Least Sandpiper, Stilt Pool, Medmerry

A bit of excitement today. I was doing my paperwork when a message came in regarding a Little Stint on Stilt Pool found by Paul Bowley. As I spent last week hoping for a long shot and looking for the Least Sandpiper from Hampshire that might head this way (especially if its the same as the wintering Somerset bird that headed in this direction- see non-overlapping but widely spaced out dates HERE- thanks for the tip-off Simon! ) my initial response was asking Paul if he had seen it well to make sure it wasn't the Least. A few photos circulated and Ian Pitts noticed the yellow legs and suggested it was indeed a Least or Temmincks and then a close up photo was shared that was conclusive that it was indeed a Least Sand- only the second record for the Peninsula, the last one a real blocker from July 1995. 

I stopped doing my paperwork and rushed over there. What a little cracker .

I had to get back for 3pm for the school run and on the way a Red Kite flew over the Easton road and then as I approached our house a Spoonbill flew over! After what has been a rather slow start to Spring today was very much appreciated.  

The yellow-green legs are the main identification feature but other features include a barely visible primary projection (actually quite a visible projection on this particular bird which could be due to tertial wear), a wing-tip that falls short of the tail , relatively large dark centres to the scapulars and an overall greyish brown colouration, a very compact structure and small size with very slightly down-curved bill with a proportionally fine tip. The wavey fringes to the coverts are a distinctive feature (this bird seems to show a wavey fringe to the visible middle tertial). The only other stint that shares these feaures is Long-toed Stint but diagnostically Long-toed has a broken supercilium that does not reach the bill base and structurally it's longer necked and reminiscent of a small Wood Sandpiper which is accentuated by it's even broader dark centred scapulars and in flight the legs typically trail beyond the legs (pics HERE of the St.Aidan's bird). 

Least Sandpiper with Dunlins- the world's smallest wader

The bird can be aged as a second-calender year/first-winter due to contrast between the scapulars and mantle and the coverts. The wavey edges to the greater coverts are visible in this spread wing image. The contrast between the juvenile wing and the moulted mantle scapulars is not so great on this bird and actually quite subtle to my eye. See the image below (bottom imgae) of what I presume is an adult winter Least Sandpiper from Terceira island, the Azores where the feathers between the upperpart plumage tracts appear less contrasting and more uniform in shape too- the coverts look broader in the presumed adult (bottom Least Sand image below) 

Mating Avocets and Least Sandpiper 

The unbroken supercilium is shown in this image and those large dark centre scapulars. That primary projection which isn't supposed to be there is also showing. It could be down to wear of the overlying tertials or just a bit of individual variation. 

First-winter Least Sandpiper, Medmerry 

A juvenile/first-winter Least Sandpiper from September, Terceira, the Azores. These birds start off pretty rusty looking when younger which seemingly wears off over the winter. 

What I presume is an adult winter Least Sandpiper (Terceira, the Azores, February ) showing much less contrast between scapular/mantle and the coverts than the bird today. The shape of these coverts look more rounded too. 

I can't find a decent photo of a first-winter Little Stint that I've taken but here's an adult winter from Terciera showing the longer visible primary projection reaching slightly beyond the tail and the overail more pale grey upperparts and less extensively dark scapulars- and of course- the black legs. 

Finally Temminck's Stint (a first-winter from Terceira) - also has greenish legs but Temminck's is quite a unique stint, with a rather crouched posture, noticeable primary projection and overall really quite plain with generally quite a solid breast band, an overall brownish plumage colouration, a weak supercilium mainly before the eye and lacks the dark centred scapulars of Least Sand/Long-toed Stint. The scauplars internal markings are fine streaks in winter/younger plumages and in summer develops thick blotchy black centres in scattered feathers. 

Red Sword-grass

Been on the top of the wish list for a while now so really quite pleased to find this by the trap yesterday morning. A lifer. 

A bit of a south-west Sussex speciality by the looks of it: HERE. According to the Sussex Moth Group site there have been 41 previous records in the county.

Quiet few days

A period of anticyclonic conditions and north east winds has become established over the last few days and is forecasted to continue for the rest of the week. Barely anything is moving off the coast and there are very small number of migrants around too. 

