4th - 6th August 2019

Tuesday, 6th August: A typically bright and breezy summer's day, with a moderate south-westerly and a mix of warm sun and white cloud......

Selsey Bill: There was a steady westward movement of Common Terns - including many juveniles - with Sandwich Terns and Mediterranean Gulls also on the move, whilst the first Shag of the autumn was offshore and three Arctic Skuas went east. Full log below........ 
0700-1015hrs: (C&ME/AH/IP/OM/BFF/DM et al)
Gannet - 1E, 20W
Shag - 1 os departed W
Common Scoter - 1E, 6W
Whimbrel - 1W
Turnstone - 20E/ob
Little Tern - 1W
Common Tern - 88W
Sandwich Tern - 48E, 39W, 15os
Mediterranean Gull - 74W
Arctic Skua - 3E (2 l/p, 1d/p)

Common Terns (above) & Mediterranean Gull at the Bill (AH)

(1630-1830hrs) (SH)
Balearic Shearwater - 1E (17.35hrs)
Gannet - 8E, 1W
Turnstone - 9p
Arctic Skua - 1E (d/p)
Little Gull - 1W (juv)
Mediterranean Gull - 6W
Sandwich Tern - 80W
Common Tern - 89W
Little Tern - 3W

Ferry Pool: The Wood Sandpiper was still present, along with two Common Sandpipers, with another of the latter the only bird of note on the channel opposite.
Also on the pool were 34 Teal, c25 Black-tailed Godwits and c50 Lapwings. (AH/IP/AWB&MC)

Wood Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper (above, AW), & Teal on the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: The Squacco Heron was missing early on, but flew back into its favoured field at 9 am. (KJ) It continued to show well on occasions, to late morning at least, whilst the two Cattle Egrets were roosting with 15 Little Egrets and three Grey Herons in the harbour(B&MC)
White's creek was notably quiet by early afternoon, with two Greenshanks and three Whimbrel being the only waders of note. (OM)

Church Norton: There were still around 80 Sandwich Terns in the harbour this morning, including at least 25 juveniles, plus a couple of Common Terns, whilst waders included two Whimbrel, a Bar-tailed Godwit and c200 Dunlin, whilst the Ringed Plovers still had at least one fast-growing chick along the spit.
Once again, though, the bushes were quiet, with a House Martin and a couple of Swallows near the hide and a handful of Linnets and Skylarks on the spit being the obvious passerines. (AH/IP)

Sandwich Terns (above), Whimbrel, Peregrine & Bar-tailed Godwit and Redshank at Church Norton (AH)

This afternoon there were two Grey Plovers in the harbour, whilst early evening there were two Whimbrel and a few Dunlin and Turnstones, along with at least ten juvenile and two or three adult Common Terns and c80 Sandwich Terns, including many juveniles, plus an adult Common Gull and a few Mediterranean Gulls. (AW/AH/AB)

Grey Plovers (above) (AW), Whimbrel, Mediterranean Gull, Sandwich Terns & Sandwich and Common Terns (AH) at Church Norton

Medmerry (west): Easton Lane to Stilt pools - There was a Green Sandpiper on the Stilt pools along with 3 Greenshank and 3 Common Sandpipers. The Canada Geese gathering had increased to 250+ including one Greylag and 4 hybrid-type smaller Canada Geese, (apparently with some Barnacle Goose genes), presumably 'plastic' but superficially recalling Cackling Geese at first sight....especially one bird (see second photo below) which did look promising. Also, a Brown Hare was by the Stilt Pool. (AW)

A motley selection of smaller (hybrid) feral Canada Geese, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper & Brown Hare at the Stilt pools (AW)

....although this one (above) certainly appeared more Cackling-like than the others.

Monday, 5th August: A fairly dire start, with a strong and cool south-westerly blowing through squalls of heavy drizzle early on,  though moderating slowly as the morning progressed...eventually becoming sunny and bright by early afternoon.

Selsey Bill: A large gathering of terns and gulls was the most notable feature, with good numbers of juveniles among the 80 or so Mediterranean Gulls. Full log below. (AH/BI/IP/CN)
(0715-0845hrs)
Gannet - 2W
Mallard - 2W
Turnstone - 3W
Mediterranean Gull - c80os
Sandwich Tern - 5E, 12W, c30os
Common Tern - 1W, 6os

Mediterranean Gull (above), Sandwich Tern & Sandwich Terns and Black-headed Gulls at the Bill (AH)

Also 1640-1815hrs, when things improved considerably....(SH)
Common Scoter - 2W
Little Tern - 15W (inc flock of 10)
Common Tern - 85W
Sandwich Tern - 135W
Little Gull - 1W
Kittiwake - 1W
Mediterranean Gull - 11W
Arctic Skua - 1W (l/p)


Ferry Pool: The Wood Sandpiper was at the back of the pool again, and there were also two Common Sandpipers and a few Lapwings and Black-tailed Godwits present, but a Whimbrel was the only bird of note in the channel opposite. (AH/IP/CN)

Common Sandpiper on the Ferry (AH)

This evening the Wood Sandpiper was showing well on the Ferry pool while a Common Sandpiper was in the channel opposite. (AW)

Wood Sandpiper (above) & Common Sandpiper around the Ferry (AW)

