26th - 28th December 2023

Thursday, 28th December: Another morning of freshening south-westerly winds, a little brighter and cooler than yesterday.......

Selsey Bill: It was quieter than yesterday, but there were still fair numbers of Guillemots, Gannets and divers going west, and there were a lot of waders heading west, including the Purple Sandpiper and many Knot, presumably displaced from the harbour. Full log below. (SH/PB/BI/SR/MO-W/P&LH/SP/LP/AH)

(0730-0930hrs) (WSW, F5-6)

Great Northern Diver - 1E, 5W, 5os

Red-throated Diver - 1E, 18W

diver sp - 1W

Slavonian Grebe - 1W

Gannet - 75W

Common Scoter - 10W

Red-breasted Merganser - 4E, 5W

Oystercatcher - 1W

Grey Plover - 104W

Knot - 284W

Purple Sandpiper - 1W

Dunlin - 534W

Turnstone - 72

Mediterranean Gull - 8os

Kittiwake - 7W

Sandwich Tern - 5os

Guillemot - 14W

Razorbill - 26W

auk sp - 51W

Great Northern Diver (above), Kittiwake, Sandwich Tern, Knot, Dunlin and Grey Plovers & a good turn-out at the Bill (AH)

Later in the morning, an adult Little Gull was offshore, along with two Slavonian Grebes. Full log below. (P&LH/SH)

(1020-1315hrs)

Great Northern Diver - 9W, 3os

Red-throated Diver - 1E, 1W, 3os

Slavonian Grebe - 2os

Gannet - 23W

Common Scoter - 1os

Red-breasted Merganser - 3W

Ringed Plover - 2

Sanderling - 1 

Turnstone - 21

Mediterranean Gull - 5os

Common Gull - 1os

Little Gull - 1os

Sandwich Tern - 3os

Guillemot - 1W

Razorbill - 1W

auk sp - 1W

Stock Dove - 1W

Pied Wagtail - 1

Little Gull (above), Sanderling & Great Northern Diver at the Bill (LH)

Ferry Pool: It was much the same as recent days this morning, with 15 Avocets, c60 Shovelers and c150 Teal around the pool and c600 Lapwings and c100 Wigeon on the fields. (AH)

Lapwings at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: A Great Northern Diver, two distant Gannets and a dozen or so Common and Mediterranean Gulls were all that could be found offshore, whilst waders numbers were low in the harbour on the rising tide, with just the Whimbrel, c20 Redshanks and Grey Plovers and c100 Dunlin seen, along with c50 Pintail, Wigeon and Teal and c30 Brent Geese, plus a Kestrel. (AH)

Whimbrel (above), Pintail, Kestrel, Mediterranean Gull, Brent Geese & Wigeon at Church Norton (AH)

Late this afternoon a sub-adult male and a female Marsh Harrier came in to roost at the Severals. (AH)

Marsh Harrier at Church Norton (AH)

Wednesday, 27th December: A pretty dismal morning of strengthening south-westerly winds and heavily overcast skies, though fairly mild and dry until later on.......

Selsey Bill: It was another busy morning, with good numbers and good variety, with highlights including a Leach's Petrel and a distant shearwater sp going west, along with 73 Guillemots and 560 Gannets - the best counts of the year for both, eight Velvet Scoters, including a flock of seven, the Purple Sandpiper and 75 Kittiwakes, with a first-winter Little Gull east and six Slavonian Grebes seen, too. Full log below. (SH/BI/JA/SR/LP/SP/AH/IP)

(0730-1000hrs) (SSW, F5-6)

Great Northern Diver - 7W, 6os

Red-throated Diver - 1E, 30W, 4os

diver sp - 1W

Slavonian Grebe - 3W, 3os

Leach's Petrel - 1W (0820hrs)

shearwater sp - 1W

Fulmar - 2E, 5W

Gannet - 560W

Brent Goose - 20E

Wigeon - 18W

Pintail - 9W

Velvet Scoter - 8W

Common Scoter - 8W

Red-breasted Merganser - 1E, 12W

Grey Plover - 17W

Knot - 4W

Purple Sandpiper - 1W

Dunlin - 28W

Turnstone - 5

Mediterranean Gull - 4W

Common Gull - 1W

Kittiwake - 75W

Little Gull - 1E

Sandwich Tern - 4os

Guillemot - 73W

Razorbill - 87W

auk sp - 332W

There was more activity early this afternoon, including a Bonxie and more Guillemots going west. full log below. (SH)

(1210-1355hrs)

Great Northern Diver - 2W, 1os

Red-throated Diver - 5W

Fulmar - 1W

Gannet - 3E, 43W

Common Scoter - 1W

Red-breasted Merganser - 15W

Great Skua - 1W

Mediterranean Gull - 1W

Kittiwake - 27W

Guillemot - 39W

Razorbill - 25W

auk sp - 88W

Velvet Scoters (above), Kittiwakes, Slavonian Grebe, Purple Sandpiper and Dunlin,

Common Scoters, Razorbill, Red-throated Divers (AH), Little Gull & Great Northern Diver (AW) at the Bill

Ferry Pool: There just 17 Avocets on the pool this morning, along with c60 Shovelers and c150 Teal, whilst at least 800 Lapwings and c150 Wigeon were on the fields. (AH)

Shovelers (above) & Avocets and Lapwings at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: Two Great Northern Divers were offshore this morning, along with a Kittiwake, a Sandwich Tern, four Razorbills and at least a dozen Gannets, plus a few Mediterranean and Common Gulls.

