7th-9th June 2014

Monday, 9th June: A grey and gloomy start, with a brisk easterly, brihtening up for a while then back to grey and gloomy.....

Medmerry: A quick look at the breach this morning produced 65 Grey Plovers, 6 Bar-tailed Godwit and 2 Knot roosting on the first pool. Also there were still a pair of 2 Little Ringed Plovers around, too. (AH)

Grey Plovers (above) and shingle being pumped back onto the West Sands beach at Medmerry (AH)

 

The Black-winged Stilts continue to incubate their eggs, and this evening there were 16 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, a Redshank and 2 Cuckoos around the pools. Also a Barn Owl - possibly the first one seen this year on the west of the peninsula - flew over Easton Lane late in hte evening. (S&SaH)

 

Church Norton: Still about 20 Sanderling in the harbour, plus a dozen or so Curlews and a single Knot. Along the Severals there were a couple of Reed Buntings, half a dozen Linnets, and a pair of Teal, but very little birdsong. (AH)

 

A pair of Linnets at Church Norton (AH)

 

Ferry Pool: Thirteen Avocets this morning, plus 20 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Lapwing (including one juvenile), the family group of Shelduck and a Skylark. (AH)

 

Sidlesham: A pair of Stock Doves in our garden on the west of the village this morning, feeding under the bird-table barely ten feet from the house! (AH)

 

Stock Dove in a Sidlesham garden (AH)

 

North Wall: This is the place to be if you enjoy watching feeding Reed and Sedge Warblers. Apart from that it was very quiet; just a single pair of Teal and Tufted Ducks and no sightings of the Great Crested Grebes. I assume they have failed to breed and moved on, 3 years running this has occurred. The afternoon highlight was a very flighty Clouded Yellow along the lower path. (JW)

Clouded Yellow along the North Wall (JW)

 

Sunday, 8th June: A bright summer's morning, with light winds and plenty of sun....

Firstly, an aerial view of the peninsula from Sam Hill as he flew into Gatwick a few days ago....

The peninsula from the sky (SH)

Selsey Bill: 0630-0900hrs (SH/SR)
Fulmar - 2E, 1W
Gannet - 11E, 9W
Eider - 10 os
Common Scoter - 17E,19os
Sandwich.Tern - 29E, 7W
Common Tern - 1E, 1W
Little Tern - 1E
Razorbill - 1W
Swift - 7p
Swallow - 5p
 
Ferry Pool: Ten Avocets this morning, plus 3 Teal, 8 Gadwall, 20+ Black-tailed Godwits and two families of Shelduck including 15-20 young. (AH)

 Shelduck with young (above) & loafing Teal, Gadwall, Shelduck, Mallard & Black-tailed Godwits on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: Still 25 Sanderling in the harbour with 2 Dunlin. Also a calling Cuckoo, a Peregrine over and House Martins collecting mud at Park Farm, Selsey. (IP)

Pagham Spit: Not much to report except that the Little Terns were very obvious, with a lot of activity - from displaying and fish-passing to seemingly carrying food back to the colony. Also a few Common Terns in the harbour mouth and 5 Turnstones.
I watched one female Little Tern sat on the shingle as several males swooped in, one with a fish that he ate in the end as she wasn't interested, before finally accepting a fish from her choice of mate. (AH)
 

Little Tern courtship - she waits patiently on the shingle...

 ....he brings her a sandeel..

....she accepts it....

....and he declares to the world that she loves him! (AH)

 

Medmerry: A very early Clouded Yellow butterfly seen this morning at Easton Lane. (PS)
The Black-winged Stilts, Avocet and Little Ringed Plover families all still on the pools (Per SOS)
At Ham Farm this evening still 3-4 singing Corn Buntings, several Skylarks and Lapwings, and a pair of Little Ringed Plovers on the puddles by the bank. Distantly around the breach, a Heron put up about 8 Bar-tailed Godwits, at least 40 Grey Plover and a few Dunlin.
Also there was a colony of several hundred plants of Grass Vetchling - a member of the pea family, but with leaves like grass and almost undetectable when not flowering. The only other ones I have ever seen locally were in areas now under salt-water so it is pleasing to see them surviving. (AH)

Little Ringed Plover (above), Corn Bunting and Grass Vetchling at Medmerry (AH)

 

 

Cuckoo (above), Avocets & Roe Deer at Medmerry (DM)

 

 

 

Saturday, 7th June: A highly variable start to the day, with flat calm and heavy cloud, thunderstorms, strong wind and bright sunshine all before 10am! Quiet on the birding front, but as ever a few bits and pieces about to maintain interest.....

