Awesome August

There's a really nice diversity of bird migrants at the moment so yesterday and today I got to Church Norton at dawn to explore. August is such a great month for high diversity and abundance.

Yesterday HERE  in the continuing brisk south easterly the main spectale was about 600 Sand Martin and 100 Barn Swallows over the Norton Fields, with 61 Yellow Wagtail going west and Wheatear and Whinchat. Later in the day the hirundines concentrated and Andrew estimated about 2000 Sand Martin and 500 Barn Swallow in the fields (some great pics by Andrew HERE and HERE). 

Today, it was completely calm (with a southeast breeze later) and indeed the hirundines had taken advantage of the change in weather and seemingly all departed. However there were still lots of migrants around HERE with highlights including a juvenile Osprey hunting the harbour at high tide (179 for my Peninsula year), an incredible 138 Yellow Wagtail with 118 counted on the deck in the Norton fields at dawn, a Golden Plover in with the wagtails, 4 Wheatear, 3 Spotted Flycatcher, Garden Warbler, 15 Blackcap, 12 Whitethroat, 3 Willow Warbler and out on the mud there was the autumn's first juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, the juv Little Stint again, 12 Knot, 3 Greenshank, a Green Sandpiper over Greenlease Farm, the first Barwit in a while and the autumn's first pair of Wigeon were in the harbour with 3 Pintail and 6 Teal. 

In the afternoon I was supervising Jacob and his mates so did a skywatch which was pretty good HERE- had the Osprey go over again (or a different one), two juvenile Peregrines, a huge juv female Sparrowhawk and a Swift amongst the hirundines and Yellow Wags.

As it was so birdy today, I thought I would max out the time in the field so did Ferry and Long Pool HERE in the evening which was good too with 3 Whinchat, 4 Wheatear, another Spotted Flycatcher and a few other bits. 

The easterly airflow has certainly done it's magic. There's been quite a fall of drift migrants on the east coast today so hopefully things trickle down to here in the next few days. 

As I've been leaving the house before dawn I've just been flicking through the moth traps but not too much to report with background level of migrants. The trap was full of 1000s of beetles this morning. 

Juvenile Osprey at Church Norton. Aged by barred secondaries. By the looks of it a differnt bird to the Hunter's bird on Monday HERE andHERE which looks like an adult with plain dark secondaries.  

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper and Dunlin

Yellow Wagtail- the migrant of the moment with birds constantly calling over head from more or less everywhere on the Peninsula . Listen to the calling of the 100 +  birds on the deck below. 

Spotted Flycatcher in a swarm of flies. There were three birds together hitting this swarm.

The first returning autumn Wigeon for the harbour (there were a few past the bill yesterday)

Pintails 

Adult Golden Plover 

Whitethroat. A noticeable increase in warblers today although there were relatively few Willow Warblers. 

Eleven Grey Herons were in the harbour including a group of six that came in from the east. There was a flock off the Bill recently too so presumably migrants.

Juv Peregrine and Sparrowhawk (below) over the garden

I think these are Bradycellus verbasci (the apps and me are not sure). There were literally thousands of them in the traps. 

Yellow Wagtails in Norton Fields. Over 100 birds present

Some distinct variation in calls in this sample and birds calling with a Golden Plover (below) 

August easterly

There was a strong southeast wind today which was unusual. I decided to do East Side as I knew this would be sheltered from the wind. It didn't pick up until mid-morning and there were a few Yellow Wagtails and a Tree Pipit going over first thing. With a 0915 four meter high tide I wasn't expecting too much as a four meter high tide rarely covers all the mud but with the surge it was okay and moved a lot of the harbour birds around. I bumped into Paul Bowley (the Pom King) and had 75 species in about 4 hours of over 5500 individuals HERE. The numbers were made up by a large gull feeding flock at Pagham Spit and also a significant increase in Dunlin and Ringed Plover numbers in the harbour with 274 and 200 respectively. The eclipse male Pintail was in the channel, as were 3 Spotted Redshanks, with 8 Greenshank around and most unsual was a juvenile Little Ringed Plover hiding amongst the Ringed Plovers (not an association on salt marsh I have seen before). There was also a couple of Snipe, 11 Knot and the first Marsh Harrier I've seen for many weeks. 

The Hunters found a couple of Little Stints at Norton so I drove over there after breakfast and located a juvenile. Unfortunately I still haven't caught up with the Osprey that keeps appearing in the harbour (the Hunters had it today too).

Now that Gareth James has merged all the Ebird hotspots into the 'Pagham Harbour RSPB Reserve and LNR- Pagham Harbour area' super hotspot, a nice Pagham Harbour 2026 Ebird annual report is emerging HERE. 171 species recorded this year by the community with some great patterns and trends appearing in the bar charts and even more interesting patterns by deep diving into the data. A few examples in the captions below. 

