Selsey Peninsula Big Day

Ian, Kojak and myself did a big day on the Peninsula today. Ebird list HERE. Kojak and I were late to start and by the time we met up with Ian at the Bill he had already gripped us off with Velvet Scoter and Sanderling. The seawatch was pretty slow but we got Arctic Skua, Common Scoter, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Great Northern Diver and Shag which were birds that we didn't get anywhere else. Next stop was the Ferry Pool where we added a few more bits and then onto East Side where the highlights included a Common Sandpiper, 60 Grey Plover and 40 Bar-tailed Godwit, 10 Whimbrel and 2 Marsh Harrier. 

Next stop was Chichester Gravel Pits where we got the localised species - Pochard, Greylag and Egyptian Goose and then a quick stop at Sidlesham Church where we added Jay. It was then back to Selsey where we met up with Marc (another two Arctic Skuas but we missed two Pomarine Skuas earlier in the day) and after an hour we popped into Church Norton and scored a Red Kite while dipping Red-legged Partridge and then it was on to Medmerry where we added Yellowhammer and Stonechat and the big surprise of the day- we refound the Least Sandpiper that hasn't been reliably seen in a week or so. 

Last part of the day it was over to Halseys to make our way along North Wall looking for owls where thanks to Les we got Short-eared and Barn Owl and finally we had Water Rail on Mill Lane Marsh. Kojak and I closed on a pretty amazing 111 species for the day and our late start cost us the prize of local record holders as Ian's earlier start closed him on 112 species for the day- a new Peninsula record.

Other species recorded on the Peninsula today by others that we didn't get included Pomarine Skua, Red-throated Diver, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Swift and Redstart so 117 species were recorded overall today. Hypothetically there are also other species almost certainly present including Red-legged and Grey Partridge, Dartford Warbler, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Coal Tit and Tawny and Little Owl so there were probably at least 125 species in total in the local area today.  

A great day, over 32,00 steps and 15 hours Non-stop Birding. 

The Least Sandpiper (above and below) which has now moulted into a first summer plumage and looks really different to what it did when it arrived nearly a month ago HERE

Dark phase Arctic Skua on Sandwich Tern 

Common Sandpiper- year tick. Also had Garden Warbler today so now on 159 for the year locally

Avocet

Reed Warbler

Short-eared Owl 

Barn Owl 

Spring passage pause

There was just the lightest north east breeze this morning at Selsey Bill which seems to have put the knackers on any visible passage HERE. However there were a couple of surprises with a male Serin seemingly coming in-off (more or less the only migrant!) and even more unusual was a Black Swan flying east. A flock of 14 Brents could well be the last of the Spring too and there were several Great Northern Divers around including some smart birds in summer plumage.

In the afternoon we did a family walk round East Head- five or six Whimbrels were around the salt marsh, the fields and Snowshill Marsh where there was also a Greenshank and a few Avocets. 

The moth trap was more lively last night with 25 species including 2 Dark Sword Grass and Angle Shades as possible migrants and Dog's Tooth, V-pug, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Bright-line Brown-eye, Pale Tussock and Carrion moth being NFYs. Now on 83 for the year for the garden.

Brent Geese- the last this Spring?

Summer plumage Great Northern Diver (above and below) 

Black Swan!

Dog's Tooth (above and below) 

Pale Tussock

Streamer

Spring passage continues

Another interesting morning at the Bill HERE with highlights for me including 12 Little Gulls, my first Swifts of the year, Barwits on the move again and some steady Swallow passage too. Later in the day the first Poms came through (I wasn't there) and the Barwit and wader passage picked up with a pretty good final log for the day HERE. 

Back at the Lodge a Cuckoo was calling and hirundines continued to trickle overhead with a steady trickle of Swallows, 4 House Martins and 1 Sand Martin. 

The last week of April and first week of May is always my favourite period of the year and luckily this year we seem to have a period of sustained easterly winds. Kojak is coming over tomorrow night and on Monday Kojak, Ian and I are going to do a big day on the Peninsula with the aim to get 100 species in a day.  