Selsey Bill: 0630-0800hrs (SH)
Fulmar - 1E, 6W
Gannet - 11E, 9W
Common Scoter - 15os
Curlew - 1W
Sandwich Tern - 8E, 20W
Common Tern - 1W
Auk sp - 2W
Swift - 5p

Selsey: Curious about the lack of House Martins this year (I have 3 old nests but so far haven't noticed any Martins investigating), I took a walk along the seafront from East Beach to the Bill, walking back via assorted streets and closes. Last year a couple of the sea facing houses had Martins but they were absent today and I began to think I'd be returning home empty note-booked, when a couple few from under the eves of a property in Domehouse Close. I've not been able to find any at East Beach yet, but the search continues.(SR)

There were Houe Martins at Park Farm, Selsey,however, seen gathering mud for a nest somewhere nearby. (S&SaH)

House Martin gathering mud at Park Farm (SH)

Medmerry: Silt-watch early am - The pair of Black-winged Stilts are still going strong, despite a huge thunderstorm and a mix up over nest-duty when the weather cleared, meaning that the eggs went unattended for several minutes!

There were also three lots of Avocet young - a one and two two's - and two families of Little Ringed Plovers still on the pool. A group of 11 Sanderling dropped in but were shooed off by an Avocet, around 20 Black-tailed Godwit did drop in, and several Common, Little and Sandwich Terns were about.

Up at the breach there were 20 Grey Plover, 5 Dunlin and 8 Turnstone, plus a calling Greenshank and a Cuckoo on the dead hedgerows, and there were at least a dozen Lapwings about the dead vegetation, though I didn't see any young. Also the big Common Scoter flock (100+ birds) usually seen from the Bill was far offshore and the Little Owl was on his regular roof late morning. (AH/JS)

A lowering sky over the 'Stilt' pool (above), Black-winged Stilt and Little Ringed Plover with chick at Medmerry (AH)

Ferry Pool: There were 12 Avocets this morning, plus 20 or so Black-tailed Godwits, a single Lapwing seeing off crows, the drake Teal, 8 Gadwall and the large family party of Shelduck. (AH)

Avocet, Teal, Gadwall & Mallard on the Ferry (AH)

 

Church Norton: A pair of Coots with freshly hatched young on the second Several. (S&SaH)
In the harbour 5 Bar-tailed Godwits this evening, plus similar of Dunlin and Sanderling and at least 40 Ringed Plover and 3 Curlew. A Cuckoo was along the west side, and offshore a Fulmar went west and a dozen Gannets were lingering far out. (AH)

Bar-tailed Godwit (above) (AH) & Coot chicks at Church Norton (SH) at Church Norton

4th - 6th June 2014

Friday, 6th June: Strong east to south-easterly winds and fair weather are forecast for today......

 

Selsey Bill 0645-0900hrs: ESE F5 (Obs: SR/GH/CRJ)
Gannet - 29E, 2W
Fulmar - 1E
Eider - 3E
Common Scoter - 114E, 21W
Sanderling - 15E
Sandwich Tern - 35E (one carrying food), 1W
Common Tern - 11E, 1W
Commic Tern - 36E, 2W
Little Tern - 3 feeding o/s
 

Medmerry: Stilt-watch early am - The pair of Black-winged Stilts are still holding their own, seeing off crows and gulls with the same tenacity that the Avocets do. Still several pairs of Avocets and 3-4 chicks, and a couple of pairs of Little Ringed Plovers, with at least a couple of chicks in evidence, and a drake Shoveler on the pools.

The female Wheatear was still by the rocks, two Cuckoos were on the far side, several Reed Buntings and numerous Skylarks were about, one (possibly 2) Greenshank were heard but not seen, two or three Little and Common Terns came and went, up to half a dozen Gannet were offshore and about 36 Lapwing (in small flocks) drifted in from further west to settle on the fields. (AH/AB)

 

 

Black-winged Stilts on nest duty (above), Skylark and Little Ringed Plover at Medmerry (AH)

 

 

Avocets (above) & Skylark at Medmerry (DM)

  

Ferry Pool: Ten Avocets loafing this morning (possibly failed breeders from Medmerry?), along with 8 Gadwall, a drake Teal, 25 Black-tailed Godwit and a pair of Shelduck with about 15 youngsters and another female with 3 smaller ones. (AH)

 

Shelduck family on the Ferry (AH)
 

Thursday, 5th June: A real change from yesterday - fine, sunny and dry with a brisk SW wind. An off-Peninsula day to the downs and Arun valley for me; probably a mistake as I saw very little there and kept wondering what I was missing! Which reminds me, AH will be holding the fort all next week; all records to him please although most of you now already know to send your contributions to both of us anyway, which is great. Let's hope there's something decent to report before the summer doldrums set in! (OM)

 

North Wall: A Blackcap with 2 young at Welbourne. On the Breach Pool 6 Tufted Ducks, a pair of Teal but no sightings of the Great Crested Grebes. Along Pagham Rife a pair of Mute Swans with 5 cygnets; 4 Tufted Ducks on Honer Reservoir plus an optimistic Common Tern. Cuckoo calling at Halseys Farm. Magpies were harassing something at Honer which turned out to be a shrew, I was too late to save it (JW).

