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.
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