September 2000Two trips this month, both to Pagham Harbour in the vain hope of seeing the Wryneck that was there. First trip was on September 3rd. We didn't know there was a Wryneck about and only found out when we were at the Information Centre. A quick look at the Ferry Pond yeilded 10 Curlew Sandpipers, 2 Ruff, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Eurasian Whimbrel and a Common Snipe. Not much by the Channel except for 6+ Little Egrets and 15+ Sand Martins. At Church Norton we tramped round to the beach and along the path for about 50 metres. He we met a group of people who told us the bird had just been showing really well and had been scared off by a bunch of loud walkers. It didn't come back that day!. We did get at least 3 Common Whitethroats, 3 Spotted Flycatchers and a Whinchat.
On the 4th I had a Eurasian Hobby near Shoreham, seen from the train. The next weekend, on the 9th, we were back because the Wryneck was still about. This time we went straight to Church Norton and were told the bird had been showing well but had diappeared into a bush a couple of minutes before we got there. You guessed it: it didn't reappear! Apparantly, a Ring Ouzel had been seen on the path, north-west of Church Norton so we walked around there. No Ring Ouzel but we did find at least 22 Red-legged Partridges feeding at what appeared to be a feeding station set up by someone. Down at the Ferry Pond we had Little Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpipers, 3 adault and 3 juvenile Curlew Sandpipers and one adault and two juvenile Ruff. On September 10th we drove to Oxfordshire to visit David getting on the way a Common Buzzard 9although we missed the hoped for Hoopoe) and a Red Kite hovering by the side of the M40. Finally, three Ring Ouzels flew over Chichester on September 28th. The month total was 64 species; the top ten was:
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