Sunday 28th November - Waxwings

Up and out just after 6.30 this morning to take Hannah to school for her Biathlon. It was -5c !!!!! So having returned home before 8am, the plan was to stay with Adie whilst Sally went to watch Hannah compete in Crawley. Managed to fit in a quick visit to Chichester with Adie to see 13 Bohemian Waxwings - not a regular visitor to this part of the country but lovely birds to see. The light was poor so only record shots were in order as the birds were sitting at the top of a tree next to the road and occassionaly dropping down into gardens for berries. A good number of people were there watching but after about 15 minutes they flew off rather purposefully, which Adie was quite pleased about as she was asking when we could go ! - it was still 0c so she had a point.



Bohemian Waxwings Chichester 10 of the 13





Saturday 27th November - Its Freezing !

On Friday, Sally and I went for another walk pre-school pick-up. This time on higher ground and without the need to change into dry clothes. We went to the National Trust area of Harting Down, just in Sussex. It was cold but beautiful blue skies and the views were outstanding, although birds were a little thin on the ground Buzzard, Kestrel, Redwing and Fieldfare were the only birds but the local sheep joined our walk for a bit as Sallys black wooly hat and pale fleecy top obviously meant she was one of them and was their leader.

Baaaaaa .. Harting Down Sheep

It was freezing Saturday morning and I was unsure where to go. I left the house thinking I might stay inland as it might be a bit warmer, but kept driving down to Pagham Spit, arriving there around 10.30. It wasn't very warm !! the car said about 2C but there was a stiff north wind which added the bite. I firstly walked along the spit around the hide and back to the lagoon. There was very little in  the channel, lots of Little Grebes and a party of Greenfinches. From the hide 4 Goldeneye were in the harbour (a male and 3 females) and a selection of waders, Grey Plover, Knot, Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Curlew and a single Bar-tailed Godwit with lots of Wigeon and Teal and a few Dark-bellied Brents and Little Egrets. The Lagoon only had half a dozen Tufted Ducks. I made my way down the North Wall footpath, where at least it was a little more sheltered. A single Golden Plover was on the mud, with 2 Ruddy Shelduck asleep amongst c100 Shelduck. There were c100 Dark-bellied Brents in the channel. Arriving by the breach pool a Water Rail was squealing from the reeds, a large group of Wigeon took flight when a Fox ran across the field at the back and 2 Snipe were running around the frozen edge looking confused as to where they could start proding their beaks, a Black-tailed Godwit was in with the Wigeon and a single Kestrel perched up was the only Bird of Prey for the day. It was nearly 12.30 it was raw and I was cold !!!!  so I started to head back.  As I walked along the channel a few groups of Brents started flying into the harbour from the fields I scanned through these and quickly picked up a close Black Brant which I watched for about 15 mins and took some pictures. Further on a single Med Gull was on the mud. and as I reached the corner of the Lagoon I heard a familiar Krrrrk (not great on wording bird sound !) from a bush. A skulking Dartford Warbler was moving around - looked like a juvenile. I did another lap of the spit back to the car, but other than a Red-breasted Merganser flying into the harbour didn't add anything. A couple of snowflakes appeared and I needed warming up, but great as always to be out.

Black Brant (Branta nigricans) - very dark back and belly, white flanks and thick neck band that joins at the front are distinctive

Black Brant with Dark-bellied Brent Goose

Turnstone

Monday 22nd November - Up on the Downs

Not fully 100% but needed to get some air today, after morning admin I went up onto the Downs near North Stoke to The Burgh area for a couple of hours. Grey Partridges were plentiful 24 in 3 coveys, with a single Red-legged and lots of Pheasants. A flock of 30+ Skylarks were joined by a similar number of Linnets and 8 Corn Buntings in a bush on the field edge where a large number of Fieldfares mixed with a Starling flock and several Yellowhammers were joined by Chaffinches and Goldfinches.  A group (tower ?) of 13 Buzzards were thermalling. A distant ringtail Hen Harrier was hunting over a cover crop and a Red Kite drifted slowly overhead. 2 Kestrel and 2 Sparrowhawk were the other raptors and a Raven was being mobbed by Carrion Crows. I spent too long examining an exceptionally pale Common Buzzard that was sitting in a field  and showed a large amount of white on the tail but was definitely just a Common Buzzard, then a completely black Pheasant ran across in front of me more reminiscent of a Caucasian Grouse - which I took as a sign that maybe the virus hasn't gone yet and it was time to go.

