Selsey Bill 04/06/25

With a busy weekend scheduled, I decided to get out earlier in the week and go down to Selsey for some seawatching to see if anything would turn up in the strong winds. 

Upon arrival at about 8:00, I settled down in the usual seawatching place and scanned the area. A very distant and equally large flock was offshore, but everything was too far away to identify. 

There was constant movement of Sandwich Terns heading west, but nothing else was going through

After quite a while more of waiting, and nothing going past, I decided to shift my position and sit on a bench up on the Oval Field. 

There was a bit more action closer in over the next hour or so, with a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, a Little Tern, and I was kept company by some Sparrows.

After a bit of a walk around, which only produced more gulls and a Cormorant, I went back to the Oval Field to have a snack. 

The feeding flock was a bit closer now, but still, nothing else was about. 

Very distantly, a Razorbill flew west, my first this year.

I was just getting up from the bench to have a look around the trees to see if anything was there when a bird flew rapidly past the shoreline, before doubling back on itself, then doing another 180-degree turn and heading east- a Fulmar. I hadn't been able to get photos of this species before, so I was happy to get some photos, albeit not good ones!

Things had started to pick up with the Razorbill and Fulmar in such quick succession, and, before too long, either a different or maybe the same Fulmar as earlier flew west, a bit closer in, and much slower. 

A Cormorant flew past close in, and a Gannet was offshore very distantly. 

Things quietened down a bit, so I had a look around, taking a few minutes to photograph the House Martins and the Sparrows, with most of the latter bathing in a small puddle.

As lunch grew near, I sat down on a bench for a while longer, with nothing moving offshore except for a Little Tern. After having lunch, which included an interesting sandwich idea- marmalade and peanut butter(turned out to be really good), I headed off towards the eastern part of the bill, to see if anything was on the sea towards Church Norton. 

Nothing else was on the sea, but a few Sparrows were showing so well they were begging to be photographed! As they are a very common species, I don't usually mind missing an opportunity to get some photos, but as everything else was so quiet, I had some fun with them.

As morning became afternoon, and the excitement of the Fulmar and Razorbill grew ever distant, I was starting to get quite tired after the day's efforts, and with not much moving today, I decided to go for one more stint of seawatching and then head home. 

One hour later, nearly nothing had gone through, so I started heading towards the bus stop. After one more look out towards the IOW, I managed to get on a bus back towards Chichester, albeit with a bit of difficulty- iykyk:)

As always, I had a check on the Ferry Pools from the bus on the way back, where there was a large group of Black-tailed Godwits, and a Common Sandpiper, my second year-tick of the day, putting my total now on 170.

Although nothing very good had been seen, two year-ticks were a decent result, and the Fulmar was very cool to see a bit closer than early last month! This will probably be my last proper birding trip in  Britain before going on holiday in southern Spain next week (so excited for it lol), so I was pleased to have seen some nice species.