Sunday 29th January - Big Garden Birdwatch

The annual event to boost bird food sales. About 8.30 I went outside to let the Ducks and Chickens out and to top up the bird feeders, and had a Crossbill flyover calling and a Goldcrest singing in a Holly. The birds slowly arrived and over the next hour I recorded a decent list as below. Because the bird feeders are positioned in a bit of a corridor between the house and the hedge (not ideal but practically because it's the only viewpoint from the kitchen) I spent the last 10 minutes wandering outside, where I found a Firecrest (but as you can see it was so active and almost impossible to get a picture of) and a Sparrowhawk flew over.

The rest of the list is as follows with a total of 26 species recorded compared to last year at Greyhound where it was 28.

                                 2012             2011
Blue Tit                       6                  (21)
Great Tit                      5                 (5)
Coal Tit                       1                 (1)
Robin                          1                 (2)
Blackbird                    3                 (6)
Dunnock                     2                 (1)
Redwing                      3                 (1)
Chaffinch                    13                (27)
Nuthatch                      2                 (2)
Pheasant                      1                 (1)
Goldfinch                     3                 (9)
Bullfinch                       1                 (1)
Great Sp Woodpecker 2                 (2)
Siskin                           3                 (1)
Greenfinch                   1                  (15)
Woodpigeon                1                 (3)
Jackdaw                      2                 (4)
Carrion Crow              1                 (1)
Magpie                        1                 (2)
Sparrowhawk              1                 (1)
Redpoll                       3                  (-)
Starling                        5                 (-)
Goldcrest                     1                 (-)
Firecrest                      1                 (-)
Stock Dove                  2                 (-)
Crossbill                      1                  (-)
Marsh Tit                     -                  (1)
Wren                            -                 (1)
Song Thrush                 -                  (1)
Mistle Thrush                 -                 (1)
Pied Wagtail                 -                 (2)
House Sparrow             -                (24)
Yellowhammer              -                 (1)
Buzzard                        -                 (1)

The surprises were the Firecrest and Crossbill, without doubts the highlight. With the Lesser Redpoll, Siskin and Bullfinch being pleasing records. Some birds just didn't appear on the day, such as Marsh Tit (seen yesterday), Song Thrush, Wren, Pied Wagtail and House Sparrow are around although none of which have been near the feeding area this year. The biggest difference is the number of finches - only one Greenfinch (and that only turned up in the last couple of minutes). All the pictures are a bit dark - because it was !

Off to Reading for a family 60th. have seen that a Parrot Crossbill has turned up on Black Down - only 5 minutes from here - Will hope that it stays around until next weekend. Last of these birds I saw was many years ago in Norfolk.

Set up and ready - Bird feeding zone.

Pheasant was in early.

Siskin

Nuthatch

Starling

It wouldn't sit still - failed miserably in attempts to get a recognisable shot of this Firecrest

Saturday 28th January - Smoking Joe leaves me closer to home

Not that my car has a name, but for the last 4 months I've had an intermittent problem when accelerating, that I dump a big cloud of white smoke on the road behind - a little embarrassing and almost dangerous. It has taken 4 visits to Land Rover of 'we can't find anything wrong' until eventually I took an engineer out for a drive to try and replicate the problem (and to some relief, I was able to demonstrate the fog - A bit like telling a doctor you've got a serious bowel problem and he doesn't believe you until you manage to let one rip in front of him). The car was booked in for the whole of this week and only on Friday have they discovered that the turbo is leaking oil and a new one may take a couple of weeks to sort out. So at some point over the weekend I was to expect a delivery of a replacement hire car for the duration. I had originally vaguely planned to do some coastal birding, but instead decided to explore the area from the house. Since moving in last July I have only done a couple of brief walks from the house and none since about October. With limited leisure time, local watching can get overlooked so I was pleased with the slightly forced opportunity.

I headed out around 8am. It was around 5c and very grey, I was out for around 3 hours but probably didn't cover much more than 3 miles, the weather remained rather cold and dull, although it did brighten up for around an hour.

Walking out of the garden,, across the field and to the lane 4 Bullfinches were in a hedge, along with Chaffinch, Robin and Dunnock. Viewing the first bit of lane Carrion Crows, Jackdaws, Greenfinches and House Sparrows were all visible. The footpath then skirts round a large old farmhouse. A Green Woodpecker flew down the path in front of me. The footpath then follows a route that is typical of the whole Weald area (and not unlike at home) running through strips of wooded gulleys with streams bordered by fields, some with sheep, some for summer grazing (probably horses) and copses of closely grown pines, probably National Trust managed, with evidence of management for shoots. None of the land really extends to farmland so my thoughts were on woodland birds rather than farmland species.

