Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 10th

Wednesday, 13th March: Yet another morning of gale-force westerlies, with a mix of grey cloud and sunny intervals....

Selsey Bill: It was fairly quiet again, but a couple of Red-throated Divers and a few Gannets went east and a Great Northern Diver was on the sea. Full log below.....
0700-1200hrs: (C&ME/AH/OM et al)
Red-throated Diver - 2E
Great Northern Diver - 1os
Great Crested Grebe - 3W
Gannet - 28E, 10W
Brent Goose - 10E
Common Scoter - 25os
Red-breasted Merganser - 2E, 7W, 2os
auk sp - 3E
Sandwich Tern - 4os
Kittiwake - 14W
Mediterranean Gull - 2E, 3os
Common Gull - 7E, 1W
Pied/alba Wagtail - 2N
Meadow Pipit - 5N
Linnet - 2N

Gannet (above) & Great Crested Grebe at the Bill (AH)

North Wall: A male Wheatear was in the fields at the western end of the wall this morning, but there wasn't too much else about, save 60 Brent Geese and a few Knot and Black-tailed Godwits in the harbour. (PB)

Ferry Pool: The two Avocets were again present, along with two Gadwall, c50 Shovelers, c30 Teal and c100 Wigeon. A look round the Tramway circuit produced almost nothing beyond a handful of Goldfinches and a couple of Long-tailed Tits, plus a few Teal and Redshank in the harbour. (AH)

Avocets (above), Teal & Gadwall, Wigeon and Black-headed Gulls on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: A Peregrine flying back over the beach with prey was unusual, but the harbour was largely devoid of birds beyond the odd Curlew and Redshank, whilst a few Wigeon and Teal were in the creek by the horse field and a couple of Chiffchaffs and Long-tailed Tits were along the sheltered hedges. (AH)
This afternoon three Sandwich Terns were offshore, with a Cetti's Warbler and a Cetti's Warbler around the Severals. (S&SaH)

Peregrine (above), Wigeon & Chiffchaff at Church Norton (AH)

Chi GPs - New Lake: Four Cattle Egrets were on the concrete raft alongside the usual Cormorants and on the lake were 28 Pochard, c100 Shoveler (some displaying), 32 Tufted Ducks and 2 Little Grebes. A flock of Long-tailed Tits was in the bushes and Cetti's Warbler and Chiffchaff were singing. (SR)

Cattle Egrets with Cormorants on the raft at New Lake (SR)

Park Farm, Selsey: A Grey Wagtail and a Buzzard were around the farm and two newly arrived Chiffchaffs were around the north of the village. (S&SaH)

Tuesday, 12th March: A very stormy day, with a gale-force south-south-westerly blowing, though not especially cold and mostly dry despite the leaden skies.....though inevitably some rain by afternoon.

Selsey Bill: There was a bit going on this morning, including exactly 50 Kittiwakes (mainly first-winter birds), 13 Fulmars (including five together) and 42 Gannets west and a few Meadow Pipits and Linnets flying in off the sea. Late afternoon produced a flock of seven Slavonian Grebes offshore, two of which were moulting into summer-plumage. Full log below:
(0740-1000hrs) (AH/IP)
Great Crested Grebe - 1os
Fulmar - 13W
Gannet - 42W
Brent Goose - 31E, 5W
Common Scoter - 3W
Red-breasted Merganser - 1W
Turnstone 12p
Mediterranean Gull - 4os
Kittiwake - 50W
Sandwich Tern - 13os
Meadow Pipit - 13N
Linnet - 29N

1615-1715hrs: (SH)
Slavonian Grebe - 7 os (two moulting to s/plum)
Gannet - 8E, 7W
Shag - 1os
Common Scoter - 1W, 20os
Red-breasted Merganser - 3E, 6W, 1os
Sandwich Tern - 2W
Meadow Pipit - 1N

Kittiwakes (above), Fulmars, Sandwich Terns, Gannet & Mediterranean Gulls at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: The two Avocets were again present. along with at least 400 Wigeon split between the field and the pool, c40 Lapwings, three Black-tailed Godwits, two Great Black-backed Gulls, two Shelducks, two Gadwall, c30 Teal and c50 Shovelers. (AH)

Great Black-backed Gulls and Wigeon (above) & Lapwings at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: The only birds of note in the harbour were 25 or so Black-tailed Godwits and c100 Dunlin, plus a few Shelducks, two Little Grebes and a Great Crested Grebe, whilst along the sheltered hedges there were a Chiffchaff and a few Long-tailed Tits. (AH/IP)

Black-tailed Godwit at Church Norton (AH)

Monday, 11th March: The wind eased overnight to just short of gale-force, but had shifted round to north-west, producing a cold, bright and very blustery morning....