Adult and first-summer Little Gulls with Black-headed Gulls 

Barwits

Shelducks on the move

Common Scoters 

Fulmar- a couple were going overhead and over the land today apparantely something they do every Spring presumably young birds looking for nesting sites

A few new for years in the trap including Vine's Rustic (above), Ruby Tiger and Swallow Prominent

Spring push

We finally got in on the easterly action today with a force 3-4 south easterly which immediately resulted in an uptick of easterly passage. On the way to the bill a Ring Ouzel flew over the road and as soon as I got out of the van a Whimbrel was going past- things had clearly changed from the previous few slow days. My counts from this morning at Selsey Bill HERE with highlights including my first Arctic Skuas of the year, a distant Garganey (identified by more experienced seawatchers), a Black-throated Diver, a steady trickle of Whimbrels, Barwits and Commic Terns and Little Terns and Kittiwakes were offshore feeding in a feeding flock of Herring Gulls and Gannets that has formed offshore in the last few days. There were also four Great Northern Divers in summer plumage around and a couple of Red-throated Divers flew east too. On the passerine front there was a little trickle of Swallows moving north. 

After the seawatch I checked out Ferry and East Side. 75 species of nearly 800 individuals HERE with highlights including 28 Barwits and 12 Whimbrel, a couple of hanger on Wigeon, 3 Marsh Harrier, 24 Cattle Egret (including breeding birds at Owl Copse), 3 Yellow Wagtails in with the Cattle Egrets and lots of warblers of seven species including 4 Lesser Whitethroats.

88 species today across both checklists (must be achievable to get 100 in a day). Garganey was a Peninsula tick (now on 188) and year list now on 156 with Garganey, Ring Ouzel, Arctic Skua and Lesser Whitethroat. Still got a few summer migrants to get including Garden Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Common Swift, Whinchat, Spotted Flycatcher and Nightingale etc. 

On a quick comparison with migration here and the old inland patches- there was a Little Tern at Beddington yesterday (and Arctic Skua the day before) in the easterlies which mirrors some of the upticks here. Seems like Common Swifts have gone right over us as there were good numbers at Staines and Farmoor a couple of days ago (with all the Arctic Terns etc)  and Swifts have also arrived at Beddington. Compared to Portland, there was a large fall of passerines a couple of days ago (barely replicated here) and yesterday a big Swallow passage (barely replicated here too). Certainly seems like we are getting stuff going over the top here and also following much tighter migration lines over Portland and interesting to see this week how local easterlies can be (e.g. in Kent but not Sussex around the centre of a cyclone) and how significant that is with migration lines tightly constrained within the localised airflows. There was a Barwit movement off Dungeness today too but distant apparantely.     

A few more new for years in the moth trap including Streamer, White Ermine, Brimstone, Flame Shoulder, Rough-winged Conch, Cinnabar, Pebble Prominent and Mocha. Now on 444 for the garden and 73 for the year. Another Dark Sword Grass was the only migrant moth. 

Pale phase Arctic Skua- hopefully the beginning of some good skua action over the next two week peak time. The easterlies and north easterlies are set to remain for the next week which hopefully will be interesting. 

Barwits on the go

Whimbrel on the move 

Black-throated Diver

Male and female Barwits 

Whimbrel

Little Tern

A pretty stunning male Marsh Harrier at North Wall 

Flocks of largely first-winter Black-headed Gulls with Med Gulls were going over today

The North Wall Cattle Egrets 

Whitethroats- they are more or less everywhere now. Also Reed and Sedge Warbler, Blackcap and Chiffchaffs in every bit of suitable habitat. 

Wheatear yesterday at the Bill 

Male Barwit

Rough-winged Conch. The weather is set to warm next week so hoping to get a push on the moth front too soon. Been pretty slow so far. 

Azores Pelagic articles now online

 Vincent Legrand and I have recently published two article on our decade long project about Pelagic birding on the Azores .

The first article published in Dutch Birding 47 (1) titled 'Identication of Monteiro's Storm Petrel at sea' looks at the field identification of this endemic cryptic species which focuses primarily on moult timing and subtle structural features compared to the sympatric 'Grant's Storm Petrel'. The article is now available on line here: https://www.researchgate.net/.../391074748_Identification...

The second article published in Dutch Birding 47 (2) is a review of all the seabird records from our pelagic trips between 2011 and 2022 and details some of the most interesting discoveries including mutiple near-annual records of Swinhoe's Storm Petrel, two records of Zino's Petrel, mutiple Wilson's Storm Petrel, Deserta's Petrel, Brown Booby, Sooty Tern and South Polar Skua in addition to the local Azores specialities seabirds such as Barolo Shearwater, Bulwer's Petrel and Monteiro's and Grant's Storm Petrel. This article is available on line here:

https://www.researchgate.net/.../391076041_Pelagic...

