Friday 18th September - Selsey Peninsula

I decided to go to Selsey Bill first this morning. I hadn't been for a couple of months at least, and didn't have huge expectations with a forecast WNW light wind and it was quiet. 7 Common Scoter flew East, a few Terns were moving West with 32 Sandwich Terns and 18 Common Terns. A single Razorbill flew West and around a dozen Gannets were milling offshore. A Tree Pipit flew North and a steady stream of Meadow Pipits started to arrive from the South, my count of 47 probably vastly underestimated the numbers arriving. Also Swallows were arriving from the sea, perhaps unusually this time of year inbound rather than going in the other direction, again a count of 50 would have been low to the actual numbers. 2 Yellow Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail alos flew over, but it was pretty quiet up to 9am.
I drove to the Pagham visitor centre and walked through the bushes to the harbour and round to the ferry pool. The brambles and scrub were full of Blackcaps and Whitethroats, presumably soon to be departing south. A Redstart shot past and a Reed Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat also seen. A Greenshank was in the harbour in the low tide along with Redshank and Curlew and more Meadow Pipits and Swallows steramed through.  I was hoping to get a better view of the Phalarope on the Ferry pool and a chance of seeing the elusive Pectoral Sandpiper. Luckily the Grey Phalarope was actively feeding near to the road when I arrived , swimming, spinning on the water and then feeding on the mud and perforemed very well. I also managed a brief view of the Pectoral Sandpiper. It was just visible in the reeds, then ran out to the mud and ran back behind the reeds to disappear again. Other birds present were similar to the previous day with 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper , 3 Dumlin, 30 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Avocet. Several Yellow Wagtails were amongst the cows and a flock of  newly arrived Wigeon with a single Pintail flew into the harbour.

I went to Medmerry briefly, a pair of Garganey had been frequenting a reedy pool, but there was no sign when I was there. A couple of  Yellow Wagtails, Sand Martin, Buzzard, Yellowhammer and Linnets were the only additions as I stopped short of walking all the way to the pools.

Grey Phalarope