Sixteen of us met in the car park on what turned out to be a lovely sunny and warm October day. Standing in the car park we could already see Little Egret flying over and a Marsh Harrier patrolling the fields.  

In the bushes on the walk to the sea wall we saw Robin, Chiffchaff, Stonechat and multiple Cetti’s Warblers singing but not showing.  Arriving at the reedbeds at the Little Deep, we could immediately hear Bearded Reedlings and after a while watching we had good sightings of a mobile flock of seven birds flying around.  We also heard the laughing calls of Little Grebes and whistles of Wigeon on the water.  Ascending to the top of the sea wall allowed us to see the birds on the water more clearly and Tufted Duck, Mallard, and Coot were added to the list, and we had good views of the Little Grebe and Wigeon.

Looking over to the channel to Emsworth various birds were spotted out on the mud such as Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew, three Greenshank, three Black Tailed Godwit, Turnstone and Oystercatcher.  A couple of Cormorants were fishing in the main channel.  Mute Swans were seen flying up the channel.

Kestrels, Buzzards and Marsh Harriers were active over the marsh and grass on the inland side.  A large group of Greylag Geese were grazing the fields.  As we got closer to the Great Deep we watched a Kingfisher flying along the ditch and fishing, at first unsuccessfully, for it’s lunch.  Eventually it flew off with a prize fish.  There was a Grey Heron in the main lake and quite a few Little and Great White Egret.  There were a couple of Shelduck out on the water.  At one stage a Little Egret stood next to a Great White Egret allowing direct comparison of size and identifying features.  Two Raven could be heard ‘cronking’ to each-other and doing flight displays.

After retracing our steps and having lunch we walked out along the coast path where we could view the Prinsted Channel.   Out in this channel were two Great Crested Grebe.There were alsoHouse Sparrows around the houses and gardens.  After much searching out on the mud we added Ringed Plover and Grey Plover to the list.  A group of Ringed Plover flew by being pursued by what at first we thought was a Merlin.  However, it was later mobbed by a Kestrel and there did not seem much difference in size, so it may have been a Kestrel all along.  Three Sandwich Tern were observed diving for fish and at times perching on the buoys out in the water.

Along the way we had picked up Goldfinch, Linnet and Reed Bunting, and common birds such as Blue Tit, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starling, Woodpigeon, and Blackbird.  Gulls were represented by Black headed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, and Herring Gull.  At the end of the day we had seen a total of 48 species and three heard, with an inconclusive identification on the small falcon chasing waders.