Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 17th

Thursday, 19th December: A gloomy morning, with the brisk south-south-easterly breeze freshening and more drizzly rain by lunchtime....

Selsey Bill: There were Red-throated Divers about again, going both east and west, six Slavonian Grebes were offshore and a total of 61 Brent Geese went east. Full log below. (SR/AH/MO-W)
(0815-0945hrs) (SSE, F5)
Red-throated Diver - 14E, 18W, 1os
Slavonian Grebe - 2W, 6os
Great Crested Grebe - 2os
Gannet - 4E, 1W
Brent Goose - 61E
Shelduck - 1W
Common Scoter - 8E, 6W
Red-breasted Merganser - 2E, 4W 8os
Turnstone - 3E

Red-throated Divers (above) & Brent Geese at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were around 160 Teal on the pool, along with a couple of Shelducks and Shovelers, whilst Lapwings numbered c200. (AH)

Teal on the Ferry (AH)

East Head: The Eider flock was viewable offshore from the harbour mouth at East Head this afternoon, and there were also two Sandwich Terns present. (J Gearty per Twitter)

Also, just west of Ellanore Lane there was a huge gathering of Brent Geese, estimated at 4070 birds, on the arable fields. (PH/HB)

Northcommon Farm: Five Redwings went over, heading east, this morning. (SH)

Birdham Pool: A female Mandarin was present again this afternoon. (BI)

Medmerry: Ham Farm - A flock of 16 Fieldfares flew east over the cottages, but otherwise it was quiet, with just a pair of Stonechats, half a dozen Reed Buntings and Skylarks and c30 Meadow Pipits along the banks and c200 Brent Geese that came up from near the breach. (AH)

Stonechat (above), Reed Bunting & Meadow Pipit at Medmerry (AH)

Wednesday, 18th December: A dry and fairly bright morning, with a brisk south-south-easterly breeze....

Selsey Bill: There were a few more Red-throated Divers than of late moving about this morning, and a dozen Common Scoters were sat on the sea. Full log below. (MO-W/SR/AH/IP)
(0745-0945hrs) (SSE, F4)
Great Norhern Diver - 2E, 1W
Red-throated Diver - 14E, 8W
Great Crested Grebe - 1os
Gannet - 2W
Brent Goose - 16E
Common Scoter - 5E, 12os
Red-breasted Merganser - 11E, 1W, 2os
Mediterranean Gull - 3os
Kittiwake - 3W
Sandwich Tern - 3os
auk sp - 5W

Sandwich Tern (above), Red-throated Divers & Red-breasted Merganser at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were just eight Gadwall, c25 Shoveler and c60 Teal on and around the pool this morning. (AH)

Gadwall on the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: There was a commotion over the harbour at 0915 when over a 1000 Lapwing took to the air as a Peregrine zoomed through.
All of the Honer fields are flooded but there were 57 Curlew in Honer 2, whilst in the foraging field east of Marsh Farm were 112 Curlew and 23 Shelduck. The Brent Geese have changed location and this morning 2700 were in a field SW of Bramber Farm, viewable from the road from Fisher.
At the Bremere Rife footbridge between Marsh and Bramber Farms were 23 Cattle Egret which flew off west at my approach. (JDW/IH)

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

Marsh Farm, Sidlesham: The 23 Cattle Egrets were later seen in fields first north and then south of Chalder Farm. Also, four Egyptian Geese flew in and settled for a while in the field immediately north of the dairy buildings, before heading back in the direction of Bramber Farm.
A Buzzard went over and a few Shelducks came and went, but small birds were thin on the ground, though a pair of Stonechats were south of Chalder Farm and another was to the north, and there were the odd Meadow Pipit and a few Chaffinches and Pied Wagtails scattered about. Also, a lone Goldcrest was in the churchyard. (AH/IP)

Egyptian Geese (above), Cattle Egrets, Stonechat & Buzzard around Marsh Farm, Sidlesham (AH)

Donnington (Chi): A Raven flew over today, shortly after noon. (AW)

Raven over Donnington (AW)

Snowhill Marsh (W.Wittering): The marsh was well flooded and plenty of wildfowl were present including c.100 Teal and 80 Wigeon. Three Greenshank, a Spotted Redshank and several Snipe were along the back edge where some muddier margins were still available, but generally waders were few. A Kingfisher zipped through and a Cetti's Warbler called briefly but there was little else of note. (OM)

Chi. Marina: In the channel were 6 Red-breasted Mergansers, a dozen Little and five Great Crested Grebes, whilst viewing from the far end of Saltern's Copse produced five Goldeneye, but otherwise there was little else on offer.

At the reed-bed 20 Teal were tucked away at the back corner, whilst a Water Rail squealed and a Cetti's Warbler scolded, but there was no sign of the Bittern (or much else!) whilst I was there. (OM)

Tuesday, 17th December: A cool, grey and fairly still morning, dry after early drizzle....

Selsey Bill: It was predictably quiet in the still conditions, though a few divers were seen. Full log below. ....

(0800-1030hrs) (W, F2) (AH/MO-W/IP/KJ et al)

Red-throated Diver - 11W, 1os
Great Northern Diver - 3os

Great Crested Grebe - 2W, 2os
Shag - 2E

Brent Goose - 6E
Common Scoter - 3E

Wigeon - 5W

Teal - 8E

Red-breasted Merganser - 2E, 4W, 2os

Mediterranean Gull - 3W

Sandwich Tern - 2os

Sandwich Tern at the Bill (AH)

East Head: An amazing flock of 47 (mostly drake) Eider were seen from the fishing boat, off the mouth of Chichester Harbour on the high tide this afternoon, in much the same area as a flock was seen earlier in the year. (CW)

Eider off the mouth of Chichester Harbour (CW)

Ferry Pool: There were three Gadwall, about 40 Shovelers and 200 Teal on the pool, with at least 400 Lapwing and 80 Wigeon on the fields, all put up by a low-flying Buzzard. (AH)

Gadwall (above), Teal & Teal and Shovelers at the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: A Sparrowhawk raced through the hedgerow at the entrance path to the Wall this morning and a Marsh Harrier was hunting over the reed-beds. About 2,000 Brent Geese were feeding in the field east of Marsh Farm accompanied by 160 Curlew although the former subsequently moved to a previously occupied field at Honer.

On White's Creek there were two Little Grebes and 130 Wigeon, whilst on the mud close to the sluice gates were 480 Lapwing, with around 700 Black-tailed Godwits further out, and there were 31 Tufted Ducks on the Breech Pool. Honer 1 field is now impassable.(IH/JDW)

Later, on the North Fields at Chalder Farm, there were 22 Cattle Egrets present. (KJ et al)

Flooded Honer 1 field from the North Wall (JDW)

Fishbourne Creek: The Long-tailed Duck was still in residence, just south of Dell Quay, along with five Goldeneyes, three Red-breasted Mergansers and half a dozen or so Little and Great Crested Grebes.

The channel was full of birds, including at least 500 Wigeon and a handful of Gadwall, whilst there were at least four Greenshank among the commoner waders and three different Kingfishers were spread along its length; also a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and at least 200 Common Gulls were among the roosting mass.

A Grey Wagtail and a couple of Rock Pipits were along the harbour-side, plus a few Long-tailed Tits in the hedges. (AH/JW)