Saturday, 28th January: A cool and mostly overcast morning, though with just a light north-westerly breeze and a few decent sunny intervals......
Selsey Bill: There was a fair selection this morning, including three Slavonian Grebes, 35 Red-throated Divers and over 500 distant auks east, and three Eider and six Great Northern Divers on the sea. Full log below. (SH/PB/BI/IP/SR/AH)
(0730-0915hrs) (NW, F3)
Great Northern Diver - 6os
Red-throated Diver - 35E, 2W, 1os
diver sp - 1E
Slavonian Grebe - 3E
Great Crested Grebe - 2os
Gannet - 18E, 6W
Brent Goose - 2W
Eider - 3os
Common Scoter - 5E, 2os
Curlew - 11E
Mediterranean Gull - 1E, 1W
Common Gull - 1os
Sandwich Tern - 2os
Razorbill - 10E, 4os
auk sp - 537E
(1130-1230hrs) (SH)
Great Northern Diver - 5os
Red-throated Diver - 6E
diver sp - 1W
Great Crested Grebe - 1os
Red-breasted Merganser - 5os
Guillemot - 1W
auk sp - 1E
Great Northern Diver (above) & Mediterranean Gull at the Bill (AH)
Ferry Pool: It was just the usual mix of ducks early this morning, including c75 Shovelers, c100 Wigeon, c150 Teal, c30 Mallards and six Shelducks. (AH)
Also, the Water Rail was in Red Barn Ditch. (PB)
Teal at the Ferry (AH)
Park Farm, Selsey: A Grey Wagtail was amongst a small number of Pied Wagtails in the fields at the eastern end of the farm this morning. (IP/RM)
Pagham Spit and Lagoon: The Snow Bunting was again in its regular spot at the west end of the spit this afternoon, whilst a female Goldeneye was in the harbour mouth and a drake and three more females, plus a drake Pochard, were on the Lagoon. (TG)
Church Norton: There was a good number of birds offshore on the flat calm sea this morning, including a pair of Long-tailed Ducks, up to 60 Common Scoters - the biggest flock seen by far this winter, with a drake Eider among them, two Great Northern Divers, two Red-throated Divers, at least four Slavonian Grebes, two Great Crested Grebes, four Red-breasted Mergansers and a Sandwich Tern.
In the harbour, a Lesser Black-backed Gull was sat out and four Avocets were along the main channel, with c100 Knot, c40 Grey Plovers and c500 Dunlin on the mud, and c20 Pintail among the Wigeon and Teal present.
Two Marsh Harriers were on/over the saltmarsh near the North Wall, with a Buzzard, c30 Golden Plovers, c500 Lapwings and c200 Black-tailed Godwits were up at various times.
A Tree-creeper was a surprise in the big trees by the end of the footpath to the harbour, whilst there were also three Redwings, a Chiffchaff and up to half a dozen Goldcrests and Long-tailed Tits in the area, with three Mistle Thrushes around Greenlease Farm and ten Skylarks along the spit, too. (AH/RI/JF/SB/IP/RM et al)
Church Norton: There was a good number of birds offshore on the flat calm sea this morning, including a pair of Long-tailed Ducks, up to 60 Common Scoters - the biggest flock seen by far this winter, with a drake Eider among them, two Great Northern Divers, two Red-throated Divers, at least four Slavonian Grebes, two Great Crested Grebes, four Red-breasted Mergansers and a Sandwich Tern.
In the harbour, a Lesser Black-backed Gull was sat out and four Avocets were along the main channel, with c100 Knot, c40 Grey Plovers and c500 Dunlin on the mud, and c20 Pintail among the Wigeon and Teal present.
Two Marsh Harriers were on/over the saltmarsh near the North Wall, with a Buzzard, c30 Golden Plovers, c500 Lapwings and c200 Black-tailed Godwits were up at various times.
A Tree-creeper was a surprise in the big trees by the end of the footpath to the harbour, whilst there were also three Redwings, a Chiffchaff and up to half a dozen Goldcrests and Long-tailed Tits in the area, with three Mistle Thrushes around Greenlease Farm and ten Skylarks along the spit, too. (AH/RI/JF/SB/IP/RM et al)
Long-tailed Ducks (above), Great Northern Divers, Common Scoters, Tree-creeper, Goldcrest, Knot & Dunlin at Church Norton (AH)
.JPG)
Another Snipe, c50 Golden Plovers and c200 Lapwings were on the reserve, with c750 Brent Geese on the arable fields, but the banks just held four Stonechats, three Reed Buntings and a dozen Song Thrushes.