I started seeing many of the commoner woodland birds. Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Long-tailed Tits, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Jay, Magpie, Wren, Robin. Many of which had started to be more vocal with glimpses of their Spring Songs. As I entered one of the Pine a belts several Goldcrest were singing, Redwing and Song Thrush were seen and then 4 Crossbill  flew over calling. A Buzzard flew up from one of the fields, but I was surprised at not encountering a Marsh Tit anywhere on the walk and was conscious that I hadn't seen one at home since early November. Several Siskins were seen, and small flock of Lesser Redpoll were in some birches.  I encountered several more Bullfinches and 2 Roe Deer. I then thought I heard a Woodpecker-like call but it was a little distant, I  wondered whether it could be a Lesser-spotted, I heard some tapping from a large oak and got excited before eventually tracking down a Great Tit hammering into a seed head, but then the call again ? - I was frantically searching the highest branches of the trees and then found a Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker, it was a female and spent a good 10 minutes in the highest branches before disappearing. I stayed in the area seeing more Bullfinches, Redwings and Nutchatches, the call I always thought was the song of the male so I was slightly confused I was only seeing a female but then I heard the call again before relocating the female on the other side of the path, just as a male flew in and started drumming on a distant branch - fantastic, a real gem to find a pair so close to home. I wandered back seeing more of the same species including a large flock of chattering Redwing, but had not anticipated seeing 3 Woodpecker species.

Back at home the bird feeders were quite lively, and  3 Lesser Redpolls were seen using the feeders, which I hadn't seen before with several Goldfinches and a single Siskin. A Marsh Tit also visited later in the day which answered my earlier question of where they've disappeared to.

I took my long lens with the camera so the scenery shots below are a little stunted, the woodpecker was very distant so record shots only and the kitchen window is still grubby for the home shots ! - excuses !

This weekend is the annual Big Garden Birdwatch, organised by the RSPB and like previous years I'm looking to do an hour in the morning before we head off to Reading.. I wonder what it will bring !

Entering Pine country



The streams in the woods - larger than the trickle at home.



View to Black Down - tallest peak in Sussex



Female Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker



Tiny wee bird

Very cropped picture - in the tallest branches

Male Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker - drumming - very distant.

Fairly typical local landscape

Baa

Lesser Redpoll at home



Female Great-spotted Woodpecker.



Sunday 22nd January - Winter Fuel

We haven't had much in the way of severe winter weather and even towards the end of this week when I was in Glasgow for work it was just damp, grey and windy. The Weatherman is hedging his bets for next week saying there is an equal probability that we will have mild windy and wet weather or that severely cold weather will set in with risk of snow in all areas !. If I tried to present the equivalent scenario at work (there is an equal probability that we will make lots of money or we will be severely loss making) I would be marched out of the office - .. there's a thought !

The fallen tree, or trees - there was a mixture of Hornbeam, Alder and Hazel. have been chainsawed into large logs that I spent Saturday splitting into fire size pieces - we haven't used the fire that much but it is a good one and we shouldn't have to buy any wood ever again ! I also put up 5 bird boxes, with Adie's help, that I had brought from Greyhound. One was the round-holed Great Tit type the others were the open style. The property had a couple of bird boxes up before we arrived including 2 swallow nests and an owl box in the big barn all of which unused (I think the owl box is one that should be put on a tree not in a barn as it's not open enough). So will eagerly wait for Spring to see how these a viewed.

Sunday ,I started fairly early at West Wittering - the key to East Head is to arrive before the Dogs, not only because I find birding whilst being sniffed and barked at extremely off putting, but the birds are flushed by the marauding hounds. There was quite a brisk wind blowing down the channel and the water was choppy, so only 3 Red-breasted Mergansers were on the water, but a lone Sandwich Tern must have been one of the small number wintering around Chichester Harbour. The dunes held a few Stonechats, Reed Buntings, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits and I located the 3 Snow Buntings that had been frequenting the tip of the Head, although understandably they were a little flighty. Snowshill Marsh had a good selection of common birds. Little Egret, a few Wigeon and Teal, Grey Plover, Black-tailed Gowit, Redshank, Knot, Turnstone,  Dunlin and around a dozen sleeping Snipe. The Brent Geese were gathering back in the fields as the tide was high with a large flock of Golden Plover.
I was intending to call in at Fishbourne, but decided against this with the tide being so high. and briefly called in on a couple of the Chichester Gravel pits without recording anything exceptional other than more Coot than I've seen before on one lake.
I headed inland to Rackham, where from the viewpoint I saw 3 White-fronted Geese and a Ringtail Hen Harrier. My final stop was at Coldwaltham, where rather than walk around the brooks I went to the sewage works. I had a Peregrine fly by and then a Woodcock, which was a nice surprise. The Chiffchaffs in the bushes were into double figures, although to me all resembled collybita with no sign of the tristis race bird that had been reported.

