunlin and Grey Plovers at Church Norton (AH)

A ringed Great Black-backed Gull (Light Blue JA92) photographed this afternoon is a Norwegian bird that is 22 years old and has been reported regularly since 1997, always in Vest-Agder, Norway. This is its first UK sighting. Also present were two Lesser Black Backed Gulls. (AW)

Great and Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Church Norton (AH)

Hunston: At least ten Cattle Egrets were still present in the fields near the substation this morning. (BI)

Medmerry: Breach -  Very quiet this morning; 150 Brent Geese were on the saltmarsh and two Red-breasted Mergansers were inside the breach on the saline lagoon, with a couple more offshore. A flock of 80 Dunlin were wheeling around, but there were no passerines that I could find on the Toe End rough area, bar a couple of Skylarks. (OM)

Pagham Spit: Looking across to the Norton Spit I picked out the Hooded Crow among some Carrion Crow  whilst in the harbour there were a smart male Goldeneye and nine Red-breasted Mergansers, plus the pair of Peregrines, the female having her lunch. 

About 20 Mediterranean Gull were on the Lagoon, some with their black hoods, but there was nothing at all on the big sea, whilst around the spot where the hide once stood were 50 Skylark and a Rock Pipit. (ARK per SOS)

Sunday, 17th February: A dry, mainly sunny and pleasant day, still with a light SSE breeze.....

Selsey Bill: A first-winter Whooper Swan flew west along the beach at 0840hrs - probably a first for the Bill-tip itself - whilst what was presumably yesterday's Red-necked Grebe flew east. Full log below. (SH/PB/IP/BI/AH/MO-W)
(0700-0930hrs) 
Red-throated Diver - 8E, 16W, 1os
Great Northern Diver - 1os
Red-necked Grebe - 1E
Gannet - 13E, 8W, 4os
Whooper Swan - 1 imm W 0840hrs
Brent Goose - 50E
Common Scoter - 5os
Red-breasted Merganser - 23E, 4os
Curlew - 1W
Mediterranean Gull - 3E, 10os
Common Gull - 1E
Kittiwake - 20W
Razorbill - 1E, 2W
auk sp - 3E
Pied Wagtail - 1p
Grey Wagtail - 1p

Red-throated Diver (above) & Mediterranean Gull at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: All the Lapwings seem to have dispersed from around the field, though there were still plenty of wildfowl on the pool, including six Gadwall, ten Shelducks, c40 Shoveler, c70 Teal and c350 Wigeon. (AH)

Wigeon on the Ferry (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: About 20 Curlews and similar of Skylarks were on the wheat fields, along with a pair of Red-legged Partridges, this morning. (AH/IP/RM/S&SaH/PB)

Church Norton: There were up to five widely spread Slavonian Grebes on the sea this morning, along with a couple of Red-throated Divers (plus three heading west), a few distant Gannets,  a couple of Great Crested Grebes and half a dozen Red-breasted Mergansers, with another half dozen of the latter in the harbour.
A big flock of Lapwings came up over the North Wall and c150 Golden Plovers drifted high over Priory Wood, whilst there were plenty of Knot, Dunlin and Grey Plovers in the harbour, plus the Whimbrel and the Peregrines.
A Great Tit on the last bush along the spit was an unusual sight, but otherwise small birds were confined to a Goldcrest in Bluebell Wood, a few scattered Long-tailed Tits and 20+ Skylarks on the spit. (AH/IP/RM/S&SaH/PB/IL et al))

Slavonian Grebes (above), Skylark & Dunlin and Grey Plovers at Church Norton (AH)

Medmerry: Breach - The first-winter Whooper Swan was reported resting on the sea at about 0930hrs, viewable from the Breach viewpoint. (per IL)

Medmerry: Coastguard Station - A Great Northern Diver was close offshore late this afternoon. (AW)

Great Northern Diver at Medmerry (AW)

North Wall: The Short-eared Owl was again out hunting from late afternoon, and a Kestrel was nearby (C.Bishop)

