Tawny Owl

One was screeching away this evening in the ash trees, always around here this time of year.

Grey Phalarope & Little Stints

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 Shearwaters

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):

0600-1000hrs) (SW, F7)

Great Crested Grebe - 1os

Cory's Shearwater - 2W (0746hrs)

Gannet - 5E, 247W, 31os

Oystercatcher - 4W

Ringed Plover - 2W

Sanderling - 2E

Turnstone - 61

Arctic Skua - 2W

Mediterranean Gull - 139W

Black-headed Gull - 649W

Common Gull - 8W, 1os

Lesser Black-backed Gull - 5W

Great Black-backed Gull - 6W, 3os

Sandwich Tern - 8E, 728W, 20os

Common Tern - 3E, 154W

Little Tern - 1W

Black Tern - 3W

Swallow - 19W

House Martin - 5

Chicken-of-the-Woods

Surprised and indeed lucky to find this Sulphur Polypore (aka Chicken-of-the-Woods) on the water meadow oaks.

Puffin & Five-bearded Rockling

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!

Serin

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.

Pied Flycatcher & Pembrokeshire

 A Pied Flycatcher was a nice find for me at Halsey's Farm on Friday before we left for Pembrokeshire, a welcome year tick for "a right place-right time" species. At Pagham there were a couple each of Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow, the latter a surprisingly late year tick given the influx this year..no Long-tailed Blues though perhaps because the Everlasting Pea is on it's last legs due to the drought.

In Pembrokeshire the first bird I found as we got out of the car was bizarrely another Pied Flycatcher and later on we had a couple of Clouded Yellows..deja vu indeed! Rock Pipits a plenty at Marlowe and two cronking Ravens gave a marvellous low flyover, nice lot of Banded Agate on the beach too.

A boat trip to Grassholm was fun and we managed to tick off Minke Whale and Common Dolphin, also plenty of Manx Shearwaters out there, a good mix of adult & juvenile Kittiwakes and, of course, thousands of Gannets now fully recovered from avian flu.

Fishing for mini species has been hard going due to the shear number of people mooching around the jetties but we did manage a good haul of Sand Smelt on the size 16 lures as well as a decent mix of crab sp. and a bucket full of Netted Dog Whelks. A Tub Gurnard (it went back fine btw) on the lures was a bonus today and had a chase from a couple of Mackerel but no connection alas! A Bass was nice from Dale Point and some hard-biting Ballan & Corkwing Wrasse were off the rocks at St. Bride's Bay.

Tub Gurnard:

Wall, rather a worn one: 

St. Bride's Bay from St. Bride's Castle where we stayed:

Corkwing Wrasse, safely returned:

A few migrants and breeding success!

Well I see the genie is now out of the bottle and the existence of the breeding Zitting Cisticolas at Walberswick can be publicly confirmed (although is there anyone who thought they weren't? 🤣)

 I saw and heard at least three there a week or two ago having waited a whole year to see them after they were discovered, or news put out out anyway, on the day we left Southwold in 2025!

In the local area a walk down Sidlesham Quay after veg box delivery found a Spotted Flycatcher and a Garden Warbler in a mixed flock by the stone wall at Owl Point; other than a mixed Tit flock at Church Norton there was nothing of note there and two Black-tailed Godwits were all she wrote at Mill Lane Marsh.

Update: a couple more walks down the quay found a flock of Yellowhammers, scarce here, a Sedge Warbler, fly-over Tree Pipit & Green Sandpiper, a Lesser Whitethroat and an increase in Willow Warblers and about a zillion Whitethroats.

Osprey

 I keep the local birding Whatsapps all muted now but happened to glance at it randomly this morning and saw that SP had noted an Osprey at North Wall so popped over for it. The traffic was as usual horrendous and what should have been a 10 minute drive took significantly longer but got there in the end and the bird duly obliged, having its Bass (probably, may be a Thin-lipped Mullet) breakfast in the west of the channel. Pleased to see my first one of the year.