The moth trap was pretty quiet with highlights including 2 unseasonal Blacknecks and a Garden Pebble. I've got a problem with the electics on my MV which I need to sort out so down to the twin actinic and lepiled now. On 533 moths for the year at the moment which is set to slow right down from here on. A final heatwave for the summer  would be good especially after a bit more rain. 

Holly's friend Christine stayed for a couple of days but is now back on the road (she is a campervan nomad).  

Juv Little Ringed Plover (left) in with the Ringed Plovers. The recent influx in Ringed Plovers is shown well HERE

Juvenile Little Stint (left) with Dunlin and Ringed Plover

The eclipse male Pintail with Great Crested Grebe and one of the head-started Curlews

Grey Plover and Knot- a recent influx in Grey Plover.  Autumn flucutations shown in this graph HERE. There were also a few noteable absentees today including Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit and Avocet which all seem to have moved on. 

I estimated about 3000 mixed gulls out in the harbour mouth- it was too windy to go through them properly. After the breeding season was over Black-headed Gulls were around in relatively low numbers but today there was major influx HERE. Possibly continental birds moving in on the easterly? 

There were approx 400 Sand Martins, many sitting out on the islands in the harbour. Relatively very few Sand Martins come through the Peninsula in Spring but in autumn they are abundant. e.g. see this year's graphs HERE. 

Juvenile Whimbrel- after the adult movements in July and early August the waders are now dominated by juveniles, particularly in the Dunlin flock.  Whimbrel Spring passage is generally much more significant than the autumn passage, e.g see this years numbers HERE. 

Juvenile Turnstone. Turnstone trends in Pagham Harbour for this year HERE. 

The most interesting thing in the moth traps last night were these Night-flying Dung Beetles. Another new species for the garden. Now on over 400 pan-species HERE (not including leps, dragonflies, mammals and birds which are recorded seperately). 

Nice Morning

The wind shifted round to a light easterly and it felt quite autumnal this morning with Yellow Wagtails, a flock of 20 Redshank and a Common Sandpiper flying over the garden. 

After doing the moths I decided to head to Church Norton to look for migrants. I met up with Ian and we had a nice little morning with a Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Tree Pipit over, a good count of 71 Yellow Wagtail moving west, 6 Wheatears on the Spit, a Whinchat in the Long Pool Field, 2 Garden Warblers, the first Pintail for the autumn (an eclipse male) and also the first Ruff for the autumnn (a juvenile male). Also there was Coal Tit and the Treecreeper in the churchyard and conservation area respectively , a couple of Firecrests, a Raven and in the harbour there were 9 Knot and a Snipe in with the other waders and 2 Peregrines (an adult and a juv) were hunting the harbour birds.

79 species in total between Church Norton and the Severals and a quick look at Ferry and Long Pool HERE.

The moth traps have been a lot quieter in recent days. Only 42 species of over 100 moths last night but a good proportion of them were migrants with Small Marbled, Pearly Underwing, Vestal, 2 Angle Shades,  4 Delicate, 4 Portland Ribbon Wave, 6 Silver-Y, 1 Dewick's Plusia, 15 Rush Veneer, 20 Small Mottled Willow, 4 Dark Sword Grass and a record 7 Yellow Belle. 

Coal Tit in St Wilfred's Churchyard- not a common bird there

Juvenile male Ruff. Found by Ian strangely out in the estuary but it later located to the Ferry Pool which seemed more appropriate. The first for the autumn. 

Eclipse male Pintail- the first of the autumn

Whinchat- my first for the autumn. Also had my first Spot Fly today too.

Good numbers of Little Egrets feeding in the harbour

Knot, Dunlin and Ringed Plover

Pearly Underwing

Small Marbled- these are so regular now, almost daily 

Closest I can get to this is Italian Bark Moth. Retained.

The apps and myself cannot decide on this Mythimna. I thought Southern Wainscot but it doesn't have the 'tiara' and then I considered Cosmopolitan but doesn't look right and it doesn't look right for Smoky Wainscot either. Retained. 

Week round up

It was mainly a week of family stuff and work with a two day trip to Hampshire (to Paulton's Park), a work day with Matt around the lodge on Thursday and in London working on Friday. 

Therefore natural history highlights have been restricted to the garden and moth traps and on Thursday I took Jacob to a Young Explorers session with the Pagham Harbour RSPB team. 