 Short-eared Owl and Kestrel at the North Wall (C. Bishop)

East Head: Highlights of an SOS outing today were a Red Kite over the car-park, a few Golden Plover and 2000 Brent Geese on the grass and one distant Sandwich Tern, 19 Red-breasted Mergansers and a few Sanderling seen from East Head, with Snowhill Creek producing a Spotted Redshank, three Greenshank and five Snipe, plus a Chiffchaff and a Firecrest in nearby hedges. (BFF & the SOS)

Saturday, 16th February: A very grey and fairly cool day, with just a light southerly breeze....

Selsey Bill: A Red-necked Grebe that dropped on the sea early on was the highlight, though there was a reasonable selection otherwise, including a Bonxie and a couple of Slavonian Grebes, plus a Chiffchaff singing in the garden. (JA/SH/AH/IP/BI/MO-W)

(0700-0930hrs)

Red-throated Diver -15E, 12W

diver sp - 1W

Red-necked Grebe - 1os

Slavonian Grebe - 1E, 1os

Fulmar - 1W

Gannet - 10W, 64E, 20os

Brent Goose - 4W

Shelduck - 2W

Common Scoter - 33os

Red-breasted Merganser - 7E, 3os

Curlew - 2W

Bonxie - 1W

Mediterranean Gull - 2E, 1W

Common Gull - 4W

Kittiwake - 7W

Razorbill - 1os

auk sp - 6E

Chiffchaff - 1p

Razorbill (above), Fulmar, Red-throated Diver & Gannet at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: A Green Sandpiper was on the concealed pool, whilst seven Gadwall, 12 Shelducks, c40 Shovelers, c60 Teal and c200 Wigeon, plus just a handful of Lapwing were around the pool. (AH)

Also, 54 Avocets were seen from the Tramway. (RAI)

Gadwall and Shovelers on the Ferry (AH)

Hunston: Two Egyptian Geese, a Bar-headed Goose and 40 Greylag Geese were with 17 Cattle Egrets in the field just east of the sub-station this morning. (BI/MO-W)
Also, 20 Redwings present in the pony field just north of North Mundham Village Hall. (CRJ)

Egyptian Geese at Hunston early morning (BI)

Ivy Lake: An Egyptian Goose, presumably one of the Hunston birds, was here, too, before flying off east.(BI) (Ivy Lake has been decimated of waterside vegetation, total passerines: one Wren! Not a Cetti’s Warbler heard at all!) (CRJ). A look at all the other lakes, including Runcton, Vinnetrow &  Peckham/Leythorne, didn't turn up a great deal other than totals of c.100 Shovelers and c.50 Tufted Ducks, a few Gadwall and a lone Water Rail at East Trout Lake. (BI)

Egyptian Goose at Ivy Lake (BI)

 L

Park Farm, Selsey: A Stonechat and a Grey Wagtail were present this morning. (S&SaH)

Church Norton: The Hooded Crow was on the shingle off the end of the spit again this morning. (RAI)

Later, two Slavonian Grebes, two Great Crested Grebes, a Red-throated Diver and half a dozen Common Scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers were on the sea, wth a few Mediterranean and Common Gulls along the beach, but there wasn't much unusual in the harbour, though at least 200 Knot and 500 Dunlin were present. (AH/S&SaH)

Slavonian Grebe (above) & Common Gull at Church Norton (AH)

North Wall: The Short-eared Owl was again out hunting, at around 5pm today. (OM)

Chi GPs - Drayton pits:  The Great White Egret was again at the south end of the south pit, viewable from the gate, whilst the north pit held 88 Pochard. A check of the old and very overgrown Drayton Lake (the original pit on the east side of the railway line) produced a count of 132 Shoveler. (OM) 

 The Great White Egret at Drayton south pit (OM)

Medmerry, west side: Two Barn Owls were again hunting over the banks late this afternoon. (J.Nilsson)