 

 

 

Tufted Duck on the Breach Pool, and shrew sp. killed by Magpies at Honer farm (JW).

 

Ferry Pool: I made a brief stop on my way home:- 7 Avocets, (one female doing her head-lowering 'come and get me' routine while her partner carried on feeding, ignoring her), 25 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 adult Shelducks with 13 ducklings, 2 juvenile Coots, 7 Mallard ducklings, a calling Cetti's Warbler, and 5 Swifts (SR).

 

Church Norton: Still a big flock of Sanderling in the harbour this evening - somewhere between 40 and 50 (but hard to count!), along with similar numbers of Dunlin and Ringed Plover. There were 4 Little Terns, 6 Sandwich Terns and 14 Common Terns loafing around the harbour - hopefully taking a break rather than having given up on nesting. Also a Cuckoo, a Blackcap and a few Whitethroats calling. (AH)

 

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

 

 

Wednesday, 4th June: A grey and wet morning with a moderate WSW wind and a decidedly unpromising forecast of heavy rain for a good part of the day, so updates may prove to be somewhat limited! Let us hope that the weather is not  too detrimental to the efforts of the Black-winged Stilts and other nesting species at Medmerry - or to all those involved in the 24-hr watch on these lovely birds -  well done to all participants in the protection scheme, which includes most of the Peninsula regulars. On the subject of Medmerry, apologies to yesterday's contributors but due to a technical error (me I think!) it appears some late blog entries and photos were accidentally deleted... some of the pic's are now repeated below. And a late afternoon update - there was far less rain than predicted and even a few sunny spells. (OM):

 

 

 

 

 

Medmerry yesterday: from the top, Avocet with chick in defensive mode, Avocet pair, Oystercatcher and Little Ringed Plover (DM).

Ferry Pool: 2 Avocets, 3 Redshank, 3 Gadwall, 2 Mute Swans, 2 Tufted Ducks, 3 adult Shelducks with 18 chicks (mainly back of pool out of camera range!), 4 Black-tailed Godwits, c15 Coot with 2 young, 1 calling Cetti's Warbler and many Reed and Sedge Warblers singing (SR).

Medmerry: West Sands to the Breach - The most surprising bird of the morning was a Kingfisher in one of the tidal creeks. There were still a few waders about this morning, too, including a pair of Little Ringed Plovers and two pairs of Ringed Plovers, a Bar-tailed Godwit, 12 Grey Plovers, 3 Redshank and a Lapwing with a well-grown chick. Also, the pair of Little Terns was still on the mud, two Mediterranean Gulls and two Sandwich Terns went west, the large Common Scoter flock was distantly off Medmerry Cliff and there were a couple of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits around the rubble heaps. (AH)

Little Terns (above) Little Tern & Bar-tailed Godwit, and Ringed Plover at Medmerry (AH)

1st - 3rd June 2014

Tuesday, 3rd June: A grey, rather humid start with some drizzle and a brisk wind from the south-west keeping the birds low... and perhaps promising a bit more sea-watching action than there actually was, resulting in a gallery of 10 observers at one time, all not seeing a great deal! (OM).

 

Selsey Bill (0715-1045 & 1200-1300hrs): Cloud and early drizzle, wind fresh SW4. (Obs: OM/DF/JD/DS et al). Apart from a late-lingering Great Northern Diver there was not much in the way of quality, but quantity was made up mainly with Common Scoter flocks, 8 Common Eider and some Gannets, whilst a flock of 4 Great Crested Grebes was a surprise given the date. Full log below:

Great Northern Diver - 1 os

Great Crested Grebe - 4W

Fulmar - 2E, 6W

Gannet - 28E, 12W

Eider - 8 os

Common Scoter - 161E, & large flock c.170 os (mainly off Coastguards area; distance and a choppy sea made close scrutiny impossible)

Little Tern - 1 os

Common Tern - 6 os, moving back and forth

Sandwich Tern - 12 os

Med Gull - 1W

Whitethroat - 1 gardens (Bill House).

 

Anything about? A peak gathering of ten observers was present this morning, but although there were no excitements bird-wise, a stream of Common Scoter at least provided some interest! (OM).

