7th - 9th November 2019

Saturday, 9th November: A cold morning that started beautifully crisp and clear and ended with a moderate southerly breeze and the beginnings of the forecast persistent rain.........

Selsey Bill: Another quiet morning, though two Great Northern Divers were on the sea and another went west, along with two Red-throated Divers. Full log below. (SH/BI/IP/SR)
(0640-0830hrs) (NW2)
Great Northern Diver - 1W, 2os
Red-throated Diver - 2W
Great Crested Grebe - 1W
Shag - 1E
Brent Goose - 6W
Shelduck - 1W
Common Scoter - 2E
Red-breasted Merganser - 5E
Mediterranean Gull - 1os
sandwich Tern - 1os
Razorbill - 5W
auk sp - 9W, 2os
Wood Pigeon - 106E
Pied Wagtail - 1

(1500-1600hrs) (SH)
Great Northern Diver - 1os
diver sp - 1E
Gannet - 13E, 2W
Red-breasted Merganser - 2W, 1os
Sparrowhawk - 1
auk sp - 2W

Ferry Pool: A surprise this morning in the form of a Glossy Ibis, flying north-east over the Visitor centre at a moderate height, apparently heading for the North Wall, though it could not be subsequently re-located.
Otherwise, the Ferry held the usual mix of c400 Lapwings, plus two Golden Plovers, c20 Shelducks and c50 Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon. (AH)

Golden Plover (above) Lapwings & Fox at the Ferry (AH)

Medmerry: Toe End - A Snow Bunting was tucked away at the far end of the caravans this morning, with a couple of Black Redstarts still present in the vicinity. (RHa/IP/S&SaH/SR/BI/AH et al)

Snow Bunting at Medmerry (top two IP, SH, AH & BI)

Long Pool: Half a dozen Reed Buntings, c30 Meadow Pipits, a Goldcrest, a Jay and a Stonechat were along the hedges/fields early this morning, whilst Ferry Channel held a flock of seven Red-breasted Mergansers, five Avocets, a Turnstone, half a dozen Grey Plovers and plenty of Redshank, Teal and Wigeon. (AH)

Red-breasted Mergansers (above), Avocets & Reed Bunting around the Long Pool (AH)

North Wall: As the tide rose, numbers of Brent Geese in Honer 3 field built until matching the 400 of yesterday afternoon and they were again accompanied by 50 Curlew.  There were about 150 Black-tailed Godwit in the harbour until the rising water moved them on, a Kingfisher was active at the sluice gates and three Rock Pipits could be found in the rocks along the wall. (IH)

Church Norton: Two Water Rails were in the rear of the Severals this morning, whilst two Stonechats were in the horse field, two Common Scoters went west offshore and two Red-breasted Mergansers were on the sea, with another in the harbour. 
Also, two Peregrines were on their island, a Bar-tailed Godwit was in the harbour along with 50+ Grey Plover, 300+ Dunlin, 30 Brent Geese and a few Wigeon and Teal, whilst 20 Skylarks and 50 Linnets were over Tern Island and the spit. (S&SaH/AH)

Bar-tailed Godwit and Redshank (above) & Peregrines at Church Norton (AH)

Friday, 8th November: After overnight rain and a sharp frost, another bright and breezy morning, with the wind starting from the north-west before before shifting more to the NNE.....

Selsey Bill: A very slow morning, with just a Black Redstart around the Broadreeds Estate of note. Full log below. 

(0700-0900hrs)  (wind NW/NNE 3-4/5)  (C&ME/BI/IP/AH)
Great Crested Grebe - 2E

Shag - 2E
Brent Geese - 21E
Common Scoter - 5E
Red-breasted Merganser - 4W
Sparrowhawk - 1
Mediterranean Gull - 4E
auk sp - 2W
Wood Pigeon - 70S
Pied Wagtail - 4
Black Redstart - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 12

Ferry Pool: There were just the 50 or so Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon, plus a handful of Shelducks, present. (AH)

Shovelers over the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: A quick look this morning produced a Kingfisher and 200+ Brent Geese. Later, at mid afternoon, Honer 3 field contained 400 Brent Geese, 50 Curlew and 40 Black-tailed Godwits, whilst beyond the horse paddock a Barn Owl hunted. (IH)

Medmerry: Windmill to the breach - A Black Redstart, a Stonechat and a handful of Meadow Pipits were around the Go-kart area this morning, along with a Kingfisher, with another two Black Redstarts, including a bright male, a pair of Stonechats and 20+ Meadow Pipits around the caravans at Toe End.