Yellowhammer

Red Kite (Not a great pic!)

Downland View from 'The Burgh'

Sunday 21st November - Restaurant Etiquette

........ You're not supposed to dine on the diners. Something this male Sparrowhawk ignored in the restaurant rules for 'The Fat Tit' now one Blue Tit less. 

Suffering with a feverish cold all day in which daylight never seemed to arrive so didn't even venture out of the house. Quite a few Redwings and Fieldfares flying around and 10 Lapwings. 

Friday 19th November - Bird Accessories and Bog Snorkeling

A foggy and cold morning, only clearing around midday - As well as the various plastic feeders, my bird table is a wooden 'whacker' planted in the ground by its handle with a couple of small pieces of wood attached. So the food falls off and in the wet it gets very sludgy. Its been on my list to do something about it. However, the RSPB  and garden centres, who make an absolute fortune by selling bird related accessories, have never sold a bird table that I like or is reasonably priced - and I don't judge by aesthetics, just practicality - normally the feeding area is too small, the plastic tray inserts are rubbish, they are too flimsy and they cost a fortune. I lost the strategic battle with Mr Fox about 3 years ago and since then the hen-house has been dormant, so armed with a rusty saw, a hammer and some old nails I set to work this morning dismantling bits of hen-house to create new bird table - Have I ever mentioned I'm completely cak-handed ? - Means this was never going to be a precision engineering project. Hammering is tap tap thumb tap and sawing is straight, straight, curve, miss.

Old model - complete with Nuthatch

New model - waiting for a light gust of wind !

An hour or so and few bruised fingers later I had my new 'roofed table', slightly top-heavy and unlikely to feature in 'Britains Prettiest Bird Table Weekly' but I was satisfied (just slightly worried that the slightest wind might topple it into the dirt).  But like all good Michelin-starred restaurants, a name was in order - The Fat Duck is already taken - so after its' first guest I've named it 'The Fat Tit'.

At The Fat Tit, 2 minutes after opening the celebs start arriving - note designer curves and peculiar roof notch specially designed to aid water dispersal.

I agreed with Sally we'd go for walk before collecting the girls from School, obviously having a birdy theme in mind. Having offered up somewhere on the Downs, Pulborough or Waltham Brooks, we actually decided on Thursley Common. For me that sounded fine, despite being across the county border it's close to the kids school and there's been a Great Grey Shrike around the area. Almost two decades ago, I used to visit Thursley quite regularly when I lived in West London, but not been there for a while. So we started out probably picking the boggiest track from the car park and headed out towards where it becomes a boardwalk. Sally was wearing wellies and I was in walking boots. I thought it might be a while before we got near shrike territory but we had a couple of hours and only saw a Reed Bunting and Green Woodpecker before disaster struck. I was following Sally, avoiding the worst of the deep puddles, until I thought two steps right off the path might be a drier route, when the 'dry clump' I tried suddenly vanished and I found myself up to my armpits in bog........ I understand that Bog Snorkeling is a growing sport with National Championships in Wales but normally involves wearing a wet suit................I excavated myself , which might have been difficult in wellies, swore about the potential state of bins and camera and squelched back to the car (It was a good few minutes before Sally couldn't contain herself any longer and fell about laughing). I stripped off and sat with the heated-seat on wrapped in a sleeping bag to get back home ! - Luckily the camera and optics seem ok - I think GGS might be problematic this winter ! - Now waiting for Swamp Fever to take it's hold.

