Justin Atkinson recently published the Selsey Bill Spring Birding Review HERE which is a great little write up on what, by the sounds of it, was a pretty good Spring migration with most species holding up well and some appearing in much higher than average numbers.
It was my first Spring here so was all new for me, so I thought I'd take this opportunity, before autumn starts, to reflect on how it all unfolded.
WINTER BIRDS LEAVING (EARLY-MID MARCH)
The first wave of migration for me occurred on 7th March with good numbers of Pintails, Shovelers, Common Scoters and Brent Geese moving through which was an exciting dimension to Spring which just didn't really feature in my previous inland patches. Roger came to visit the following day and the birds were still on the move with a few bonus species including Velvet Scoters, Slavonian Grebes and there was an Eider and Long-tailed Duck around too. The first Med and Common Gulls were also featuring and in additon to the water birds there were a few Mipits, some Stock Doves and Woodpigeons going over and the odd Chiffchaff was appearing.
Brents on the way back to Siberia
Shovelers and Pintails shipping out - fascinating to find out that Pintails winter as far south as Senegal and many of these wildfowl were presumably originating from as far south as West Africa
Velvet and Common Scoters
Wheatear- my first true sub-Saharan migrant this Spring
Scandanavian Rock Pipit , littoralis. There seemed to be more of these around in early Spring so presumably moving around too.
By mid-March, winter was back with cool winds and the return of frosts. A couple of Little Ringed Plovers appeared locally but passage had more or less come to a standstill.
Little Ringed and Ringed Plover
By the 19th the cool north-easterly wind, that was to become a persistent feature of Spring 2025, swung round to the south-east and right on cue the passage resumed with nearly 1000 Brent Geese and 100 Common Scoter moving past the Bill. There were still Great Northern Divers off shore with Red-throated Divers also moving east. Mediterranean Gulls started appearing in numbers on the Peninsula and it was likely that some of the Sandwich Terns past the Bill were presumably migrants too instead of just the wintering birds.
On the Spring Equinox (20th March) the passage continued with another 1000+ Brent Geese moving east, Common Scoters, the first Little Gulls of the year with a single Avocet going past too. Some of the last Pintails were still moving too.
The following day the passage had fizzled out but there were a few summer migrants around including Barn Swallows, Wheatear and Sand Martin that the other guys saw.
Brents still pouring through- the Spring total was nearly 5000 birds, way above average. It was absolutely fantastic watching these migrating.
Sandwich Tern in late March/early April increasingly became more convincing migrants as opposed to the local birds that had wintered
Some late Pintails- a great year for them too with a total of 301 and the second highest day count of 162 on 7th April
Avocet- in additon to the odd one going past the Bill numbers also increased at Medmerry and the Ferry Pool during early April
My first Sand Martin of the year
SUMMER MIGRANTS STRUGGLING TO PICK UP (MID-LATE MARCH/EARLY APRIL)
A few bits and bobs continued moving over the next few days. Sue came down to visit and we had 4 Little Gulls going past Medmerry with more seen by the other guys at the Bill. There were a few Redwings going over the garden too, a group of Fieldfare appeared at Medmerry and a few Black Redstarts were appearing around the Peninsula too with a nice male and female at the Bill on 24th March. Quite a few Chiffchaffs were coming in with birds feeding on the lawns and gardens at the Bill. A Hawfinch over the garden on 28th March was presumably a migrant too and Red Kites starting appearing with increasing frequency on the Peninsula.
The anticyclonic conditions continued to the end of March with really quite low numbers of migrants around. There were clearly higher numbers of summer migrants at some of my old patches indicating that birds were overshooting the coast in the clear condiitons.
Female (above) and male (below) Black Redstarts at the Bill
Hawfinch over the garden
A bolt from the blue (literally) on 2nd April when Paul Bowley found a first-winter Least Sandpiper on Stilt Pool at Medmerry. Indeed the blue skies and anticyclonic conditions were wreaking havoc with migration patterns with pulses of overshoots and drift migrants hitting the south west and Ireland. A re-orientating Alpine Swift was seen at the Bill on 4th April which I was gutted to miss.
