Saturday 11th December 2021.
Razorbills off the harbour entrance at Sandy Point.
Not quite an early start this morning as I paid a visit to my Father before meeting up with Andy at his house. I read yesterday that there was a good selection of birds within Chichester Harbour including all three ‘common’ Diver species and plenty of Auks and so, we took a drive down to Sandy Point to hopefully see the birds. It was a grey overcast start to the day and at 5 degrees, we knew it could be rather cold down there. However, there was hardly any wind and the sea was flat calm; superb viewing conditions for finding anything swimming on the sea or within Chichester Harbour.
Great Northern Divers in the harbour entrance.
On arrival, we parked up and almost immediately, a car pulled up behind us revealing two of the ‘Lazee Birders’, Andy Tew and Andy Friend greeted us and then Hampshire birder, Pete Gammage popped up! While walking down the footpath to view the harbour entrance, who should we bump into…. Both John Goodall and John Cronin! They had seen both the Black-throated Divers earlier this morning (in fact, 3 birds were later reported) and at least 4 Great Northern Divers and lots of Razorbills. We had a quick chat then made our way to the harbour entrance when almost immediately, we were onto our first Razorbills of the morning, feeding just offshore!
One of many Sandwich Terns flying into the harbour this morning. Local birder, Andy Johnson, had counted over 30 birds in the harbour recently!
Behind the Razorbills (I counted at least 6 in this particular area including some further south out on the sea with many more in the harbour. I have never seen so many in one location away from the breeding colonies! ), we counted at least 3 Great Northern Divers, including two birds that were swimming together. The water was so calm, it was easy to see birds at least a half a mile away out in the harbour and we made the most of the excellent conditions. Ok, it wasn't brilliant for photography, but I wasn't complaining. Also from the harbour entrance, I found a distant Red-throated Diver, but it was so busy fishing that it was difficult to pin down on the sea. An adult Shag was also in the same stretch of water along with at least 6 Great Crested Grebes.
Yet another close view of one of the Razorbills. There were a few Guillemots present this morning but we failed to locate any.
We walked up to the Hayling Sailing Club and joined Andy Johnson for a chat and thankfully, he pointed out the location of the Black-throated Divers for us. The birds fished together within the many buoys out in the harbour, but always remained distant. Still, my third Diver species of the day. Sandwich Terns were in good numbers here this morning with several flying into the harbour and several more perched on the buoys within Chichester Harbour. I counted at least 20+ Great Crested Grebes and possibly 30+ Mergansers within the harbour and Mr. Johnson found a drake Goldeneye over on the West Sussex side of the harbour to add to our nice collection of birds seen so far this morning.
The Black-throated Divers were very distant from Black Point and this record photo does not really do them any justice.
We walked around the Sailing Club and back to the car for our next destination would be Southmoor to check Langstone Harbour from there. The walk back produced several more sightings of Great Northern Divers and this time, I did count four birds in total as well as more Razorbills and Great Crested Grebes. I later learnt that two Slavonian Grebes were seen around midday north of Black Point.
The three Black-throated Divers in flight over the harbour. Photo by Andy Tew.
I decided to drive up to the top of Budds Farm and park up there to view Langstone Harbour. I was hoping to find last week's Long-tailed Duck that was being very elusive and my perseverance paid off when I found the bird fishing just north of Hayling Oyster Beds. I quickly got Andy onto the bird, which was a ‘year-tick’ for both of us and looked to be an immature bird judging by the dark colouration of the bird. Eventually, after some searching, I found the Black-necked Grebe flock, which numbered 6 birds all huddled in one tight flock as per usual. Good numbers of both Great Crested Grebes and Mergansers were present and another drake Goldeneye was seen near the Oyster Beds. A good count of at least 21+ Little Grebes were swimming close to the North Binness islands making the most of the calm conditions.
The Greenshank seen by the shoreline at Langstone Harbour.
Below us on the mudflats, a lone Greenshank showed very well feeding around a small pool along with many common waders including Turnstone, Redshank, Dunlin and Ringed Plover. We soon made our way over to the pools by Budds Farm Sewage Works and checked out the area. There was a good variety of wildfowl on the pools and among the Teal, Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Tufted Duck and a couple of Pochard, I found an interesting Aythya species of duck and was most likely a Tufted Duck x Scaup hybrid. However, I have just had it confirmed that it IS a female Scaup, my first for the year! Happy days indeed.
The female Tufted Duck x Scaup hybrid was re identified as a female Scaup on Budds Farm pools!
As well as the wildfowl, there were at least 6 Little Grebes on the water and nearby, we could hear a Chiffchaff calling and eventually, the bird gave itself up and flew past us at pace. We were not surprised as a male Sparrowhawk belted past us apparently for only Andy glimpsed it! Raptors were in short supply this morning, then Andy spotted another raptor, a Common Buzzard, perched on a post by the large water containers behind the pools.
The Common Buzzard perched on a post behind the pools.
So, not a bad morning's birding with a great selection of birds again and a good chat with many familiar birders too. Most enjoyable. And apologies to Andy Fisher again for making him spill nearly a whole cup of Greggs coffee over his lap in the car today, lol!!
Watching 'Comrade' Andy negotiating the rocks by Hayling Sailing Club. Most enjoyable, lol!
No comments:
Post a Comment