The theme of there being more migrants (e.g. Sand Martins, Swallows and Willow Warblers) at the old patch of Beddington Farmlands than here continues which still surprises me but probably explained by the oasis effect of the farmlands in an urban setting, the broad drop zone round here (and in the shadow of the Isle of Wight) and the overall low number of migrants on the move. After chatting with Ian this morning as I get my head around how things work round here, it is the coast line and particularly at the bill that offers the main migration flyway (waterbirds and other migrants that folllow the coast) and migrants (that cross over land)  are more likely to overshoot the Peninsula and stop off on e.g. The South Downs than drop on the Peninsula particualarly in finer weather. As March draws to end, so far, this has been my worst March for summer migrants in my entire birding life (despite 38 Ebird checklists submitted this month)- only one Wheatear, one Sand Martin, a couple of LRPs, one Sedge Warbler, two Willow Warblers and a few Blackcaps. Not what I was expecting by finally moving to the south coast and 'escaping' inland birding at last. The grass, for spring summer migrants anyway, is yet to be greener and I've been here for nearly nine full months and despite seeing a good bag of them found by other people I still haven't found a nationally scarce or rare bird. Proving to be a tougher nut to crack than I dreamed up but really enjoying working it all out and will be good to actually size up the scale of the mission and the best way to deal with it. 

With enthusiasm for birding quite low it was a good opportunity to get some work done and Matt came over on Sunday and we planted up the car park beds. This morning I joined the Selsey Seawatch but it was very slow HERE so after a tip off from the Hiunters, I picked up Holly and Isaac and we went for a walk on the South Downs at Westdean Woods where in just over an hour we had Goshawk, Hawfinch, Siskins, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Coal Tits and Red Kites. I'm planning on returning here to have a proper look round later in the week while the clear sunny conditions persist.

There's been a few butterflies in the garden including Peacock, Red Admiral, Brimstone and Small White but the moth trap has been pretty quiet as these anticyclonic conditions create cool nights. 

A classic March sight- Adult summer Med Gulls flying over calling. Had about 45 go over the garden on Saturday. Apparantely good numbers are building up on the harbour around Tern Island so hopefully the local colony is re-established this year after a makeover this winter by the RSPB team.

A dribble of migration off the Bill this morning included 4 Shoveler (above), 6 Brents, 5 Common Scoter, 4 Red-throated Diver and a few Mips and Woodpigeons. There were still three Great Northern Divers around , a load of Sandwich Terns and some Mergs too.

Unfortunately the Gos was distant at Westdean so this post will have to make do with this Sparrowhawk that flew past me today.

Raven at Westdean

We had a bit of time to kill on the way back from the South Downs so we stopped off at Chichester Gravel Pits and Birdham Pool. Three Pochard at the Chi Pits was the best there and this close Cormorant at Birdham.

A different type of new arrival did arrive this weekend- our new ducks, Pancake and Crumpet and after a bit of chick ICU a third one arrived yesterday- Muffin.

Another new arrival round here this weekend was Kyle's (our neighbour) first Emu chick. 

It might not be good birding weather but it was nice walking weather- Holly and Isaac

and some evidence that we did do some work too- a new butterfly border. No birds is good news for getting stuff done. 

A few arrivals

Simon let me know that there was a Least Sandpiper on private land in Hampshire on the weekend so I thought I would take a long shot and check out a few wader spots. First plan was to check out Snowshill Marsh but when I arrived there was thick fog so I turned round rather than pay the parking charges there. Instead I checked out Ferry and soon after the fog cleared so I had a walk round the Long Pool and visitors centre to Mill lane and back. 61 species HERE including the first Sedge Warbler and two Willow Warblers for the Peninsula for the year and there was also a Blackcap singing and about 10 Chiffchaffs. Furthermore small flocks of Mips were going over- had about 35 in a couple of hours,. Additionally a second-calender year Red Kite was flying around which basically followed me home as was circling over our lane, a quick message to Andrew and he picked it up over his garden too. A garden tick for me. 

No Least Sand on Ferry, just one LRP, a Spotted Redshank, 6 Avocet, 57 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Snipe and 78 Shoveler. Seems like most of the Wigeon have gone now.

Elsewhere on the Peninsula today a Little Gull was on Chichester Gravel Pits and a Red-crested Pochard was found there too- so all in all a little bit of an arrival of new birds today.

The wind was a light north-westerly so clearly birds are still moving into the light head wind.  

