More rain and wind all week; when’s it all going to end? It’s hardly bringing in the birds, nor encouraging them to stay: the recent well-watched Slavonian Grebe at Platinum Jubilee CP (Chichester) did not reappear after the 14th and not one was reported off Selsey this week (although a Red-necked Grebe was seen flying west from there on 17th).
Black-throated Divers were off Selsey Bill on 17th and at Worthing and Chichester on 20th. The 2cy drake Greater Scaup was still present at Scotney GP from 17th-20th and the three Whooper Swans were reported again there on 19th.
Most Exciting Sighting of the Week award should surely go to a group of four distant Common Cranes spotted from a car window on the A22 bypass near West Rise Marsh (Eastbourne) on 19th. Top marks to Harvey Shelley for managing to stop the car safely and grab the attached record shot!
Presumably the same Glossy Ibis that was at Hunston (Chichester) in late January was seen again there on 17th and flocks of Russian White-fronted Geese remained in the Cuckmere Valley (44 on 16th), Amberley Wild Brooks (38 on 16th) and Pett Level (108 on 21st). The three birds at Pagham were noted again on 17th.
Caspian Gulls were at Cuckmere Haven on three dates with at least four different birds present on 20th; other (2cy) birds were found at West Rise Marsh on 16th , Rye Hbr on 18th and Arlington Res on 22nd. Little Gulls were seen at Church Norton on 17th and Dell Quay (Chichester) on 21st.
A Water Pipit is evidently still around at Litlington with another sighting there on 16th and another was at Pulborough Brooks the following day. Three were at Icklesham on 22nd. There were several reports of Hawfinch with small numbers (7-12) coming from Wakehurst Place, Rewell Wood (Arundel), Paddockhurst Park (Turners Hill) and Little Strudgate Fm (nr Ardingly), as well as from the usual lookout on Penhurst Lane (Netherfield).