Saturday 24th September - A day trip to Scotland

The drama after I had seen the Pallid Harrier was that the Temincks Stint that had been at Weirwood Reservoir had morphed into a Long-Toed Stint (with only 2 previous British Records and none in Sussex). So there was no choice but to try for this at first light on Thursday morning. There was a health warning that views of this 5inch long wader had been at best distant (some 500 yds) - I arrived early (6am) and duly waited with the c100 other birders for light up .. but there was no sign ...  the only waders visible amongst the Lapwing being 8 distant Ringed Plovers, 3 Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpipers and a Greenshank. I bumped into Gary and I chatted for a while but by 10am I was feeling that the bird had probably departed overnight so I left... and it wasn't seen again.

Later that day I had seen reports of  a Sandhill Crane in Aberdeenshire and recalled that 2 years ago Gary had called me when one of these rare American Cranes had turned up on Orkney and after making plans to do a weekend trip the bird promptly departed before we left. It wasn't a great surprise when Gary called me again  early Friday and so plans were made to drive overnight Friday and arrive the 600 miles further north at around first light on Saturday.

So I picked Gary and Mike Buckland up around 9pm and we set off, arriving at Loch of Strathbeg RSPB reserve exactly at sunrise (6.55am). The RSPB reserve had set itself up expecting many visitors and we were quickly ushered by friendly staff to the back of the information centre overlooking the reserve which was crammed full of birders with scopes looking at the Sandhill Crane which had roosted overnight on the reserve along with some 20,000 Pink-footed Geese. The Crane was giving good if distant views and shortly took flight leaving the reserve to the North. It had in previous days been visiting freshly cut hay fields to feed during the day.

So we headed out to relocate the Crane already buoyed by the success of connecting with it immediately after the long drive. After half and hour or so of touring lanes the bird was refound and this time we obtained better views in good light before eventually it took flight again - fantastic !.  Lots of Curlew were in the fields and a Merlin flew over and Wheatears and Ruff were seen suring our touring of the lanes. The landscape was very much grazing land with many fields just cut for hay mostly with the bails yet to be removed, with a coastal strip of slightly wetter grazing . After another search around we decided that we would head back to the RSPB reserve for some food overlooking the reserve.

A small number of Barnacle Geese were with the Pink-feet, and Mike picked up 2 Pectoral Sandpipers along with a Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Dunlin and Redshank.

Around  midday we headed further down the coast to Blackdog, where a walk out to the dunes and along Murcars golf course had us scanning the sea amongst the thousands of sea duck present, and it wasn't too long before we picked up our quarry in a Black Scoter in amongst the Common Scoter, Eider, mostly Guillemot and Red-throated Divers with an Arctic Skua and a few Arctic Terns in the fly pasts.

We headed south around 3.30am all very pleased with our birding in fantastic scenery and mild, bright weather and perhaps wished we could have stayed longer in the area eventually arriving home at around 2.30am on Sunday !.

Some of the 20,000+ Pink-footed Geese

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane - a nice garden tick for someone ! - note Gulls for size comparison.

The stubble fields favoured by the Crane (It's in front of the barn !)

.. and then it flew off,

Ruff in wet grazing field.

Plenty of Wheatears were seen.

Wednesday 21st September - Burpham !

Village name that sounds like wind-ing a baby, in fact you wonder what these medieval locals were up to as in Sussex you can find the strategically placed villages of  Beddingham, Effingham and Offham .. will leave the rest to imagination. So back to Burpham....

A juvenile Pallid Harrier turned up on the Downs just North of the village of Burpham - tentatively id'd as a Montagu's Harrier at the end of last week but diligently re-examined from further scrutiny of photo's was then confirmed as a Pallid Harrier and although UK records have increased recently, it is still a particularly rare bird and especially in Sussex. With the way work was unravelling this week, I was beginning to think any sort of outing might be limited to a weekend slot but usefully my car was due to be serviced today at Pulborough - so I negotiated with Sal the use of her car for 4 hours before picking her up again from her shop.

I arrived in Burpham (and for those Australasian relatives that read this blog - nowhere in sight was there a creche full of fattened milk-fed babies waiting to belch)  at 9am in pouring rain and cursing my luck that my free slot in the week was going to be the only one where raptor watching had to abandoned by low cloud and drizzle - so I walked up the lane to a gate and the best viewing spot down the valley where another birder was waiting and had seen the Harrier much earlier in the morning before the rain set in - so my hopes lifted and within a few minutes we saw a nice male Hen Harrier struggling a little against the weather in the field in front of us. After a good hour and half the rain finally relented (largely due to me getting my flask out for a coffee) and birds started to move with good numbers of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Linnets and Goldfinches, a flyover Yellow Wagtail and lots of  Buzzards, Kestrels and both Grey and Red-legged Partridge being seen.

