Spent a couple of hours on the the golf course this morning, usual suspects sighted I'm afraid with nothing different for a couple of days now.  With 1 Redstart and 3 Whinchat behind the reedbed, 4 Stonechat practise area, 6 Wheatear, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, several Meadow Pipits and Linnets on the fairways, and good numbers of finches moving east. Also 1 Lesser  and 2 Whitetroat in the area.

Anticipating something good this morning on the golf course only to find an early society out at 0720 putting an end to my excitement. Still a good selection of species this morning with 1-2 Redstart, 2 Spotted Fly, 2 Whinchat, 30 Blackcap, 20 Chiffchaff, 1 Reed arbler, 1 Grey Wagtail, good numbers of finches moving east with several small group of Siskin, and  a few Redpoll.  1 Kingfisher flew from  the beach towards the mill path, 1 Tawny Owl calling from 1st wood, Peregrine over the north field, and  good numbers of House martin over the western end of the golf course.  Also today 2 Little Egret, 1 Med Gull west with several Sandwich Tern close inshore, and good numbers of Meadow Pipit in fields west of the mill path.

   Monday 26th Sept

At Climping this morning a small movement of Gannets, 18 Brent Geese, and several of Sandwich and Common Tern, plus ca.1000 Swallows streaming out SW all morning. Bird of the day though was a dark juv Pomarine Skua which came in from way out to follow the coastline W; it's flight action, diagnostic double white underprimary flash and lack of any warmer brown plumage tones finally clinching its ID. On land a Lesser Whitethroat and a few Siskins amongst the commoner migrants.

Wed 21st Sept

Headed over to Newhaven as haven't seen SABINE'S GULL for several years now, and had an anxious wait for half an hour when it was located sitting on the sea in the sun some 50 metres out. Not the best of pictures, but spent an hour watching this delightful bird. Also juv Kittiwake present for a comparison.

Headed upto the Burgh from Burpham as the reported PALLID HARRIER was showing well mid morning, had to wait a few hours and after stringing a pale Buzzard got some cracking views late afternoon. Also 2 Hobby, 1 Peregrine 1 Turtle Dove and several Buzzards.

Very quiet in the windy conditions on the patch this  morning, although birds of the day were two RAVEN calling moving west over the horse paddock at Climping at 0840. Still plenty of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps in the sheltered spots singles of Grey Wagtail and Wheatear, couple of Whitethroat, 1-2 Buzzard , 1 Little Owl and good numbers of House Martin over the camp site.

Bright and breezy this morning decided to sart on the golf course and was rewarded with my first SHORT-EARED OWL of the autumn, flushed from the long grass behind the fort, it  gave prolonged views and managed to capture some reasonable shot's. Also today 5 Grey Wagtail, 7-8 Stonechat, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 25 Chiffchaff, 8 Whitethroat, 14 Blackcap,  3 Goldcrest and 6 Wheatear. Good numbers of finches and Meadow Pipits moving west.

Friday 16th Sept

Climping Gap: A different feel to things today with a fresh easterly blowing, but still a lovely morning. The number of visible migrants was much reduced, especially Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, the best being just a single Redstart at Bailiffscourt and a couple each of Siskin, Grey Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail. The sea proved to be a bit better, with 75 Med Gulls along the beach and 4 Brent Geese W – the first of the autumn. Having checked out the bushes, I returned to watch the sea for the last half hour, and at 1155 am, I picked up a distant flock of 6 small duck heading west over Littlehampton pier, and as so often happens the birds turned directly in towards the bay and followed the coastline. I presumed they were Teal, but as they got nearer and nearer something was wrong with the jizz as they looked a shade on the large side, a bit longer bodied and plainer than I’d expected. They continued west hugging the shoreline, passing me about 50 metres out, and I then saw there was no little white flash to the tail-sides nor any yellow undertail-colouring, but there was a broad white trailing edge to the secondaries, with a small dark greyish panel in front then a narrower white bar – without any hint of green in the panel as always shown by Teal. The penny dropped – these were not Teal but Garganey! I had time to scope them as they moved west still close in – at one time they even checked and turned before moving on – and could see some steely grey on the forewings of a couple and some paler markings above the eye. I also think a couple of them were young/juv birds. Always difficult in eclipse plumage I know, especially over the sea – but in case some think I was over-ambitious, I should explain that fortunately viewing conditions were just right to be sure. A nice surprise to finish the morning

