Saturday 30th October 2021.
A record photo of the Great Skua heading west off Selsey Bill this morning. Our first of the year.
I knew the weather was going to be grim this morning, but there was a chance it would come out brighter as the day wore on. It was hammering down with rain here in Southsea first thing this morning and it was looking doubtful that I would even go birding this morning, but by 8.30 am, the weather looked a lot better and so I took a drive north to pick Andy up.
A rather worn Yellow-lined Quaker in Andy's garden this morning.
This Yellow-lined Quaker was not so fortunate.
I did not put my moth box on overnight as I knew it was going to be very wet first thing in the morning, but at least Andy did and it attracted just a few moths; notably a Yellow-lined Quaker and a Box Tree Moth. I did find another Yellow-lined Quaker being consumed by a False Widow Spider and other moths, I could see, were in its larder! After a quick slice of toast and a cup of coffee, off we went to Selsey Bill. I decided on this location as both Arctic Skua and Great Skua, two species I have not seen this year, had been seen throughout the week and in blowy conditions, we stood a fair chance of at least getting one of them.
My good self sporting my new Scopac telescope carrier by Pagham Harbour today.
When we arrived, we had already driven through some very heavy showers, though it started to look brighter south over the sea. We also saw first hand the grubbed out garden in front of the Bill House and therefore the protection of the fence and plants had gone as we sat on the ‘Comfy Seat’ to begin our two hour sea watch. The land here has all been ploughed over and it will be interesting to see what is going to be put in its place to replace all the lost vegetation. I do know the regular Selsey sea-watchers are very annoyed about it.
Gannets passing the Bill in choppy conditions.
Apart from the odd shower or two, the weather held out and it became sunny although breezy, with a fresh South-westerly breeze blowing off the sea. Good numbers of Gannets were noted, with some roughly half a mile out and therefore worth a photo. The best sighting of all was our first Great Skua of the year flying about ¾ mile out at sea heading west. I even managed a photo of the bird, but nothing to write home about apart from on my Blog of course! Though we never saw any Arctic Skua, one was reported earlier in the day.
A Herring Gull in winter plumage perched on the triangle in front of us.
Other notable sightings included one Razorbill heading east; 2 adult Kittiwakes flying west, 2 Med Gulls offshore, 2 Great Crested Grebes flying west close in and several Turnstone flying over the beach. A few flocks of Linnet and Goldfinch were noted flying over, but no late Wheatears on the beach. Though the place is poorer for the lack of vegetation now, someone has opened up a Coffee shack in the car park and we duly obliged with a couple of Latte’s to go!
A pair of Lesser Redpolls flew in to the Churchyard area and duly obliged by perching on a dead tree.
Our next stop was to Church Norton and to check both the Churchyard and nearby Pagham harbour. I tested out my new Scopac telescope carrier and it all looked good and felt comfortable. Our trip to this site kicked off nicely when a pair of Lesser Redpolls landed on a dead tree to our north as we made our way to the harbour. The birds were busy preening and showed very well as I reeled off several photos. At least three Siskins were seen flying high over the Churchyard. We made our way to the benches overlooking the harbour to the east and I checked out the many waders present that included Grey Plover, Dunlin, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Lapwing and Curlew. I even found a lone Bar-tailed Godwit in the harbour. The only raptors seen were a pair of Kestrels that flew over the Church and then the male bird flew off over the harbour.
Redshank feeding in the harbour.
Bar-tailed Godwit also in the harbour.
We were hoping for a Short-eared Owl or a Merlin, but the harbour would not oblige today; but we settled for a nice array of waders. A small flock of Brent Geese seemed to fly out of the harbour and out to sea and several flocks of Wigeon were also seen flying over the harbour. The occasional Skylark flew over, calling in doing so, while Andy laid down on one of the benches, getting some sleep! A walk around the Churchyard produced sightings of a Kestrel again and also a few Jays were seen too. The sun brought out good numbers of Red Admiral butterflies, especially around the flowering Ivy plants that also attracted the Ivy Bees, Common Wasps and larger Hoverflies. Another enjoyable morning with plenty to look at again and now four more species to get for the magic 200 species for the year!
Ivy Bees and Tapered Drone Flies enjoying the flowering Ivy plants in the Churchyard.
Church Norton looking east.
The Great Grey Shrike was again seen today at Backley Bottom in the New Forest, close to the turn off for Picket Post. The two male Bramblings were on Titchfield Haven again along with the Little Stint, but it seemed quite quiet in Hampshire today.
Could this be the UK's laziest Birder? It was all too much for Andy!
An end of an era yesterday when the famous Chimney at Fawley Refinery was demolished. This famous landmark, which could be seen from Hill Head looking west, always reminded me of the same colours of a summer plumage Red-necked Grebe! Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/616554369/videos/205904025018140/
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