Monday 19th September - Overdue catch up

I need to get back to regular blogging as I've become a little tardy over the last couple of months, but work is taking most of my free thinking time at the moment !!! - Having said that I've managed a couple of outings in the last 2 weeks.

Saturday 10th September

The Sussex coast can have limited scope for good seawatching unless the winds are of a southerly nature, which is  a shame at this time of the year as many good seabirds are appearing in other parts of the country. On a good day seeing visible migration and not knowing what will appear next is a joy, on all other occasions it is immensely boring and feels like nothing short of a waste of valuable time.
The Atlantic gales (which are typically westerlies until the back edge of the cyclone blows down the English channel which are northerlies) can usher in some of the more unusual good birds nearer the coast (often up the Irish Channel - benefiting Cornwall and Ireland or then down the English Channel benefiting the Eastern coast counties) and that had been the feature of the last week and reading all the Sussex reports they had not unexpectedly all drawn complete blanks. In these conditions a southerly wind generally only appears briefly in between these cyclones - and my limited weather reading ability thought that Saturday morning would have a few hours of Southerly winds before veering back to the West again.

So as I seem to have done more frequently I headed down to Selsey Bill early arriving at 7.15am with some hope - overcast but at least the winds were as predicted - and there was a definite movement of birds. Within the first hour a Hobby flew in off the sea and at least 300 hirundines had flown south, mainly Swallows with around 50 Sand Martins and a few House Martins, 50 Yellow Wagtails and 5 Meadow Pipits with several other unidentified small passerines passing overhead without calling. Small numbers of Sandwich Terns and Gannets were constantly moving and only a handful of Common Terns with 1 juvenile Arctic Tern. 20 Common Scoter, a single Guillemot, 4 Med Gulls and a single Shag. 2 dark phase Arctic Skuas flew West and then a 10am the best bird was a Sooty Shearwater which flew West.

I briefly called in at Church Norton and had a scan in the harbour - the tide was high and a number of Wigeon Teal and Pintail were visible in the harbour so even though still in eclipse plumage would have been recent arrivals. A steady stream of hirundines kept up the early morning theme but other than a few of the commoner waders there was little to pick out. A Spotted Flycatcher was the best of the find in the scrub but a good birdy morning.

Med Gull (Juv going into 1st Winter plumage) at Selsey

Pagham harbour at high tide looking out to the harbour mouth

...looking inland towards Goodwood.

Friday 16th September

Knowing the weekend was busy, I finished work earlier on Friday and managed a couple of hours late afternoon at Pulborough Brooks. The North brooks were actually at an ideal level for wading birds and there was a good selection for an inland site with plenty of Lapwing, 7 Ruff, 2 Green Sandpipers, 3 Dunlin, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Snipe and most surprisingly 1 Knot. A Hobby flew over and plenty of Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins were moving through. Nearly every bush seemed to hold a Chiffchaff and one small corner had 2 Redstarts and a Lesser Whitethroat.

Female Redstart at Pulborough

A shimmering red tail when it alights onto the fence from insect catching.

One of two Redstarts occupying a scrubby corner in late afternoon sunlight

Lesser Whitethroat in Redstart corner

Chiffchaff followed the Redstart onto the post.

Back at the ranch the only additions to the home bird list have been flyovers - a Grey Heron (twice), 4 Canada Geese and 2 Pied Wagtails. I have seen the Firecrest for the 3rd weekend in a row still in the same Holly - and still not co-operating for a picture. Chiffchaff, Blackcap, and Siskins are still aplenty with Bullfinch still around but the feeders have been quiet in the last week.

Domestic Fowl ! - from left Blueberry, Peach and Penny - Blossom was at the vets !