13th - 15th January 2024

Wednesday, 15th January: A mainly grey, overcast and reasonably mild day, with some early murk and mist, in just a light W/NW breeze.

Barnham Brooks: I did a good circuit of the area this morning, anticipating a reasonable number of wildfowl on the flooded brooks, but alas it wasn't to be. There were certainly still a few flooded areas remaining, although nothing like last year, but where were the ducks? I managed to log a single Shelduck, but that was it! Perhaps they had been disturbed previously, or more likely they were elsewhere, but either way it was a waste of time today.

I did manage to record three Water Rails, two Snipe, four Stonechats, three Cetti's Warblers and a Kestrel, plus a large flock of c150 Linnets, but otherwise there was just nothing on my long walk to get the pulse racing.

Stonechat at Barnham Brooks on a very quiet morning

Ancton & Elmer: In the fields off Ancton Lane there were six Little Egrets in with the cattle, whilst a Great Spotted Woodpecker was again drumming from the woods. Then a male Sparrowhawk visited my garden, catching a House Sparrow, before the hawk settled on my compost bin, giving good views as it ate its meal over the next hour or more!

Sparrowhawk (male) with recently caught House Sparrow prey

Tuesday, 14th January: A pleasant sort of day; a little milder than of late with sunshine and broken cloud and a fairly light SW breeze 2-3.

Elmer Rocks: There was a bit more happening this morning; for a start there was a massive feeding flock of several thousand birds out on the horizon, of which most were gulls but also with a good number of Gannets amongst them, and additionally, several double-figure flocks of Gannets also went west a bit closer in. It is impossible to be sure of the numbers but 100+ would be the starting point, though in reality the total could be several times that figure.

I was pleased to find local birder Bola sea-watching from the beach near Poole Place rocks; fortunately his sharp (and younger) eyes had already picked out two Slavonian Grebes offshore, making it easier for me as they slowly drifted west behind the rock islands, Red-throated Divers too were more numerous today, and my log was as follows:-

Red-throated Diver - 3o/s & 30+ W

Gannet - 100+ o/s

Great Crested Grebe - 2 o/s

Slavonian Grebe - 2 o/s, drifted W

Red-breasted Merganser - c.8 o/s

Grey Plover - 38 on rocks/beach

Ringed Plover - 25

Oystercatcher - 12

Turnstone - 55

Sanderling - 5

Razorbill - 1W

auk sp - c.20W

Mediterranean Gull - 8

Grey Plovers on the rocky shore at Elmer Rocks and (below) Mediterranean Gull along the beach

Hotham Park, Bognor Regis: Not the best timing today as it was quite busy with walkers etc, but Firecrests were again the highlight, with a very minimum of three present and quite probably a fourth bird. These apart, there were not a lot of small birds around however, but two Green Woodpeckers were active and calling frequently, whilst an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was on the lookout on tree-tops near the café. apparently a regular venue for it.

(above) Firecrest at Hotham Park and (below) adult Lesser Black-backed Gull perched on a tree top overlooking the café - a regular venue by all accounts!

Monday, 13th January: A dry and mainly cloudy day with just a few brief spells of brightness, but still feeling chilly despite the wind having shifted to the SW force 3.

Climping - Atherington: A rather disappointing couple of hours this morning. The chill wind didn't help, but there was nothing really on the sea bar a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers, although a number of Gannets were well out and moving through westwards, as was a Red-throated Diver. There were 15 Mediterranean Gulls along the shoreline and a further 30 in the flooded fields behind the beach, where there was also a Curlew and 10 Oystercatchers.

I didn't spend long sea-watching, opting to check the set-aside and hedgerows instead, but in the event it wasn't very much better, my highlight being a single Goldcrest - actually my first of the year! As always Skylarks were to the fore, with at least 50 in the set-aside, together with about five Meadow Pipits and a few Linnets. A couple of Buzzards rounded off my visit....time to move on.

Bilsham farm: I was hoping the recent cold weather might have caused some of the scarcer wildfowl to appear on the reservoir here, but unfortunately this was not the case....my tally was just two Little Grebes, 52 Coots and 26 Tufted Ducks, with two Song Thrushes feeding around the banks.

Tufted Ducks on Bilsham reservoir were the only birds of any note this morning...note the Barnham windmill in the lower photo (top left).