A lot of birds were flying around the harbour before high tide - seemingly unsettled by the gunfire from the adjacent farmland -  and included at least 200 Pintail and similar of Wigeon, c50 Teal, six Bar-tailed Godwits and a multitude of Knot, Grey Plovers and Dunlin, but very few birds settled back to roost at this end of the harbour. (AH)

Great Northern Diver (above), Kittiwake, Gannet, Bar-tailed Godwits and Grey Plovers & Pintail at Church Norton (AH)

Boxing Day, 26th December: A better morning than of late, with the westerly breeze a bit lighter and even a little hazy sunshine.......

Selsey Bill: A total of 13 Slavonian Grebes were seen this morning, the best count of the year, with seven together on the sea and a flock of five and another single flying west, whilst there were also plenty of Great Northern Divers about and 37 Red-throated Divers and 92 Razorbills went west. Full log below. (SH/BI/SR/AH/IP et al)

(0730-1000hrs) (W, F4)

Great Northern Diver - 7E, 8W, 3os

Red-throated Diver - 1E, 37W

Slavonian Grebe - 6W, 7os

Great Crested Grebe - 2os

Gannet - 1E, 44W

Brent Goose - 4E, 7W

Wigeon - 12W

Common Scoter - 23W

Red-breasted Merganser - 1E, 16W

Turnstone - 4

Mediterranean Gull - 10W

Kittiwake - 16W

Sandwich Tern - 3os

Razorbill - 92W

auk sp - 157W

Slavonian Grebes (above), Great Northern Divers, Red-throated Divers & Razorbills at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were 22 Avocets and a lone Redshank on the pool this morning, along with c200 Teal and c75 Shovelers, with c500 Lapwing and c100 Wigeon on the field. (AH)

Avocets at the Ferry (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: A male Sparrowhawk flew low over the fields, whilst two Buzzards, Song Thrush, a Green Woodpecker and a Pied Wagtail were in the general area. (IP)

Church Norton: Seven Red-throated Divers, a Great Northern Diver, two Razorbills and four distant auks went west this morning, whilst another Great Northern Diver, five Great Crested Grebes, a Sandwich Tern, six Gannets and four Common Scoters were offshore, too.

High tide in the harbour meant wildfowl were easy to see, including 200+ Pintail in the main channel, but waders were restricted, though a total of 40 Turnstones flew in and landed on the metalwork, whilst there were also reasonable numbers of Knot amongst the common species and four Bar-tailed Godwits were roosting on Tern Island. Also, a male Peregrine spent a reasonable time sat on a post on New Island.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was on the peanuts at Greenlease Farm whilst c200 Brent Goose were in the fields to the east and a Grey Wagtail flew over the houses twice. Another Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over the first Several and a Cetti's Warbler sang briefly here, whilst a Little Egret was catching something in the horse field. (IP)

North Wall: There were a male and at least two female Marsh Harriers about late this afternoon, whilst c300 Golden Plovers, c500 Lapwings and c100 Black-tailed Godwits were out in the harbour, but a Stonechat, a Reed Bunting and a calling Cetti's Warbler was about it for small birds. (LP/AH)

Marsh Harriers (above) & Golden Plovers, Lapwings and Black-tailed Godwits at the North Wall (AH)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Stilt Pools - It was quiet along the banks this morning, with just a couple of Reed Buntings and Skylarks and half a dozen Meadow Pipits seen, whilst two Ravens went over, heading west and c25 Fieldfares flew over Easton Lane.

At least 200 Golden Plovers and 500 Lapwings flew up from the reserve, whilst ten Gadwall and c40 Teal and Wigeon were by the poplars, with two Avocets, a Curlew, a Red-breasted Merganser and c50 Brent Geese and Wigeon were in the tidal areas opposite the Stilt Pools.

The pools themselves just held c30 Ringed Plovers, c20 Dunlin, c80 Lapwing and a few Wigeon and Teal. (AH)

Raven (above), Meadow Pipit, Ringed Plovers and Dunlin & Gadwall at Medmerry (AH)

Fishbourne Creek: The highlight on the water at hightide was a drake Goldeneye but apart from a single drake Pintail it was just fairly low numbers of the regular wildfowl species otherwise.  

Along the saltmarsh were four Rock Pipits and along the reed beds opposite were two Meadow pipits, two Cetti's Warblers and two Stonechats; two Snipe were also flushed from here. 

Four Redwing and a Song Thrush were near the sewage works but only two Chiffchaffs could be found here despite a good search. (BI)

Rock Pipits (above) & Goldeneye at Fishbourne Creek (BI)