Across the south-west and Ireland Hoopoes were literally everywhere and there were a couple of Alpine Accentors too including one as nearby as the Isle of Wight.
Only a few migrants were occurring in the south east, and literally no migrants on the east coast, in the strong easterly airflow. There were a few summer migrants on the Peninsula - the odd Willow Warbler, Redstart and a few Yellow Wagtails, hirundines and finches moving at the Bill but it was really pretty quiet. There were large inland movement of Little Gulls moving up the Severn Estuary on 5th April. By the 7th April a bit of sea passage had resumed at the Bill but overall it was pretty slow going.
One or two Short-eared Owls were present at Medmerry throughout and into May.
First-winter Least Sandpiper- what a bird! (above and below). Here in a winter plumage that later moulted into a first-summer bird.
HOOPOE DIP FEST AND SERIN TICK FEST (APRIL)
A Hoopoe at Medmerry on 8th April was the first in multiple sightings over the next month. Presumably all the overshooting birds that had flooded into the south west and Ireland were reorientating and were basically appearing all over the place regionally. Somehow, by a sheer miracle, I managed to miss every single one of them everywhere. At one point they even started breeding by Pagham Church, but I was away in Cyprus at the time.
There was a clear arrival of summer migrants on 11th April, including another Hoopoe at Church Norton which of course I dipped. Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers, Willow Warblers, more Black Redstarts, a few Wheatears, White Wagtails, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroat were all logged that day with Swallows and Sand Martins going over.
The 12th was a big day locally with a south-easterly wind and a Serin at the Bill, the first of many sightings over the next few weeks. There were over 110 Little Gulls, 40 Whimbrel, a late wave of Brents and Arctic Skuas, at the Bill and elsewhere Whinchat and other common migrants (and of course another Hoopoe at Medmerry). I missed everything that day as was working but the next day I jammed into the Serin at the Bill and basically lost count of how many times I saw Serin this Spring after that.
Whitethroat (above) and Barn Swallow (below). Even though summer passage passerine migrants were a thin on the ground, the whole Peninsula continued to fill up with breeding summer birds with the air thick with warbler song by mid-April
THE GRAND FINALE
On 23rd April there were south easterlies just to the east of us with large numbers of Arctic Terns and passage birds moving off Dungeness but it wasn't until the 25th that the easterlies extended to our area with a steady trickle of Barwits and Whimbrels, Arctic Skua, Commic and Little Terns. I also had a Ring Ouzel fly over that day. By the 26th there were more Little Gulls and the other guys had the first Poms for the year, the first Swifts were arriving and there was a steady trickle of hirundines going over.
Back at the lodge there was a Cuckoo that arrived, started calling and didn't stop until last week.
The 27th was a bit quieter and on the 28th Ian, Kojak and I did a Selsey Peninsula big day and set a new record of 112 species (which lasted about a week before Marc Read got 113 on a solo mission). There was very little migrating that day but we did re-find the Medmerry Least Sand after it had dissappeared for a couple of weeks- now in a full summer plumage.
On 29th Andrew had 14 Poms past Hillfield Road Car Park so we were all at the seawatch the next morning for what was the best day of the Spring. I joined the seawatch up to 0930 and had 5 fantastic Poms, 2 Arctic Skuas, 1 Great Skua, 18 Little Gull, 2 Black Tern, 2 Red-throated Diver, 2 Velvet Scoter, 89 Common Scoter and a good passage of waders including 36 Sanderling, 2 Dunlin, 1 Grey Plover, 3 Ringed Plover, 5 Whimbrel, 3 Curlew, 14 Bar-tailed Godwits, 11 Redshank, 11 Oystercatcher and 10 Turnstone.
Later that day a Temmink's Stint was found which I successfully twitched. Some when around this time a Black Swan flew past the Bill too just to add some surreality to all the excitement.
There were more Poms the following day on 1st May with Little Gulls, Black Terns and summer plumaged Black-throated Diver to boot.
