Sunday 25th August: A dry and pleasant morning, with bright sunshine at first, then some cloud developing later. Wind moderate to fresh, W/SW 3-4, but steadily increasing to a blustery force 6 later.
Elmer Rocks: An early start this morning, but there were still plenty of folks walking the beach, flushing a surprise Common Sandpiper from the area of the rocks. A large gathering of gulls - probably several thousand strong - was offshore in a feeding frenzy with a good number of Mediterranean Gulls amongst them; further Med's were roosting on the beach, so there must have been a total of at least 500 present. Three Sandwich Terns went W as did three Little Egrets, six Ringed Plovers and four Oystercatchers.
A search around the hedgerows and the set-aside area behind the beach produced five Willow Warblers (one even sang briefly), a Chiffchaff and at least two Yellow Wagtails.
Willow Warbler at Elmer and (bottom) part of the Gull feeding frenzy offshore from the rock islands
Shripney area: The increasingly blustery wind ensured that small birds were lying low and few passerines were seen, except for the regular Goldfinches, Linnets and Greenfinches in the weedy fields. On the reservoirs were a Common Sandpiper, 12 Tufted Ducks, nine Little Grebes and a few Coots, plus a flock of six Sand Martins briefly feeding above. The local Buzzards and a Kestrel were also present.
(above) Little Grebes and (below) Tufted Ducks in moult at Shripney
Saturday 24th August: A miserable day of persistent rain and grey skies, only clearing late afternoon, to give sunny spells with the odd shower and a moderate W/SW breeze 3-4.
Barnham Brooks - Lidsey area: I didn't venture out until late afternoon, rather expecting there would be some migrant activity once the rain eased and the sunshine warmed the hedgerows. Perhaps it was just me, but it didn't work out that way and there were barely any such birds to be seen, with just the regular and resident species present. A few House Martins, a Swallow, c.20 Stock Doves, a couple of local Buzzards, a Kestrel and a single Willow Warbler were about the best I could manage....one of those days!
Colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls: Readers will be aware of previous postings relating to these birds and may be interested in the following....
I have now received information back from the originators of the rings in these recent reports, mostly from Belgium. However, on 9th August I reported the sighting of a red colour ring marked PUE2, carried by a bird that was on Climping beach near Poole Place.
This was a little more unusual than many and it transpired that the bird in question was first ringed as a nestling in Zbiornik Przykona, Poland, on 26th May 2018. Since then, this individual has been seen 19 times before I located it. It's life history is interesting and it appears to go into Europe for the breeding season, usually returning to the UK for lengthy periods thereafter. It has been seen in Portugal, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, whilst in the UK it has been logged at Arundel, Icklesham, the Isle of Wight and Dorset. And now on our patch!
Red-ringed Mediterranean Gull PUE2 Climping beach
Friday 23rd August: Yesterday's gale force winds and rain continued through the night and early morning, until the wind finally abated from around 08:00hrs, followed by sunshine and scattered cloud, though still breezy in a W/SW force 4-5.
Elmer Rocks: I was hopeful of some storm-driven birds being pushed our way as the wind eased down, but in the event it was again disappointing. There were many gulls moving both east and west offshore at all ranges, but I failed to find anything beyond the regular species. Four distant Gannets went through heading W, whilst four Little Egrets also went the same way but along the shoreline, and along the beach at low-tide were at least 25 Ringed Plovers, several Turnstones and four Sanderlings. Once again though, Mediterranean Gulls were the main feature, with at least spread 250 along the beach, especially on the Climping side, just east of Poole Place, where there were also four roosting Sandwich Terns amongst them.
At the back of the beach and adjacent hedgerows were a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel, but in the blustery conditions small birds were almost non-existent; a couple of Linnets showed, a calling Willow Warbler was heard, but that was about it.
(above) Part of the flock of (mainly) Mediterranean Gulls on the shingle and rockpools, at Climping beach just east of Poole Place and Elmer Rocks.
(below) Three Sandwich Terns with a Herring Gull and Med Gulls. Two of the terns (top right) differ in appearance, the left-hand bird having already moulted it's black cap, whilst the right-hand bird has a fish in it's bill. The third bird (bottom right) is preening and has clearly also started to moult.
Bilsham farm: There was nothing beyond the ordinary here either this morning. On the reservoir were just three Little Grebes, 13 Tufted Ducks and 66 Coots, with three House Martins briefly feeding above, and nearby a pair of Swallows - probably local breeding birds.
Thursday 22nd August: A grey and fairly miserable day of persistent light rain and squally showers, pushed on by a strong to near gale-force SW wind.
A delayed flight meant I didn't arrive home until the small hours of the morning, which together with the unseasonable weather conditions ensured I was not out and about early, as I had hoped.....
Elmer Rocks: A fairly awful day's weather but I had to have a go at sea-watching in these conditions, eventually covering the late afternoon (1600-1730hrs). The murky conditions were not great and there seemed to be nothing moving offshore except gulls, which was all very disappointing. Mediterranean Gulls were the main feature, with c.60 on the beach and rocks; then as the tide dropped a number of waders appeared, consisting of up to 20 Ringed Plovers, 12 Sanderlings and four Turnstones, before I called it a day.
Ringed Plovers (above) and Sanderling (below) in the rain on Elmer beach.
Mediterranean Gulls (mostly) on the seaweed along the beach at Elmer Rocks
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