12th August 2019 - Church Norton and Midhurst

News broke mid-morning of a Roseate Tern at Pagham Harbour, this was a potential lifer and to give it an extra bit of spice it was in Sussex. The earliest I could leave was 12:45, the journey was smoothish but there was a bit of congestion on the A27 at Chichester and along the Selsey road. Whilst enroute news also broke of an Osprey sitting on one of the shingle bars - fantastic, two potential year ticks! I pulled up in the Church Norton car park and dashed down to the benches, whilst walking down I bumped into another birder who informed me "it was still there" however when I got to the benches where there were several other birders and they informed me otherwise. The Roseate Tern hadn't been seen for a while nor had the Osprey. Whilst scanning around trying to locate either of the two birds, news came through of two Little Stints in the harbour with Dunlin which again would've been another year tick. This was now a potential lifer and two possible year ticks on the cards however my luck was well and truly out today and I failed to see all three.

After 10 minutes or so of scanning David and Ingrid showed up and it was nice to catch up with them. A thorough scan of the harbour produced a nice selection of waders including eight Knot, two Grey Plover, four Black-tailed Godwits, a Common Sandpiper, a Whimbrel, a Snipe, a few Turnstone and a scattering of Dunlin, Redshank and Ringed Plover. After David and Ingrid left the Dunlin moved closer but again I failed to locate the two Little Stints, although one of the assembled birders claimed to had seen them but failed to announce them to the other hopeful birders until half an hour later! It got to around 16:30 and it was time for me to head home due to other commitments. Roseate Tern really does appear to be my ultimate bogey bird, this one particularly painful given it was in Sussex - if I'm not mistaken I think this is now my ninth dip of this species and my third this year! Maybe a trip to Coquet Island is in order?

Later tonight near Midhurst a Spotted Flycatcher showed nicely and as the sunset there were up to 6 Tawny Owl and a Little Owl calling as well as a Barn Owl seen hunting over rough grassland and upon arrival back in Washington there was another Tawny Owl calling.