A morning on the coast started at Selsey at 7am, under particularly grey skies and a Westerly wind, I was the only one there for a couple of hours although there wasn't too much on show with
65 Gannets, 11 Mediterranean Gulls, 8 Sandwich Tern, 3 Common scoter, 2 Brent Geese and a single
Kittiwake. 3 eclipse plumage
Eiders were on the sea and a very distant skua sp was probably an
Arctic Skua. A few large groups of
Swallows flew West totalling around 150 birds.
I then went to Church Norton with the bushes and scrub remaining fairly quiet with just a few
Blackcaps around the churchyard. The patch of scrub just visible over the fence near the priory held several more Bl
ackcaps,
Spotted Flycatcher, Whitethroat and
Song Thrush. The harbour itself was also quiet with only one or two
Grey Plover, Black-tailed Godwit and several
Redshank, although a Peregrine sitting on one of the islands probably kept the numbers down. I relocated over to the North Wall which was more productive. White's Creek held 4 Curlew Sandpipers for a few minutes as the tide was rising and 50+ Golden Plover were with Redshank, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and 2 Greenshank . The Breech pool had a roost of c100 Black-tailed Godwits, 9 Spotted Redshank and 4 Common Snipe. (there was a further Spot Red in the harbour). a Water Rail ran along the back of the pool and 3 Stonechats were on the fence at the back. A Kingfisher was sitting on one of the posts and a Sparrowhawk and Kestrel flew over, several Reed Buntings were flitting about and a Sedge Warbler was still around in the reeds. A single Sand Martin was seen in with a trickle of hirundines passing through.
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| View along White's Creek as the tide rises |
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| Kingfisher on the breech pool |
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| Spotted Redshank having a bath |
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| Spotted Redshank and preening Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Sleeping - mallard, Lapwing, Godwits and Spotted Redshank. |
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