North Wall: The Squacco Heron was present again this morning, though only seen in flight around Halsey's Farm early on before dropping in back into its favoured field at 10.30am (GaH/IP/CN et al)
The Squacco Heron went missing for some hours this afternoon, but returned to its favoured field at 7.40pm this evening. (P&JW/NB et al)

Church Norton: There were c120 Sandwich Terns in the harbour this morning, with six Common Terns among them, whilst half a dozen Whimbrel and Curlews, c40 Dunlin and a handful of Ringed Plovers were also seen. Two Swallows were feeding near the hide, but the bushes were devoid of activity in the poor conditions. (AH)

Whimbrel (above), Curlew, Swallow, Sandwich Tern & Sandwich Terns and Common Tern at Church Norton (AH)

Early afternoon, a Black Tern and six Little Terns (including two juveniles) joined the tern flock in the harbour and a Bar-tailed Godwit was also present. (AW)

Black Tern with Common and Sandwich Terns and Bar-tailed Godwit (above), Little and Sandwich Terns & Bar-tailed at Church Norton (AW)

This evening there were still 100+ Sandwich Terns in the harbour (suggesting that those passing the Bill were passage birds from elsewhere), with lots of juveniles among them, and there were still half a dozen Common Terns, too. (AH)

Sandwich Terns at Church Norton (AH)

Chi GPs - Drayton House Pits: As so often with these pits, late broods of ducks appear just when you think breeding is all over. This morning, there were two female Pochards, each with a small brood of very young ducklings - a two and a one respectively. These must surely be additional to the three broods noted a month ago, so it seems that a total of five pairs have actually bred here this year. Furthermore, two female Tufted Ducks with late broods of very small young were also present, one with a brood of no less than 14 tiny ducklings! These apart, it was just standard fare, except for a Common Sandpiper and a Marsh Harrier (or possibly two). (OM)

Sunday, 4th August: A rather grey and blustery day, if mild, with variably heavy cloud and a moderate east-south-easterly breeze

Selsey Bill: A dark-phase Arctic Skua east was the highlight of a quiet morning,dominated by 100+ Mediterranean Gulls and a few Sandwich Terns offshore. Full log below. (AH/BI/IP/SH/SaH)
(0715-0930hrs)

Gannet - 21E, 3W
Sanderling - 2W
Turnstone - 3E, 1W, 1p
Arctic Skua - 1E (d/p)
Mediterranean Gull - c140os
Sandwich Tern - 11E, 2W, 22os
Common Tern - 22os
Swift - 17S, 7p
Sand Martin - 12E
House Martin - 6E, 10p
Swallow - 8E
Pied Wagtail - 1p
Willow Warbler - 1p

Common Seal - 1os

(1600-1700hrs) (SH)

Gannet - 3E, 5W

Mediterranean Gull - 2os

Sandwich Tern - 42W

Common Tern - 10W

Arctic Skua (above) & House Martin at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: The Wood Sandpiper was again present at the back, along with three Common Sandpipers, c50 Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwits ad a handful of Teal. (AH/BI/IP/NM et al)

Also, a Jersey Tiger-moth was in the Discovery Area. (A&YF)

Wood Sandpiper (AH) (above) & Jersey Tiger-moth (AF) at the Ferry

This evening the Wood Sandpiper was still present on the pool and there were three Spotted Redshanks and a Whimbrel in the channel opposite. (AW)

Spotted Redshanks and Whimbrel in Ferry Channel (AW)

North Wall: The Squacco Heron was again feeding in the first field at Halsey's Farm or roosting in the rife for much of the morning, whilst the two Cattle Egrets were also still in the vicinity.

Up to eight Whimbrel were again around Halsey's Farm, with two or three more in the harbour, whilst two Greenshank were in White's Creek and half a dozen Black-tailed Godwits, plus a Shoveler and a few Teal were on the Breech Pool.

Around 200 Dunlin were out in the harbour, but a lone summer-plumaged Knot and a few Ringed Plovers were the only other species with them, whilst passerine migrants were thin on the ground, though included a Willow Warbler, a Whitethroat and a few Reed and Sedge Warblers, plus a few Swallows over. Also, a Cetti's Warbler called briefly along the east side.(AH/BI/IP/BFF/DM/DS/PC et al)

A video of the Squacco Heron perched up (BI) is here

Squacco Heron (above), Cattle Egret, Greenshank & Knot around the North Wall (AH)

Medmerry: Stilt Pools - This morning the pools were busy with 88 Canada Geese and one Greylag, along with three Common Sandpipers, three Greenshanks and 30+ Mediterranean Gulls, whilst a lone Common Tern was sat out on the beach along with a few more Mediterranean Gulls. (AW)
Later, there were four Greenshanks and three Common Sandpipers on the Stilt Pool, 47 Black-tailed Godwits by the Poplars, at least ten Whitethroats along the banks and 10+ Swallows and 20+ Sand Martins over. (S&SaH)

Greenshank (above), Common Sandpiper & Canada Geese at Medmerry (AW)

Church Norton: This evening there were only 80-100 Sandwich Terns in the harbour, but this included at least 20 very young juveniles, which would appear to be the last group fledged from the now-deserted Tern Island. There were half a dozen young Common Terns in the harbour, too, plus a couple of Whimbrel and Curlews and c50 Redshank, but not too much else. (AH)

Sandwich Terns (above) & Common Terns at Church Norton (AH)