A few butterflies were on the wing including the first Small Whites and also Speckled Wood, Brimstone, Peacocks, Comma and Red Admiral. A Large Tortoiseshell was in Church Norton car park yesterday.  

Second-calender year Red Kite aged by the presence of white streaks on the underparts.

Peacock

Garden Hawfinch

It was a paperwork and earning brownie points day today but despite technically not actually getting out in the field I managed to bag a couple of local year ticks. Before the gang woke up I did the moths and after the school run I did an hour in the garden skywatching. 41 species of 218 indiviudals which isn't bad for the garden HERE The highlight was a cracking Hawfinch going over low calling , a nice movement of Med Gulls and a garden tick, 4 Gadwalls going over. There was also 3 Chiffchaff singing, a Redwing over at first light and Skylark singing overhead too. 

I took Holly out for lunch after picking up Isaac from Forest School and scored a Red Kite from the van over Itchenor. Now on 133 for the Peninsula year list HERE and Gadwall was the 100th species for the garden HERE. Later in the day I was going through some noc-mig recordings and found a calling Coot which was also a garden tick. I'm a bit stuck on noc-mig at the moment because I can't seem to reduce the files small enough to go through quickly. Hopefully will work that out as would be good to do the odd bit especially during big migration periods. 

Hawfinch - nice to actually get a photo of one. This is my 6th record for the garden now although five records presumably relate to a small flock (upto 8 birds) in the area between 23rd October and 1st November last year that kept going over. All records HERE

Med and Black-headed Gulls on the move

Grey Shoulder Knot- the 34th moth species for the year (moth garden list now on 428 after a few early spring ticks).  There were over 60 individual moths in the trap last night. Most of them have been the usual March fare- Common and Small Quaker, Twin-spotted Quaker, Chestnut, Red Chestnut, Clouded Drab, Early Grey, Early Thorn, Hebrew Character, March Moth, Early Reveller, Dotted Border, Oak Beauty, Double-striped Pug,  Common Plume and a few other micros (the two Lichen buttons were nice and nailing the Depressaria daucella and Agnonopterix yeatiana were both lifers). Another Herald this morning which was nice again to see and there has been the odd Satellite and Angle Shades. 

Presumably a Metzneria sp. One for Mike to have a look at. 280325- Redetermined as Brambe False-feather Schreckensteinia festaliella (thanks Colin)  Lifer. Has a distinctive resting pose with its hind legs held obliquely. The only species in its family Schreckensteiniidae, aka Blackberry Skeletoniser as the larvae skeletonise the leaves of Bramble but also Raspberries and ocassionally Hazel and Rose. 

Selsey Bill- Black Reds

4 Redwings flew over the garden as I headed out to join the Selsey Seawatch this morning for a couple of hours. It was pretty quiet, the most interesting thing was the arrival of passerines coming in low over the waves in the light head wind (a light north easterly). It was mainly a few Chiffchaffs and Meadow Pipits but there were a male and female Black Redstart in the Bill gardens and later in the day a couple of Wheatears arrived too. My morning list HERE and the full log HERE that also included 4 Garganey flying east after I left. 

We had to take Isaac to the doctors today so it wasn't my usual Monday in the field but I popped back to the Bill in the evening to check for more newly arrived passerines. The Black Reds were still present and the only new bird of note was a Fulmar flying west.

Female-type Black Redstart. There has been a female-type wintering in the same area which starting singing a little while back indicating it was a first-winter male. Not sure if this is the same bird or a newly arrived one - the panel in the wing seems stronger than the wintering bird (HERE) 

The rather stunning newly arrived male Black Redstart

There were about 8 Chiffchaffs in the bill gardens and seen coming in-off so clearly a small fall today. It was nice to see a small fall today considering there was a major fall on Portland yesterday (150 Chiffs and 10 Willow Warblers etc).  Certainly seem to be in a migration shadow here somewhat so far this Spring. There's even been 2 Black Reds, Swallows and Sand Martins, Willow Warbler and overhead movements of Mipits, Chaffinches and Redwings at the old patch of Beddington Farmlands in the last few days so no evident concentration of summer migrants on the coast here in comparison to inland there which is a bit of surprise. Willow Warblers are also in in the old patches in Oxfordshire too.  It's quite possible a lot of migrants simply overshot us here on the coast over the last few days with the keen south easterly wind, see the Birdguides maps HERE showing the spread of Wheatears and Swallows over the UK last week (and also the overshoot fall in the south west and west that we also missed out on here). Will be interesting to see how the rest of the Spring pans out compared with the old inland patches and other south coast migration hotspots. 

