21/01/2018 and 22/01/2018 West Sussex

Sunday 21 January 2018

With rain forecast all day today I decided to go looking for water birds!

Widewater Lagoon, Shoreham, West Sussex

• First stop was Widewater Lagoon where I soon found the female Goosander.
• I also managed to see my first Redshank of 2018.

Church Norton

At Church Norton the weather was even worse than at Widewater Lagoon.

Although I "dipped" on the Red-necked Grebe I did manage to add a few birds to my year list:-

• I saw 10+ Bar-tailed Godwits in the distance.
• A magnificent drake Red-breasted Merganser was my bird of the day.
• A Curlew and loads of Grey Plovers and Oystercatchers were also seen.

Ferry Pool at Visitor's Centre

• A lovely Spotted Redshank was showing well at the far end of the pool.
• On the long walk back to the car park I saw a Gadwall.

Despite the very wet conditions I thoroughly enjoyed this trip!

Monday 22 January 2018
By contrast, Monday afternoon was dry and sunny with hardly any wind.  I couldn't resist a return visit to Church Norton.  This time I had more luck.

• I saw a close Knot - barely 10m away!  My 100th bird in 2018!
• One of the Peregrines was showing well from the usual island setting.
• The Whimbrel was most obliging.
• It looked as if I was going to dip out again with respect to the Red-necked Grebe but I managed to walk round to the spit and eventually locate the bird as it returned to its favourite spot near the white notice board.

Well worth the second look!