An interesting day!

Meadow Pipit foraging for food

The very cold night resulted in some new species arriving with flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares arriving on the beach. On the Lagoon a drake Scaup had arrived, 4 Pochards and at least 2 Ruddy Ducks. Slipe field was spectacular with hundreds of Skylarks, a few Woodlarks, Linnets,Greenfinches,Chaffinches and large numbers of Yellowhammers present. Meadow Pipits were desperately searching for food in the snow and ignoring my presence. Snipe were constantly on the move in the frozen long grass and small flocks of Lapwing were over flying. With a forecast of an even colder night tonight I am fearful for the wildlife as conditions are not likely to ease soon.

Cold weather birds

We awoke this morning to a light covering of snow....unlike many areas in West Sussex and nearby Hampshire where people had been trapped in their cars overnight in nearly a foot of snow! After a slow journey into Worthing and back I managed to get out in the afternoon for a short walk around the harbour. The mix of birds was extraordinary with Ringed Plovers and Turnstone feeding alongside dozens of Redwings, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits...and a single Woodlark...my personal highlight of the day. Several flocks of Fieldfares were flying along the beach eastwards and Lapwings and Snipe were foraging for food in the saltings that remained unfrozen. Song Thrushes and Blackbirds, Linnets and Greenfinches..all were present in good numbers feeding along the shoreline of the inner harbour. Hopefully with better lighting conditions tomorrow I may get a few images of some of these birds but today it was well nigh impossible.

A Freezing Cold Morning

A Sylark feeding along the high tide line.

Walking along the beach this morning was like walking on lumpy concrete...totally frozen! The birds are becoming a bit disorientated with ducks searching for unfrozen water. The main Lagoon is 9/10 frozen and a couple of dozen Tufted Ducks, the resident Mallards and a few Coot were all hudled in 2 small areas of remaining water. The Little Grebes,Great Crested Grebes and Goldeneye had all disappeared. The Little Lagoon was 1/10 frozen and held unusually high numbers of Teal,Wigeon and Mallard. Skylarks were still present in good numbers (40+) and mostly feeding along the high tide mark...still unfrozen due to the recently receded high tide.
The harbour was a mass of birds....Black Tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Ringed Plover ,Grey Plover, Oystercatchers , duck (mainly Wigeon,Teal and Pintail) and Brent Geese (probably 1000/1500).

Tonight it is snowing so tomorrow morning will be interesting.

Whoopers !

A very cold morning with a hard frost. A walk from the beach through Slipe Field to the north Wall produced large numbers of Linnets, Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers. Duck numbers were considerable with Wigeon and Teal predominating but Pintail and Goldeneye also present.
Best of all however were 4 Whooper Swans flying in over the fields ( presumably from Ivy Lake wher they were seen earlier) and landing in the harbour.

2010...The first three birds of the year.

Happy New Year...and what a beautiful morning to awake to...cold, frosty, still and sunny. As I strolled out for my early morning recce I wondered what my first birds of the year would be.It didn't take long to find a pair of Goldeneye on the Lagoon, a Kingfisher at the harbour mouth and a Turnstone sunning itself on the beach!


How fortunate for some of us to live on the beach despite the threat of rising sea levels and eroding coastlines...

A Happy Birding Year to all my birding birders!

The last day of 2008.

2 flocks of Knot roosting at high tide on the shingle bank...probably totalling in excess of 600 birds. At least 40 Skylarks feeding along the edge of the Little Lagoon...always nice to see considering their reduced numbers countrywide.

30 Turnstone plus Redshanks and Grey Plover also feeding beside the Lt Lagoon. 17 Shelducks viewed from the 'spit' hide plus a single adult Med Gull.
A huge flock of Lapwing was 'put up' in the distance towards Sidlesham and about 2/300 Golden Plover wheeled above them.
Weather much colder today with a brisk N/E wind blowing, making it feel much colder than the 42F.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR
to all my Blog followers.

Cold weather movements

A quick look around Pagham Lagoon and the Spit before the heavy rain set in showed that a considerable number of ducks had arrived from the frozen North. 7 Goldeneye on the Little Laggon was unusual (6 females and 1 lucky male...flirting! ) and Red Breasted Mergansers plus a few more Goldeneyes on the main Lagoon. Teal and Wigeon predominated but Pintail were also much in evidence.
Reports from my son that Redwings were visiting his garden in Worthing prompted nme to look out for them here in Pagham but to no avail.
Most surprising was a Song Thrush in full song in a tree to the north of the Lagoon!