Kittiwake- one of two birds moving east. There has been a pretty significant movement of Kittiwakes up the Severn in the last few days with hundreds going over the bridge and overland and then a few being picked up on waterbodies across the Midlands. Only a few are following the south coast (been only a handful off the Bill, with larger numbers off Dunge) and clearly many birds preferring the short cut between the Severn and the east coast. The Med Gull passage seems to have escalated fast here with 350 reported off Itchenor today- there's only been a handful all winter and low tens moving over and offshore before today. 

These smart looking Heralds were the highlight of the moth trap last night, in a cooler night. Unfortunately the night temperatures are due to drop further this week in the resumed northerly airflow. 

Weekend round-up

Sue visited this weekend and we managed to pop out a couple of times birding. I had a look round Church Norton, the Severals and Pagham Spit on Saturday morning- not a single summer migrant there (there were Wheatear and Black Redstart at the Windmill Beach nearby). Then we all had a family walk round East Head after pub lunch at the Lamb. Again no summer migrants but a nice flock of 37 Avocet on Snowshill Marsh. In the evening we had a look round the Keynor Estate to Ferry- 7 Redwings were the highlights. 

This morning we headed over to Windmill Beach but no sign of any summer migrants but we did have 4 nice adult Little Gulls fly east from Medmerry Breach (31 were logged off the Bill) and also 5 Whimbrel flew east too. Also a few Sandwich Terns, Common Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers and a couple of Great Northern Divers off shore.  On the way back a Blackcap flew in front of the van at Paddock Lane and landed in the hedge- a nice male (local year tick- 131 for the Peninsula) . This evening after Sue left I had a look round Mill Lane marsh and the rough ground behind there - the highlight was a flock of 60 Meadow Pipits in the rough grass.  

So basically despite a lot of searching for early summer migrants the only thing we could dig out was a single Blackcap. There have been a few summer migrants on the Peninsula this weekend found by others but in very low numbers including four or five other Blackcaps, two or three Black Redstarts, single Wheatear and single Swallow and two Sand Martin.  Other migrants have included March waterbird migrants including Brent Geese, Red-throated Divers, Sandwich Terns, Common Scoters, Med Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls etc and Mipits and a few alba wagtails and Skylarks overhead. 

Compared to other parts of the south coast there is (in addition to a lack of overshoots from last week which are all concentrated in the west and Ireland ) a noticeable lack of any Chaffinch migration- which seems concentrated off east Kent and 9000 over Dungeness today  (seemingly more in the way of Wheatears, Ring Ouzels and Black Reds out that way too) and there seems to be a lot more Meadow Pipits moving out to the west from Portland westwards (and over 5000 moving north past Lanchashire watch points). Portland typically is testiment to the micro-effeciency of migration routes across the Channel with birds funnelling tightly and there are more summer migrants there than round here (but still in very small numbers for them) . The effect of the Isle of  Wight blocking the Peninsula and the relatively broad geomorphology of the Peninsula presumably disperses migrants more. I have been pretty shocked how few summer migrants there have been round here in the last few days considering the south east winds and low cloud and light rain.

The moth trap was pretty lively last night with  74 individuals of 16 species including a few new for years.

Whimbrel- the wintering one at Church Norton. Nice to see the first migrant ones today

Sue and Jacob at East Head with a few of the last remaining Brents in Chichester Harbour

Fieldfares at Medmerry on Friday evening. 7 Redwings on Chalk Lane yesterday (and a big arrival at Dungeness today) suggests these thrushes may be passing through as winter thrushes have been pretty scarce round here all winter

Another smart Lichen Button- stunners!

Our first Early Reveller for the garden- one of five 

Early Thorn- five of these today too 

Coastal Buff- Agonopterix yeatiana

The mystery has been solved with these after Mike dissected four of them including some of the indistinct and worn ones and all are confirmed as Water Dropwort Brown Depressaria daucella. Also had a mystery Acleris done too which turned out to be an A.schalleriana. 

Angle Shades- the only sniff of a migrant moth