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