Decent winter birding

I did a six hour session this morning, first at the Bill HERE and then Halsey's Farm and North Wall HERE. 2 Slavonian Grebe, 7 Velvet Scoter, 1 Black-throated Diver, 35 Red-throated Diver, 2 Great Northern Diver, 45 Kittiwake, 250+ Razorbill and 350+ Gannet were the highlights at the Bill and 1 Long-eared Owl,  19 Lesser Redpoll, 10 Barnacle Goose, 2 Rock Pipit and a Pale-bellied Brent amongst the 2000+ Dark-bellieds were the highlights elsewhere. 

Now on 106 for the local patch year list. 

Official counts from the Bill today HERE. 

Velvet Scoters past the bill at dawn

Common Scoters 

Gannets on the move

Razorbills on the move- good numbers this morning moving round

41 Curlews over the Bill

Great Northern Diver

Red-throated Divers on the move 

Gannets- large numbers this morning moving west

Lesser Redpolls (above) 

Barnacle Goose- a couple of neck-tagged birds which are from Cat C populations from the north 

Curlews and Blackwits on Honer Fields

Rock Pipit

Brents. I was reading the Sussex Bird Report for 2023 recently. That year there were approx 13,000 Brents wintering in the Chichester-Pagham Harbour Complex. Presumably all the times we saw Brents at Beddington (always magical to see them flying over London)  they were heading this way. 

Wigeon

Pale-bellied Brent Goose 

Brents, West Wittering

A bright, sunny and fresh winter's day so we did a family walk at West Wittering/East Head. There were a few thousand Brent Geese out on the fields at West Wittering and were pretty tame so I managed to grab a few photos.

It really is magical living amongst all the thousands of Brents that winter round here. 

Couldn't really give the flocks the attention they needed but I did pick out this Pale-bellied Brent. Would be a good idea to go back with some time to check through these properly as there were groups coming and going all day. 

Itchenor

I spent the afternoon exploring another part of the Selsey Peninsula, this time Chichester Harbour between Itchenor and Snowshill Creek. 56 species of approx 4500 birds in 3.5 hours. Ebird list HERE.

The highlight was 3 Grey Partridges, the only area on the Peninsula where this species is hanging on. My 180th species for the Peninsula (might be 181 as I remembered today I saw the long staying Glaucous Gull on the Bill years ago). I also had a few year ticks- Raven, Barwit and Whimbrel so now on 103 for the year. Other highlights included 2 Great Northern Divers, 10 Red-breasted Mergs,  good numbers of Barwits and Common Gulls here (unlike Pagham Harbour) and 5 Sandwich Tern. 

A really nice walk along this part of Chichester Harbour with stunning backdrops depending on which way your facing- over East Head, the South Downs or Thorney and Hayling Island with Portsmouth and the Isle Wight further in the background. 

Grey Partridge- this is as good as the views got

Barwit and Dunlin (above) and Barwits and Knot (two photos below)

Brents- can't get enough of living amongst 1000s of these. 

Red-breasted Mergansers 

Flocks of Brent over Chichester Harbour with the South Downs in the background- magical sight. 

Selsey Bill and Chichester Gravel Pits

The weather has improved a bit recently so I thought I'd grab the opportunity to do a bit more local year listing and exploring. 

Yesterday morning I attempted to twitch the Red-necked Grebe off the Bill but unfortunately dipped. However there was some compensation in the form of a Slavonian Grebe, a Black-throated Diver and a couple of Sandwich Terns. Ebird list HERE.

This morning I joined the daily seawatch but no repeat appearance of the Red-necked Grebe but plenty of interest with a relatively showy Velvet Scoter, Kittiwakes and Red-throated Divers on the move, a few Great Northerns and I finally caught up with the Black Redstart and there was also a Chiffchaff. Ebird list HERE

After the Bill vigil I headed off to the Ivy Lake-complex of Chichester Gravel Pits for a bit of local exploring. I'm slowly aqainting myself with all the hotspots on the Selsey Peninsula. The pits look superb and there was a nice little selection of common waterfowl but nothing particularly unusual. Highlights included 4 Egyptian Geese and good numbers of Pochards and Tufted Ducks. Ebird list HERE.

Local patch year list now on 99. 

Black-throated Diver 

Velvet Scoter (above and below) 

Velvet Scoter and Great Northern Diver. Selsey Bill really is quite an exceptional place in the winter. There's not many places on the south coast where on a daily basis you can see multiple Great Northern Divers, often tens and sometimes 100s of Red-throated Divers, occasional Black-throats, regular Slavonian Grebes, Shags, Velvet Scoters and Long-tailed Duck with flocks of Common Scoters, auks and Kittiwakes often present. Pretty magical winter birding. 

Med Gulls 

Turnstones (above and below) at the Bill 

Black Redstart (above and below) 

Grey Seal off the Bill. The first Grey Seal I've had, a lot of them round here seem to be Harbour Seals

Egyptian Goose at Chichester Gravel Pits 

A couple of the Great Crested Grebes on the Pits were in summer plumage already

Nice light today. Grey Heron

Pochards and Tufted Ducks at the Pits 

Dell Quay

There was an inset day today so the kids still haven't gone back to school so it was another day of playing chess, eating out and fun and games at the amusements. So I'm still not quite back in the game yet. However I managed to get out this morning and checked out Dell Quay (the plan for the rest of the winter is to do some more exploring of local birding sites I haven't visisted yet). I had 44 species of nearly 2000 individuals in a couple of hours HERE. The highlight was a wintering Greenshank and a few more local year ticks. My local year list is now 87 so plenty more to catch up with yet (other local birders are around 110 so I've got a bit of catching up). 

The night temperatures actually reached 10 C for a few hours in between the heavy frosts and a blast of mild air becoming cool and I got the moth year list off to a start with Mottled Umber and a Ypsolopha ustella which I think could be a lifer. So garden moth list now on 2 species for 2025. 

Common Greenshank (above)

Brents and waterbirds at Dell Quay. The weather was awful and what with the time constraint I didn't get to check out the area properly. Apparantely there are some areas for Jack Snipe nearby and a sewage farm which can be interesting too. 

Ypsolopha ustella I think- I can't find any personal records so far so could be a lifer if correct id 130124 update- yes confirmed by the CMR team . First moth lifer of the year.