Happy 6th Birthday to the Blog! We couldn't let the day pass without mentioning it, but this little Blog first went live exactly six years ago today, with a number of back-dated sightings from the Bill. As you all know by now, things rapidly evolved thereafter, resulting in the now-familiar format we use today and so far we haven't missed a single day's posting - despite some close shaves! We hope readers still find it of use and we thank everyone for their support, kind comments and feedback. And hopefully, our page hit counter will manage to pass the million mark sometime later in the year.........(Eds)

Happy Birthday Selsey Blog (and any similarity to any of the editors is purely co-incidental!) (OM)

Selsey Bill: There was nothing on the move and little on the sea, though a Great Northern Diver and a few Red-breasted Mergansers were present. Full log later. (C&ME/BI/IP/AH/CRJ)
(0715-0945hrs)
Great Northern Diver - 1os
Great Crested Grebe - 1os
Fulmar - 1W
Gannet - 2E, 3W
Brent Goose - 3E, 1W
Common Scoter - 2os
Red-breasted Merganser - 5E, 4W
Turnstone - 21ob
Mediterranean Gull - 2E
Common Gull - 9E, 1W
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1E
Kittiwake - 2W
Sandwich Tern - 1os
Meadow Pipit - 1N

Hunston: The Cattle Egrets were in the field just east of the sub-station again early this morning. (BI/CRJ)

Ferry Pool: The two Avocets were back on the pool, along with four Gadwall, c30 Teal, c50 Shoveler and c200 Wigeon, with c50 Lapwings on the field. (AH)

Avocet, Shovelers and Gadwall (above) & Wigeon and Shovelers on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton and West Side: The harbour was very bare this morning, with a few Mediterranean Gulls and Curlews the only birds of note, whilst in the sheltered hedges just a single Chiffchaff could be found.
A Linnet and a couple of Meadow Pipits were along the west side, whilst at the end of Ferry Channel there were 12 Avocets, 24 Black-tailed Godwits, 100+ Dunlin and a few Teal, Redshank and Curlews.
Also, sad to report, there was the bizarre sight of a dead Kittiwake hanging from a tree near the hide, which had clearly got caught up in some fishing tackle. (AH/IP)

Black-tailed Godwits (above), Avocets and Black-headed Gulls, Meadow Pipit & dead Kittiwake at Church Norton (AH)

Medmerry - breach: The strong wind didn't make for easy watching and there was little on offer this morning....14 Brent Geese on the mudflats, a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers and 20 Shelduck on the tidal lagoon. Several Skylarks and a couple of Linnets were around the Toe End rough ground but a good search of the area failed to reveal any early migrants. (OM)

Fishbourne Creek: Predictably slow here too, though there were around 200 Wigeon still dotted around the creek, together with 18 Pintail and 120 Black-tailed Godwits and the usual Redshanks and Curlew. Not a single Brent was present however, and just a handful of Yellowhammers were seen - presumably the rest being hunkered down somewhere. (OM)

Drake Pintail and Black-tailed Godwits at Fishbourne Creek. (OM)

Sunday, 10th March: A mix of sunshine and fast-moving clouds, though with a gale-force westerly wind blowing relentlessly....

Selsey Bill: Predictably little was moving in the conditions, though a dozen or so Sandwich Terns, plus a few Red-breasted Mergansers and Common Scoters were offshore and two Shovelers and ten Fulmars went west. Full log below. (JA/SH/CN/PB/BI/AH/IP)
(0630-0900hrs)
Red-throated Diver - 1os
Great Crested Grebe - 1E
Fulmar - 10W
Gannet - 11E, 7W
Brent Goose - 26E
Shoveler - 2W
Common Scoter - 1W, 21os
Red-breasted Merganser - 8E, 11W, 7os
Turnstone - 14W
Kittiwake - 1E
Sandwich Tern - 14os

(1215-1315pm) (SH)

Gannet - 3E

Red-breasted Merganser - 4W, 6os

Sandwich Tern - 7os

(1600-1700pm) (SH)

Gannet - 4E
Common Scoter - 1W
Red-breasted Merganser - 1E, 3os
Mediterranean Gull - 2W
Sandwich Tern - 1os
auk sp - 1W

Sandwich Tern (above), Shovelers & Turnstones at the Bill (AH)

Hunston: An Egyptian Goose was with 16 Cattle Egrets in the field just east of the sub-station this afternoon. (CN)

Ferry Pool: Two Snipe were at the front again, with c40 Lapwing on the field and c40 Teal and Shoveler, four Shelduck and c100 Wigeon around the pool. (AH)

Snipe (above) & Shoveler at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: Ten Sandwich Terns were in the harbour and later were feeding offshore, where there were also a Slavonian Grebe and two Red-breasted Mergansers.

A Firecrest and a couple of Goldcrests were in Bluebell Wood, but the only other passerines noted were a few Skylarks along the spit, whilst in the harbour there was a Bar-tailed Godwit, 20 Ringed Plovers, two more Red-breasted Mergansers, c20 Mediterranean Gulls, a Lesser Black-backed Gull and the male Peregrine,but generally waders and wildfowl were in short supply. (AH/IP/CN/RM/.S&SaH/PB)