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After finishing off an appointment this morning, I had lunch and then headed off to Selsey Bill to catch up with some seabirds to hit the magic 100 species for the month. 150+ Storm Petrels and good numbers of Manx Shearwaters passed Hengistbury Head yesterday with more pouring through this morning. The weather has changed considerably over the last few days with strong winds and much cooler temperatures of late. In fact, my hands were bloody cold by the time I left Selsey.
I arrived at the Bill around 12.30am and spent the next three and a half hours avoiding the rain and trying to keep warm. Thank god I took a flask! To be honest, it wasn’t a bad seawatch though sightings were sporadic but generally some good birds went past. I was the only birder there which was surprising as the winds were blowing from the south and conditions looked very good for a seawatch.
The seawatch kicked off with a winter plumaged Great Northern Diver bobbing on the choppy sea. May is always a good time to see these birds and they can hang around to June sometimes. A good stream of both Sandwich Terns and Common Terns went past and one particular Common Tern made a very good effort to be an Arctic Tern (a very dark individual).
I kept a good eye out for a passing ‘Manxie’, but for my efforts, I was rewarded with two sightings of Fulmars, one heading east, with the other going west. A lovely surprise was a gorgeous light phased Arctic Skua, which flew east and, all too briefly, sat on the sea then flew off east. Another bird was seen around an hour later also heading east but much further out. No Pomarines today during my stay, but 6 birds flew past Portland this afternoon. Common Scoter made its way to my month list with two flocks of four and twelve all heading east. A couple of adult Gannets were seen as well as well as a pair of Guillemots which all headed west. Finally, two Whimbrel were seen flying west high over the water. All in all, it was a good seawatch despite the cold temperature and intermittent rain showers.
I was now on 98 species for the month so I thought I’d finish off the day with a quick trip to Thorney Island and mop up some relatively easy birds to get. Or so I thought! I thought both Black-tailed Godwit and Eurasian Teal would be happily feeding away within the Pony Field but I was wrong. Despite a lengthy search, I made do with some Med Gulls amongst the Black-headed Gulls.
Looking from the farm, I was in luck with a couple of singing Skylarks, which put me on 99 species then, finally my luck changed. A Cuckoo was in song behind me so I crossed the road and found the bird perched on an overhead wire near a Wood Pigeon. Overhead, at least 44 Whimbrels flew past, all heading east and the drake Eurasian Wigeon remained faithful to the Pony Fields. 100 species for the month, and so early in the month too. Now I can relax and mop up some scarcities that might come my way. Unbelievably, an American Golden Plover was found this morning on the Deeps, Farlington Marshes therefore, I was in a dilemma whether or not to go for it. I soon found out that the 'AGP' had flown off east at 12.15am. Fat lot of good that was. I sometimes wonder whether the info is actually genuine? An Alpine Swift flew through Lower Test Marshes this afternoon. I heard that a Storm Petrel and 6 Manx Shearwaters flew past Selsey Bill tonight at 7.30pm! Typical.
