13th - 16th December 2024

Monday, 16th December: A dry, bright and breezy start, slowly giving way to increasing cloud, being pushed in by the fresh W/SW4 -5, but fairly mild.

Bilsham farm: Much of the morning was spent birding on the Selsey Peninsula, before I returned to the patch by early afternoon.  On the reservoir there were 37 Canada Geese, 15 Tufted Ducks, 15 Shoveler, six Little Grebes and 94 Coots. Once again a decent flock of Common Gulls was also present, with a count of 208 birds. A single Chiffchaff was in the adjacent hedgerow.

Lidsey WTW area: The reservoir was fairly quiet, with just seven Shoveler, four Gadwall, two Wigeon and a single Little Grebe. There were about 10 Pied Wagtails on the WTW filter pans, whilst in the surrounding hedgerows were 12+ Chiffchaffs. However, one of the latter appeared a good deal paler than the others; the jury is still out, but on balance I think it is likely just a Common Chiffchaff.

Common Chiffchaffs in the hedgerow surrounding the sewage works (WTW)

Two images of a paler bird - compare with the two images above. I am not certain of this birds identity and initially considered the 'tristis (Siberian Chiffchaff) form. However, the jury is out on this one...the light may be playing a part here though no tone adjustment has been made. The supercilium looks a bit weak, the legs and bill don't appear strikingly dark and no warm buff ear covert patch stands out. In short, I think it is likely a Common Chiffchaff - but any thoughts or comments from others would be welcome.

Saturday, 14th December: A cool, grey and cloudy start, in a light NW breeze, with even a few very light showers, but gradually becoming brighter and breezier with some sunny interludes by afternoon.

Well, with few excitements on the birding front these last couple of weeks, I must admit to being lured away to see a magnificent steam locomotive this morning as it passed along the main line locally. I decided on Ford station hoping it would be fairly quiet, and it was....until loads of people all suddenly turned up with the same idea! No matter, it was the highlight of my morning!

Ford station: A fine sight, but my carefully chosen viewpoint was soon mobbed! No matter...time to go birding!

Climping - Atherington: A late start after getting all 'steamed up' but on arrival, the calm sea seemed almost devoid of birdlife apart from a large gathering of gulls way out. Along the shoreline were a few waders; 30+ Turnstones, six Oystercatchers and about the same of Sanderlings, so I decided to concentrate of the set-aside areas, which produced a lot of Skylarks which I estimated as at least 70 in total. There were a few Linnets around also, plus eight Reed Buntings which were to and fro the nearby hedgerows, A decent search of the area failed to find any other birds of note, so I made a check of the Bailiffscourt site, which produced a flock of 15 Long-tailed Tits, a couple of Goldcrests and other regular species including Kestrel, Buzzard, Jay, Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Turnstones and Sanderling on Climping beach

Reed Buntings in the hedgerows

Friday, 13th December: A cold, grey but dry day, with a chilly feel in a light to moderate E/NE breeze force 3-4.

Elmer Rocks: Another fairly uninspiring day, with little of note seen on a day when more might have been expected. A couple of hours spent checking the sea and beach, plus the field margins and gardens, produced just the following:-  Red-throated Diver - 1W & 1E, Red-breasted Merganser - 1o/s, Brent Goose - 9W & 6E , Mediterranean Gull - 8E, Common Gull - 4, Oystercatcher - 3, Ringed Plover - 2, Pied Wagtail - 3 and Chiffchaff - 1.

Bilsham farm: There was nothing out of the ordinary again, although numbers of some of the common species had increased, with 53 Canada Geese and 14 Tufted Ducks now present, together with 270 Common Gulls, my highest total of the species here to date. There was little else of note, just four Shoveler, six Little Grebes and a couple of Pied Wagtails.

A scan over the distant fields of Barnham Brooks found the herd of 52 Mute Swans still in situ.

Common Gulls on Bilsham reservoir - part of the flock of 270

Canada Geese numbers had increased to 53, whilst (below) these Tufted Ducks were part of the total of 14