Adur, Sidlesham and East Head (04-08 December)

Tuesday 08 December. Finding the local area particularly hard work I had a day o the Selsey peninsular starting at Church Lane Sidlesham where the Richard's Pipit was being watched when I arrived and showed reasonably well before flying into another field that wasn't easily viewed. It was my first in West Sussex for what that's worth. Rather than wait I walked east to Honer Farm, north to Bramber Farm and back towards Chalder Farm before completing a circuit. I saw 4 Common Snipe, 22 Cattle Egrets, Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 40 Fieldfares, 8 Redwings and 3 Stonechats but no ibis or geese. I continued to West Wittering and walked out to East Head for a third attempt to see the 2 Snow Buntings at the northern tip. On the way I met a birder coming away who told me he'd not found them. Not what I'd hoped to hear so I was very pleasantly surprised to find the birds being photographed when I arrived. Superb and well worth trying again. As well as the 2 Snow Buntings I saw 5 Eider, 5 Common Scoter, 6 Red-breasted Mergansers and 19 Great Crested Grebes in Chichester Harbour and 14 Sanderling along the shore. There were 2 Stonechats in the dunes and 200 Teal, 5 Avocets, 13 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Greenshank on Snowhill Marsh although the light made viewing there harder than usual. My final stop was at Fishbourne which was disappointing although I eventually found 3 Spotted Redshank. Also there were 8 Pintail, 250 Wigeon, 60 Grey Plover, 50 Curlew, 40 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Knot, 500 Dunlin, 2 Greenshank, a Kingfisher and a Goldcrest.

Richard's Pipit at Church Lane, Sidlesham

Stonechat near Honer Farm

Cattle Egret near Marsh Faarm

another Cattle Egret, one of 22 seen so at least half those seen in recent days were AWOL

Snow Buntings at East Head

success on my third attempt

Greenshank at Snowhill

Chichester Cathedral

Monday 07 December. After scaping frost off the car I drove to Widewater but could hardly see the sea. On the lagoon were the Mute Swan pair and juvenile, 3 Turnstones and 3 Little Grebes. Visibility was no better at the Adur where I saw 62 Lapwings, 2 Grey and 7 Ringed Plover, 8 Dunlin and very few gulls. Returning home Megan and I took Cookie up to Mill Hill where we saw a Redwing, 5 Song Thrushes, 7 Blackbirds and 6 Robins.

Carrion Crow on the beach at Widewater attempting to swallow a dogfish

dramatic view from Mill Hill

Sunday 06 December. I took Cookie to the Adur and we walked up to Cuckoos Corner, returning rather quicker than we went due to some distant shooting. We saw 4 Grey and 6 Ringed Plover, single Curlew, Dunlin, Little Egret and Kingfisher, 11 Sky Lark, male Stonechat and 6 Meadow Pipits.

Stonechat near Cuckoos Corner

Saturday 05 December. A cold hour from 07:50 seawatching at Widewater in strong SSE wind produced a disappointing total of 3 Common Scoter,  3 Oystercatchers, an auk, 6 Gannets and a Red-throated and unidentified Diver flying east and 17 Gannets west. A Great Crested Grebe was on the sea and the Mute Swan pair and juvenile, 2 Little Grebes and a Kingfisher were on the lagoon. A low tide visit to the Adur added 4 Grey Plover, Curlew, 6 Dunlin, 29 Great and 26 Lesser Black-backed and the intermittent adult Yellow-legged Gull. I then met Megan and Cookie at a windswept Mill Hill where we saw 2 Stock Doves, 3 Song Thrushes and 7 Blackbirds. During an afternoon wander around the town with Megan and Cookie I saw 26 Oystercatchers roosting opposite Town Quay.

adult Yellow-legged Gull on the Adur

showing its extensive black in the primaries

synchronised jumping

Lesser Black-backed Gull 1M8B 

it is likely to have been ringed near Cambridge or Doncaster

gulls on the Adur, the top right bird is metal ringed, no reading possible there

Oystercatchers roosting on the Adur from Coronation Green, I counted 23 from here

part of the flock from Town Quay from where I counted 26

Friday 04 December. Half an hour from 07:45 seawatching at Widewater in a moderate W wind was enough for me. I saw 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Great Crested Grebes, Oystercatcher, 2 Razorbills and 4 unidentified auks flying east and a Razorbill and 2 Gannets west,. A Great Crested Grebe was on the sea and the Mute Swan pair and juvenile and 4 Little Grebes on the lagoon. A low tide visit to the Adur added 4 Grey Plover and 7 Great Black-backed Gulls, Sparrowhawk and Kingfisher. Two of the gulls were colour-ringed, from Denny Island in the Bristol Channel and Chausey Island off Normandie.

Great Black-backed Gull A26 on the Adur

ringed as chick at Chausey Island (Ile plate), Normandie in June 2007, seen at Telscombe in September 2008 and Ovingdean in September 2009, Adur 06/02/10,  13/09/11, 08/10/11, 04/12/11 Granville Chausey, Manche 24/05/12, Shoreham Harbour 03/11/13, Granville Chausey, Manche 15/05/15, Brighton 25/11/15, Granville Chausey, Manche 07/07/17 & 16/02/18. Cuckmere 15/12/19, Chausey 02/05&08/06/20

Great Black-backed Gull D:AU on the Adur

ringed on Denny Island, Monmouthshire on 16/06/13, Pagham 28/12/15,  Le Portel, Pas-de-Calais 18/09/17, Pagham 18/02/19, Dungeness 22/12/19