A few more people turned up and and the Pallid Harrier came into view on the horizon and drifted down into the valley making a couple of passes of what turned out to be its favoured strip of game crop. A few birders had gathered a few hundred metres away down the lane and probably had a better view so we decided to relocate to that spot, the Harrier reappeared but flew high over our heads and back next to the gate we had just relocated from !! (the law of sod working perfectly). But over the next couple of hours decent views were had  of the main distinguishing features of the bird being the full light collar bordered by dark boa, a distinct face pattern, including the bird perched in a field and then in a bush and it was a stunning bird to watch so well worth the effort. The photo's due to the distance and me are a little ropey but are good for the record. Also seen were a Red Kite, Hobby, Sparrowhawk and another small falcon that shot into a bush and I thought would be a Merlin but I couldn't relocate it.

juvenile Pallid Harrier



The valley on the downs north of Burpham from the gate.



Monday 19th September - Overdue catch up

I need to get back to regular blogging as I've become a little tardy over the last couple of months, but work is taking most of my free thinking time at the moment !!! - Having said that I've managed a couple of outings in the last 2 weeks.

Saturday 10th September

The Sussex coast can have limited scope for good seawatching unless the winds are of a southerly nature, which is  a shame at this time of the year as many good seabirds are appearing in other parts of the country. On a good day seeing visible migration and not knowing what will appear next is a joy, on all other occasions it is immensely boring and feels like nothing short of a waste of valuable time.
The Atlantic gales (which are typically westerlies until the back edge of the cyclone blows down the English channel which are northerlies) can usher in some of the more unusual good birds nearer the coast (often up the Irish Channel - benefiting Cornwall and Ireland or then down the English Channel benefiting the Eastern coast counties) and that had been the feature of the last week and reading all the Sussex reports they had not unexpectedly all drawn complete blanks. In these conditions a southerly wind generally only appears briefly in between these cyclones - and my limited weather reading ability thought that Saturday morning would have a few hours of Southerly winds before veering back to the West again.

So as I seem to have done more frequently I headed down to Selsey Bill early arriving at 7.15am with some hope - overcast but at least the winds were as predicted - and there was a definite movement of birds. Within the first hour a Hobby flew in off the sea and at least 300 hirundines had flown south, mainly Swallows with around 50 Sand Martins and a few House Martins, 50 Yellow Wagtails and 5 Meadow Pipits with several other unidentified small passerines passing overhead without calling. Small numbers of Sandwich Terns and Gannets were constantly moving and only a handful of Common Terns with 1 juvenile Arctic Tern. 20 Common Scoter, a single Guillemot, 4 Med Gulls and a single Shag. 2 dark phase Arctic Skuas flew West and then a 10am the best bird was a Sooty Shearwater which flew West.

I briefly called in at Church Norton and had a scan in the harbour - the tide was high and a number of Wigeon Teal and Pintail were visible in the harbour so even though still in eclipse plumage would have been recent arrivals. A steady stream of hirundines kept up the early morning theme but other than a few of the commoner waders there was little to pick out. A Spotted Flycatcher was the best of the find in the scrub but a good birdy morning.

Med Gull (Juv going into 1st Winter plumage) at Selsey

Pagham harbour at high tide looking out to the harbour mouth

...looking inland towards Goodwood.

Friday 16th September

Knowing the weekend was busy, I finished work earlier on Friday and managed a couple of hours late afternoon at Pulborough Brooks. The North brooks were actually at an ideal level for wading birds and there was a good selection for an inland site with plenty of Lapwing, 7 Ruff, 2 Green Sandpipers, 3 Dunlin, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Snipe and most surprisingly 1 Knot. A Hobby flew over and plenty of Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins were moving through. Nearly every bush seemed to hold a Chiffchaff and one small corner had 2 Redstarts and a Lesser Whitethroat.

Female Redstart at Pulborough

A shimmering red tail when it alights onto the fence from insect catching.

One of two Redstarts occupying a scrubby corner in late afternoon sunlight

Lesser Whitethroat in Redstart corner

Chiffchaff followed the Redstart onto the post.

Back at the ranch the only additions to the home bird list have been flyovers - a Grey Heron (twice), 4 Canada Geese and 2 Pied Wagtails. I have seen the Firecrest for the 3rd weekend in a row still in the same Holly - and still not co-operating for a picture. Chiffchaff, Blackcap, and Siskins are still aplenty with Bullfinch still around but the feeders have been quiet in the last week.

Domestic Fowl ! - from left Blueberry, Peach and Penny - Blossom was at the vets !