4th - 6th January 2023

Friday, 6th January: A pleasantly warm and sunny morning, in a light to moderate south-westerly breeze.... ....

Selsey Bill: A drake Eider that dropped in offshore before heading off west and a Shag feeding very close in were the highlights of a quiet morning. Full log below. (BI/AH/SR/RP)

(0745-0915hrs) (SW, F3)

Great Northern Diver - 1os

Red-throated Diver - 1E, 3W

Great Crested Grebe - 1os

Shag - 1os

Brent Goose - 2E, 6W

Eider - 1W

Common Scoter - 1E, 2W, 8os

Red-breasted Merganser - 13W, 4os

Mediterranean Gull - 1W

Sandwich Tern - 8os

Shag (above) & Sandwich Tern at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: The pool remains very full of water, with just the usual mix of wildfowl, including a dozen Tufted Ducks, c80 Shovelers, c150 Teal and four Shelducks on the water and c60 Wigeon and four Canada Geese on the fields. (AH)

Also, at Red Barn Ditch the Water Rail was again present. (BI)

Wigeon (AH) (above) & Water Rail (BI) at the Ferry

Long Pool: A Green Sandpiper flew up from the harbour end of the Long Pool this morning at about 0945hrs, circled a couple of times and flew off towards the Ferry.  (RBe)

Pagham Spit: The Snow Bunting was at the far end of the spit this morning, and the Slavonian Grebe was again in the nearby channel. (TB/GHi et al) 

Snow Bunting on Pagham Spit (TB above & GHi below)

North Wall: A Green Woodpecker, a Chaffinch, two Goldfinches and ten Long-tailed Tits were around the paddock this morning, a Rock Pipit was by the sluice and 20 Snipe flew overhead, whilst a Stonechat and two Reed Buntings were around the reeds, with a Marsh Harrier and a Kestrel further back.

A Shoveler and two Pintail were along White’s Creek with the usual Wigeon, Teal, Shelduck and Brent Geese, and there were lots of waders further out, including large numbers of Golden Plover, Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwits.

Also, a pair of Tufted Ducks were on the Breech Pool and 40 Curlew were in Honer 1 field, whilst at Halsey’s Farm four Snipe and a Kingfisher were along the rife, and a Goldcrest was in the hedgerow. (LP/CT/TG/JDW/GHi)

Snipe (above), Green Woodpecker, Long-tailed Tit (LP) & Tufted Ducks (GHi) at the North Wall

Church Norton: There was a good mix offshore this morning, including three Slavonian Grebes,, a Red-throated Diver, two Eider and eight Common Scoters on the sea and a Great Northern Diver flying west. (C Holter)

Medmerry: Ham Farm - The female Black Redstart was again around Little Ham Cottages this morning & two Red-legged Partridges were in the fields nearby.(BI)

Black Redstart (above) & Red-legged Partridges at Ham (BI)

Chichester GPs: A Tree-creeper was in the trees at New Lake this morning, at least 20 Greylag Geese were on Copse Lake and c30 Cattle Egrets were in the fields behind East Trout Lake. (BI)

Tree-creeper (above) at New Lake & Greylag Geese at Copse Lake (BI)

Fishbourne Creek: Just a single drake Goldeneye could be found on the water at high tide this morning - a far cry from the wintering numbers of a few years ago, along with three Red-breasted Mergansers, c25 Great Crested Grebes and a least 100 Teal and 400 Wigeon, whilst the two Spotted Redshanks and at least a dozen Greenshank were roosting on the far side among the very many Redshanks and Lapwings.

Also, a Kingfisher flew across the harbour, as did five Snipe, c40 Turnstones were on the jetties, c700 Common Gulls were at the far end and c500 Brent Geese dropped in, but there were just a dozen or so Mute Swans present.

At least eight Rock Pipits were along the harbourside, whilst a Coal Tit was at the harbour end of the path from the churchyard, with (presumably) two more in the churchyard, along with a Goldcrest and three Jays. (AH)

Goldeneye (above), Red-breasted Mergansers, Snipe, Greenshanks, Lapwing, Rock Pipit, Jay & Common Gulls at Fishbourne Creek (AH)

Thursday, 5th January: The morning started mild, grey and murky, brightening slowly in  a moderate south-westerly breeze.....

