Today saw a brief inaugural visit to Goring as my new patch (see the previous post) and, despite being shrouded in fog, it turned out to be quite a productive visit and I left very excited about the patching prospects ahead. Within the first couple of minutes of scanning from the Worthing Sailing Club, near the east end of my boundary, I picked up a
Red-necked Grebe on the sea a couple of hundred metres out. I can count how many Red-neckeds I've ever seen on one hand so was delighted to find my own. Later on, at the Gap itself, a
Black-throated Diver was feeding about the same distance offshore and local birder Clive arrived just in time to see it.
The wader roost comprised of 59
Grey Plovers, 51
Ringed Plovers and 79
Dunlins but only eight
Sanderlings and 11
Turnstones; a slightly weary looking adult
Dark-bellied Brent Goose and nine
Mediterranean Gulls shared the same field. A further 14
Brents tracked west offshore, where other highlights (when visibility improved!) included 46
Red-breasted Mergansers, five
Red-throated Divers, 26
Great Crested Grebes, four
Razorbills, five
Guillemots and two
Gannets. Two
Skylarks, a
Linnet, a couple of
Meadow Pipits and two
Goldcrests were also noted during the brief visit.
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| Red-necked Grebe |
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| Mediterranean, Common and Black-headed Gulls |
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| adult Dark-bellied Brent Goose |
