Wednesday 30 August 2000

30th August 2000 North Wall, Pagham 10.30 - 11.30am. Sunny with moderate easterly


Little Egret c.6
Pintail 1 female
Lapwing 1
Dunlin c.20
Yellow Wagtail c.6

Monday 28 August 2000

28th August 2000 Beachy 6.30am - 11.30am. Light westerly with squally showers


Sparrowhawk 2
Cuckoo 1
Tree Pipit c.5
Yellow Wagtail 1
Whinchat c.5
Sedge Warbler 2
Lesser Whitethroat 2
Whitethroat c.15
Blackcap 2
Willow Warbler c.50 (incl. 1 individual at top of lane lacking all yellow)

Sunday 27 August 2000

27th August 2000 Beachy 6.30am - 12.30pm. Light westerly and overcast


Tree Pipit c.10
Grey Wagtail 1h
Yellow Wagtail c.12
Redstart 1
Whinchat c.5
Grasshopper Warbler 2 (1 ex views in Chat Vale)
Reed Warbler 1
Whitethroat c.30
Garden Warbler 1
Spotted Flycatcher c.15 (incl. 5 in one tree in Belle Toute Wood)

Tuesday 22 August 2000

22nd August 2000 Rye 6.00pm - 8.00pm. Sunny and calm


Little Grebe c.5 including a calling individual.
Teal c.6
Mallard c.200
Tufted Duck c.5
Ruddy Duck 1 male
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1 ad - black centres to scapulars, some streaking across breast, looked very cold grey. Unfortunately only distant views on far bank.
Greenshank 3
Common Sandpiper c.5

Monday 21 August 2000

21st August 2000 Beachy 5.30pm - 8.00pm. Sunny and calm

Yellow Wagtail c.10
Melodious Warbler 1 rounded head, well marked yellow supercilium (for a Melodious), short primary projection, blue legs, yellow wash to throat extending down centre of breast. Hotel Garden (found by JFC).

Sunday 13 August 2000

13th August 2000 Beachy 6.30 - 10.30am. Sunny and calm


Montagu’s Harrier 1 male ex. found hunting over fields and then flew west over the top of the lane at 7am.
Tree Pipit 5 all together in Cow Gap
Yellow Wagtail 1

Saturday 12 August 2000

12th August 2000 Beachy 6.30 - 11.30am. Sunny and calm


Shag 3 on rocks below Cow Gap
Tree Pipit 1
Redstart 1 male moulting out of summer plumage
Pied Flycatcher 1

Friday 11 August 2000

11th August 2000 Weir Wood Reservoir 7.00pm - 8.00pm


Little Grebe 1
Great Crested Grebe c.50
Grey Heron c.5
Mandarin c.5

Sunday 6 August 2000

6th August 2000 Beachy 6.15am - 10.00am. Overcast but calm

Cormorant 1
Peregrine 1
Herring Gull c.30
Caspian Gull 1 1st Summer on beach below Cow Gap / Whitbread Hollow. Watched for around half an hour on rocks looking for food along tideline alongside Herring Gulls. Our attention was initially drawn due to very white-headed appearance. Proved to be strikingly white-headed with gleaming white crown and forehead. Head had single grey spot in middle of rear nape, otherwise head lacked markings. Neat black eye. Bill appeared all-black and relatively small, lacking any gonydeal angle. Bill appeared a natural extension to low sloping forehead. Head often held high with bird adopting upright posture. Dark spotting on lower hindneck. Some scapular feathers marked with black forming an irregular pattern. Some spotting on flanks. Entire coverts mottled brown with appearance of a large ‘faded area’ across median/greater coverts. Tertials with pale ‘fringes’ giving barred appearance. Primaries ‘bleached’ dark brown and lacked any pale tips. Appeared quite long-winged. In short flight, underwings pale although not strikingly white. Upperwing pattern not determined in short flight as concentrated on trying to determine underwing. Also not helped by bird in heavy wing-moult appearing to lack outer secondaries but difficult to ascertain as only flew a few meters on one occasion. Tail base and uppertail coverts / rump white with some spotting. Good black subterminal tail-band. Pink legs. Slightly smaller than accompanying Herring Gulls of varying ages. Bird often looking for food by peering at the bases of green-covered rocks. Completely lacked dark head markings (often prevalent below eye) on 1st Summer LBBG. Lacked noticeable streaking on rear crown/dark area below eye being a typical feature of 1st Summer YLG. Structure of head being skeletal also very pro-Caspian. Initial concerns over tertials (not completely black centered with pale fringe) less of a concern on seeing similar pattern of tertials exhibited by 1st Summer Blyth estuary bird photographed in August 2000.
Great Black-backed Gull 1 juv.
Green Woodpecker c.3
Pied Wagtail 1
Whinchat 1
Wheatear 1
Sedge Warbler 1
Whitethroat c.12
Garden Warbler 2
Willow Warbler c.20

Saturday 5 August 2000

5th August 2000 Beachy 6.15am - 11.15am. Sunny and virtually calm


Black-headed Gull c.35
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 ad.
Sandwich Tern 2
Green Woodpecker c.5
Meadow Pipit 1
Whinchat 2
Wheatear 1
Grasshopper Warbler 1 seen twice in flight
Sedge Warbler c.4
Whitethroat c.20
Willow Warbler c.40
Yellowhammer 1