15th October - Last throws of Summer

I headed down to the coast this morning (well, to Selsey again,  which is due South and therefore 'down'). The winds were very light and southerly, and there was little prospect of movement on the sea, but my first hour had significant numbers of passerines moving along the coast. Groups of up to 20 birds at a time some flocks were mixed and the typical underside-of-rump views of birds passing overhead relied on the calls to be ID certain. Siskins(50+), Lesser Redpolls(30), Goldfinches(10), Pied Wagtails(38), Grey Wagtail(1), Meadow Pipit(7), Linnet (15), Skylark(2), Sparrowhawk(1), Swallow (18) all contributed to the activity and probably 100+ other birds were seen as passerine sp being  too distant to confirm. Plenty of Med Gulls were offshore with Sandwich Tern (1), Shag (1), Common Scoter (6), Red-breasted Merganser (3) and a small number of distant Gannets, maybe that rarity was lurking at Church Norton.....

.... or maybe not, the weather was certainly glorious which made up a little for the few birds. The back of the churchyard held  singles of  Blackcap and Chiffchaff and more Siskin with Lesser Redpolls, Skylark and Meadow Pipits continuing to fly over. A Dartford Warbler was in the Gorse scrub on the West side and 2 Stonechats were probably migrants.Swallows continued to appear with 2 House Martins. Very little was visible along the severals with only a calling Cettis Warbler and 3 Goldcrest in a small copse, The harbour held good numbers of Brent Geese, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Knot, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover and the Leucistic Curlew was still present causing confusion to a couple of birders who thought they were looking at a Sacred Ibis.. A Northern Wheatear was in a field driving out of the churchyard.

At home the coastal movement theme continued a little as 3 Skylark, 6 Meadow Pipits and 14 Redwings flew over the garden calling and the large flock of Siskins was still around the Alders . 3 Buzzards were circling a Sparrowhawk darted through and at least 3 Goldcrest were seen along with a brief view of a Firecrest.

My afternoon otherwise occupied meant that I had no chance of getting to the Downs near Beachy Head when news came through of an Isabelline Wheatear, which was a first for Sussex. With the clear skies at night migrants were not hanging around (ergo the Rufous-tailed Robin in Norfolk the previous day) so I waited for news on Sunday morning and  not surprisingly the bird was not seen - shame but another glorious day of weather was spent planting bulbs with Adie.