Bad digiscoped Osprey picture:

Lesser Weever Fish

Not something we get too many of in the south so pleased to see this Lesser Weever Fish caught by my son at Southwold Pier, another one for the "fish mini-species" list! 

We are looking to do some more fishing in Pembrokeshire so should add a few wrasse sp. then hopefully as well as some nice rock pool ones.

Megas

So with being surplus to requirements on the Peninsula with so much coverage by far better birders there now (so I'm told) I thought I would twitch a few things while off on holiday, also managed to see the Long-tailed Shrike in Gloucestershire. There's been a healthy debate re: AI altering photos not necessarily for the better with plumage being added etc...so here are three with the originals. The LTS and Hudwit ones aren't too bad I think but the BWK is...odd!

Long-tailed Shrike, showed really well, top pic is AI "enhanced" version, can you tell 😂 

 

Hudsonian Godwit in Suffolk, also showed nicely:

AI version:

Award winning Black-winged Kite picture from Norfolk, superb bird (in the scope!):

AI version, pretty bad!:

Zitting Cisticola to follow...

Wildfire

A trip to Southwold has turned out well in some respects with both the Hudsonian Godwit and the Black-winged Kite successfully twitched, the down side was a terrible wildfire at Dunwich Heath which has caused some serious environmental damage here. 

It seemed to have started about 1530hrs on the 29th, we saw the smoke billowing up while playing cricket on Southwold Common, and apparently the fire service were on scene by 1730hrs. It was still burning fiercely on Thursday morning and doesn't look to be dying down any time soon. A disaster for insects and reptiles but let's hope the birds have managed to avoid the worst with most fledglings on the wing by now. Grim.

The fire viewed from Castle Keep at Southwold:

Mullet & Moths & more

Not much birding to be done or anything really going on but mothing has been OK and it was good to see Thin-lipped Mullet back at the sluice at the North Wall. Pagham Harbour.

Thin-lipped Mullet, you can just about see the diagnostic dark spot above the pectoral fin:

Red-crested Pochard on New Lake while watching Norfolk Hawkers & Lesser Emperors:

Painted Lady, shame about the twine!:

Moth-wise we have had Dewick's Plusia, Light Crimson Underwing, Straw Dot & Rusty Dot Pearl amongst others...I did, however, fail to find a Starry Pearl on Viper's Bugloss at Pagham Spit, surely there somewhere though! Purple Hairstreaks still on the east side oaks and a Yellow-legged Gull, sub-adult type, out on the mud on the rising tide.

Ebernoe

A morning out at Ebernoe found 41 bird sp., best being breeding Tree-creepers, Nightingales and two Hawfinch. I couldn't find any Purple Emperors but there were zillions of Purple Hairstreaks, Gatekeppers, Marbled Whites and Small Skippers plus a singles of Small Copper and Painted Lady. The Red Sussex cattle are also excellent company following around the meadow in leisurely fashion. Very nice.

Silver-washed Fritillary:

 

Painted Lady:

Small Copper:

Small Skipper:

Marbled White, striking a rather odd pose:

Red Sussex bull, a youngster & very friendly, I love cattle!

In the moth trap we had a Dewick's Plusia but I only managed one rushed picture, a good one for us though:

Streakier

Purple Hairstreaks in the large oak at the end of the path to the harbour at Church Norton and at Yeoman's Field Saturday morning, otherwise dire out. The colony on the oaks at Church Norton by the bench/ramp to the beach seems to have died out.

A couple of Privet hawk-moths were nice in the trap early on. 

The weather has made it hard work this week especially with the "guaranteed" thunderstorms not developing either Thursday or Saturday for us. 

Some hilarious weather "forecasting" on X over the heatwave (ended Friday morning btw in case you were wondering 😂) great technical detail and temperature guess work turning out nowhere near the reality! C'est la vie...

