Birding the Selsey Peninsula: 26th

Tuesday, 28th January: Another very windy morning, with a very fresh and blustery westerly breeze pushing through a lot of cloud and the odd heavy shower.........

Selsey Bill: The Black Redstart showed briefly, but there was very little going on offshore. Full log below. (IP/AH/SR)

(0800-0900hrs) (WSW, F6-7)

Great Northern Diver - 2os

Red-throated Diver - 3W

Gannet - 4W

Common Scoter - 1os

Red-breasted Merganser - 1E, 5W

Turnstone - 2

Black Redstart - 1

Black Redstart at the Bill (AH)

Later, a Kittiwake and half a dozen Common and Mediterranean Gulls were among the Black-headed Gulls off Hillfield Road, but there was no sign of any Little Gulls. (KJ et al)

Ferry Pool: There was an increase to 28 Avocets on the pool this morning, with c40 Black-tailed Godwits still present, along with at least 800 Lapwings, with c50 Shovelers, c200 Wigeon and Teal and four Shelducks also about. (AH)

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

Hunston: Around 15 Cattle Egrets were in the fields by the sub-station at the start of Mundham Road this morning. (per KJ)

West Itchenor: There were three Great Northern Divers together on the high tide at the confluence of the Bosham and Chichester Channels.

Also, this afternoon, a Black-necked Grebe was offshore from the jetty. (PH)

Church Norton: The Whimbrel, two Greenshanks and two Bar-ailed Godwits were among the waders in the harbour, along with vast numbers of Knot, Grey Plovers, Dunlin and Lapwings, though most were over the far side.

There were also a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers, two Great Crested Grebes and three Little Grebes in the harbour, along with c200 Brent Geese and a few Pintail, Wigeon and Teal, but a few Common Gulls were the only things of note offshore. (AH/KJ/SM et al)

Greenshanks and Redshanks (above), Whimbrel, Pintail, Red-breasted Mergansers & Common Gulls at Church Norton (AH)

Monday, 27th January: A very wild and windy morning, with a gale-force south-westerly pushing through squalls of rain and heavy cloud, though with quite warm sunny spells in between.........

Selsey Bill: There wasn't much to report early on, though two Fulmars and a few Gannets went west and the Black Redstart was on show again. Full log below. (PA/IP/AH/SR)

(0745-0900hrs) (SW, F7-8)

Great Northern Diver - 1W, 1os

Red-throated Diver - 4W

Fulmar - 2W

Gannet - 45W

Common Scoter - 1W

Red-breasted Merganser - 1E, 2W

Mediterranean Gull - 2os

auk sp - 1W

Black Redstart - 1

Black Redstart (above) & Mediterranean Gulls at the Bill (AH)

Late morning, there were two Little Gulls - an adult and a first-winter - feeding close offshore from Hillfield Road. (PA/MRe/AH/AW)

Little Gull at the Bill (AH)

Later, another adult Little Gull was just east of the Bill, too. (AW)

Little Gull at the Bill (AW)

Ferry Pool: There were 18 Avocets roosting at the back this morning, along with c40 Black-tailed Godwits, and at least 400 Lapwings were on the field, and there were also c150 Wigeon on the fields and four Shelducks, two pairs of Gadwall, c50 Shovelers and at least 200 Teal around the pool. (AH)

Avocets (above) & Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon and Lapwings at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: First thing this morning there were large flocks of waders being moved around by the rising tide, mostly Knot, Dunlin, Grey Plovers, Turnstones, and a few Bar-tailed Godwits, whilst a Lesser Black-backed Gull and a few Common Gulls were among the larger gulls and Brent Geese.