Monday 15th November - West Wittering and West Dean

Having spent an enjoyable weekend mostly around the house, I was itching to get out birding today, so was slightly uncertain waking up to a heavy freezing fog ! - Along with tornadoes and blizzards, thick fog is the other weather form that renders birding impossible. The forecast said it was going to lift and should be clearer on the coast so I headed off just after 9am to West Wittering, paid my £1 to enter the estate and walked out towards East Head with a clearing sky and a very light breeze. As soon as I was at the edge of the dunes a bird flitted fom the beach to the side of the dunes, scoped it,  it was a Lapland Bunting. It was with group of Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers, and spent a few minutes shuffling around the marram grass before taking flight with the group of c20 buntings, landed back where it started, then took off again and appeared to go further into the dunes - I didn't relocate it, but this has been a great autumn so far for Lapland Buntings and this was my 4th bird since September. I went onto the central path that goes through the dunes and noted a bird sitting on a bramble,  a Dartford Warbler, it flew right and behind me, so I re-traced my steps, came across 3 other birders, it had just flown past them and they had it skulking in the grass. A few moments later it flew out and into a small dead bush in front of us giving great views before it flew again. I wandered off looking for the buntings and a Black Redstart flew past me, landed briefly and then flew a long way back to the groynes on the beach near the car-park. I did find a group of Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings further on in the dunes but no sign of the Lapland Bunting.



Dartford Warbler - East Head





Dartford Warbler- brownish back suggests female.



I walked out to the head,  a scan in the channel picked up a fairly distant Slavonian Grebe, Red-breasted Mergansers (12) and Common Scoter (2). A large roost of Golden Plover c400 were on the mud along with Grey Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot, Curlew. A Rock Pipit was on the fence next to the saltmarsh. I then walked out to SnowHill Marsh, seeing a Chiffchaff in the bushes near the car park. I counted 27 Snipe on the nearest marsh, and there was a Spotted Redshank and a Greenshank at the far end. A Peregrine raced through causing uproar, chased a group of Oystercatchers out onto the mudflats and then headed off over the trees.



Peregrine scattering Oystercatchers

 I'd had a fantastic list of birds in the morning and had spent quite a bit of time scanning through the Brents at various interval, there were lots of juveniles but all I could see were dark-bellied. The undulations in the fields at Wittering, which is good for hiding Brents, and the fact  the Brents change field at regular intervals means its worthwhile to keep scanning. It wasn't until I was driving out that I saw the fairly obvious Ruddy Shelduck that was in the middle of the flock.


Ruddy Shelduck with Brents at West Wittering



Flushed with success I headed inland to West Dean woods and spent a couple of hours there. A Little Owl gave away its presence when a male Sparrowhawk landed in it's tree and was sent packing..



Little Owl - West Dean

 A Brambling was near the farmhouse with Chaffinches and a group of Redpolls(7) flew over, heading deeper into the woods a single Hawfinch flew over. I walked slowly back to the car but sort of got caught in the middle of a shoot (even though I was on the public bridleway ) I saw a Bullfinch, then a Firecrest (which I again failed to get a picture, as it was elusive in the Hedgerow) but had Pheasants and Red-legged Partridge pirouetting over my head to the sounds of the guns - so retreated to the car.

Saturday 13th November - Domestics

Spent most of the day cooking ! - A Red Kite flew over the field this morning seen from the bedroom window. Have seen a couple of Red Kite's this year near home and generally get one or two sightings a year but mostly in spring, and not before in November.

Bizarely news of a Red-Flanked Bluetail in Sussex was broadcast last night but only seen last weekend relating to a bird first reported last Sunday near Liphook in Hampshire, just must have got the county boundaries wrong. Turns out it was at a place called Stanley Common, which is less than 10 miles from the house and only a couple of miles from where the girls go to school, so as well as being a first for the county I would have regarded this as being in the local vicinity !  Glad I caught up with the bird in Norfolk last month but still a real shame - no idea of the details - could have been on private land but Stanley Common is riddled with public footpaths - Bummer !.

