So I missed out July, nothing really happened from a birding point of view. The doldrums of birding at the end of June to at least mid-Jul, where breeding birds have gone quiet and only at the end of that period do they start to move away from their breeding areas. A time spent with a bit of mothing, a visit to the Birdfair and some local raptor watching.
It always changes for me when the calendar clicks over to August. Which is when birds start to move into flocks and head south. The last of the local Swifts was seen on the 1st and subsequent days have seen a couple of Hobbies , 10+ Swallow and House Martin but only one or two Chiffchaff. An improvement on the 4th I saw my first autumn Willow Warbler at home with brief Common Whitethroat which I rarely see here. Young Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Treecreeper have all been present.
I went down to Pagham on the 8th and spent a couple of hours at Church Norton at a low tide looking for a Semipalmated Sandpiper. To start there was no sign from the benches, just a large number of Ringed Plover with a small number of Dunlin. There was a report from further along the West side of the harbour so a few of us walked down the channel where we finally picked up the Semipalmated Sandpiper with a larger Dunlin flock, even though a little distant we were able to watch the bird for quite a while.
On the 10th I went up to Black Down, hoping for some migrants, but it was so quiet. I did see 2 Tree Pipits which moved South calling but 2 Crossbills were the only other birds of interest.
By the 14th at home there was a lot of activity with an early movement of 26 House Martins heading south, a large Tit flock that must have been in excess of 100 birds, mostly Blue Tits with a few Great Tits and a lingering Marsh Tit. Hanging with them were 2 Willow Warblers, a Firecrest and a Spotted Flycatcher and a flock of c40 Goldfinch were dropping into the orchard field to feed on thistle heads.
The 15th saw another visit to the coast, firstly a seawatch at a breezy Selsey, in fairly unpromising conditions had little to report with the exception of a single dark phase Arctic Skua. A visit to Church Norton again produced the Semipalmated Sandpiper with Common Sandpiper there and then at the Ferry Pool a Little Stint and a Green Sandpiper.
I tried Black Down again on the 18th and there were more warblers present with around 10 each of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs I did manage to see 3 Spotted Flycatchers and heard another Tree Pipit but despite these promising totals it was actually still quiet. At home I saw 2 Spotted Flycatchers together making this early autumn the most sightings I've ever had of Spotted Flycatchers at home.
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| Spotted Flycatcher at home |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Spotted Flycatcher on Black Down |
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| Spotted Flycatcher at home |
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