Pine Hawk-moth:

escaping Privet Hawk-moth:

smallest female Ghost Moth ever:

In other news the Pallid Swift over the Bill at Selsey has been rejected by the BBRC. Apparently they don't give feedback as to why & don't say what it actually might be?? 

Time to hand over rarity assessment to the local comittees? We're still waiting (3 years plus!!) on the Iberian Wagtail and the Least Sandpiper, the latter of which should surely be fast-tracked...

Anyway knocked my year list for 2025, Bill list, Peninsula list & Sussex list down by one, will others follow suit?🤣

Purple Hairstreaks

On this day in 1988 I had just come out of Salisbury crown court after being nicked at Stonehenge on somewhat spurious grounds (that were later found to be not legally valid fwiw). 

Stonehenge 1988: not my pic, Arthur L. stuck it on the Torpedo Town group if I remember rightly...this is after the sunrise, police helicopters telling eveyone to disperse. Soldiers dressed up as coppers (wearing regimental shirts was always a giveaway!). Among the chaos and riot squad getting handy I have to say there were plenty of good moments, good people and good times believe it or not. Bus loads off to court, getting done and walking back to Cholderton Woods where the riot police were marching in. Dad paid my bail good man that he was! Winter Solstice I remember as much more chilled! 

Free Festivals gradually fell apart until the coup de grace at Telscombe Cliffs finished them off really..if you thought this was chaos ...well, what a night that was...

On this day in 2026 I am watching Purple Hairstreak butterflies at Pagham Harbour. It's a funny old world.

Happy Solstice y'all lol.

Purple Hairstreaks (there were some at 'henge too just a different type!):

 

Nightjars & Woodcocks

Solly and I went to Lavington Common for the Nightjars on Saturday while Debbie was on the Moonlight Walk in memory of dad. 

We had at least six birds churring on the plantation side, including good views of perched bird, a Tawny Owl,  a Woodlark, c.20 Stonechats and three Woodcock flyovers complete with roding calls (not sure how may birds this actually was though). Sol found lots of isopods, moths and insects various so he was an extra happy lad.

Quail

 GM found a Quail at Lockgate, you can just about hear it above, just before half-way through.

Storm-petrel

An odd bird was seen offshore at the Bill on Saturday the 6th; it appeared at first glance(s) to be a petrel sp, with its small size and clean white underbelly but eventually the consensus was a 1st summer Black Tern-very rare in Britain, from what I understand of the literature, as these stay on their breeding grounds and do not migrate-well this one did! It was in the company of a Black Tern with a bright white rump, also an oddity as usually only WWBT would show this...

Next thing to happen: two Kittiwakes past east with a trailing small, dark bird which was almost certainly a Storm-petrel but no one else got on it so it was frustratingly "let go"...certainly an interesting start to the morning!

Later on a visiting birder with an enormous Swaro bino-scope picked up a probable Storm-petrel moving towards the Mile Basket and views soon confirmed it was one, a European Storm-petrel, very nice too. Presumbaly the same bird as I had had earlier.

Two Balearic Shearwaters, one nice and close, and a few Manx Shearwaters were the best of the rest.

Moths

 ...it's that time of year... best recently for us was a male Ghost Moth, a Lobster Moth, also a few Poplar Hawk-moths have put in appearances and also a Portland Ribbon Wave, plenty of commoner stuff but we sit and wait for an EBS!

Portland Ribbon Wave:

Lobster Moth:

Ghost Moth:

Wild Quail Hunt

So Quails all through Sussex then! One at Medmerry then no doubt! Well yes and, er, no... One was reported as singing last Friday but not until Saturday so obviously couldn't check it out until that evening and not surprisingly no sight or sound of it. So since then several e-bike trips from Pagham RSPB to Medmerry Stilit Pools for me and they have yielded, if you've read this drivel this far you probably have guessed the answer, zero Quails. 

And zero Golden Oriels. 