So in addition to the Starwort which was indeed the star of the week, other highlights included the first Convolvolus Hawkmoth for the year, a Tree Pipit over this morning, a Reed Warbler in the garden for a couple of days, up to 12 Yellow Wagtails around the estate and getting in the Cow field opposite and the continuing welcome presence of autumn gathering hirundines. It's mainly Barn Swallows again now after the influx of Sand Martins seem to have moved on. There were still up to 3 Swifts around too. Garden bird log from 20th August HERE with 37 species of over 300 individuals and today's log HERE with the highlight being a Hobby again in addition to the Tree Pipit. The corvid roost on Keynor wood is building with over 100 Rooks and 50 Jackdaws counted on the roost flight. 

Despite the quiet week, the all time garden moth list increased by 12 species from 706 to 718 and the year list by 18 from 511 to 529 thanks to the great work of Mike Bailey processing the June and July retained moths. Will post more details seperately on that as a few local scarcities. 

There's been some steady birding elsewhere on the Peninsula this week with Redstart, Whinchat and Spotted Flycatchers and an Osprey and Glossy Ibis in the harbour. As always, all the local birding news on the excellent local blog HERE. 

Convolvolus Hawkmoth- always stunning 

Another Small Marbled this week. The temperatures got down to 12 C last night and the moth trap was dominated by migrants, mianly Rush Veneers and Small Mottled Willows. The moth diversity has literally dropped off a cliff since the cooler conditions arrived. 

Yellow Belle have had a good year here, presently daily for the last few weeks and also getting in the meadow during the day. Vestals are also having a good time with up to 7 recently, also getting in the garden meadow. 

New rabbits!

The biggest news of the week was some decent rain and cloud. We had relatively heavy frontal rain on Wednesday and some good showers on Thursday. 

The RPSB event was great, with a bit of pond dipping, bug hunting and we also found a dead Mole

Star-wort

Been hoping for one of these as it's a episodic speciality to the Selsey Peninsula. A nice surprise in the relatively quiet traps this morning following the arrival of the first proper rain in weeks over the last couple of days. A lifer and moth 706 for the garden and 511 for the year. 

Hard work rarely pays off

I decided to do a full count of the birds of Pagham Harbour today. I started off at Church Norton and did the graveyard to the severals, then over to Ferry and the discovery area, then off to Halseys to owl copse and then circled round the back fields. Then a stop for milkshake at Berries on Tap and an early lunch at Runcton Farm Shop before doing North Wall to Pagham Spit. 

14,792 steps and 83 species of bird of 3711 individuals logged HERE. Highlights were basically nothing. Despite seven hours searching I didn't see anything that unusual. One Wheatear and one or two presumed juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls was as good as it got. Dunlin and Ringed Plover numbers are up again and I also had my first juvenile Black-tailed Godwit for the year. A few Yellow Wagtails were going over and there were three juvenile Common Gulls around too. 

Bird of the day on the Peninsula was a juvenile Turtle Dove that Lucy Love found in her garden drinking from the bird bath. The Taoists have an idea called 'wu wei', which translates broadly as 'effortless action', an idea I am normally a follower of and today provided confirmation that it is a good idea.

The moth trap was less dissappointing with a few new for years including Small Rananculus and a couple of Beet Moths. Also a few migrants including a Bordered Straw, 4 Scarce Bordered Straw, a Pearly Underwing (very few this year so far) and 13 Silver-Y amongst the Small Mottled Willows, Rush Veneers, odd Rusty Dot and a few Dark Sword Grass and Delicates. Delicates are been featuring well recently with nearly double figures yesterday. Now on 509 for the year which is broadly similar to this time last year. 

The most excitement today was saving the lifeboat a trip out. I noticed a couple of people far out on the main pagham spit island where a few weeks ago a family had to be rescued from after getting cut off by the tide. They seemed oblivious to the rising tide so with the help of other beach goers, after I pointed out the risk, they were yelled in and then effectively rescued by other people helping them back after trying to cross the channel which had already become quite a torrent of water rushing into the harbour. A few minutes later and they would haven't made it back. Both girls were totally soaked and one lost their shoes but otherwise all good.   

First-winter Wheatear

My first juvenile Blackwit of the autumn, with an adult Spotted Redshank

Presumed juvenile Yellow-legged Gull , two birds on East Side. More photos HERE. 

An increase in Dunlin numbers on East Side. I got ChatGPT to count them- approx 160. Also about 100 Ringed Plover.

The Peregrine put all the small waders up at one point. ChatGPT reckons 230 birds in this image

Good numbers of Sandwich Terns at Pagham Spit, 3 Common Terns today too but the Little Terns are long gone- they more or less dissappear as soon as the young fledge

Jay- not a guaranteed bird on any one day at Pagham Harbour. 

Juvenile Cattle Egret- all the breeding birds are free flying now including the last of the Avocets on Ferry and the Shelduck family 

Bordered Straw. 4 Scarce Bordered Straw last night too.

Silky Wainscot

Small Ranunculus- NFY

Beet moth- the all time garden moth list is 704 so added something recently. Might be this species.