25th November 2025

Tuesday, 25th November: A cold bright morning in just a light to moderate north-westerly breeze.....

Selsey Bill: There were four Sandwich Terns and a few divers about this morning, plus a good count of 22 Shags east. Full log below. (PB/AH/IP/KT)

(0715-0900hrs) (NW,F3)

Great Northern Diver - 3E, 1W, 3os

Red-throated Diver - 2E, 1W

Great Crested Grebe - 1E, 1os

Gannet - 2E, 28W

Shag - 22E

Brent Goose - 1E, 2W

Common Scoter - 2W

Red-breasted Merganser - 6E, 1W

Turnstone - 3W

Great Black-backed Gull - 5os

Sandwich Tern - 4os

Razorbill - 2W, 24os

auk sp - 16E, 3W

Pied Wagtail - 2

A look at lunchtime produced the Black-necked Grebe offshore and four Velvet Scorers flying east. Full log below. (AWi)

(1200-1300hrs)

Black-necked Grebe - 1os

Great Crested Grebe - 1os

Shag - 1os

Velvet Scoter - 4E

Red-breasted Merganser - 4os

Shag - 1os

Oystercatcher - 3

Turnstone - 3

Mediterranean Gull - 2os

Great Black-backed Gull - 2os

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

Ferry Pool: There were nine Black-tailed Godwits, c30 Lapwings, a dozen Shelducks and c60 Shovelers and Teal on the pool this morning, whilst c80 Wigeon were on the fields at the back, a Kingfisher was in the channel opposite and they Grey Wagtail was around the hide. (KT/AH)

Later, the Green Sandpiper was back, and three Redshanks, the nine Black-tailed Godwits and 73 Lapwings were on the pool, with a Stonechat in the field and a Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest in the hedges, whilst the Peregrine was gain on the radar msat. (AWi)

Grey Wagtail (above), Kingfisher & Shovelers and Teal at the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: A redhead Goosander was out in the channels in the harbour mouth this morning, whilst there a lot less Brent Geese than of late in the harbour on the lower tide, with perhaps 100 birds present, along with c30 Pintail, c50 Teal and c100 Wigeon.

There were plenty of waders about, including an Avocet, c500 Knot, c800 Dunlin, c30 Ringed and Grey Plovers ad a few Turnstones, but there wasn't much in a quick look at the hedges beyond two or three Jays and a flock of 14 Pied Wagtails behind the churchyard. (PB/AH/KT)

A look later on produced, in addition to the species seen earlier, six Gadwall, a dozen Avocets, a Bar-tailed Godwit, two Black-tailed Godwits, a Sandwich Tern and a Kingfisher. (AWi)

Avocet (above), Grey Plover, Knot and Dunlin & Brent Geese at Church Norton (AH)

East Head: A single drake Eider was observed between East Head and Ella Nore from Snowhill Creek, at high tide this afternoon. (RA)

Eider at East Head (RA)

Dell Quay - Fishbourne Creek: There were ten Red-breasted Mergansers, 12 Great Crested Grebes and six Little Grebes in the channel around the Dell Quay area, where two Avocets were also of note, Several hundred Brent Geese were making their presence felt amongst the other wildfowl, including Wigeon and Shelducks.

Further along the channel good numbers of the regular Dunlin, Redshanks and Black-tailed Godwits were along the edges, until an angler also waded into the water! There were a minimum of 93 Mute Swans, together with a Black Swan, with at least eight Pintail nearby, but nothing beyond the regular was located this morning. (OM)

Avocets at Dell Quay this morning (OM)

Chi Marina - Birdham pool: An overdue visit to the Marina found little of note, with just a fewf Little Grebes and a Red-breasted Merganser in the channel, together with 40 Wigeon and just a handful of Brent Geese. Nearby there were 45+ Mallard, a couple of Teal, two Grey Herons and at least 15 Little Grebes on the Birdham pool. (OM)

Chi GPs - Ivy Lake complex: The main pits were notably quiet today for wildfowl and there was little to report beyond a few Tufted Ducks, two Grey Herons and up to 15 Little Egrets which were spread around the lakes, whilst two Chiffchaffs were in the bushes along the main path with several Goldcrests and Long-tailed Tits.

New Lake was little better, with nothing beyond the usual species, but Runcton Lake was more interesting, holding at least 30 Pochard and 40 Tufted Ducks. One of the latter  caught my eye, although annoyingly it spent the whole time at some distance on the far side of the lake, but it appeared to show a notably large blaze around the bill, a round head with no crest and an appearance initially similar to a Scaup. I spent some time looking and managed a few fairly useless photos, but it was necessary to be cautious as other features had not been clinched, including the bill detail. To cut the story short, later consultation and a more detailed look at the images showed the bird to be a Tufted, albeit a tricky one! (OM)

Tufted Ducks at Runcton Lake (OM)