Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 29th

Sunday, 31st January: A cold and grey - but dry - morning, with heavy cloud throughout and a brisk north-easterly breeze.....though rain by afternoon.

Selsey Bill: There were 53 Red-throated Divers east, with another 23 west, this morning, whilst there were also two Great Northern Divers, a Shag, 78 Gannets, 43 Kittiwakes, 22 Red-breasted Mergansers and 31 Common Gulls also heading east. Full log below.

(0720-0920hrs) (NE, F4-5)
Great Northern Diver – 2E
Red-throated Diver – 53E, 23W
diver sp – 9E, 4W
Gannet – 78E, 4W
Cormorant – 55E
Shag – 1E
Shelduck – 3W
Common Scoter – 1W
Red-breasted Merganser – 22E, 1os
Mediterranean Gull – 3E
Common Gull – 31E
Kittiwake – 43E
auk sp – 80E, 1W

Red-throated Diver (above), Shag, Common Gulls & Red-breasted Mergansers at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: There lots of duck back on the pool, including three Gadwall, six Shelducks, c75 Shovelers, c60 Teal and c120 Wigeon, but that was it.

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

Park Farm, Selsey: A Grey Wagtail, a displaying Skylark and c30 Meadow Pipits, both Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers were seen around the farm, but there were just four Brent Geese present, along with plenty of Curlews and Oystercatchers.

Church Norton: It was quiet in the harbour, with lower wader numbers than of late, though two Bar-tailed Godwits were present, the two Peregrines, two Buzzards and plenty of Lapwings were about and two Red-breasted Mergansers were near he harbour mouth.

Also, just two Snipe were in the very flooded creek by the horse field, two Jays were in the orchard at Greenlease Farm and a Goldcrest was between the Severals, but just a handful of Mediterranean Gulls and nine Common Gulls were offshore.

East Head: The Snow Bunting was again present at the northern end this afternoon.

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Stilt Pool - The White-fronted Goose family (of five) were still on the reserve his morning and two Dartford Warblers were still along the banks, along with three Stonechats and three Reed Buntings.

Also, a Marsh Harrier and a Peregrine went over, putting up 200 Golden Plovers, whilst 200 Brent Geese were on the Stilt Pool.

Ivy Lake complex: A look round most of the pits failed to find much this morning, though a pair of Egyptian Geese were on the Trout Lakes, with otherwise just c80 Gadwall and Tufted Ducks, c60 Pochard, c30 Shovelers, half a dozen Great Crested Grebes and a few Canada Geese spread around the pits and not much more than a few Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits in the hedges.

Egyptian Geese (above), Great Crested Grebe & Gadwall at Ivy Lake (AH)

Drayton Pits: It was quiet here, too, though a couple of Bullfinches, plus a few Long-tailed Tits and a Cetti's Warbler were present, with wildfowl consisting of 100+ Pochards, half that of Tufted Ducks and a few Teal and Shoveler. (AH)

Long-tailed Tit (above) & Pochard at Drayton Pits (AH)

Saturday, 30th January: A wet and miserable morning, with a prolonged spell of rain continuing from overnight and only easing towards midday, pushed through on a strong and cold easterly.....

Selsey Bill: There was unsurprisingly little going on, though a couple of Fulmars were about, a Shag was on the sea and a Sandwich Tern and two Guillemots went east. Full log below.

(0735-0850hrs) (E, F6) (JA/AH)
Fulmar – 1E, 1W
Shag – 1os
Brent Goose -1W
Pintail – 1E
Red-breasted Merganser – 4E
Mediterranean Gull – 1E
Sandwich Tern -1E

Guillemot – 2E

Ferry Pool: The pool just held c30 Shovelers and a few Teal this morning, whilst half a dozen Snipe were in the reeds and c200 Lapwings were on the fields.

Shovelers on the Ferry (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: There were at least 300 Brent Geese on the fields, but not much else was about.

Church Norton: There was a lot of activity offshore later on this morning, including 57 Pintail going east, a Great Northern Diver, three Red-throated Divers, three Razorbills, four Sandwich Terns, six Red-breasted Mergansers, 30+ Kittiwakes and 50+ Gannets.

The harbour was quieter, though a Rock Pipit was on the concrete blocks and a Peregrine went along the beach.

Fishbourne Creek: It was generally quite quiet - if quite sheltered! - here, with five Goldeneye, two Red-breasted Mergansers, 100+ Wigeon and similar of Brent Geese on the water and two Spotted Redshank, three Greenshank, a Snipe, 50+ Grey Plovers and Turnstones and lots of Redshank and Lapwings settling down to roost the high tide away.

Also, a Kingfisher, a Grey Wagtail and a handful of Rock Pipits were along the shoreline.

Grey Wagtail (above), Rock Pipit, Goldeneyes, Kingfisher, Red-breasted Mergansers, Turnstones & Grey Plovers at Fishbourne Creek (AH)

North Wall: This afternoon there were 1400 Brent Geese on the Pagham Road South site along with 42 Curlew and 120 Great Black-backed Gulls.

Also, in the flooded fields west of Church Barton reservoir there were 1200 Lapwing, 139 Golden Plover, 28 Wigeon, five Redshank, three Dunlin, 18 Shelduck and two Mute Swans.

Brent Geese in front of Pagham church (JDW)

Friday, 29th January: A vey blustery morning, with a near gale-force westerly pushing through a lot of cloud, though quite mild, especially in the brief sunny interludes.....

Selsey Bill: There was a lot of activity again this morning, including westward movement of 94 Guillemots - the highest count of the winter, 182 Razorbills, 1334 unassigned auks, 177 Gannets, 289 Kittiwakes and 12 Red-throated Divers, whilst the seven Sandwich Terns were all offshore again and a Sanderling dropped in on the beach. Full log below.

(0725-0925hrs) (F6-7, WSW)
Red-throated Diver – 3E, 12W, 2os
Fulmar – 2W
Gannet – 177W
Pintail – 2W
Common Scoter – 3W
Red-breasted Merganser – 2E, 2os
Oystercatcher – 7E
Sanderling – 1
Turnstone - 5
Mediterranean Gull – 1W
Common Gull – 12W
Kittiwake – 289W
Sandwich Tern – 7os
Razorbill – 182W, 5os
Guillemot – 94W
auk sp – 16E, 1334W

Guillemots (above), Razorbill, Sanderling, Red-throated Diver, Fulmar & Kittiwake at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: This morning there were just a dozen Shelducks and 50 or so Teal and Shovelers hiding under the bank at the far end and c100 Wigeon were tucked away on the field.

North Wall: A Kingfisher was in the harbour from the west end of the wall and a Sparrowhawk was in the flooded fields, where there were also many Lapwings, Golden Plovers, Black-tailed Godwits and Curlews.

The Breech Pool held just a single Tufted Duck and a few Coots, whilst there were plenty of Wigeon in the harbour and a huge flock of Brent Geese flew in from the north-east.

Late this afternoon there were two, and possibly three, Marsh harriers huntig in the area.

Church Norton: There remain large numbers of Knot, Dunlin and Grey Plovers in the harbour, but not too much else was about beyond c200 Brent Geese and a few Wigeon and Teal, plus a handful of Snipe and Teal in the creek by the horse field and a few Long-tailed Tits in the sheltered hedges.