Thorney Island with the Sussex Ornithological Society

Saturday 11th September

Thorney Island

Sussex Ornithological Society (SOS)

One of my favourite SOS outings is the 7 mile perimeter walk around Thorney Island at the western edge of the county.  As well as the birding, the scenery is terrific and the exercise is gentle but prolonged and very enjoyable.  

I joined 8 other members of the SOS including our leader for the day, Richard Senior.  The weather was ideal, cool at the start with a light breeze with things brightening up as the day progressed. We took the anticlockwise route starting from Thornham Lane, stopping for lunch at the benches overlooking Pilsey Sands and again for drinks by the church on the eastern shores.  My target species for the day were autumn return migrants, including Osprey, Whinchat, Yellow Wagtails and Wheatear.  As you will see I was 50% successful.

• We managed to see 2 Ospreys, the first at lunchtime at Pilsey Sands and the second near the end of the walk at The Deeps.  The first was perched on a rock out in the bay; it was feeding on a fish and remained there feeding for half and hour or more, until the rock was covered by the incoming tide after which it flew west to the Hampshire side landing on the vegetation by the edge of the water to continue eating the fish.  The second bird was initially sighted on a post in the Deeps but soon took flight, scaring the life out of all the other birds in the area, and giving some superb views including several diving manoeuvres into the water to catch fish.
• The Wheatear count was at least 10 with birds appearing throughout our walk.
• Surprisingly there were no sightings of Whinchat or Yellow Wagtails.  I am sure they were present but we just didn't see them.

As well as our target species we saw a good selection of other birds.

• The wader count was impressive with at least 2 Greenshanks, lots of Black-tailed Godwits and Curlews and a few Redshanks, Oystercatchers and Turnstones. At lunchtime we came across a group of 20+ Grey Plovers with several still in summer plumage.  They were at the waters edge, associating with a small group of Dunlin.  We also saw a group of over a dozen Little Egrets at The Deeps.
• At least 3 Sandwich Terns were still around.  
• It was nice to find a group of 7 Greenfinches early on as well as several Linnets, Meadow Pipits and a Stonechat. 
• We were lucky to catch a glimpse of 2 juvenile Bearded Tits before they disappeared into the reeds.

All in all I recorded just over 40 species, although I am sure I missed some.  

A cracking day out in good company and 2 quality Osprey sightings to boot!