16th-19th July 2015

Sunday, 19th July: A much better start than forecast, with the rain barely wetting the ground and quickly giving way to another bright and breezy day.....

Selsey Bill: More or less the same species as most other days, including almost 40 Common Scoter, Mediterranean Gulls Common and Sandwich Terns going east and west and a few Gannets offshore, but there were also a Little Tern west, a Common Gull on the beach and a few Sand Martins over, along with the usual House Martins. Full log below. 
(0700-0830) (SH/IP/AH/JA)
Gannet - 18E,12W
Common Scoter - 38E
Curlew - 1W
Common Gull - 1W
Mediterranean Gull - 4E, 1W, 3os
Sandwich Tern - 14os
Common Tern - 23os
Little Tern - 1W
House Martin - 12p
Sand Martin - 4S
Pied Wagtail - 1p

Common Gull (above) & House Martin at the Bill (AH)

Ferry Pool: A Common Sandpiper, and - unusually for here - a Whimbrel on the pool, plus a dozen or so Black-tailed Godwits and three juvenile Shelduck, plus four Stock Doves, briefly. (AH)

Black-tailed Godwits (above), Whimbrel & Stock Dove on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: Still up to a hundred Sandwich Terns, with a few Common Terns amongst them, in the harbour, along with c30 Black-tailed Godwits, c50 Dunlin, and a few Whimbrel and Curlew. A roving flock of young warblers was near the concrete wall, including Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and possibly a Reed Warbler, and a few Linnets and Greenfinches were along the beach, but otherwise it as quiet. (AH/IP)
Similar this afternoon, though there were 80+ Dunlin and c40 Redshank in the harbour, plua a Mediterranean Gull and several juvenile Great Black-backed Gulls. (AH)

Sandwich Terns and Dunlin (above), Common Tern, Black-tailed Godwit, juvenile Great Black-backed Gull & Mediterranean Gull at Church Norton (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: There was still a big mixed flock of Swifts, Swallows, Sand and House Martins feeding over the farm  and a Lesser Black-backed Gull was nearby. (IP)

Medmerry: Ham Lane - Twenty or thirty Sand Martins went over, along with a Mediterranean gull and a Buzzard, and there were several Yellowhammers along the telephone wires. (AH)

Buzzard at Medmerry (AH)

Easton Lane to the Stilt Pool - List of species seen this afternoon (S&SaH):

Grey Heron - 5

Little Egret - 10

Tufted Duck - 1 female with 6 young

Oystercatcher - 2 feeding young on stilt pool

Avocet - 12 adult with 8 young various ages

Little Ringed Plover - 4 plus 2 young
Green Sandpiper - 2
Common Sandpiper - 1
Redshank - 1
Dunlin - 6
Curlew - 1
Yellow-legged Gull - 1

Mediterranean Gull - 2

Black-headed Gulls - 20+ including 3 juveniles taking their first short flights

Sandwich Tern - 1
Sand Martin - 100+
House Martin - 20+
Swallow - 50+
Swift - 20+
Reed Warbler - 1
Whitethroat - 10+

Yellowhammer - 10+
Corn Bunting - 1

Young Avocets (above), young Black-headed Gulls and Tufted Duck family at Medmerry (SH)

Saturday, 18th July: A very pleasant summer's day with lots of sun and a brisk breeze from the west........

Ferry Pool: Just a Common Sandpiper and a dozen Black-tailed Godwits early on, and late morning there were 80 of the latter while the Common Sandpiper had departed. (AH/SH)

Common Sandpiper (above) & Black-tailed Godwit on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: The Hudsonian Whimbrel was reported as present by RBA, and there was a large mixed hirundine flock over Park Farm, Selsey. (IP) Also this morning there were two Common sandpipers,  five Grey Plover, c35 Dunlin, a dozen Common Terns and as many as 100 Sandwich Terns in the harbour. (C&ME)

Chichester GPs: Westhampnett Pit - was quite quiet with plenty of water sports taking place, but there were a couple of Common Terns feeding low on the water. (BI)

Common Tern over Westhampnett Pit (BI)

Medmerry: Easton Lane to the Breach - A good selection this morning, with the most unusual bird (for the time of year) being a Whinchat near Marsh Barn, which looked like it could have been a juvenile bird.

