A standing start rather than out of the blocks on the 1st, mainly due to a 2am finish on Sunday. The first hour of the day I watched garden birds, although there was a 15 minute spell where they all vanished when a Sparrowhawk marauded through the feeders, with feathers flying it was ultimately unsuccessful but sat grumpily in a nearby tree which meant all the birds kept away. However, a normal crowd were still present with 3 Brambling, 2 Redpoll, 8 Greenfinch, 5 Siskin and around 20 each of Goldfinch and Chaffinch, kept the activity levels high, the only bird I hadn't seen in a while was a Goldcrest that passed quietly through the hedge. About 9.30 the rain set in and it was heavy until around 2pm when it brightened up, at that point I went for a walk, down the lane and into the woods, although thigh-length waders and a small canoe would have been an advantage as the tracks are now so muddy that keeping upright on any small incline is a challenge. The Redwing flock of c100 birds was still in the fields and I found a couple of Mandarin at the back of the Furnace pond with some Mallard but the highlight of the walk was a single Hawfinch that sat high in an Oak in the same place as I'd seen a bird a few weeks ago. I finished the day with 40 species, which is pretty good for Winter in this area.
Today was an extra days holiday from work, so I had already decided to have the day birding. The weather was awful. From around 9am through to 3pm it was wet, windy with poor visibility.
I did start early at Selsey, just before 8am, and even though there was less moving than a week ago the list was ok, with Red-throated Diver, Great Northen Diver and Slavonian Grebe all recorded, a few Common Scoter a couple of Kittiwake and one each of Razorbill and Guillemot, a Rock Pipit also landed on the beach. After the rain had started I relocated to Church Norton, the tide was almost high when I was there and the rain got heavier so I sat in the hide for an hour before the waders had moved off completely to roost. The long-staying Whimbrel was outside the hide and reasonable numbers of common waders were moving with the tide, 300 Dunlin, 150 Knot, 50 Grey Plover and a dozen each of Turnstone, Bar-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover, Curlew and Redshank. A few Little Grebes were in the harbour with some Wigeon and Teal and around 350 Brent Geese gradually moved out of the harbour, presumably to feed in nearby fields. 2 Peregrine were hunting at one point before relocating to their island. A brief stop at the Ferry produced very little and I also stopped briefly at Ivy lake, where a few Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Pochard and Gadwall were seen, but all common fayre. I went to Pulborough in deteriorating weather, which ultimately wasn't great as the rain was persistent with very poor visibility. The brooks were pretty full of water and there were a good number of Lapwing , around 100 Black-tailed Godwits and a few Snipe amongst the wintering waterfowl, but it was all a little hard work so I left around 3.30, when it seemed almost too dark anyway.
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