Thorney Island

 Well with the extra day off work, Margie and I decided a visit to Thorney Island might be in order, with hopefully an Osprey or two to find! Our early start was somewhat delayed when the tyre low pressure light came on the dashboard, but a visit to the air pump at the garage sorted us out and we eventually arrived at about 8ish. We decided to go down the West Side as I find it in general more productive and the parking is easier, I was hoping to hit peak migration, but early signs weren't great the bushes were sadly lacking in warblers, however there were some good waders on the mud ,Black-tailed Godwits, Turnstones and Oystercatchers the most numerous although there were a few Greenshanks dotted around, a Kingfisher flew down the channel but my pics are just a blue blur!! A Tern I think a Common? was fishing near the gate and a single Great Crested Grebe was here as well, although the highlight was the numerous Swallows hunting over the fields and water that I also failed to get a decent shot of! 

Mute Swan

Godwit

Godwit

Turnstone

Greenshank

Greenshank

Great Crested Grebe

Tern Common?

Harbour View by Margie

View by Margie

At this point we had reached the security gate where we bumped into another birder, she hadn't seen much either but said she had seen a Wheatear along the path. Through the gate and we found the Wheatear pretty much straight away ,also a very large flock of Greenfinch possibly as many as 40 birds although they were flitting about the bushes so difficult to tell, but a lot of Juveniles ,certainly the most Greenfinch I've seen for a long time. Here as well there were a lot of Starlings, one of which didn't look right ,was a Green Woodpecker!!. Pleased to find my first Lesser Whitethroat of the year as well

Lesser Whitethroat

Wheatear

Wheatear

Small part of the Greenfinch flock

Greenfinch

Greenfinch

Starlings and Friend

Green Woodpecker

The area opened up with grassland with Bushes dotted about it there was a Whinchat here playing silly buggers hiding behind the bush avoiding the camera, in the back ground I noticed a Raptor hunting over the grassland ,got the bins on it ,ruled out Buzzard and Marsh Harrier straight away saw the White Rump, "Hen Harrier" I said and reached for the Camera, we watched the bird for a few minutes as it hunted before it flew off high across the harbour, both Margie and I mentioning how Rufous it was ,this made me think, but was difficult to tell from the back of the camera so I put it out as ringtail harrier Sp probably Hen as the bird seemed to have flown high over Hayling Island seemed not that important. Anyway cut along story short got home looked at the pics,4 fingers, white collar ,dark boa!! Pallid!!!put some pics on the Sussex Birders Facebook Page to confirm and on confirmation updated Birdguides!! We also saw the bird again about 30 Mins after the first encounter ,when I put it out again as ringtail probably Hen, I probably should have tried to upload a BOC Pic but low signal makes that difficult and I still wasn't sure and the bird had flown into a small wood out of sight!! Luckily the Bird has been refound this evening so my incompetence hasn't been to costly!! Apparently it's only the 4th in Sussex if confirmed and the 119th for Britain so quite pleased!! Some Pics below and by some I mean quite a few! 😀

Anyway with the Harrier gone we continued south ,more Wheatears and Whinchats the latter blooming Camera shy loads of Common Whitethroats and Meadow Pipits, a Whimbrel ,some Ringed Plover and a Spot Fly the highlights on the way to the point, Margie had a little excursion onto the beach to photograph interesting stuff! 

Meadow Pipits

distant Whinchat

Wheatear

Willow Warbler?

Common Whitethroat

Margie photographing interesting stuff

Ringed Plover

Whimbrel

Spotted Flycatcher

Black-headed Gull

View by Margie

View by Margie

View by Margie

View by Margie

Interesting Stuff by Margie

Interesting Stuff by Margie

Interesting Stuff by Margie

No not another example of my DIY

Interesting Stuff by Margie

We headed back, a lot more people now so less wildlife although a very showy Wheatear made a bid to be in next years Calendar, once through the gate a couple of Whinchats did at least make an attempt to pose, but the Wheatears need to have a word with em really, instruct them how to do it ,nice views of a Kestrel a Heron and another couple of Terns as well .

Kestrel

Kestrel

At last a Whinchat that posed a bit!

Grey Heron

So that's about it no Ospreys but not that disappointed 😀 think Pallid Harrier is adequate compensation! Nice pack lunch back at the car and hometime!!