Or Bee-eaters.

Or with the noble exception of a couple of Corn Buntings at Ham and four Greenshank on the Stilt Pool anything else of note really. And it's been this way for quite a while.

Lots and lots of Yellowhammers and Skylarks of course, not a bad thing...(and apparently breeding Redshanks are the new poster boys and girls)...but there could be so much more with a bit of imagination...

So if only there was a migrant trap to west of Selsey...hmm there is of course and, as noted above, it's called Medmerry. But a problem. Only about 5% is accessible to birders. There was talk of a hide or birding access being arranged to those lovely brambles, scrubby areas and trees in the centre of the reserve but this seems to have died the inevitable death. 

I'm sure many of the locals would be happy to pay for a key if thats what it took. 

Paths we used to go down (the one by flint barn for example) are now gated "RSPB & wildlife only"- never see anyone counting the butterflies like I used to do there though. Another area and data set lost.

New scrapes behind the sea wall anyone? 😉

A bit of botany:

Broomrape, a parsitic plant (note legume host top right) at the North Wall:

Grass Vetchling at Medmerry:

Honeys & Hawkers

Fifty-five species at Woolbeding today, checklist HERE with Honey Buzzard x 4 and Goshawk omitted (i think this is a bit odd really, surely technology exists to let through "sensitive sp." from known and publicised watchpoints?).

Other highlights were being there on my own very early for 2.5 hrs and soaking it all in before anyone else turned up (joy) and singing Woodlark, Garden Warbler, a low flyover Crossbill and a perched Honey-buzzard well spotted by MB. Two distant Honeys too and another giving lovely scope views found by NM.

In the afternoon the wife and I went to Nunnery Lake and had c.six Norfolk Hawkers, really hard to photograph in the heat but decent naked-eye/bins views. Also Kingfisher, Cetti's Warbler, Reed Warbler, Egyptian Goose and a surprise Firecrest.

Going back a day, five Eider and a party of Arctic Terns at the Bill were nice and I jammed into a Spotted Flycatcher at the sheep field at Church Norton so have had worse days. 

Woodlark:

Birds of Interest...

 A look at Woolbeding for Honey-buzzard turned one up at 7am on Friday and it was the intermediate-type that was present last year-unfortunately I got called away annoyingly so I missed the two birds over the car park later on so will go back. The road is closed at Woolbeding so best way in is Holist Lane. Loads of other stuff up there too, Garden Warbler, Siskin, other raptors etc.

A Roseate Tern (which I still need for the year: update: see below!) was called by AW at Church Norton later in the day...but was it? MRe was on site and suggested it was a Common Tern...so I asked "with a black bill"? he mentioned eastern as an outside possibilty and to me this bird fits that bill-dark bill, dark legs, white cheeks and general Common Tern plumage. Eastern Common Tern? why not?

ECT info on Birding Frontiers

This is interesting too, possible Roseate X Common Tern hybrid?:

RBA Round-up

I don't care much for proper twitching (hypocrite caveat: Peninsula birds are ok!), too much "have you seen it?" NO; "did you say you saw it?" NO; "but you've seen it??" ad nauseum for me nowadays (grumpy old(er) man syndrome) but I did venture to no-man's land, East Sussex, for the Eastern Subalpine Warbler which did show quite well-darker than I expected compared to Western-not too bad a journey either at 4am and home by 9am so all good.

Eastern Common Tern?: my pic top (rubbish), AW's lower (excellent)

Woolbeding:

Eastern Subalpine Warbler:

So Sunday became even more interesting with two Roseate Terns at Church (later three!) and a Temminck's Stint (& a sleeping Sanderling) at the Ferry, thanks to RHa for the latter. Both were welcome Peninsula year ticks. 

Temminck's Stint, at the the far back of the Ferry Pool, you might need a magnifing glass...

Roseate Tern, landing:

Roseate Terns, far left, with Sandwich & Common Terns: