29th - 31st May 2019

Friday, 31st May: A warm, but fairly cloudy, morning, with a fresh south-westerly breeze .....

Selsey Bill: We have a new name on the Pom-King trophy, in the form of Paul Bowley, who saw an impressive 59 of the spring's total of 61 Pomarine Skuas - a well-deserved reward for a lot of hours spent staring at an empty sea, many of which were in the company of close runner-up, John Faithfull, who finished with 55. Well done, chaps! (Eds)

New Pom-King, Paul Bowley, celebrating his triumph! (AH)

There was a bit of activity this morning, including a very late Great Northern Diver and 175 Common Scoters east and 13 Sanderling that dropped in on the beach before going off west. (PB/C&ME/AH/BI/IP et al)

(0615-1000hrs)

Great Northern Diver - 1E

Great Crested Grebe - 1W

Fulmar - 3W

Gannet - 12E, 30W

Gadwall - 4W

Common Scoter - 175E

Sanderling - 13W

Mediterranean Gull - 1E

Sandwich Tern -15os

Common Tern - 5os

Little Tern - 5os

Razorbill - 1W

Guillemot - 1W

auk sp - 1E, 6W

Swallow - 2p

House Martin - 7p

Whitethroat - 1p

Sandwich Tern (above), Little Tern, Sanderling, Great Crested Grebe, Common Scoters & House Martin at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: A pair of Avocets and a Little Ringed Plover were on the concealed pool, but the main pool just held four Lapwings, four Black-tailed Godwits, six Redshank and c20 Shelducks, plus the youngsters, whilst a flock of seven Gadwall flew around several times overhead. (AH)

Avocet (above), Black-tailed Godwits & Gadwall at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: There were plenty of Little., Common and Sandwich  Terns in the harbour this morning, along with a Mediterranean Gull, a Grey Plover, two Bar-tailed Godwits, a Turnstone and half a dozen Ringed Plovers.

Also, one or two Whitethroats, Reed and and Sedge Warblers, plus a Reed Bunting and a few Linnets were along the first Several and the pair of Swallows were busy around the hide. (AH/IP/P&LH et al)

Reed Bunting (above) & Linnet at Church Norton (AH)

Selsey: There were a Pebble Prominent, a Poplar Hawk-moth and a Bee Moth in the trap this morning. (SH)

Pebble Prominent, Poplar Hawk-moth & Bee Moth in a Selsey garden (SH)

Thursday, 30th May: A warm and fairly sunny morning, with a brisk south-westerly breeze moving the clouds along.....

Selsey Bill: It was pretty quiet this morning, though an Eider was offshore again and 70 Gannets went east. Full log below..... 

(0645-0915hrs): (C&ME/AH)

Fulmar - 3W

Gannet - 70E, 14W

Common Scoter - 31E

Eider - 1os

Sandwich Tern - 21E

Common Tern - 3os

'Commic' Terrn - 32os

Guillemot - 1E

Swallow - 1p

House Martin - 10p

1640-1800hrs:  (SH)

Fulmar - 2E

Gannet - 12E, 11W

auk sp - 3W

Common Tern - 9os

Sandwich Tern - 47os

Kittiwake - 4W

Gannets (above) & House Martins at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: The pool remains quiet, with just four Redshank, three Lapwings and 18 adult and seven young Shelducks being the sum, with a Goldcrest singing from the EA yard and a Lesser Whitethroat from the hedge opposite. (AH)

Shelduck-lings at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: There were at least a dozen Little Terns feeding offshore and half a dozen Common Terns were among the Sandwich Terns, but the only waders seen were six Turnstones, six Ringed Plovers and a Curlew.

The bushes were quiet, though Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Whitethroat were all heard. (AH)

Little Tern (above), Common Tern & Turnstones and Oystercatcher at Church Norton (AH)

This evening there were two Bar-tailed Godwits and a dozen or so Ringed Plovers on the mud and a Gannet was offshore with a mix of terns. (AH)

Bar-tailed Godwit (above), Sandwich Tern & Common Tern at Church Norton (AH)

Chi GPs - Drayton House pits:  A female Marsh Harrier appeared twice over the reedbeds - briefly both times - and a pair of Bullfinches flew past me calling, whilst on the lakes were small numbers of Tufted, Pochard and Gadwall. Once again a large flock of Herring Gulls  built up (230), with six Lesser Black-backed Gulls amongst them, but otherwise it was mainly just the usual species present. (OM)

Wednesday, 29th May: Another cool and grey morning, with a moderate south-westerly breeze.......then rain and drizzle by afternoon.

Selsey Bill: Two dark-phase Arctic Skuas and an Eider offshore were the highlights this morning. (C&ME/PC)

(0645-0945hrs)

Gannet - 20E, 14W

Common Scoter - 5E, 4W

Eider - 1os

Arctic Skua - 2os (d/p)

Sandwich Tern - 14E

Common Tern - 4os

'Commic' Tern - 54os

(1630-1800hrs) (SH)
Manx Shearwater - 7W
Gannet - 15E, 4W
Sandwich Tern - 40os
Common Tern - 11os

Ferry Pool: There were just four Black-tailed Godwits, three Redshank, a Lapwing and 20 Shelducks on the pool early this morning. (AH)

Black-tailed Godwits (above) & Lapwing on the Ferry (AH)

Long Pool: Ferry Channel held half a dozen Redshanks and Black-tailed Godwits, plus a dozen Shelducks and four Gadwall, with another pair of the latter on the pool.

Warblers were quite subdued in the blustery wind early this morning, though several Reed and Sedge Warblers, plus two Lesser Whitethroats were singing and four Swallows went over. (AH)

Sedge Warbler (above) & Gadwall on the Long Pool (AH)