Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 19th

Wednesday, 21st June: A pleasant morning of sun and white cloud in a moderate south-westerly breeze..............

Selsey Bill: There wasn't much going on this morning, with two tall ships being the most interesting things offshore! Full log below. (SR)

(0655-0755) (WSW, F4)

Gannet - 1E

Mediterranean Gull - 2E

Sandwich Tern - 11os

Little Tern - 1os

Auk sp - 1E

House Martin - 1

An impressive tall ship off the Bill (SR)

Ferry Pool: There were eight Avocets, 12 Redshanks, five Lapwings, six Teal and three Shelducks on the pool early this morning. (AH)

Avocet (above) & Lapwing on the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: There were three Redshanks and a Lapwing along White’s Creek and at least nine Curlews out on the mud this morning, whilst three Tufted Ducks were on the Breech Pool, a Cuckoo was in the trees and both Marsh Harriers were over the reeds, with the male seen passing food to the female.

Also, a group of 12 Long-tailed Tits were along the wall, with a couple of Greenfinches and a few Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings, whilst a dozen Swallows were over the fields and a Song Thrush was along Church Lane. (LP/GHi)

Song Thrush (above) & Curlew at the North Wall (LP)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Stilt Pools - Early afternoon there were a pair of Dartford Warblers plus another singing male along the banks.

On the Stilt Pools were 32 Avocets plus four recently hatched chicks, and five Oystercatchers were present, with one pair also having a young chick.

Also, four Little Ringed Plovers were present, with one sitting, and four Ringed Plovers were also present, including one sitting and a fully grown young bird, whilst a pair of Little Terns were settled and were seen mating near the south end of the pools. (HB)

Chichester GPs: Ivy Lake complex - Unusual for this time of year, a Kingfisher flew across West Trout Lake. Some of the tiny islands on the lake were now submerged but the Great Crested Grebe was still sitting tight and the furthest island still held two well grown Black-headed Gull chicks, whilst the pylon island at the back held three Black-headed Gull nests and a Common Tern was still on its favourite perch beside the lake.

One Egyptian Goose was here, along with half a dozen Tufted Ducks, ten Canada Geese and calling Cetti's Warblers, whilst West Lake had two Pochards, four Egyptian Geese, 14 Tufted Ducks, a Great Crested Grebe, 20 Greylag Geese and 23 Canada Geese. with Reed Warblers and a Sedge Warbler heard singing. (SR)

Black-headed Gulls at Chichester GPs (SR)

Church Norton: Two Common Terns and two Sandwich Terns were in the harbour this evening, but there were no Little Terns about, with otherwise just a couple of Ringed Plovers and Curlews, the Shelduck family and a few Oystercatchers. (AH)

Common Tern (above) & Sandwich Tern at Church Norton (AH)

Tuesday, 20th June: After some very heavy rain and thunderstorms before dawn, a grey and humid morning, with the freshening breeze shifting from south-easterly to south-westerly..........

Selsey Bill: There were just a few Gannets and Sandwich Terns, plus a couple of Mediterranean Gulls, about this morning. Full log below. (SR/AH)

(0650-0810hrs) (SE, F4-5)

Gannet - 16E, 4os

Mediterranean Gull - 1E, 1W

Sandwich Tern - 12os

Swift - 10

House Martin - 6

(1645-1745hrs) (SH)

Gannet - 2E, 3W

Mediterranean Gull - 19W, 2os

Sandwich Tern - 7os

Common Tern - 1os

Sandwich Tern at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were just four Avocets, four Redshanks, six Teal and five Shelducks on the pool this morning. (AH)

Teal (above) & Avocet and Redshank on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: A Whimbrel and a Black-tailed Godwits were in the harbour this morning, along with a handful of Ringed Plovers, up to ten Curlews and similar of Oystercatchers, with the younger family of Shelducks feeding along the channels.

Only about half a dozen Little Terns were seen, plus two Sandwich Terns, with a few Skylarks and Linnets along the beach and a lone Jay about the only land-birds seen. (AH)

Little Tern (above), Whimbrel, Black-tailed Godwit, Shelduck-lings & Curlews and Little Egret at Church Norton (AH)

West Itchenor: A brief check of the House Martin nests on the Harbour Office showed they had thankfully survived the torrential rain, at least two of the artificial nests held well grown young and other birds were sitting.

