Sunday 2nd May - A cold finish to April

The theme of North Easterly winds, cold and frosty clear nights, with the exception of a few showers on Wednesday afternoon and no rain for a month, continued through this week. That said the Spring arrivals continued, albeit a trickle rather than a flood and a few birds have been seen this week  which felt quieter than last week.

Tuesday 27th April - Selsey 

A light NE wind this morning, the normal frost and a big full moon, this can sometimes indicate that there will be migration, but if there was, not much of it was visible this morning.

The sea was generally quiet and even though diligently watched until midday we mustered up 3 Great Skuas, a distant Manx Shearwater, 30 Bar-tailed Godwit and c50 Whimbrel... the only decent bird was a Pomarine Skua which I magnificently engineered to miss with Paul Bowley by taking an excursion to check the bushes for grounded migrants. There was little compensation initially with just a single Wheatear on the beach but nothing in the bushes although later a newly arrived Garden Warbler, my first this year, was found in the oval field bushes remaining furtive but giving brief snatches of song and brief views and turned out to be the highlight of the morning.

The full moon was still showing first thing.

Whimbrel

Common Tern

Garden Warbler

Thursday 29th April - Black Down 

Another visit to Black Down. After yesterdays showers I perhaps held out more hope that there might have been something more interesting laying low, but with the frost and initially clear skies and a strong breeze even the resident birds were keeping a low profile. I had a close male Redstart singing and a further pair of Redstart near Ridden Corner A Cuckoo was calling in Cotchet Valley but remained unseen and only 2 Tree Pipits were seen. The Woodlarks have substantially reduced their aerial song-flights as no doubt they are nest-tending. Dartford Warblers and Stonechats were there and still plenty of Crossbills and Linnets. No raptors seen at all.

Redstart (male)

Dartford Warbler

Tree Pipit

Common Whitethroat

Willow Warbler

Friday 30th April - Selsey 

Another quiet Selsey trip, with a NE F4 wind and again an early frost, there were few highlights with 3 Great Skuas, c130 Common Scoter, 12 Swallows and 3 Yellow Wagtails being the most notable.

At 10am I went to the North Wall at Pagham. Despite the lack of rain there are few suitable freshwater wader habitats around Pagham at the moment with both the Ferry Pool and Breach Pool containing high water levels with little exposed mud, which is a little frustrating at the time of year when Spring wader passage is starting. The reedbeds and bushes however were full of the sound of Sedge Warblers, Reed Warblers, Whitethroats and Cetti's Warblers. A Marsh Harrier was patrolling the back of the reedbeds and the two nearby fields were sufficiently flooded  to attract a variety of waterfowl and a reported Wood Sandpiper. A very good looking male Garganey was out on the flood and my first seen this year. A smallish wader was at the very back of the field and a few observers had pointed this out as the Wood Sandpiper, the visibility at that distance was challenging due to the significant heat shimmer through the scope. When a couple of walkers went through the back of the field the wader flew a bit nearer but turned out to be a Greenshank with a rather short bill. 

Garganey (male)

Greenshank

Marsh Harrier

Saturday 1st May - Fernhurst 

For the first of the month and another frost I decided to walk from the house towards Lower House Farm and check the fields, returning via the horse paddocks with a hope that maybe a Ring Ouzel, Whinchat or Wheatear would have pitched in. A singing Yellowhammer near the farm was good and 3 Swallows seemed to be back in the stables there. A Cuckoo could be heard somewhere towards Black Down House and a couple of singing Firecrests were on route. The horse paddocks produce nothing bar a couple of Rooks. I decided to walk up to a scrub plantation where last year I had a Nightingale. A Garden Warbler was singing near there but there was disappointingly no sign of any Nightingale present, they only infrequently push through this far West, 5 miles North East to South East from here there are plenty. Willow Warbler, Blackcaps a couple of Whitethroats, a Skylark and a Raven were seen on the way back.  

Yellowhammer

Common Buzzard