White-fronts over the garden

The Ferry area is in top condition at the moment so I'm trying to keep a closer eye on it, so I had a couple of spare hours this morning so headed over there. Over 2000 birds are in the field and pool at the moment HERE, one of the largest local concentrations, including 1000 Lapwing, 200 Teal, 250 Wigeon, 40 Blackwits ,75 Shoveler, over 100 Canada Geese (and a single Greylag) and the harbour Brents are also beginning to land in the field. There were also 2 Buzzard and a Raven feeding on a carcass and Marsh Harrier and Peregrine over. 

I then walked along the Tramway and viewed the harbour distantly where there were another 1500 or so Lapwings and about 800 Golden Plovers. I also had over 100 Shelduck, the highest count I've had this winter HERE. 

I then had to get back to meet Matt as we were doing a day in the garden (Matt brought a work van down full of woodchip, so we topped up the beds). While working a flock of 68 White-fronted Geese flew low over the garden calling. I quickly called Andrew (neighbour and birder) but he was on the phone to Sam who had called to tell him the flock of White-fronts in the Honer Field area were flying over Halseys and headed west. By the time he got off the phone to Sam and called me back they had gone over his garden which was a shame. Apparantely there was a shoot out in the fields the White-fronts were settled in so they got flushed over here. A few minutes later a flock of 400 Brents flew over too, also presumably disturbed from their usual area- by far the largest flock I've had over the garden despite 1000s of bird regularly moving around locally (they tend to fly a bit further south from here between Pagham and Medmerry).  Garden list now on 115 HERE

Then news came out of a Red-necked Grebe at Church Norton which I still need locally so I did an hour there at dusk with my dad who is staying over for a few days but we dipped that but did have the male Long-tailed Duck again and a Red-throated Diver. 

Lapwings on Ferry (2500 today between Ferry and the harbour) 

Golden Plovers and Lapwings over the harbour 

Brents over Ferry- later in the day there were beginning to land in the field (which is unusual)

Raven and Common Buzzard on Ferry 

Redshank in the harbour 

White-fronted Geese over the garden - I've been doing almost daily vis mig sessions and even had the noc-mig out trying to pick them out for the garden list during this influx so it was pretty lucky we were doing a work day in the garden today just when they flew over

White-fronts

The 72 White-fronted Geese from North Wall were still present today but had relocated to the fields near Chalder Farm so Ian and I headed over there. Before that I checked Ferry which is teeming with waterbirds at the moment and then walked from Halseys to North Wall before we went off to twitch the geese. 74 species of about 5000 individuals between the sites HERE with other highlights including 2 Rock Pipit, 2 Siskin, Green Sandpiper at Marsh Farm and Fieldfare and Firecrest on North Wall.

Russian White-fronted Gesse (above). Also Herring Gull in lower pic with limited black in the wing indicating a argenteus/argentatus intergrade

The recent restoration works and the rain have created some excellent habitat on Ferry Pool with 350 Lapwing, a few Golden Plover, 9 Blackwits, 250 Wigeon, 105 Shoveler, 50 Teal, 4 Shelduck and 100 Canada Geese

Rock Pipit on North Wall (presumably littoralis with that super)

Continental Drift

News started coming in thick and fast today of a major influx of White-fronted Geese across Central and Southern England and smaller numbers of Tundra Bean Geese in a brisk cold north east wind (there were 90 White-fronts and 7 Tundra Beans at Beddington today- an historical event). I had to get xmas shopping out the way before I could get out but managed to get out in the afternoon. I headed over to Halseys Farm and walked to White's Creek scanning the fields and harbour for geese and then I went over to check Honer Farm and Marsh Farm. 

Alas my only encounter with wild geese were two rather distant birds going down on Honer Fields while I was at North Wall- through the scope in the brief view I had they looked like Bean Geese (there was no barring on the belly and they looked dark necked) but despite driving round Honer reservoir and the surrounding fields I failed to locate them to confirm. Hopefully they will get pinned down in the next day or two. 251225 update- presumably the same birds were on Ferry today and confirmed as Bean Geese HERE, there were also 72 White-fronts in Honer Field so the influx hit the area). 

However jamming into the ring-tail Hen Harrier thathad been found yesterday was adequate compensation- a peninsula tick for me. Also some nice general winter birding with 65 species of approx 7000 individuals HERE.

Juvenile Hen Harrier (above and below)

Brents over North Wall

Lapwings and Golden Plovers over the harbour 

Wigeon

Grey Plover

Curlews

Knot, Dunlin, Golden Plover and Lapwing 

30+ Fieldfare on Honer Road were presumably cold wind drift ins

Cattle Egrets 

Thorney Island Visit

I've been in this area now for about 18 months and there are so many birding sites within an hour or so that I am still orientating myself. I've been using Matt Phelps and Ed Stubbs excellent (very excellent) book, Where to Watch Birds in Surrey & Sussex and been focusing on 'my bit' in SW Sussex. Earlier on in the week I explored Amberley Wildbrooks and the Arun valley south of Amberley HERE which was a revelation of the scale of the habitat and the immense number of birds in the Arun Valley between Arundel and Pulborough Brooks. These vast natural landscapes aren't supposed to exist in the UK!