Friday 12th November - Wet and Windy


Feels like a bitty week so far with loads of rain and strong winds. Went to school on Monday - no not the kids , Me ! including classroom , canteen,  notebook, teacher pen etc - but more about that another time,

Work has been a pain, and ended up on calls this afternoon, so birding restricted to garden and field out the back . Lots of Redwings flying out from the woods early morning, probably from overnight roost. Also flying Grey Heron, Cormorant, Buzzard, Meadow Pipit. Chaffinch numbers in the last few days have increased with a maximum of  23 counted around the feeders. Long-tailed Tits (14) fed through the trees although no other birds seen with them .

At this time the number of Pheasants appear to be at their peak - They rear around 2000 chicks  in pens not far from the house release them in September as scrawny birds and by now they reach their prime, gather in numbers in the garden - most I've had is 36 !- looking boisterous, confident and feed under the bird table and feeders - as per the one below. However, I've seen the numbered posts being put in the field and I think by Monday the fella below might not be looking so brave as he does now !

I've got a number of Harlequin ladybirds in the house. They arrived in their hundreds in the warm spell we had in early October and have congregated in groups in various corners in the  house and are still there - this pic i took on Sunday  - Every now and again I find one wandering around my breakfast cereal , so interesting to see if they remain all Winter.

Harlequin Ladybirds - Hibernating next to the front door



Pot Ready - Just requires plucking at the correct temperature.



Saturday 6th November - Sea and Tides

Headed to the coast this morning and first to Selsey to have a look at the sea. Quite overcast and a  westerly was blowing so I wasn't too expectant about prospects. Arrived around 7.45 , one other birder there.  A Great Northern Diver (1) drifted west on the sea , a Razorbill was quite close on the sea, Red-throated Diver (1w), Red-breasted Merganser (1),  Common Scoter (4w), Kittiwake (6w), Brent Goose (28e), A small raptor out at sea turned into a Sparrowhawk as it headed on-shore. 4+ Med Gulls quartered the beach, several Turnstone flew up and down the beach, and a single wader heading west I picked up late in the scope before it disappeared round the wall was probably a Purple Sandpiper but will have to remain a probable. Headed to Church Norton around 9, the wind had started to veer slightly north, and with it a cooler breeze but also the cloud was clearing to blue skies.

I thought there might be some photo opportunities so grabbed the camera as I headed out from the car park, but found I'd been a complete Doofus and forgotten to put the memory Card back in having loaded some pics onto the laptop the previous night- so ended up just carrying the camera !!!

Redpolls (4) flew over as I walked down to the harbour, and a commotion in the bushes yielded nothing more than several Blackbirds and Chaffinches (although there was definitely something spooking them). The tide was well on its way in and already the waders were losing the last bit of mud. Good numbers of Grey Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and a few Black-tailed Godwit were seen 27 Little Egret were roosting in view and a Peregrine was sitting on one of the islands . On route to the sea 20+ Siskins flew over and there was a decent number of finches feeding in the brambles on the corner of the Severals consisting Greenfinches, Linnets, Goldfinches, Chaffinches and a couple of Reed Bunting. Meadow Pipit and Skylark were frequently flying over. A pair of Kingfisher sat on the exposed mud in the channel of the first Paddock.
I scanned the sea, and picked up a Red-necked Grebe amongst the 20 or so Great-crested's still in transformation plumage with a dark neck showing, the birds were quickly drifting out as the tide rose and I lost sight of this one after 5 minutes. Red-breasted Mergansers (3) joined several Wigeon on the sea.
I walked out along the spit and scoped a Merlin sitting on the fencepost and then another much further along, I eventually had great views of these as I walked towards the end of the spit as they were both preening and wing-stretching, the farther bird then took off, the nearer one staying at least long enough to get a couple of other birders onto it. A couple of Razorbills were in the harbour and were quite close to the shore at one point (At this point I should be talking about the pictures I got of the Merlin and Razorbills - but hey ...Law of Sod wins again). Several Pintail were drifting in the harbour with the Brent Geese, Wigeon and Teal and large numbers of Lapwing were flying around the harbour looking for roost spots. I had half a mind this morning to drop in on another site inland on the way home, but ended up being foiled by the tide, as it was a high high-tide and had blocked the footpath back and rather than take a longer route I decided just to loiter for an extra hour until it receded as the skies were now blue and it was quite pleasant. I added Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and some Bearded Tits along the severals. So ended a good birdy morning.