Other than three Red-breasted Mergansers there was little else of note, though later a Greenshank and a Whimbrel were among the few visible roosting waders and a couple of Goldcrests were among a dozen Long-tailed Tits in the sheltered hedges. (AW/AH)

Lesser Black-backed Gull & Bar-tailed Godwit (above) , Knot, Bar-tailed Godwits, Grey Plovers and Dunlin (AW), Greenshank, Teal, Goldcrest & Long-tailed Tit (AH) at Church Norton

North Wall: The ten Barnacle Geese were again in the field at Halsey’s Farm, and c200 Wigeon, 24 Curlew and 46 Black-tailed Godwits were along the rife, whilst a Rock Pipit was long the wall, c2000 Brent Geese were spread across the Honer fields, and out in the harbour there were still plenty of Lapwing and Golden Plovers.

It was busy in the paddocks, with a Grey Wagtail, a Pied Wagtail, nine Meadow Pipits and a Kestrel about, with a female Marsh Harrier over the reeds further back. (LP)

Barnacle Geese (above), Brent Geese, Grey Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail & Kestrel at the North Wall (LP)

Medmerry: Coastguards - There were no Common scoters or Eider about today, but this afternoon a Guiilemot was close offshore. (PA)

Guillemot at Medmerry (PA)

Sunday, 26th January: An increasingly dismal morning's weather, as the strong southerly steadily increased towards gale-force, bringing heavy rain with it.....

Pre-blog years 1975-2012: Just a short note to say that the latest additions have been made to this paper, now taking the updates up to the end of the 1980's. Just click the link on the title bar in the usual way.

Selsey Bill: There was a bit of activity this morning, including a Slavonian Grebe and six Great Northern Divers offshore, 66 Kittiwakes east and good numbers of Gannets present throughout. Full log below.

(JA/SH/PB/MRB/IP/BI/AH et al)

(0725-0925hrs) (S, F6-7)

Great Northern Diver - 6os

Red-throated Diver - 6E, 11W

diver sp - 1W

Slavonian Grebe - 1os

Fulmar - 2W

Gannet - 53E, 123W, 90os

Cormorant - 88E

Common Scoter - 4E, 1W, 5os

Red-breasted Merganser - 18E, 18W, 2os

Turnstone - 22E

Mediterranean Gull - 1E

Common Gull - 3E, 2W

Kittiwake - 66E, 14W

Razorbill - 4E, 6W

auk sp - 15E, 41W

This afternoon, the first Bonxie of the year went east, along with a Fulmar. Full log below. (SH)

(1345-1530hrs) (S, F8)

Red-throated Diver - 1E, 1W

Fulmar - 1E

Gannet -112E, 4W

Red-breasted Merganser - 3W, 5os

Great Skua - 1E

Kittiwake - 1E

Great Northern Diver (above), Kittiwake, Gannet & Red-breasted Mergansers at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: Around 40 Black-tailed Godwits were at the back this morning, along with c60 Shovelers, c100 Teal, c30 Mallards and at least 300 Wigeon, whilst a female Marsh Harrier was over the field to the south. (AH/IP)

Wigeon at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: There were 23 Avocets roosting near Tern Island this morning, with a female Marsh Harrier hunting over the adjacent salt-marsh. (PB/MRB)

Sidlesham churchyard: A Firecrest was present this morning. (IP)

North Wall: It was predictably very quiet along the wall this morning at high tide in the very windy conditions. There were still lots of Lapwing and Golden Plover about, and the Brent Geese were moving between the harbour and the fields, but apart from a Rock Pipit along the wall and a Jay in the paddock that was about it. (LP/BI)

Rock Pipit at the North Wall (LP)

Late this afternoon, the flock of ten Barnacle Geese flew around over Halsey's Farm for several minutes, before deciding to drop into the harbour.

There wasn't much else to report, though, beyond c200 Wigeon in the adjacent harbour and c500 Brent Geese over west. (AH)

Barnacle Geese at the North Wall (AH)

Pagham Lagoon and Spit: There were six Tufted Ducks, a Little Grebe, eight Common Gulls, a Mediterranean Gull, and a female Red Breasted Merganser on the Lagoon, but it was quiet along the spit with just four Linnets seen before the rain set in. (LP)