Sunday 31st December - The year ends

A very wet and windy end to the year and hopes abound for the new one. It's been a mixed year. My only trip away with the family to the US and Canada was enjoyable and I had a couple of decent weekends in Norfolk and Portland, but overall a year dominated by work pressures and fairly uneventful on the bird front. Lets hope I can make more of 2018.

The last few days have been relaxing but the weather has been decidedly mixed. A cold snap on Wednesday didn't last long before we have been thrust back into westerly wet airstreams. On Thursday (28th), the morning was cold and bright which was helpful. I went to Selsey first thing, not expecting too much, the highlight was the number of Red-throated Divers on the move with a single flock of 16 being exceptional. 3 or 4 Slavonian Grebes were on the sea with at least 3 Great Northern Divers and several Razorbill, Guillemot and Red-breasted Mergansers were visible, along with Gannets and Shag .

After a couple of hours I moved to Church Norton, the day was bright but the harbour was quite quiet with a low tide. c1,000 Lapwing were visible in the distance with the large Brent Goose flock. A few Dunlin, Knot and Grey Plover were scattered in the harbour and a long scan revealed a single Ringed Plover, Avocet and the long-staying Whimbrel. A walk out to the end of the spit had a single Stonechat and a small number of Skylark and Linnet, where there was nothing on the sea, although a number of Pintail were visible towards the North side and several Wigeon, Teal and Shelduck were in small groups.

There are still a number of finches at home, I had thought that my previous sightings of Hawfinches had dried up completely as I hadn't seen one since 21st, until today when I flushed one from the bottom of the field where it flew off calling. Also the flock of Little Egrets that were seen down the road had increased to 16 on the 29th. I'm planning to do a local New Year Birdrace on the 13th with Dave B , so it would be good if they hang around until then as otherwise birds have generally dispersed and finding anything in the muddy tracks of the West Weald will be a challenge,

Onwards to tomorrow and Happy New Year,

Pagham Harbour from Church Norton, with a fairly low tide

Grey Heron

Teal

Green Woodpecker in garden

Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Siskin

Saturday 23rd December - xmas rush

The shortest day on 21st seems to coincide with frustrated shoppers and knackered commuters, the latter then have to become frustrated shoppers with a couple of days to go, I put myself in the knackered commuter category, and having the luxury now of a few days break which will combine more sleep than usual with ample food and drink !. The sharp cold spell earlier in December has abated and given way to the familiar damp, heavily overcast skies and quickening westerly wind that always seems to return just before the festive break.

Encouragingly, the bird activity at home still seems to have interest, particularly with finches. I am still seeing a Hawfinch almost daily when I watch, but always very brief often in flight or perched at the top of a not so near tree. I wonder whether there is more than one in the area. Goldfinch and Siskin are still in good number with a sizeable flock of c70 birds frequenting the tops of the Alders and 3 or 4 Bramblings are still regular around the feeders and just yesterday 5 Redpoll were on the feeders.

I walk yesterday afternoon was generally very quiet although as I returned a flock of 100+ Redwing flew over and 20 + Pied Wagtail were in the field with the horses at the top of the lane. Earlier in the day, as I drive to Petersfield, there were 9 Little Egret in another horse field at the end of Vann Road, which is an unusual record for here.

Merry Christmas to all !

some Brambling pictures below