Saturday was taken up with cars. We've been pondering what to do with the car for a while and keep putting off making a decision, but the repair bills keep going up and have started to arrive more frequently. So the latest incident made our mind up and we've sorted out a change of car for next weekend, the weather on Saturday was truly dreadful in addition to a sharp drop in temperatures, the south coast suffered another deluge.
Without a better plan I headed for Selsey first thing on Sunday morning , my start of the year sea-watch had only yielded a Red-throated Diver and all 3 species had been reported continuously over the last couple of weeks as well as Velvet Scoters, at least I thought I had a chance of picking up one of these.
Arriving early, 4 other regulars were on site. It was bitterly cold and the wind was slightly NE, which although not the best for pushing seabirds nearer the coast it meant there was a bit of shelter underneath the sea wall.
2 Great Northern Divers were fairly close on the sea and a further 2 flew in later on and at least 2 Red-throated Divers did the same, 4 further Diver sp were seen at a greater distance heading either E or W but not fully ID'd, although none came close to resembling the missing Black-throated.
2 Slavonian Gebes were seen in flight. Several Red-breasted Mergansers and only c20 Common Scoters of the previously large flock were on the sea, joined temporarily by 5 Wigeon. A Sanderling dropped onto the beach with the 15 Turnstone and a Curlew and 2 Bar-tailed Godwits headed inland.
4 Med Gulls were on the tideline and a small number of Gannets and Kittiwakes passed at a distance. A few small groups of Brent Geese had passed by in an Easterly direction, perhaps up to 60, when another group of 9 were heading East quite close, the shout went up 'RED-BREASTED GOOSE' and sure enough the third bird in line was a Red-breasted Goose, the group eventually disappeared around the headland but were hugging the coastline so the call was put to alert those around Pagham to keep an eye out in case they entered the harbour. Half an hour later a flock of 15 Brents were heading back West and there it was again (obviously changed it's mind as to where they were heading). It was surprising how structurally in flight the bird appeared larger than the accompanying Brents.
So an unexpected rarity, which although being recorded less than annually in Sussex, it had never been recorded at Selsey before. There has been one wintering with the large Brent flocks just across the border in Hampshire, which is presumably this bird. Always more satisfying when something unexpected happens like this.
I headed home a little later than expected, Around the house, birds were a little thin on the ground, despite the harsher weather there were less birds around the feeders than a week ago with only a small number of Great, Blue and Coal Tits, 3 Goldfinch and the same of Siskin, and only 6 Chaffinches, although 4 Long-tailed Tits and 2 Jays were the first I'd seen this year. Outside a constant procession of Black-headed and Common Gulls were passing over in a NW direction, which is more unusual as Gulls are generally absent from this area.
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