28th June 2019

GORING GAP was very quiet first thing today, with just a 3cy Mediterranean Gull, four Swifts and two Little Egrets of note. BROOKLANDS PLEASURE PARK had a flyover adult Mediterranean Gull, a Grey Heron and six Swifts. DKC

19th June 2019

GORING GAP: Feeling considerably re-enthused, I got to the Gap first thing. Three Little Egrets and an Oystercatcher were on the beach, while three Sandwich Terns were offshore (one carrying a fish back to Pagham Harbour) and 12 Swifts moved east, possibly related to the incoming storm. Skylark, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff were in song. An adult Mediterranean Gull was on the greensward. DKC

8th June 2019

A 2.5-hour seawatch off GORING GAP this morning did not produce the desired Storm-petrel or Balearic Shearwater, the highlight being a distant flock of nine Common Scoters. Otherwise, it was three Fulmars, eight Sandwich Terns, while a Skylark was singing and a Pied Wagtail flew along the beach... DKC

June 1st 2019

A quiet morning's ringing at CISSBURY RING featured a few interesting sightings. First of all, I was surprised to see two Shelducks on the downs opposite our ringing station, in the distance. A short while later, they were gone. Once it was starting to get quite hot, a Spotted Flycatcher made a brief appearance by our table, and a Cuckoo which had been singing in the distance flew past us then resumed proclaiming itself a little nearer. A Red Kite and four Buzzards got up towards the end of the session and other sightings included singing Yellowhammer, three Skylarks, a Kestrel, two Bullfinches, Red-legged Partridges, a singing Whitethroat, the Willow Warbler-mimicking Blackcap, a Mistle Thrush, a Swallow, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, and perhaps most unusual of all for Cissbury, a Coal Tit.

In terms of ringing, we didn't make double figures, even including retraps but it was nice to handle a couple of Song Thrushes and my first juvenile Robin of the year. DKC

Spotted Flycatcher DKC

Shelducks DKC

juvenile Robin DKC

May 23rd 2019

GORING GAP: The highlight was a brief male Blue-headed Wagtail on the greensward at 10.13am. It then flew west DKC

male Blue-headed Wagtail at Goring Gap DKC

 

April 25th 2019

GORING GAP: Trektellen. A brisk SSE/southerly breeze saw another decent seawatch. Highlights included three Arctic Terns (at least, among Commics), eight Little Terns and Swift, as well as two Manx Shearwaters, a flock of seven Velvet Scoters, 20 Bonxies, 12 Arctic Skuas, four Fulmars, 218 Common Scoters, 206 Gannets, six Red-throated Divers, 29 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 21 Whimbrel, 22 Bar-tailed Godwits (including two on the beach), five Guillemots/Razorbills, 44 Mediterranean Gulls and eight Common Gulls. DKC/GJ
 

Bar-tailed Godwits
DKC

April 24th 2019

GORING GAP: I arrived at dawn for what turned out to be a steady but hugely satisfying seawatch. Waders were soon on the move, mainly Bar-tailed Godwits and Whimbrel (72 and 24 in the end, respectively), with singles of Dunlin and Grey Plover thrown in. Skuas soon started as well, though never reached any lofty numbers, with four each of Arctic Skua and Bonxie. One of the Bonxies lingered offshore the whole morning, at one point shredding a gull/tern corpse on the water's surface, which it may well have killed. More importantly, one of the Arctic Skuas was in the company of a group of three Pomarine Skuas in the distance as they tracked east. Despite the great range, they were in decent enough view for a minute or so and a very pleasing way to get my first of the year. These birds weren't picked up further west beforehand, at least not today, but made it to Splash Point 45 minutes later. Other seawatch highlights included 48 Mediterranean Gulls, 11 Common Scoters, a Red-throated Diver, two Fulmars, 50 Sandwich Terns, 28 Gannets and a Swallow. Two Yellow Wagtails flew over, as did 17 Linnets and a further five Swallows. The beach held 21 Turnstones, a Dunlin, two Sanderlings and four Oystercatchers. A quick walk around the Gap revealed just three Blackcaps, two Chiffchaffs, a Green Woodpecker and a Whitethroat, though a Whimbrel flying over the fields was nice. DKC

Pomarine Skuas (left/lower) and Arctic Skua [phonescoped] DKC

Whimbrel flying over land DKC