A nice morning at Climping Gap where it was obvious there had been a fall of Chiffchaffs, with 60+ in the bushes and 30 Blackcaps. It was much as yesterday really, with a variety of the commoner migrants; 17 Whitethroats, 2 Willow Warblers, 14 Wheatears, 12 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Grey Wagtails, 16 Siskins and singles of Tree Pipit, Whinchat, Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher. Another 200+ Meadow Pipits were on the move westwards, as were large numbers of hirundines - a guestimate would be around 1500 Swallows, 1000 House Martins and 250 Sand Martins, but possibly many more. The sea remained dead except for 3 Sandwich Terns, but today's prize goes to a crazy Woodpigeon that in mid-Sept has decided to nest in an exposed hedgerow beside the car park.

A blustery wind, WSW 5-6/7 again produced virtually nothing over the sea, except 6 Black-tailed Godwits heading W close in (uncommon here). Perhaps surprisingly though, there were plenty of common migrants about, especially in the sheltered spots. I logged 18 Common Whitethroats, c.30 each of Chiffchaff and Blackcap, 15 Wheatears, a Spotted Flycatcher, a Grey Wagtail, 24 + Yellow Wagtails, 45 Linnets and best of all a juv Turtle Dove near the old Mill (year tick!)  and still present late afternoon around Atherington Cottages.

The most noticeable movement however was of Meadow Pipits heading W/SW into the wind or out to sea - difficult to count but I conservatively estimated c.250 with many Swallows, House Martins and a few Sand Martins mixed in. Finally, a Treecreeper in a coastal pine received close scrutiny before I had to accept it was the normal Eurasian species and probably just a local bird!

With the forecast of some strong winds headed to Climping Beach this morning for a sea watch.  Birds moving although fairly distant offshore but  the highlight being two Skua's moving west at about 0900. Also Commic and Sandwich Tern present and several Gannet, with 3W Mediterranean Gull and 7W Dunlin.

Fri 9th Sept
A 3-hour jaunt at Climping this morning (around Atherington/Mill area) produced a selection of the commoner migrants; 30+Blackcaps, 20 Chiffchaffs, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 24 Whitethroats, 2 Garden Warblers, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and 7 Wheatears. However the sea remained totally dead, with just a handful of distant Commic Terns offshore and virtually nothing else.

Thurs 8th Sept
2 Whinchat, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 20 Wheatear, 1 Garden Warbler, still good numbers of Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and a few Chiffchaff, very quiet offshore with a few Gannets, Commic and Sandwich Tern moving.

Quick look in field behind 1st wood produced 1 Green Sandpiper in the ditches, 2 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Buzzard, 11 Grey Partridge and several each of Blackcap, Whitethroat, and Willow Warbler before rain stopped play.

The count of Yellow Wagtails reached the dizzy heights of 48 this morning, but otherwise it was more of the same really. Our joint totals were: 45 Whitethroats, 35 Blackcaps, 3 Redstarts, 3 Lesser Whitethroats, 8 Wheatears, 2 Garden Warblers and a single Spotted Flycatchers. Just a handful of Chiffchaffs and 2 Willow Warblers were logged, whilst hirundines were also slow to get going, the Swallow count peaking at ca. 250. The sea was flat calm with little offshore except four Great Crested Grebes and six Common Terns, but resident birds included a good count of 26 Grey Partridges (two coveys), 2 Buzzards, 2 Sparrowhawks, 2 Peregrines and a Little Owl

Thursday 1 Sept.
As noted elsewhere a quiter day but with a nice lot of birds around , with 10 Chiffchaff, 5 Willow Warbler, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 24 Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 30 Whitethroat, 5 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Little Owl, 2 Jay, 1 Buzzard, 10 Grey Partridge, 400+ Swallow, 50+ Sand Martin 1 Yellow Wagtail, and 2 Peregrine.