After that for me, it was basically a slow wind down for migration but there was still a good passage of Whimbrels going on with up to 100 gathering in the harbours. A Nightingale in the first week of May in Chichester Canal was really nice to hear and see locally. Meanwhile back at the Bill the Serin sightings kept up with at least one male and a female involved and there was a Great Egret on Ferry. There was also loads that I missed too during the Finale including a cracking full adult Long-tailed Skua, Puffin, Nightjar and full summer plumage Red-necked Grebe. Painful!
The Spring finale ended on an out of tune note for me with a Collared Pratincole that was at Farlington Marshes a day or two before appearing briefly infront of me, never to be seen again. A nice bird but no photo and nobody else saw it. Great- the mission is still on for me to find a decent local bird that everyone else can enjoy too!
Poms! (above and below). Magical.
Arctic Skua- there was a total of 97 for the Spring which is below average but the 47 Poms recorded were bang on target. Great Skuas have still not recovered from bird flu.
Little Gulls- an excellent year for these with 256 logged compared to an average of about 80
Barwits- 1256 logged was another great count compared to an average of 773.
Whimbrel- another above average turn out with 531 logged compared to an average of around 400
Hobby in-off- cracking
The Chichester Canal Nightingale (one of them)
Male Serin- a great Spring for them
Temmink's Stint
Great Egret
Sanderlings- one of the later migrating species
One of the Short-eared Owls at Medmerry that were present throughout the entire Spring
The Superstar- the Least Sandpiper in first-summer plumage by late April
So that was it- a great Spring and really exciting and interesting to see it all slowly unfold. The anticyclonic conditions with a rather persistent north-easterly wind set the stage for most of it bringing mixed fortunes. The weather caused a lot of the summer passerine migrants in April to be deflected to the west of us resulting in low numbers of Wheatears etc but it also caused drift and overshoot of southern scarcities to the west which later reoriented and headed back south resulting in the best Hoopoe spring ever for the Peninsula, the Alpine Swift and probably had something to do with the Serins too. The headwinds resulted in some atypical falls of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers at the Bill with birds flying low to the waves as they completed night flights that obviously overrun into the dawn. However overall the conditions did not produce many passerine falls and summer migrants were generally thin on the ground with scarcities in high ratios comapred to common migrants.
In fact the number of summer migrant passerines were so low here that on many days my former inland patches were fairing better. Presumably those sites acted more like oasis and were concentrating the few birds that were moving through the south east. That really surprised me and I spent a lot of the spring checking paddocks and habitat for passerines in vain- while missing every Hoopoe in the process.
The transition from the winter birds exodus in March, to the summer migrants in April and then the seabirds and waders in late April to early May was fantastic to watch play out. Watching the estuaries empty of Brents and waterbirds and fill up with Whimbrels and Warblers was great.
Of course, as quite usual, the bird of the Spring (for me) was a complete wild card and unpredictacle and mysterious- the first-summer Least Sandpiper, a bird that had wintered in the Seven Estuary and then headed south east presumably back to somewhere like the Wadden Sea and then perhaps back north from there? Who knows?
Biggest dips/misses of the Spring were Hoopoes galore, Alpine Swift, Long-tailed Skua, Nightjar and Puffin. Best finds were the bitter-sweet Collared Pratincole, Ring Ouzel, the garden Hawfinch and a few Poms.
The anticyclone also slightly oriented and re-oriented during its pervasive presence with some days drawing cool air that slowed migration down and a slight shift would pull in warmer air and get things going and occasionally would produce a southeasterly airflow that produced some magical days. Those clear skies and warm anticyclonic conditions were also surprisingly (for me) ideal conditions for Poms and other seabirds to migrate close inshore too. Watching migration in clear conditions was unusual on my former inland local patches and low cloud, light rain and easterlies were the best condiitons but here on the coast, on several occasions I was literally watching migration catching the sun rays with an ice cream in hand. Very nice indeed- beach birding compared to inland birding is not bad at all !
For all the news from this Spring see the Selsey Birding Blog HERE. The great spring was made all the better for such a great local birding community, birding with some fantastic highly skilled seawatchers and contributing in a small way to the historical and monumental local effort championed by some really inspiring birders. Just brilliant.
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