So today I went off exploring another vast landscape, this time the mighty Chichester Harbour, or rather a main part of it that I hadn't visited before. I regularly visit East Head and Snowhill Marsh area and also have visited Fishbourne Creek which are eastern parts of the harbour complex but the main part of Chichester harbour surrounds Thorney Island. Fortunately I had bumped into Kevin Tarrant at Arundel on Monday who gave me some tips about visiting Thorney as it is a bit of a challenge. The weather was good today after a week of rain and wind so I opportunitstically dissappeared for the afternoon while Holly hosted a mums and kids party at home- handy! The tide was falling so not the best time to visit though. 

Most of Thorney Island is a military base with no access but there is a coastal path around the military base which is open to the public and looks out over various parts of the Chichester Harbour complex-Emsworth Channel to the west, over Pilsey Island mudflats to the south and Thorney Channel to the east. There are also view points over the Deeps and the reedbeds. Access to the path is via controlled barred wires gates (a push button telecom system gets you to security who will give you access) and then it's a seven mile walk round the footpath which took me about three and half hours HERE mainly walking/birding. I had 76 species of very roughly 7300 individuals HERE (although I was mainly walking and doing a reccee rather than focused birding). Surprisngly I was a bit underwhelmed on the number of birds mainly because there wasn't many Brents around which are presumably out in another part of the harbour complex. I'll have to return on a rising tide. There were no highlights really, just the expected species altough there were a few birders looking for a flock of Bearded Tits in the reedbed but I didn't have time to wait for them. 

Red-breasted Merganser- a few of these on the Emsworth side

Sanderlings- the area around Pilsey Island is one of the best areas in Sussex for these. 

Bar-tailed Godwits- Chichester Harbour holds much higher numbers than nearby Pagham Harbour 

Pilsey Sands- one of only four areas of sand dunes in Sussex. East Head, another sand dune complex is opposite the channel in this image

Great deep (left), the military controlled footpath (centre) and Thorney Channel (right) 

View over the Deeps at sunset- this flooded area held the highest concentration of geese, waterfowl, Lapwing and Golden Plovers. I also viewed this area from the road by the military checkpoint. 

The year in pictures

Here's a few monthly photo highlights from 2025. I've also done a couple of local personal reviews for Spring HERE and Autumn HERE. For the numbers behind 2025 see HERE. 

JANUARY

January highlight was a trip to Kuwait with Vince , with a few new lifers and WP ticks to get the year kicked off. Crab Plovers were a highlight. 

FEBRUARY

A trip to Iceland with the family was the highlight of February, Barrow's Goldeneyes (above) and Harlequin Ducks were lifers. 

MARCH

Locally based in March, the highlight of the month was the early Spring sea passage of wintering and waterbirds past Selsey Bill including good numbers of Brent Geese 

APRIL

The Least Sandpiper at Medmerry was an incredible find by Paul Bowley

Another family trip in April took us to Cyprus where I got a few more stealth ticks including Cyprus Wheatear (above), Cyprus Warbler, Cyprus Scops Owl and jammed in on the Lesser Moorhen (below)

Back to the local patch at the end of April to witness the Pom passage off Selsey Bill

MAY

A trip to Kuwait with Vince and Julian to visit Omar and friends was incredible with us finding the first Lesser Striped Swallow (above) for the WP and six Short-tailed Shearwaters (below) on a pelagic trip 

JUNE

Back at home it was a great spring/summer for moth migrants including Striped Hawkmoths (above)

A June visit to the Bulgaria project plot in June gave us the chance to complete the wildlife pond and carry out some more moth recording 

JULY

Another month spent locally with highlights being the garden moth trapping with many highlights and scarce migrants including Bright Wave (above) and Small Marbleds (below)

AUGUST 

Another family trip this time to France, staying at Le Moulin de Pensol. Highlights included good views of Honey Buzzard (above) and some nice moths including Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth (below)

Back at home the great moth migration season continued with more Striped Hawkmoths (above-pictured with a Cliften Nonpariel) 

SEPTEMBER

Another trip to the Bulgaria project where we did some autumn bird migration recording and exploration and found Middle-spotted Woodpeckers in our village wood (above)

Back at home there were a few autumn birding highlights including Grey Phalarope (above) and Wryneck 

OCTOBER

The third visit to the Bulgaria project in October was incredible with finding the 5th Rustic Bunting and 7th Caspian Stonechat for Bulgaria and also having Pallas's Warbler (above) and witnessing some breath taking visible migration and falls including a large fall of Robins (below)

Pallid Harrier mowing through 50,000 Swallows 

NOVEMBER

With late October/early November being peak vagrant time locally we had this Pallid Swift over Selsey and also had Yellow-browed Warbler 

This ship-assisted Boat-tailed Grackle in nearby Hampshire was one of the autumn birding highlights. For a species that 'naturally' colonises via ships within it's range, Grackles in the WP pose an interesting case study of the mechanisms and consequences of vagrancy in an increasingly human modified world. 231225 update- even more interesting is that DNA analysis revealed this bird's true identity as a Great-tailed Grackle HERE

DECEMBER 

A trip to Oman in late November/early December was a highlight of the birding year. Our group found the first Paddyfield Pipit for Oman (above) and we racked up a trip list of 232 in two weeks with plenty of lifers and Greater WP ticks

Male Lichienstien's Sandgrouse

Plain Leaf Warbler 

Jouanin's Petrel

Back home this nice male Snow Bunting was a local highlight