There was very little in the harbour - just a Little Egret, three Shelducks and a Curlew, whilst three Linnets, five Chiffchaffs and a Whitethroat were in the bushes, with a few Marbled White butterflies and a young Great Spotted Woodpecker along Chalkdock Marsh. (SR)

House Martins at West Itchenor (SR)

Monday, 19th June: A fresh south-westerly breeze - something of a rarity of late - pushed through several big banks of cloud, with warm sunny spells in between......

Selsey Bill: It was pretty much just the regulars this morning. Full log below. (AH/IP)

(0715-0815hrs) (SW, F4)

Gannet - 12E, 4W

Kestrel - 1

Oystercatcher - 1W

Sandwich Tern - 25os

Common Tern - 2os

House Martin - 7

House Martin (above) & Gannet at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were 13 Redshanks on the pool this morning, but no Spotted Redshank, with otherwise just six Avocets, four Lapwings and four Shelducks present. (AH)

Avocet on the Ferry (AH)

Medmerry: Ham viewpoint - At least eight Cattle Egrets were out in the middle of the reserve this morning, seen from the viewpoint. (MW)

Medmerry: Medmerry Trail - A lovely afternoon walk from the nature reserve out towards Medmerry. produced numerous Chiffchaffs and Whitethroats singing from the trees throughout the walk, as well as a handful of Reed Warblers calling in the reed beds, along with a solitary Stonechat and one Lesser Whitethroat that briefly showed itself.

A Cuckoo was heard calling on a couple of occasions and there was an absolute proliferation of Meadow Brown butterflies throughout the walk.

On the way back from Medmerry, a distant murmuration of perhaps 200 Starlings were seen, as well as three Cattle Egrets in flight, before we had great views of a Hobby crisscrossing the path. (W Holden per SOS)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Stilt Pools - A flock of c100 Linnets, plus a few Goldfinches and Greenfinches were in the ripening rape field, and there were a dozen or more Yellowhammers and Whitethroats along the banks, together with two or three Reed Buntings and Reed Warblers, a Chiffchaff, 20+ more Linnets and 20+ Skylarks, whilst at least 30 Swallows, mostly juveniles, were around Marsh Farm and the Stilt Pools.

There were just one pair of Little Ringed Plovers and one pair of Ringed Plovers on the Stilt Pools, along with a least 15 brooding Avocets, a handful of Lapwings, an Oystercatcher and two chicks, the Egyptian Goose family and an assortment of wildfowl. (AH)

This evening, the first returning Green Sandpiper was seen, flying out from one of the path-side pools, whilst there were again four Little Ringed Plovers on the Stilt Pool..

Also, around 15 Sand Martins were with c50 Swallows, whilst two Dartford Warblers, two Chiffchaffs and two Stonechats were seen along the banks. (S&SH)

Little Ringed Plover and Avocet (above), Oystercatcher family, Egyptian Goslings, Yellowhammer, Skylark, Reed Bunting & Linnets at Medmerry (AH)

Chichester GPs: The female Red-crested Pochard was on Peckham Lake this morning. (GJ)

Sidlesham: There was an even bigger flock of Swifts over our garden and adjacent fields this morning, estimated at 80 birds, feeding into the wind over the trees. (AH)

Swifts over Sidlesham (AH)

North Wall: There were two Cuckoos behind the paddock this morning and both Marsh Harriers were up further back and a dozen Swallows were over the fields, but the ones nesting in the stables appear to have had their young predated by the local Magpies.

There wasn’t much in the harbour, with just a Mute Swan, a couple of Shelduck, a Lapwing, and a Curlew along White’s Creek, and five Grey Herons, a Little Egret and four Redshanks out near Heron Island.

On the Breech Pool, the pair of Great Crested Grebes were displaying again, and the pair of Tufted Ducks were still about, while in Owl Copse, there were lots of juvenile Little and Cattle Egrets in the trees and a Roe Der was in the fields. Along the wall there were two Linnets, two Greenfinches, a group of Long-tailed Tits, and a few Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings, and there were lots of butterflies about, with a dozen Marbled Whites, a Large Skipper, a Small Tortoiseshell and lots of Meadow Browns along the lower path, where there was also a group of 15 Pyramidal Orchids. (LP/CT)