 

North Wall: Pretty quiet all round, with the water level on the Breach Pool sufficiently high to make Tufted Duck (with a dozen) the most numerous species. Also on there were a drake Pochard, a Grey Heron, a single Great Crested Grebe (hopefully its partner is still sitting), 10 Mallards and the usual Sedge, Reed and Cetti's Warblers now feeding young, plus 4 Linnets and 2 Reed Buntings. Elsewhere a Lesser Whitethroat was singing by Honer Farm, a Stock Dove was near Honer Copse, two Mediterranean Gulls flew over, and there were a few Curlew in the harbour. Two Common Terns fishing and 20 Swifts passed over moving westwards. A pair of Little Grebes at Owl Water but no signs of the chick. The Little Egret orchestra continues to emit some wonderful sounds (AH/JW).

 

 

Stock Dove (above), Linnet & Pochard and Grey Heron at the North Wall (AH) 

 

 

Ferry Pool: Five Avocets and 5 Black-tailed Godwits were present early this morning, but when AH visited a little while later, there were only 3 of the former but about 20 of the latter! The group of 8 moulting Gadwall was also present (OM).

Pagham Lagoon: Now two broods of Great Crested Grebes - the single mentioned a while ago up the east end and now two smaller ones plus parents under the caravans (pic attached which shows these two chicks in background right and also the Mute Swan pair with their brood of seven). Also both Little Terns (2) and Common Terns (3) fishing here, two single Little Grebes and six Tufted Ducks. (ARK).

 Mute Swans with cygnets Pagham Lagoon, with two juv Great Crested Grebes in background (ARK).

 

Monday, 2nd June: A pleasant early summer morning with light winds and sunny spells. Nothing much new in, but still a reasonable selection of species.....

 

Selsey Bill: From 0730-0800 in a very light north-westerly, there was still one summer-plumaged Great Northern Diver offshore this morning, plus the 150 or so Common Scoter. Total movement was Gannet 6W & 2E, Sandwich Tern 5W and Curlew 1W. (AH)

 

Medmerry: West Sands/Breach area - A few waders on the intertidal areas this morning - 10 Grey Plover, 10 Dunlin, 1 Knot in summer-plumage, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Little Ringed Plover and 4 Ringed Plover. Also there were 3-4 Little Terns were lingering on the mud and feeding, a Mediterranean Gull flew over and up to 4 Corn Buntings were singing on the adjacent fields. (PH)

 

Church Norton: The flock of 30+ Sanderling flew around the harbour, as did half a dozen Sandwich Terns, there were several Curlews on the mud and the usual Sedge, Reed and Cetti's Warblers, Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were singing along the Severals.(AH)

Sedge Warbler on the Severals (AH)

 

Ferry Pool: A Hobby was hunting high over the pool this morning. Also present were 4 Avocets and 8 Gadwall (which appear to be moulting into 'eclipse' plumage) and a pair of Shelduck with about 15 young chicks. (AH) 

 

Gadwall on (above) & Hobby over Ferry Pool (AH)

Sunday, 1st June: Fairly warm with sunshine and cloud; beginning calm but with a SW breeze picking up to force 3-4. With May now behind us, it should be remembered that the first half of June can sometimes offer a real surprise in the form of an overshoot, so don't write off the sea or those quiet corners just yet and keep looking! Talking of which, an odd Eider was reported some way off the Bill this morning by three observers (DIS/RAI/DM); it appeared to show a pinky-toned bill and a more rounded head shape than Common Eider, but nothing could be clinched due to distance and conditions, before the bird drifted off E without being relocated - worth bearing in mind for the future though (OM).

 

Selsey Bill: apart from the odd bird described above, there were several other Eider offshore and a large flock of at least 150 Common Scoter this morning, though it seems that the last of the lingering Great Northern Divers may now finally have gone (JA).
Selsey: Confirmed breeding of a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers with young at an undisclosed site in the area (SR).

Ferry Pool:  An 0830 visit produced 2 Avocets, 1 Redshank, 3 adult Shelducks with a crèche of 11, a Shoveler, 4 Tufted Ducks, 23 Coots, 4 Lapwings, assorted Mallards with 6 ducklings, 2 Mute Swans, and a Cetti's Warbler (SR). 

Church Norton: Most numerous bird in the harbour today was Sanderling - with a flock of 37 on the rising tide, plus 3 on the beach. Also in the harbour a Curlew Sandpiper (per DS/RI/DM), a Bar-tailed Godwit, about 20 each of Dunlin and Ringed Plover.and a few Common, Little and Sandwich Terns for the RSPB tern-watchers to enjoy. Still a selection of warblers singing along the Severals, including Chiffchaff, Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap and Reed and Sedge Warbler, along with a dozen Linnets, two or three Reed Buntings and a pair of Sparrowhawks. (AH/IP)
There were still at least 30 Sanderlings and at least 50 Ringed Plovers in the harbour this evening, plus a displaying pair of Sandwich Terns. (AH)

 

Sanderlings (above) & Reed Warbler at Church Norton (AH)