I've been staying in over recent days, trying to keep a light cold from turning bad before the New Year and getting some writing work out the way while I'm at it. However, I took a break today and got some much-needed fresh air, showing Canons Farm colleague Paul G and his lovely pooch, Jazz, around the patch. The strong tide and rough sea forced a good number of waders into the roost field, including 83
Grey Plovers, 97
Sanderlings, 355
Dunlin and 53
Ringed Plovers. 52
Turnstones and 38
Oystercatchers were counted on the shore once the tide started to drop. Small gulls amassing in the field north of the pumping station included a decent 540
Common Gulls and seven
Mediterranean Gulls (six adults and a second-winter), as well as 160
Black-headed Gulls. Visibility was atrocious so the sea wasn't given a huge amount of attention, producing a
Red-throated Diver, seven
Dark-bellied Brent Geese, eight
Red-breasted Mergansers, a
Great Crested Grebe, two
Gannets and two
Kittiwakes. A
Stonechat and two
Redwings were also noted.
Ferring Rife was quiet, with a
Grey Heron, a
Green Woodpecker, a
Kestrel, 10
Moorhens and a
Pheasant logged. I was dismayed to see at least three
Sanderlings oiled (two particularly heavily), at least one
Oystercatcher and one
Turnstone also suffering.
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| one of two particularly badly oiled Sanderlings on the beach at Ferring |
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| Redwings and Song Thrushes at Goring |
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| Paul and Jazz arriving on the scene |
