A good day!

An early morning recce produced just a couple of Wheatears and several 'flyover'Meadow Pipits but later in the morning I got to the Salt House and found Bar Tailed Godwits, Curlew Sandpiper and Spotted Redshank. A pair of Grey Wagtails were near the sluice gate and a group of Black Tailed Godwits were feeding/sleeping in the Breach Pool. A single Common Sandpiper was feeding along the muddy edge... 2 Water Rail were doing there 'squealy pig' thing and a couple of Cettis Warblers shouted at me !
The bushes along North Wall were alive with birds...Reed Buntings,Greenfinches,Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats and a Redstart. Yellow Wagtails were accompanying the cattle in the field along with Curlew and a Sparrowhawk flew overhead (flap,flap,glide). Hirundines were flying west and as the tide rose rapidly the numerous Little Egrets sought refuge on higher ground...it was another High Spring tide today!
When I looked at the SOS website later I saw I had missed a flyover Glossy Ibis at the very time I had been there! (Must have been looking the other way...drat! )

Suffolk/Norfolk....short break

Having just retrurned from a 10day break in East Anglia I have been hearing about the birds missed whilst away! The Osprey fishing in Pagham Harbour and the Cattle Egret in Breach Pool...it always happens as soon as I am away!!

However it wasn't all bad in.... Minsmere,Hen Marshes,North Warren,Cley,Titchwell,Holme, Snettisham, Ouse Washes...the very names conjure up the magic of birding in that part of the world.

No real rarities turned up as the weather was mostly calm and still and few migrants were seen. For me I suppose the highlights were a Cettis Warbler in the hand(courtesy of a ringing group at North Warren)30 ruffs plus Sanderlings, Golden Plovers and Bearded Tits showing well at Titchwell and rafts of Scoter off Holme plus a fair few Gannets moving south as well as all the usual waders,harriers (including a Hen Harriers) Hobbies etc

Back at Pagham Harbour yesterday there was an early morning passage of hirundines and a pair of Yellow wagtails briefly on the beach. Today at least 3 Curlew Sandpipers near the Salt House and a trickle of hirundines all day.

Another Windy Day!

A ferocious night with gusts up to Force 10! As I battled up to the harbour entrance I noticed the Greater Blacked Gulls were sheltering by a mud bank and the Little Egrets were huddled closely together on New Island. Apart from a couple of Wheatears on the path little else showed up.
During the day, sunny periods and heavy showers continued and several large groups of Starlings patrolled the beach with a few small flocks of Linnets occuring from time to time.
7 Teal were present on the Little Lagoon.

There will be a lull in this blog for a few days whilst I concentrate on birding a little further afield.

September has arrived with windy weather.

Very gusty SW winds this morning produced some inshore Gannets. Several Whimbrel flew up at my appoach to the harbour entrance but more unusually a pair of Grey Wagtails were feeding around the edge of the Lagoon...I more often hear them as flyovers but rarely see them around the lagoon. A single Wheatear was on my neighbours roof.

Was it a Falcon...or was it a Vulcan?

That was yesterday! All is peace again today after several interruptions resulting from the Shoreham Air Show.
A couple of Common Sandpipers, a Spotted Redshank, a calling Greenshank, a single Wheatear and numerous Swallows moving S.W.was the total early this morning. Also 2 Little Grebes have turned up on the Little Lagoon and 7 have arrived on the main Lagoon. They will probably increase in numbers during the next few weeks and remain for the winter, as they usually do.
A walk along the North Wall revealed little else except 30 Black tailed Godwits and a few flyover Yellow Wagtails plus the regular waders. Spotted Flycatchers were reported at the entrance from Vicarage Lane but I missed them! Weather on the change again after a fantastic day yesterday. Engish weather is very interesting!

A change in the weather

After the VERY hot weather yesterday it was relatively cool this morning. A Whimbrel permitted a relatively close approach at the harbour mouth...they are generally much less skittish than Curlew.
Apart from that, Gannets were passing offshore and there were reports of a few Fulmars, a Black Tern and a 'dark' shearwater...possible Sooty!

An early morning Wheatear

As I strolled round the harbour at about 8.45 this morning I almost trod on a Wheatear! It flew a few feet in front of me and stayed still for several minutes near a clump of sea kale and enabled me to get a reasonable photo before flying up to the ironwork when I was able to obtain another shot in the early morning sunshine.A couple of Sandwich Terns drifted over and the usual Peregrines were preening on New Island...a perfect morning,sunny, warm and windless and on passing the lagoon I noticed a Kingfisher perched on an overhanging bramble.Superb!

Later in the morning 2 Spotted Redshanks on Breach Pool.