15th October - Last throws of Summer

I headed down to the coast this morning (well, to Selsey again,  which is due South and therefore 'down'). The winds were very light and southerly, and there was little prospect of movement on the sea, but my first hour had significant numbers of passerines moving along the coast. Groups of up to 20 birds at a time some flocks were mixed and the typical underside-of-rump views of birds passing overhead relied on the calls to be ID certain. Siskins(50+), Lesser Redpolls(30), Goldfinches(10), Pied Wagtails(38), Grey Wagtail(1), Meadow Pipit(7), Linnet (15), Skylark(2), Sparrowhawk(1), Swallow (18) all contributed to the activity and probably 100+ other birds were seen as passerine sp being  too distant to confirm. Plenty of Med Gulls were offshore with Sandwich Tern (1), Shag (1), Common Scoter (6), Red-breasted Merganser (3) and a small number of distant Gannets, maybe that rarity was lurking at Church Norton.....

.... or maybe not, the weather was certainly glorious which made up a little for the few birds. The back of the churchyard held  singles of  Blackcap and Chiffchaff and more Siskin with Lesser Redpolls, Skylark and Meadow Pipits continuing to fly over. A Dartford Warbler was in the Gorse scrub on the West side and 2 Stonechats were probably migrants.Swallows continued to appear with 2 House Martins. Very little was visible along the severals with only a calling Cettis Warbler and 3 Goldcrest in a small copse, The harbour held good numbers of Brent Geese, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Knot, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover and the Leucistic Curlew was still present causing confusion to a couple of birders who thought they were looking at a Sacred Ibis.. A Northern Wheatear was in a field driving out of the churchyard.

At home the coastal movement theme continued a little as 3 Skylark, 6 Meadow Pipits and 14 Redwings flew over the garden calling and the large flock of Siskins was still around the Alders . 3 Buzzards were circling a Sparrowhawk darted through and at least 3 Goldcrest were seen along with a brief view of a Firecrest.

My afternoon otherwise occupied meant that I had no chance of getting to the Downs near Beachy Head when news came through of an Isabelline Wheatear, which was a first for Sussex. With the clear skies at night migrants were not hanging around (ergo the Rufous-tailed Robin in Norfolk the previous day) so I waited for news on Sunday morning and  not surprisingly the bird was not seen - shame but another glorious day of weather was spent planting bulbs with Adie.

8/9 October - Unplanned painting

I am no DIY expert but at the moment am painting a wardrobe - only problem is that it feels like a Forth Bridge episode - and it's my own fault as after having some very good (and not cheap) wardrobes fitted, the quote to paint them was £800, so I stubbornly declined and said at that price I would do it myself. So 3 weeks later it's still only 75%complete and I'm perhaps regretting my hastiness. So far Sal has been reasonably forgiving in not being able to use the brand new wardrobes with all the clothes still in boxes - not sure the charity will last much longer !!

The other weekend activity was spending a good part of Saturday playing Netball !! - Parent's v's Teachers. Rather odd to have played a new sport after 45 years ! - Once I'd got the hang of the silly rules (after I'd been penalised half a dozen times for trying to stop the opposition from passing the ball - though that was the idea !!) it was better than expected although probably contributed to the sore back which came on after Sunday's bulb planting.

All of this meant that I didn't have any birding outing. Last weeks Crane had flown down the East coast and settled in Suffolk for the week !!! - and I'm not really thinking that I could have avoided about 800 miles of driving as we had a great trip and saw some other good birds, but there is a fair amount of irony there.

Around the garden, the birds seem to have vanished from the feeders, which I'm currently assuming is as a result of late Summer dispersal, otherwise a little curious given that there were a fair number of common species in the trees, with a flock of up to 20 Siskins, 3 Lesser Redpolls, and several Goldcrest, Great Sopotted Woodpecker and Treecreeper. A roaming Tit flock had Long-tailed, Marsh, Blue, Great and Coal. 4 Bullfinches are still in their favoured area and the Tawny Owls are still very vocal at night although I haven't seen in daylight again since August.