Friday 5th November - Flocking Birds and Ducking Apples

Hundreds of them - if not into the thousands. - Bloody Woodpigeons everywhere.

Hopefully my final episode of Boiler Man was this morning as the missing part arrived, whilst waiting for work to be finished there were flocks of the things flying over the house - several groups (up to 1000 in total) of between 50 and 100 birds in little more than 30 minutes , with this seemingly annual event, just as leaf drop is in full throttle, a mass movement of  birds must include continental ones. Even though the spread of the movement of Woodpigeons is over the whole of southern England, with Sussex being a more wooded county I am presuming Woodpigeons are more prone to gather here ?

The rest of the day has been very bitty, with very gloopy weather until finally mid-afternoon the slightly misty stuff turned into proper wet stuff.

I collected the remaining apples from my trees, although the condition of these is largely in the bird feed category, just just need to work out where to put them without them turning into strudel for the rodents.

I went over to Midhurst late morning and on the way dropped into Heyshott and Ambersham Commons. Even though very grey and generally quiet I saw Stonechat (1), fly-past Crossbill (5), Redpoll (3), Siskin (2), Grey Wagtail, and in the trees Treecreeper, Goldcrest (6), Green Woodpecker.

In the afternoon had a wander from the garden as far as the trout farm. Meadow Pipits (6) were in the field behind the house with  Pied Wagtails (2),  a female Tufted Duck was on the pond with the Mallards. Long-tailed Tits (10) were in the trees surrounding the garden with Goldcrests (4).



Apples !!!!

 


Ambersham Common

 


Tufted Duck - Trout Farm (with local Mallard ??!!)

 

Wednesday 3rd November - Festive Disbelief

The tube strike only slightly altered my journey to work, and my usual zombie routine, only interrupted when I called in to get my Grande Cappucino (using the official language) at the Starbucks near the office and I did a double take when I saw my coffee cup was bright red with snowflake motifs, and the Starbucks staff were donned in bright red aprons also indicating a certain time of year. My quizical look must have said everything as the polish girl handing my coffee to me answered my unanswered question when she announced 'It's Christmas' !!! - I felt saying - ' No it bloody well isn't its only November 3rd.'

Sounding like I've got an early dose of Bah Humbug, but I can understand some retailers needing to sell xmas themed stuff around now (as organised folks are buying in advance of the big day) - but surely not coffee - I felt guilty walking the 200yds down the street to the office holding my festive cappucino in full display and felt like apologising to everyone I passed as by default I had joined the early celebrations. !!

Monday 1st November - Dreams and woodland walk

I woke up this morning having dreamt that hundreds of Waxwings had savaged my crab apple when I was in Cornwall, only to be seen by everyone else in Petworth. Despite this being a nonsense dream, the first thing I did this morning to check that the tree looked largely intact, which it did !!






Ornamenal Crab Apple - Still with fruit and not a sniff of a Waxwing.

 

Spent this morning wandering through Ebernoe Common. There has been a real turn to gorgeous autumn colours on the treees over the last week and a real feeling that autumn migration has pretty much had its run for this year (apart from the late rarities of course).

There are 2 bits of water on the route I normally walk. Firstly the 2 ponds on the trout farm, which this morning only held 5 Moorhen and 2 Mallard (and a few ducks whose ancestors might just have been Mallards before they spent too much time socialising with Mr Muscovy) and the Furnace Pond in the wood, that was completely devoid of any avifauna. So my waterfowl expectations are always minimal.




