I went down to Selsey yesterday, I couldn't remember how to get to where they do the sea-watching from so started at the viewpoint carpark, arriving just before sunrise. The Sea was very quiet, a couple of Divers went through at distance and there were a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers, but no sign of any Slav Grebes or Great Northern Divers. I probably should have stuck at it a bit longer or maybe looked harder as I see on the Selsey Blog Selsey Blog that both were present at the sea-watching area which is just around the corner!!! To be honest though I scanned hard, I was more interested in the showy Med Gulls! There were a couple of Oystercatchers on the beach with some Turnstones, was a bit gloomy before the Sun came up so forgive the pics!
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| Moons Up |
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| First glimmers of the Sun |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Cormorants a few heading out |
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| Med Gull |
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| Med Gull and Black-headed Gull |
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| Sun's a coming! |
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| Couple of Divers, pretty sure they were Red-throated, saw a few but all pretty distant |
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| Sun's Up! |
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| Great Black-backed Gull |
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| Pied Wagtail dropped in! |
I was getting fairly chilly, despite the Sun, so decided to head for Church Norton, I also had some anxiety about getting a carparking space!! At Church Norton, the sea was also pretty dead, but lots of Waders and more Med Gulls, yes more I'm sorry, talking to the locals they more or less ignore the Med Gulls, but don't see many around Hurst so they still have rarity value to me!! I tramped up the beach doing my dodgy knee no favours, especially lugging me scope the whole way, but repeated scans found nothing, luckily on my return I ran into a group of Bird-racers who had found the Long-tailed Duck that's been around a few days which I eventually got in my scope after about 10 minutes of directions. Sadly I couldn't find it with the camera so no pics! I relocated to the Benches, where the Bird-racers had found a Peregrine. I spent a happy hour or so here, the views are tremendous, a massive flock of Brent Geese took flight in the far distance, plenty of Waders, numerous Curlew, Grey Plover, a couple of Avocet, lots of Dunlin, Redshank everywhere, but I think it's just the overall spectacle that I enjoyed the most, standing in the bright Sunshine, listening to the Curlew and the Redshank.
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| Black-tailed Godwits |
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| Moody Oystercatcher |
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| "More Med Gull pics" I hear you cry! Ok go on then! 😂 |
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| Another moody pic, the Sun was being awkward! |
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| Not just Med Gulls, Common Gulls as well! |
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| There were lots of Waders on the shoreline, I stayed up on the shingle to avoid disturbance, the local dogs showed no such reluctance, which meant I could get some action shots, every cloud! |
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| Mostly Dunlin with a few Grey Plover |
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| Redshank |
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| Part of the Brent Geese murmuration |
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| Curlew |
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| The views are stunning, though it looks better when the tide is in. IMO |
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| Grey Plover |
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| More views |
I decided to head to the RSPB visitor center at the Ferry Pool, squeezed in the car park! Lots of birds on the Pool with hundreds of Lapwing and good numbers of Godwits, the channel had a few Teal, a couple of Little Grebes and a few Redshanks, on my return to the hide overlooking the Pool something unseen disturbed the birds and I was treated to the sight of hundreds of Lapwing and Godwits taking to the air "en masse" fabulous sight and a great way to end my visit!
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