Pagham 9th October

[simoncurson]

A cloudy day with intermittent rain. Highlights were 2 Little Stint and Bar-tailed Godwits.

As we got out of the cars at the Reserve centre car park Lapwing and Starlings were flying over and a couple of Robins were singing in the bushes. We walked to the hide overlooking Sidlesham Ferry, seeing a couple of Great Tits on the way. There plenty of Lapwing with a few Shelduck at the far end of the Ferry pool and some Teal around the edges. Two small waders on a peninsular caught our eye. Roger thought they were Little Stint and this is what they turned out to be – 2 juvenile Little Stint. After watching them for a while we scanned the edges of the pool, but could only find a few Moorhens and a Redshank. We had a quick look at the harbour nearby. It was high tide so we just saw a few ducks – Wigeon and Mallard as well as a Great-crested Grebe. We decided to drive over to Pagham North Wall as a Pectoral Sandpiper had been seen there recently.
From the North Wall we saw a Grey Wagtail and plenty of Mallard and Coot and a Black-tailed Godwit. However the high tide meant that few waders would be visible and the rain drove us to a nearby pub for lunch.
After lunch we returned to the North Wall and the tide had fallen, so there were many waders. Even though it was raining again we got good views of Bar-tailed Godwits, Redshanks, Curlews, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Oystercatcher and a few Black-tailed Godwit, but no sign of the Pectoral Sandpiper. We also saw Heron, Teal, Pintail, Wigeon and the first Brent Geese of the winter. The Grey Wagtail was also still there. Overhead we saw a few House Martins and a Kestrel.
We drove round to Church Norton and scanned the mudflats from the hide here. There were many Cormorant out on a raised area of shingle and Oystercatcher, Curlew, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwits, Brent Geese and Wigeon feeding on the mudflats and Great-crested Grebe and a few Little Grebe.
Simon Curson

[neilstoker]

The two Little Stint were still showing at Sidlesham Ferry Pool on Friday 12th. Following a morning at Hengistbury I had planned to go to Pagham on my drive home. Simon helpfully alerted me to a White-billed Diver (or Yellow-Billed Loon) on the sea off Selsey Bill. Sure enough it was still off the Bill and in talking to one of the chaps there learned that it was extremely rare to see one in Summer plummage. From Selsey I went to Pagham and as per the report of the walk on the 9th there were plenty of waders about and similar species. I was about to leave when two guys asked if I'd seen the "Pect Sand"! They helpfully pointed me in the right direction and I tagged along with them and after a short wait, sure enough it showed itself. It was getting late but I took another trip back to Selsey to get another look at the Diver. I had a view to myself for about 10 minutes before other birders arrived. We lost sight of it for a while as a boat cut through where the bird had been swimming but found it again just as the light was fading. Well worth the trip!