A picturesque Furnace Pond with zero birds

 

Over the course of the morning I picked up a reasonable selection of woodland birds with another Firecrest being the pick of the bunch, although it was in a Holly and difficult to photgraph. Redwings crowded in good numbers in the Holly undergrowth. Fieldfares (8)  flew over with Siskins (2). Long-tailed Tit flocks held Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit. Wren, Robin and Dunnocks were plentiful. Large numbers of Jays were still foraging and Great-spotted Woodpecker and Green Woodpecker were seen and a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker was heard but unable to locate. Buzzard and Kestrel represented the raptors and a Grey Wagtail flew over Furnace Meadow, where the cows were grazing.




An Ebernoe Cow - They're very friendly.

 

Saturday 30th October - A tale of two Herons

So a plan was hatched Friday morning when Gary Howard called to see whether I was interested in a trip to Cornwall as an American Bittern had been reported on Thursday night,  having been present on a common near Zennor for 4 days. As the day progressed, the reports suggested that the last sighting had been around 11am and reports of potential birder disturbance suggested the bird had at best gone to ground. Despite this, we decided to go, as we knew that even if the bird wasn't there we would have a good day, as we generally do.

Gary picked me up at around 11.30pm on Friday and we loaded up his car to a calling Tawny Owl. After a brief 20 winks at Exeter we arrived at Zennor around 5.30am, caught the other 20 winks and then set off (uphill !) from the car park just after 7am still in the dark. A gathering of about 100 birders were on a minor road which overlooked some boggy ground with a small pool covered mostly in gorse and brambles with a little sedge, where it was presumed the bird must be if it was still there. Flyover Redwings, Fieldfares, Siskins and some distant Golden Plovers and a Wheatear were seen by about 9am although the masses were getting slightly aggitated at no sign of the Bittern, when suddenly the American Bittern errupted out of the sedges just in front of us and flew a few hundred yards south and appeared to land in another gorse field. We wandered down the road with the crowd but on deciding there was no view of the field where it landed, Gary and I decided to walk further down the road and a few minutes later the bird was again flying this time quite high and afforded good scope views clinching some of the plumage features, including the chestnut head-colouring and stripes down neck and breast. Then an aerial assualt by a Peregrine caused the bittern to head for the earth, quickly raising its head feathers in a crest-like display to try and fend off the Peregrine which was joined for the hell of it by two crows - The American Bittern was having a bad day ! and was again out of sight near some distant farm buildings. We stayed around the area until 11.30am, without the Bittern making a further appearance, also seeing Greenland White-fronted Goose (4), Buzzard (2), Goldcrest. We debated the future wellbeing of this bird as although we coudn't see it feeding, it wasn't blindingly obvious that there was an abundance of food in this chosen area, which is presumably why it was taking to flight to try and find suitable feeding habitat.

After a welcome snack at the cafe in Zennor, we then headed towards the Lost Gardens of Heligan, stopping briefly at the Hayle Estuary on route, where we added Whooper Swan (3), Ruff (1), Bar-tailed Godwit, Little Egret and lots of Wigeon and Teal.

We arrived at Heligan at 2.30pm and after a short walk, adding Firecrest, we were watching our 2nd american heron of the day, the Green Heron. We spent a decent couple of hours watching this delightful bird, very at home and very succesfully devouring fish on 2 small ponds that it was frequenting, we saw it catch over 20 in the time we were there. It would seem to have a much better chance of survival than its american cousin in the gorse field. Photo opportunities were good, although anyone wanting to look at good bird pics generally should really have a look on Gary's website http://www.garyhowardsbirdsandwildlife.com/ as his photos are exceptional !

We spent the journey back listening to the Football and then the phone-in debates, where we thought there should be a '606 for Birders' on the way home from Saturday birding. A Chinese takeaway to re-fuel Gary for his drive back to Kent ended a pretty exceptional day - Cheers Mate !





Birders waiting for the American Bittern

 



View back to Zennor from 'Bittern Hill'

 





Green Heron - Lost Gardens of Heligan

 
 




The Green Heron thinks it's invisible in its Bittern pose amongst the reeds.

   







Green Heron - fish definitely on the menu.