Wednesday, 11th December: A cold, gloomy and grey day, heavily overcast with persistent drizzly dampness and a moderate NE wind force 3-4.
Bilsham farm: A week strewn with a good few pre-Christmas commitments for yours truly, so I was keen to get out birding today, though disappointingly it proved to be rather quiet again. There were none of the hoped-for scarcer wildfowl here this morning and my log was as follows: Canada Goose - 12, Tufted Duck - 12, Shoveler - 8, Teal - 2, Coot - 105 and Little Grebe - 8.
Only common species were present at the reservoir today on a gloomy morning; (above) Tufted Ducks (foreground) with Coots and (below) pair of Shoveler.
Climping Gap - (West Beach, Littlehampton): A short visit to make a check of the area around the rivermouth didn't produce much of interest, bar a few of the commoner gulls and waders. There was nothing of note on the river itself, but on the beach were 65 Ringed Plovers, 35 Grey Plover, 30 Sanderlings, six Turnstones and about the same of Oystercatchers. The sea however was completely dead.
West Beach on a bleak, grey morning: (above) Grey Plovers and (below) Sanderlings
Sunday, 8th December: The effects of Storm Darragh were still very evident, with the gale force Northerly wind persisting, although it was mainly dry, with just a few spots of rain occasionally, some heavy cloud and briefly also a few brighter periods.
Elmer Rocks: A fairly dire couple of hours this morning, with much of the time spent sea-watching and very little indeed of interest noted, not helped by the strong and unfavourable wind and low tide. Although there were lots of the commoner gulls around - along the beach and on/over the sea - I could find nothing unusual amongst them, the best being half a dozen Common Gulls and 24 Mediterranean Gulls. These apart, the only other birds noted over the sea were a single Red-breasted Merganser going east and two Shelduck flying west, whilst several bedraggled Oystercatchers on the rockpools were about it!
A quick look around the set-aside corner and field edges was unproductive, with most of the smaller birds presumably lying low. A morning to forget really.
Barnham Brooks: I made a visit to check the wintering herd of Mute Swans that is now present - currently standing at 53 birds - in the hope of finding a 'wild' swan amongst them (Bewick's or Whooper), but alas, no luck as yet. Two Buzzards were also present nearby, plus a Great Spotted Woodpecker, whilst distantly on the other side of the brooks, a small flock of thrushes looked suspiciously like Fieldfares, though it was difficult to be certain in the prevailing conditions.
Mute Swans on Barnham Brooks
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