After completing my first full year at the new local patch (excellent review on the local blog by Andrew HERE) I'm beginning to get a better understanding of the bigger picture and hopefully develop a better local birding strategy. One of the main realisations has been that contrary to most other places I go birding the bottleneck, limited habitat, 'oasis' and weather related effects are much less here with birds spread out over decent habitat over an extensive area and the position on the south coast means that easterly airflows and fast moving Atlantic weather systems are not so significant to rarity concentration. More so the Peninsula is a 'destination area' with trickle down and abmigration being more important factors.
I was also surprised that despite being on the South Coast, the spring migration of landbirds was really quite insignifcant and this year I'll be refocusing effort in light of that. Presumably the impact of the Isle of Wight as the first landfall area and the next stop being the Downs creates a Spring migration shadow?
The main important habitats are wetland and estuaries and the rarity history of the Peninsula is mainly waders. Geomorphological this is not Portland or Cape Kaliakra with no bottleneck or concentrated areas of passerine falls (also any falls at the Bill are spread out over inaccessible private gardens) so the main focus is waterbirds and the chances of finding landbird rarities is quite low with no main fall area or hotspots. Conversely Ferry Pool and Stilt Pool are both well known rare wader hotspots.
As it's a destination area rather than a primary fall area, the main landbird vagrant period is late October/early November where autumn trickle down peaks.
So limitations aside, there are some focus points. A south-east wind is best for seawatching and a warm southerly airflow does produce insect migration falls and some overshoots. In the aftermath of an easterly airflow things can trickle down here too such as late autumn sprites. The rare wader hotspots of Ferry and Stilt Pool are the best vagrant traps on the Peninsula so makes sense to focus on these too. The closest thing to landbird isolated habitat is East Head, Church Norton and Severals area and the tamarisks along East Side.
Other then the few focal points the strength of the peninsula is the extensive good quality habitats and the intensive observer effort. A combination of large area, large numbers of birds and large numbers of observers (lots of visiting birders) create a bit of a lottery effect where the sheer number of birders and birds will generate rarity rewards despite the fact that there is a low probability for any one indiviudal birder (e.g. in 2025 the best birds in the local 2025 rarity poll included the majority found by off-Peninsula birders/visitors such as Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pallid Swift, Long-eared Owl and most Hoopoes).
In such a scenario, where focus points are limited and low probability outcomes are involved, the main strategy is to maximise time and distance covered in the field. That obviously has it's own limitations with conflicting demands on time.
So with all that considered here's the local birding plan for 2026 with an objective to focus on rarity hunting and attempt to spend between 10 and 12 hours a week in the field and cover as much distance, incorporating hot spot focus and shifting effort depending on weather, current birding conditons and time of year :
January to February: Check waterfowl and gull flocks for rarities and Selsey Bill for rarer divers, grebes and seaducks. Thermal birding for owls and woodcock etc. The first outbound seawatching migration of ducks and geese starts in late Feb. Day trip to the downs for Goshawk display in Feb.
March: Outbound migraiton seawatching is the main interest- mainly ducks and geese. A good time to check local woods for local scarcities like Treecreeper and Nuthatch etc. First migrants at the Bill or coastal spots.
April: Early spring migrants at the passerine areas, Serin off the Bill, Hoopoe hunting and from mid-month focusing effort on the Pom passage and seawatching from the Bill -mainly waders and terns etc. Also checking Bill gardens for passerines.
May: Focus on seawatching early month and also wader hotspots for wader vagrants. Later in the month covering ground looking for scarce migrants such as Bee-eater and Woodchat shrike and possibly other landbird vagrants- Red-foots late month etc. May is best month for Storm Petrel and early May for Puffin off the Bill.
June: Chance of a mid-summer vagrant basically anywhere with the Medmerry Trail down to Ham potentially being a good area to focus on or looking for a singing Quail at Medmerry . Day trip to the Downs for Honeys.
July: Return wader passage checking wader hotspots for rarities (Pec Sand, White rumped etc). To the Bill for Shearwater passage in decent weather.
August: Continue focusing on waders and seawatching (in right weather) but also chance of scarce landbird migrants- outside chance of Melodious Warbler and also Wryneck)
September: Still focus on waders particularly juv passage, seawatching in the right weather but mid/late month focus on vis-mig and scarce landbird migrants in the most suitable areas.
October: Switch mainly to landbird and vis mig and throwing everything at late October/early November.
November- Main period of landbird vagrants is early November so focus here. Switch to winter birding strategy late month
December- back to a winter strategy of checking ducks and waders and the sea for rarer divers and grebes and thermal birding etc.
