Another long day like yesterday was the plan for today, with many hopeful targets scattered around various coastal sites in the west of the county.
As per the norm, I begun the day at Arundel WWT which is a great site to catch up with Bewick’s Swan and Woodcock before the light emerges. Both of these were seen with ease, and nearby at Swanbourne Lake a couple of Firecrest and two pairs of Mandarin were also relatively straight forward.
From here on in, the day slowly went downhill with the next few sites failing to produce the goods, namely the Red-necked Grebe at Climping, Waxwings at Southbourne and Spotted Redshank at Fishbourne, however a Jack Snipe showed superbly in flight at the latter site.
Down at Selsey I then somehow failed to find a Great Northern Diver offshore, but thankfully Church Norton revived the situation with plenty of Slavonian Grebes offshore and some Knot were found among the roosting Dunlin and Grey Plover. Inland was equally disappointing where West Dean Woods failed to produce the Owls or Hawfinches one would expect to see, and only Red Kites were the only noteworthy addition here.
The last couple of hours I spent around Burpham and The Burgh, with the former having many Chiffchaff around the water works, and the ten Bewick’s Swans were out on the meadows. The Burgh held its usual coveys of Grey Partridge and to put an end to the constant dipping, a fine ringtail Hen Harrier ended the day as it hunted the closer hedgerows before heading up the valley.