There were plenty of migrant waders about, including two Greenshank, two Common Sandpipers, up to five Green Sandpipers, four Dunlin and 20+ Lapwing in the various pools. Around the Stilt Pool a vigilant Redshank looked like it had young somewhere, there were still at least five Avocet families and there were two or three juveniles among the ten or so Little Ringed Plovers. Also a pair of Oystercatchers had a newish chick, there were three almost fledged Black-headed Gull chicks and there were families of Shelduck and Tufted Duck.

Along the beach there were four Sanderling and two Dunlin, plus a pair of Ringed Plovers and a couple of hundred Linnets and plenty of Skylarks were in the cattle fields. There was still the odd snippet of Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and Yellowhammer song, whilst at least 50 Sand Martins and Swallows, plus a few Swifts were feeding overhead and along the pools. (AH)

Whinchat (above), Greenshanks, Sanderling, Sand Martin, Swallow, Avocet chicks, Redshank, Skylark, Oystercatcher and chick and Tufted Duck family at Medmerry (AH)

Friday, 17th July: A breezy, but brighter day after a gloomy start....

Our story earlier in the week about the influx of Starry Smoothhounds at Medmerry has - thanks to the RSPB - gone 'viral' - not only is it front page of the Daily Mirror, no less, and with a full page inside, but also likely to appear on the BBC. Remember, you saw the news here first!

Today's Daily Mirror, complete with pictures first seen on the Blog! (AH)

Selsey Bill: (0715-1045) (AH/C&ME)
Gannet - 34E, 21W
Common Scoter - 15 E
Mediterranean Gull - 23W
Sandwich Tern - 6E, 10os
Common Tern - 8os
Swift - 4 over
House Martin - 12p

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

Ferry Pool: Not much this morning - just five Avocets, a dozen Black-tailed Godwits and five juvenile Shelduck. Later on a flock of 17 Canada Geese dropped in before heading off towards Medmerry, doubtless heralding what has become a regular late summer build-up in numbers of this (fortunately?) not especially common species down here. (AH)

Juvenile Avocet (above) & Canada Geese on the Ferry (AH)

North Wall: The Hudsonian Whimbrel was roosting in the harbour with a handful of Whimbrel and c100 Curlews at 1.30pm today. (AB)

Church Norton: There were the best part of 100 Sandwich Terns in the harbour this morning, including many youngsters, with the adults bringing in enormous numbers of Sandeels and the like. An adult Mediterranean Gull and a dozen Common Terns were amongst them, and also present were two flocks of c40 Dunlin, c30 Black-tailed Godwits and Curlews and four or five Whimbrel. 

Not much else of note about, bar three Swifts and a couple of Sand Martins that went over, and a singing Chiffchaff. (AH)

Sandwich Terns (above) & Dunlin at Church Norton (AH)

Not much change in the harbour this evening, but there was the first Common Gull for a while, along with around 20 Mediterranean Gulls among the roosting gulls on Rectory Lane, and there was also a grey Partridge with around a dozen Red-legged Partridges. (AH)

Common Gull and Mediterranean Gull (above), Red-legged Partridge & Grey Partridge at Church Norton (AH)

Thursday, 16th July: A fairly dismal start to the day, with a brisk easterly wind, heavy cloud and poor visibility - though it was meant to improve by afternoon.......

Ferry Pool: There was just one Common Sandpiper this morning, along with three Little Ringed Plovers and 12 Black-tailed Godwits, plus five juvenile Shelduck. (AH)

Common Sandpiper (above) & Black-tailed Godwit and Shelduck on the Ferry (AH)

Church Norton: At least five Whimbrel in the harbour this morning, though the Hudsonian was not among them, along with 30+ Curlew, a dozen Black-tailed Godwits and 20 Redshanks. There were at least 50 Sandwich Terns and 20 Common Terns in the harbour, too, and along the west side there were 20+ Linnets, a few Whitethroats and a brief snatch of Reed Warbler, plus a handful of Sand Martins over, whilst there were families of Whitethroat and Chiffchaff around the Mound/car park area. (AH)

Whimbrels (above) & Whitethroat at Church Norton (AH)

Park Farm, Selsey: Flying ants brought out the hirundines this evening between the North of Selsey and the Severals, with 350+ Sand Martins, 50+ House Martins, 50+ Swallows and 30+ Swifts feeding overhead, along with 50+ Black-headed Gulls, and a passing Sparrowhawk taking an interest. (S&SaH)