Headed to the coast this morning and first to Selsey to have a look at the sea. Quite overcast and a westerly was blowing so I wasn't too expectant about prospects. Arrived around 7.45 , one other birder there. A Great Northern Diver (1) drifted west on the sea , a Razorbill was quite close on the sea, Red-throated Diver (1w), Red-breasted Merganser (1), Common Scoter (4w), Kittiwake (6w), Brent Goose (28e), A small raptor out at sea turned into a Sparrowhawk as it headed on-shore. 4+ Med Gulls quartered the beach, several Turnstone flew up and down the beach, and a single wader heading west I picked up late in the scope before it disappeared round the wall was probably a Purple Sandpiper but will have to remain a probable. Headed to Church Norton around 9, the wind had started to veer slightly north, and with it a cooler breeze but also the cloud was clearing to blue skies.
I thought there might be some photo opportunities so grabbed the camera as I headed out from the car park, but found I'd been a complete Doofus and forgotten to put the memory Card back in having loaded some pics onto the laptop the previous night- so ended up just carrying the camera !!!
Redpolls (4) flew over as I walked down to the harbour, and a commotion in the bushes yielded nothing more than several Blackbirds and Chaffinches (although there was definitely something spooking them). The tide was well on its way in and already the waders were losing the last bit of mud. Good numbers of Grey Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and a few Black-tailed Godwit were seen 27 Little Egret were roosting in view and a Peregrine was sitting on one of the islands . On route to the sea 20+ Siskins flew over and there was a decent number of finches feeding in the brambles on the corner of the Severals consisting Greenfinches, Linnets, Goldfinches, Chaffinches and a couple of Reed Bunting. Meadow Pipit and Skylark were frequently flying over. A pair of Kingfisher sat on the exposed mud in the channel of the first Paddock.
I scanned the sea, and picked up a Red-necked Grebe amongst the 20 or so Great-crested's still in transformation plumage with a dark neck showing, the birds were quickly drifting out as the tide rose and I lost sight of this one after 5 minutes. Red-breasted Mergansers (3) joined several Wigeon on the sea.
I walked out along the spit and scoped a Merlin sitting on the fencepost and then another much further along, I eventually had great views of these as I walked towards the end of the spit as they were both preening and wing-stretching, the farther bird then took off, the nearer one staying at least long enough to get a couple of other birders onto it. A couple of Razorbills were in the harbour and were quite close to the shore at one point (At this point I should be talking about the pictures I got of the Merlin and Razorbills - but hey ...Law of Sod wins again). Several Pintail were drifting in the harbour with the Brent Geese, Wigeon and Teal and large numbers of Lapwing were flying around the harbour looking for roost spots. I had half a mind this morning to drop in on another site inland on the way home, but ended up being foiled by the tide, as it was a high high-tide and had blocked the footpath back and rather than take a longer route I decided just to loiter for an extra hour until it receded as the skies were now blue and it was quite pleasant. I added Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and some Bearded Tits along the severals. So ended a good birdy morning.
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