A Little Stint was on the Ferry Pool on Sunday (found late Saturday), otherwise it's been very quiet on the Peninsula, we are surely due a decent scarcity offshore! At home prepped the ground for autumn planting onion sets to fill up any spare ground and picked lots and lots of apples, pears and quinces as we have an event on Saturday in Chichester. The boy and I are also in the Squid Chase at East Beach Selsey at the weekend so that will be fun!
Little Stint:
One was screeching away this evening in the ash trees, always around here this time of year.
The seawatching has been poor really, surprising given the strength and direction, SW F6-7, of the wind but there's always a chance something like a Grey Phalarope will be blown in and so it proved when one was was well found by JBo late morning on the Ferry Pool; he's only a young chap so fair play to him for spotting and IDing it, put the olds to shame so it did!
Always a little distant for photos the bird spent its time on the left hand side out of the strong breeze-hopefully it might stay and come down to the road end. (Update: it didn't-no sign on Sunday!)
Grey Phalarope:
The pool has also hosted a pair of Little Stints recently which did show nice and close and were a popular attraction for many.
Little Stints:
Nothing to do with the above but I was sad to hear of the passing of Joe Harkness recently. Joe was a nice guy who had had his battles with depression and mental health over the years and who was the author of, among other works, Neurodivergent by Nature, a book discussing neurodivergence (something we know a fair bit about in this household...) and it's role(s) in conservation.
I hope he is at peace now.
Cory's Shearwater is a prized bird at the Bill and on Friday two were picked up by AH inside the Mile Basket heading west in leisurely fashion-interestingly I was sure I had another one early on but these really are the type of birds you need (at least) two observers for at the Bill!!!
Otherwise there was a big westward movement of gulls and terns & a couple of Arctic Skuas whilst the next day brought even more Mediterranean Gulls past, 1300+, and a nice juvenile Little Gull. A look at the Severals didn't find a Wryneck again but on Saturday at least there were a few more birds around including a couple of Whinchats, two Wheatears on the beach and some young Peregrines scrapping overhead.
My log from Friday below (in the Selsey Blog order not the taxonomic one):
Surprised and indeed lucky to find this Sulphur Polypore (aka Chicken-of-the-Woods) on the water meadow oaks.
I've been lucky enough to see a few Puffins off Selsey Bill in past years and it was good to catch up with one on Sunday, a reasonably close bird heading west then east and west again inside and adjacent to the Mile Basket. A few Black Terns were also about and a Tree Pipit flew over the Oval Field.
At home the veg has perked up a bit after the rain and we're getting prepped to plant a lot of over-wintering onion sets to fill in any gaps left by the previously boiling conditions. Not much of note birdwise here but a Tree Pipit flew over and there seems to have been an uptick in finches.
Also confirmed in the last few days was a Five-bearded Rockling which we had at Marloe Sands while on holiday, another fish mini-species for us.
Five-bearded Rockling pic by @beardybirder.bsky.social to give you an idea of what they're like, our one was a bit too quick for me to get a picture of!
I sound recorded a Serin flying in-off/over at Selsey Bill on Friday but to be honest only caught the merest hint of a call myself so unfortuntaley one that got away, a shame as had it been elsewhere on the Peninsula it would no doubt have created more interest...nice to see Surrey Bird Club out at Grafton Road and it was a reminder from their enthusiam that "basic" seawatching can indeed, and whisper it quietly, be FUN!
On Saturday morning no interesting birds were pushed through with the weather front (yes it has rained properly at last) although there were decent numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Mediterranean Gulls on the move and a distant shearwater sp. was just that...very distant!!
A look at the Severals on Friday PM was remarkable for its blandness but perhaps some of the keener birders can turn up a Wryneck there, September 5th is the most reliable date I think so we shall see, hopefully a nice showy one and not a single observer special is on the cards.