Thanks to all the trip participants involved in this project particularly for co-founders Richard Bonser and Simon Buckell and thanks to Robert Flood, Peter Adriaens and Yoav Perlman for info and reviewing the articles.

If anyone is interested in joining the 2025 Azores Pelagic in early September please PM or email me: littleoakgroup@btinternet.com

Back to Patch

We got back early Sunday morning (a Cuckoo was calling in the lane along with three singing Whitethroats) and I did the usual birding walk in the evening from here to Mill Lane Marsh via Ferry and back HERE. Highlights included 8 Whimbrel around Ferry and the Channel, a Greenshank, a Green Sandpiper, good numbers of Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Sedge and Reed Warbler and a light passage of Swallow with a single Sand Martin. Certainly a lot more warblers have arrived since I've been away. In the evening a couple of Green Sandpipers flew over the garden calling too.

Yesterday I was in London but it was a late start as I had to drop Holly off to pick up her car so I put the light trap on and had a few new for year moths. In the evening I got back at about 10pm and could hear an Avocet calling (probably from Ferry) and a Barn Owl was calling too.

This morning I joined the Selsey Bill seawatch but the predicted southeasterlies did not materialise (there was a tight low pressure that produced easterlies further east of us and there was good drift migration up the Thames, with Arctic Skua and Wood Sand at Beddington, Barwits inland, 120+ Arctic Tern at Staines and Farmoor, Poms at Dungeness), instead the wind was a dreaded south-westerly here. It was pretty terrible in comparison HERE highlights included a few Kittiwakes moving west, two to three Fulmars, some Little Terns, Common Scoters and Sandwich Terns dripping past east, a Hobby in-off and a Wheatear on the houses. Amazing how localised differences in wind direction can make so much difference. Hobby was a patch year tick, now on 152.

While I was away the Hoopoe action reached fever pitch with two birds calling and courting with eachother most of the week but duly departed before I got back. I'm truely jinxed with Hoopoe round here and only saw one in flight in Cyprus too. 

In-coming Hobby

Female Wheatear

Fulmar- one of two or three today

Kittiwakes

Whimbrel- there are over 30 or so in the harbour at the moment with smaller numbers moving off the coast in the week too

Female Blackcap. Most of the local summering warblers are in now establishing territories.

Nice to get a migrant moth in the trap- a Dark Sword Grass

Pale Prominent - a NFY

Cyprus Days Five and Six

Saturday was another write-off with a family day at Limmasol marina, delicious grilled fish lunch and then the afternoon at the pool but we did have a flock of 50 Purple Heron fly over the marina. This morning (Sunday our last day) I got up at dawn and headed over to St.Goerge's Chapel for a bit of migrant hunting. Ebird list HERE, highlights included a Wryneck, 6 Turtle Dove, 1 Cuckoo, 4 Woodchat Shrike, 3 Nightingale, 10 Whinchat, 2 Pied Fly, 1 Spot Fly, 2 Redstart, Lesser and Greater Whitethroats, Willow and Sardinian Warblers and fly over young Night Heron.

Was nice to get a bit of migrant hunting in. There's been Green Warbler found today on the island and a White-eyed Gull in the week too (both Cyprus megas) with plenty of other quality birds around like Baillon's and Little Crake, Greater Sand Plover, Masked Shrike, Citrine Wagtail and Sibe Stonechat. It would have been nice to just get out birding but fortunately I've got another proper birding trip to Kuwait planned soon and another week in Bulgaria too so will back out here on the Eastern Flyway to get some proper birding in. Just relieved to have got the targets for the WP list. Picked up 92 species in the week so best to keep quiet about that- there's probably a good 150+ to get out here. 

Back to the Selsey Peninsula tomorrow for a few weeks of local birding before out to Kuwait in mid-May- looking forward to peak Spring migration at the new local patch. 

Roller going over 

Male (above) and female (below) Pied Flycatcher

Male Woodchat Shrike 

Female (above) and male (below) Common Redstart 

Male Whinchat

Wryneck

First-summer Night Heron going over 

Little Stints and Kentish Plover 

I presumed this distant dark falcon was an Eleanora's- no silvery wing markings like Red-footed Falcon and dark underparts too so not a first-summer male Red-foot. 

St.Goerge's Chapel- a lovely little migrant trap