It was wet again on Friday but today it was overcast but mainly dry. In between family stuff I popped out for an hour this morning to check out Ferry and the harbour from the Tramway HERE and this afternoon I had a look at Church Norton HERE. Highlight was a really nice group of Slavonian Grebes off Church Norton with at least five birds (probably six and possibly seven) which were relatively close in. Presumably it was a group gathering ahead of migration. There was also a Great Northern Diver off Church Norton.
Other interesting bits included Green Sandpiper on Ferry, Greenshank in the harbour, the first Gannet I've seen in a couple of weeks off Norton and still pretty good counts of waterbirds in the harbour including 7 Barwits, a new group of 20+ Blackwits and there are still 250+ Golden Plover, 200 Knot, 800+ Dunlin, 200+ Grey Plover and 300+ Brents. Duck numbers are generally down with only 2 Pintail from what I could see, 200+ Wigeon and low numbers of Teal. Shoveler numbers are staying high with an increase to 132 on Ferry and smaller numbers in the harbour.
The overcast nights have been better for the moth trap with 40 individuals on Thursday and some NFYs including Early Reveller, Early Grey, Early Thorn, Early Moth and more Clouded Drabs, Common and Small Quakers, Hebrew Character, Agonopterix Hericliana, Depressaria daucella and Common Plume. Moth year list now on 21 species.
Slavonian Grebes off Church Norton (above and below)- quite a nostalgic sight as I ticked Slavs off Church Norton in the 1980s. Due to milder winters and short-stopping the local wintering population has reduced and nowadays Slavs are more regular off Selsey Bill than Church Norton so it was very nice to see them this evening
Green Sandpiper, Redshanks and Avocet on Ferry. Also a single Lapwing, 12 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 more Avocet and Oystercatcher on Ferry.
Golden Plovers over a murky harbour
Early Grey- not appreciated the 'hairy' legs before
Early Reveller
Clouded Drab- a more classic type
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