A Peregrine was sat out on the derelict building on the reserve and 20+ Skylarks were on the adjacent fields, whilst the tidal areas held c40 Brent Geese, four Great Crested Grebes, five Knot, two or three Curlews and Redshank and 50 Ringed Plovers. (AH/IP/SR)

Black Redstarts (above), Stonechat, Ringed Plovers & Brent Geese at Medmerry (AH)

West side - Stilt pool to breach: At least two Greenshanks were seen, plus a few others calling; also a Short-eared Owl in flight, being mobbed by three Peregrines. (IC)

Chi GPs - Drayton House pits: Another visit on a fine sunny morning, but less productive than a couple of days ago (and no sign of the previous Great White Egret). There were still two Firecrests, a small number of Goldcrests and 10 Chiffchaffs, plus four Bullfinches (two pairs) and a Mistle Thrush, vigorously defending a berry-laden Holly tree against all-comers. Three Water Rails were calling but otherwise little to report in the wildfowl department. (OM)

Firecrests at Drayton House GPs (OM)

Church Norton: An extensive search around the spit again failed to turn up the Snow Bunting but there were plenty of other birds present including Linnets, Greenfinches, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks. There was little out of the ordinary in the harbour with Brent Geese, Wigeon & Teal on the water and the usual waders in the high tide roost. (BI)

Pagham Spit/Pagham Lagoon: On Little Lagoon were 12 Little Grebes but this was the best of it as it was very quiet here, the only other highlight on the spit being a Sparrowhawk cruising low into the harbour. The main Lagoon was similarly still with just a few more Little Grebes, two Great Crested Grebes and a few Tufted Ducks present. (BI)

East Head: A walk around the sand dunes didn't produce very much; a Stonechat, 2 Reed Buntings, 3 Meadow Pipits, 6 Skylarks, 30 Linnets, 3 Pied Wagtails, a Sparrowhawk and 2 Swallows. There was however an impressive number of Brent Geese out on the mud, with others flying in to join them, approximately 800 overall. (SR)

Thursday, 7th November: A bright and breezy morning, fairly mild despite the blustery westerly...but clouding over by afternoon with the threat of rain later.

Selsey Bill: The sea remains fairly quiet, though a Goosander went west, along with a Red-throated Diver and a few Red-breasted Mergansers and Brent Geese, whilst three Black Redstarts were around the houses on the east side of the Oval Field. Full log below....
0700-1045hrs:  (wind W5-6) (C&ME/OM/AH/IP/PC)
Red-throated Diver - 1W
Great Northern Diver - 1W
Great Crested Grebe - 4W
Gannet - 3 os
Brent Goose - 34W
Common Scoter - 11E, 42W
Red-breasted Merganser - 10E, 19W, 2os
Goosander - 1W
Razorbill - 4E
auk sp - 1E, 4W
Dunlin - 1W
Mediterranean Gull - 9W
Meadow Pipit - 26W
Pied Wagtail - 5W
Chiffchaff - 4
Black Redstart - 3
                

Red-throated Diver (above), Black Redstart & Great Crested Grebes at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: At least 300 Lapwing were upset by a juvenile-type Peregrine, though the 50+ Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon and the 20+ Shelducks were less concerned. (AH)

Lapwings at the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: It was bright and crisp along the Wall. Early on there were 320 Brent Geese in the White's Creek area but many of these later flew to forage in Honer 1 field, where 240 were counted, along with 43 Curlews. 

A Kingfisher was at the Breech Pool, with a Yellowhammer in the hedge behind, a party of nine Long-tailed Tits flew through and five Wrens were near the sluice gates.

A lot of waders were in the Harbour, including an estimated 700 Lapwing and 500 Black-tailed Godwits. (JDW/IH)
The Black-tailed Godwits later flew over the North Wall after being in the fields, whilst the Brent Geese were heading out to the harbour from field Honer 1 and later returning in smaller groups. A Green Woodpecker was in the horse field and a Pied Wagtail was on the rocks by the sluice gates. (GHi)

Curlews (above) & Brent Geese from the North Wall (JDW)

 Black-tailed Godwits, Green Woodpecker and Brent Geese at the North Wall (GHi)

Church Norton: It was quiet here this morning, with no sign of yesterday's reported Snow Bunting along the spit, with just a few Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks seen.

The harbour held several hundred Brent Geese, including what appears to be reasonable numbers of youngsters among them, along with 20 Pintail and plenty of Wigeon and Teal. A flock of 30 Curlews flew into the harbour, where there were, again, plenty of the commoner wader species. (AW/SR/AH/IP)

Skylark (above) & Brent Geese at Church Norton (AH)

Chi GPs - Ivy Lake complex: There were 60 Shoveler and smaller numbers of Tufted and Pochard on New Lake, plus a couple of Goldcrests in the trees.

Ivy Lake held the usual Great Crested Grebes but only small numbers of common wildfowl, although there were 120+ Canada Geese with two Bar-headed Geese - presumably the 'regular' flock which is rather mobile (last seen on Pagham lagoon a few days ago). Along the paths and hedgerows were at least 10 Chiffchaffs, several Goldcrests, three Cetti's Warblers and a flock of 15 Long-tailed Tits. (OM)

Scenic view of Ivy Lake, with a few of the Canada Geese present (OM)