Selsey Bill: A fairly slow morning, though still with a mix of the regular species. Full log below. (BI/AH/TR/SR et al)

(0810-0925hrs) (WSW, F4)

Great Northern Diver - 2os

Red-throated Diver - 2E, 2W

Slavonian Grebe - 1os

Great Crested Grebe - 1os

Gannet - 10W, 4os

Brent Goose - 3E, 24W

Common Scoter - 5E

Red-breasted Merganser - 3E

Mediterranean Gull - 1E

Kittiwake - 7W

Sandwich Tern - 1os

Guillemot - 1W

auk sp - 6W

Kittiwake (above), Guillemot & Gannet at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were still a dozen Tufted Ducks on the pool today, along with six Shelducks, c80 Shovelers, c150 Teal, c50 Wigeon and c30 Mallards. (AH)

Shovelers and Teal on the Ferry (AH)

This afternoon the Spotted Redshank was in Ferry Channel, along with a handful of Redshanks, and a Water Rail was in Red Barn Ditch. (AH)

Spotted Redshank (above), Spotted Redshank and Redshank & Water Rail at the Ferry (AH)

Pagham Spit: The Snow Bunting was present again this afternoon at the far end of the spit. (TG)

Long Pool: There was nothing on or along the edges of he pool again this morning, though the end of Ferry Channel held c35 Avocets and a few Teal, Redshank and Shovelers, whilst at least 1000 Lapwings and 500 Golden Plovers were flying about over the harbour, with half a dozen Meadow Pipits in the saltmarsh. (AH)

Avocets (above), Lapwings, Meadow Pipit & Teal at the Long Pool (AH)

Drayton Pits: A Great White Egret was viewable from the gate this morning. (AH)

Great White Egret at Drayton Pit (AH)

Hunston: There were 32 Cattle Egrets and four Little Egrets in the field opposite Hunston Dairy Farm house on the North Mundham Road this morning. (BI/AH)

Cattle Egrets at Hunston (AH)

Wednesday, 4th January: A fairly mild, but blustery and overcast, morning in a fresh south-westerly.....

Selsey Bill: A Black-throated Diver and six Great Northern Divers west and two more of the latter on the sea, plus seven Guillemots west, including a flock of six, were the highlights this morning. Full log below. (BI/AH/SR)

(0800-0930hrs) (WSW, F6-7)

Great Northern Diver - 6W, 2os

Black-throated Diver - 1W

Red-throated Diver - 9W

Great Crested Grebe - 3W

Gannet - 1W

Common Scoter - 3E, 5W, 8os

Red-breasted Merganser - 4E, 12W

Turnstone - 26

Sandwich Tern - 3os

Razorbill - 3W

Guillemot - 7W

auk sp - 9W

Black-throated Diver and Great Northern Diver (above), Great Northern Diver, Guillemots and Razorbill, Sandwich Tern, Red-breasted Mergansers & Great Crested Grebe at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool/Long Pool: There were lots of ducks again today, including 12 Tufted Ducks, c80 Shovelers, c60 Wigeon, c150 Teal, c20 Mallards and four Shelducks, whilst a dozen Lapwings dropped in on the field. 

Also, a Kingfisher and eight Redshanks were in the channel opposite. (AH)

Later, a walk from the Pagham VC via the Long Pool to Church Norton was mainly quiet, bar a Dartford Warbler in gorse, c15 Avocets in the harbour and the spectacular number of waders airborne towards North Wall. (BI/DBI)

Tufted Ducks on the Ferry (AH)

Pagham Spit: The Snow Bunting was present again this morning at the far end of the spit. (CS)

Church Norton: There wasn't much out of the ordinary this morning, but the vast numbers of waders put on quite a show, with first a Peregrine, then a Marsh Harrier, upsetting them.

Very rough estimates included c3000 Lapwings, c1000 Golden Plovers, 500 Black-tailed Godwits, c200 Grey Plovers, c300 Knot and c1500 Dunlin, with c800 Brent geese going up from behind the North Wall, too, whilst other wildfowl included c50 Pintail, c100 Teal and c200 Wigeon, plus 25 Shelducks and a Red-breasted Merganser.

Three more Red-breasted Mergansers and a Mediterranean Gull were the only birds seen offshore, whilst 20 Skylarks were along the spit and two Goldcrests were by the Mound. (AH)

Red-breasted Merganser (above), Mediterranean Gull, Pintails, Marsh Harrier, Black-tailed Godwits, Knot and Grey Plovers & Dunlin at Church Norton (AH)

North Wall: A Marsh Harrier was behind the Breech Pool this morning, but the pool contained just a few Mallards, whilst a Rock Pipit was the only small bird along the wall and 20 Curlews were in Honer 2, but there was very little else about.

However, out in the harbour, around high tide, there was a huge amount of birds - with at least 1000 Brent Geese close by the wall and further out there were regular displays of Lapwing, Golden Plovers and Black-tailed Godwits. (LP)

Rock Pipit (above), Black-tailed Godwits & Brent Geese at the North Wall (LP)

Honer Lane and Reservoir: There were just six Tufted Ducks and two Coots on the reservoir, and the surrounding fields and hedgerows were devoid of any wildlife with just a Kestrel and a couple of Great Tits down by Honer Farmhouse. (LP)

Tufted Ducks on Honer Reservoir (LP)