It was dicey getting out of our lane this morning with floods on Keynor Lane and also in Highleigh and later in the day the roads were closed. The garden looked like a lake last night and the patio was flooded but fortunately the rain stopped and the flood subsided before it got to the back door. Might need to do some flood proofing round here.
I managed to get to the Bill for the first time this year where it was quite lively with a steady procession of Red-throated Divers moving west (166 in total) and also a Velvet Scoter, 2 Great Northern Diver, a flock of 35 Med Gulls moving east and a few other bits and bobs HERE. A Common Seal was hauled up on the Beach showing nicely too.
I then stopped at Ferry which is extremely flooded and walked along the tramway on the rising tide. The waders and waterfowl from White's Creek and East Side were being flushed up by the high tide in a spectacular scene viewable from the Tramway. The Blackwit numbers continue to increase, there must have been 1000 flying around and also had to be at least 4500 Lapwing between the harbour and Ferry. There was also a flock of 57 Avocet which are also new arrivals as far as I know. I could even see the Dunlin and Knot flocks swirling around the Church Norton end of the harbour and the Grey Plovers which also hang around the Spit end were flying round too with a single Barwit. The main omission from today was Golden Plover with only a handful of birds indicating that they may have moved off already. Full list from Ferry and from the harbour viewed from the Tramway HERE .
After lunch with Holly I then went over to East Head where I dipped the Snow Bunting but had a nice selection of waterbirds including 2 Slavonian Grebes in the channel, 3 Great Northern Diver, a few Red-breasted Mergansers, a flock of 74 Avocet on Snowhill Marsh (also new arrivals as far as I know), 4 Greenshank, approx 3000 Brent Geese in the fields and at least 124 Sanderling on the tideline. There was also 80+ Barwits flying around (the main wintering area for them round here) and some large numbers of waders viewable around Pilsey Sands/Island on Thorney Island across the Channel. Full list HERE.
What with the seabirds today I've now seen 480 species in the world this year which is not bad for early Feb!
