Bank Holiday Weekend

A return to prevailing conditions and an Atlantic airflow has more or less closed the portal round here. On Saturday morning the Bill was very quiet HERE and a walk round Ferry, Long Pool and the Tramway was mainly about breeding birds HERE although a Wood Sandpiper was still present on the pool, there were a few waders in the harbour and the summering Black-tailed Godwits arrived this weekend to Ferry with 44 birds there by this morning HERE.

A family walk round East Head yesterday produced 52 Whimbrel, 3 Wheatear and an LRP HERE.

As it basically felt like the doldrums of summer I decided to twitch the Red-crested Pochards at Chichester Gravel Pits which have miracously walked their young across the A27 from Quarry Road to New Lake. Four chicks were still alive and well this morning.

With some cloud cover at night and some thunder storms from the south too the moth trap has been more lively with some migrants and also there has been a small arrival of Painted Ladies on the Peninsula. The year list is now on 88 and the all time list on 636 (with 3 new ones but not sure what as irecord difficult to work that out) . 

Red Crested Pochards New Lake- a Peninsula tick. Now on 212 and 171 for the year. 

Wood Sandpiper

Whimbrels at East Head

Mainly first-summer/ non-breeding Black-tailed Godwits. Arrived this weekend

Bar-tailed Godwit and Greenshank 

Egyptian Goose young Chichester Gravel Pits 

Lobster moth

Pinion-streaked Snout 

Painted lady- a few of these on the move this weekend. On the moth migrant front there has been a few Diamond-back moths and Silver-Y, single Small Mottled Willow and Rusty-dot and a few Turnips and Angle Shades. NFYs over the last few days have included Rustic Shoulder Knot, Knotgrass, White Ermine, Rough-winged Conch, Treble Lines, Clouded Border and Buff-tip and there is still the odd Early Grey and Common Quaker.