There were also a few raptors about, comprised of a Marsh Harrier, a Buzzard, a Peregrine and four Kestrels. (S&SaH) At 1545hrs a Barn Owl was hunting over the banks. (BI)
Black Redstart at Medmerry (SH)
Friday, 27th January: A bright an fairly breezing morning, a little less cold than of late, despite the wind continuing from the north-east ....
Selsey Bill: This morning there were eight Great Northern Divers on the sea, including four that dropped in together, and another two went east, whilst there was a bit of very distant auk activity, too. Full log below. (BI/AH)
(0745-0900hrs) (NE, F3-4)
Great Northern Diver - 2E, 8os
Red-throated Diver - 6E, 1W, 1os
diver sp - 2E
Great Crested Grebe - 1os
Gannet - 1W
Red-breasted Merganser - 5E, 4os
Mediterranean Gull - 3os
Razorbill - 4E
auk sp - 172E, 17W, 30os
Great Northern Diver at the Bill (AH)
Ferry Pool: There were lots of ducks again this morning, including c60 Shovelers, c150 Teal, c200 Wigeon, c40 Mallards and six Shelducks, with a Grey Heron on the bank, but just two Redshanks in the channel opposite and nothing at all around the Tramway. (AH)
Grey Heron (above) & Teal at the Ferry (AH)
There were also Little Grebes and a Great Crested Grebe at Dell Quay. (RW)
Long Pool: A Little Grebe and two Tufted Ducks were the only birds on the pool, with nothing in the hedges, either, whilst at the far end of Ferry Channel there were 500 Lapwing, c200 Teal, c50 Wigeon, a couple of Grey Plovers and a handful of Dunlin and Redshank. (AH)
Little Grebe (above), Tufted Ducks, Dunlin, Grey Plover & Lapwings at the Long Pool (AH)
Thursday, 26th January: A fairly cool and mostly overcast morning, in a moderate to brisk north-easterly breeze.....
Selsey Bill: Another quiet morning, with just the odd Great Northern and Red-throated Divers about, whilst a few Grey Plovers, Dunlin and Ringed Plovers were on the shingle bar. Full log below. (SR/AH)
(0800-0900hrs) (NE, F4-5)
Great Northern Diver - 2os
Red-throated Diver - 1E, 2W
Red-breasted Merganser - 9os
Grey Plover - 5
Ringed Plover - 14
Dunlin - 12
Mediterranean Gull - 1os
Sandwich Tern - 4os
auk sp - 37E
Sandwich Tern at the Bill (AH)
Ferry Pool: The ice has finally melted on the pool, and the ducks were back, including two pairs of Gadwall, c120 Wigeon, c180 Teal and c30 Mallards, with the channel opposite just holding a couple of Redshanks. (AH)
Gadwall (above), Shoveler & Wigeon on the Ferry (AH)
North Wall: A Green Woodpecker was in the paddock and a Fieldfare and a Kestrel were by the sluice this morning, whilst both Marsh Harriers were over the reeds and two Tufted Ducks were on the Breech Pool.
Along White’s Creek there were 150 Wigeon, with 200 Black-tailed Godwits further back and a dozen Redshanks were on the mud by Owl Copse, but there were just a few Curlews on the fields. (LP/SP)
Fieldfare (above) & Green Woodpecker at the North Wall (LP)
Marsh Farm, Sidlesham: There were a dozen or so widely spread Cattle Egrets about this morning, whilst at least a dozen Fieldfares were in the churchyard, a pair of Stock Doves, a pair of Stonechats and a few Meadow Pipits were along Church Farm Lane and c50 Chaffinches, a grey Wagtail and ten Pied Wagtails were around the dairy unit.
There were also at least 1000 Brent Geese in the flooded fields between Chalder and Bramber Farms, with c30 Curlews there and another 50 by Chalder Farm, whilst 100+ Lapwings flew up near Marsh Farm. (AH)
Fieldfares (above), Stock Dove, Cattle Egret, Cattle Egret and Brent Geese & Brent Geese around Marsh Farm, Sidlesham (AH)
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