Snow Bunting - West Wittering

Snow Bunting - 1 of 3 birds

Lapwing

Male Bullfinch at home - taken through grubby window -still aiming for a better shot.

Saturday 14th January - Winter at its best

A heavy overnight frost greeted me at 6.30 am this morning. Maybe not quite the first of the Winter but we haven't had many cold and clear spells. The big bird news earlier in the week was a Spanish Sparrow which had been identified visiting houses in Calshot in Hampshire (not far from where I saw the Junco last week). I do have an aversion to going birding in other peoples back gardens, but I hadn't seen one of these birds before, it wasn't far away, and the bird had been seen by the road rather than having to queue to get into someones house. The fact that it was over 10 years since one of these birds had appeared in the UK meant that it was likely to be busy ! - and it was.

I arrived at about 7.45, just as light was appearing and stood with a couple of hundred other birders on a quiet roadside verge staring at a hedge on the other side of the road,  the bird roosted in that hedge and would appear before going off to feed with other sparrows in the local gardens. Right on queue, the Spanish Sparrow appeared in the depths of the hedge for about 15 minutes before briefly hopping up in a better view and then flying off to start feeding, luckily I happened to be standing almost immediately opposite where it appeared. OK it was just a Sparrow, but it was a fairly well marked bird, and just as I like looking at smart Tree Sparrows, this bird was attractive in a Catalan Sparrow type of way. With the early light I  didn't get any great pictures, but there will be plenty on the internet and there was a TV camera there (mainly filming the birders) so it won't be lacking in publicity.

I moved swiftly on and headed towards  Blashford Lakes , same location as last week . I called in at the water meadows in Harbridge, where an arable field held 7 Bewick Swans, 2 Egyptian Geese, and a Whooper Swan in with a hundred or so Mute Swans. At Blashford I first went to the North Hide of Ivy Lake, and within minutes a Bittern walked in front of the hide into reeds and caught a fish, flushing a Water Rail in the process - marvellous - It would have been better if the hide didn't have permanant glass windows and the sun wasn't directly head -on, but it was a great bird to see fairly close. I bumped into James Hunter entering the South hide and he quickly found the Ferruginous Duck that was missing in action last week.

Back in Sussex, at Burpham, I was successful in seeing the Rough-legged Buzzard, which gave a couple of flight views before perching on a grain bin and preened for hour, with both male and ringtail Hen Harrier, Peregrine, Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, and Common Buzzard, with the usual supporting cast of Grey and Red-legged Partridge, Corn bunting, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Skylarks.

I arrived home late afternoon to continue some wood cutting. The garden still had some life in 3 Bullfinches, along with Redwing, Pied Wagtail, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Long-tailed Tits.

Spanish Sparrow



Just at dawn - A flamenco lisp to the 'Cheep'




Whooper Swan with Mutes

Whooper Swan

Grey Partidge at Burpham

Grey Partridge showing his 'heart'

Saturday 7th January - New Forest

Gary was already thinking of a trip to the New Forest when I phoned him on Friday afternoon, so he picked me up on-route and it was only about an hour later we were standing in the Hawkhill Inclosure with  50+ other birders waiting to see an American vagrant, a Dark-eyed Junco (Not to be confused with the Dark-eyed Junkie seen most days in London) . The area was an open heath on the edge of  a pine belt, with 2 recently fallen pines beside some chestnut trees. The bird had been favouring the fallen pine canopy which we understood some seed had been placed in the vicinity. A large group of Crossbills were in the nearby trees and singing Woodlark were seen. After about half an hour the Dark-eyed Junco appeared in the company of Chaffinches and Reed Buntings. We had 3 decent scope views of the bird over the next hour or so before moving on to Shatterford stopping briefly at Hatchet pond,  seeing a Little Egret and surprisingly 6 Goosander.

From the Shatterford car park we walked out towards Bishops Dyke and located the Great Grey Shrike in birches and good scope views before the bird moved on, such a lovely looking bird, shame it wasn't a bit closer for a pic. We walked a little into the woods on the advice from another birder that he had seen some Brambling feeding on Beech Mast. We saw Treecreepers, Nuthatch, Long-tailed Tits,Siskin, Goldcrest and Marsh Tit but no the sign of the Brambling.

Next we went to Blashford Lakes in the hope of locating the Ferruginous Duck. Once we'd worked out the system of lakes we had numerous wildfowl, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Pintail, Teal, Wigeon, Goldeneye, more Goosander and 2 Green Sandpiper, but no sign of the Ferruginous Duck.

Our last stop was back into the forest and to Blackwater Aboretum, at least 5 Hawfinches were seen arriving at the tops of the trees along with 3 Brambling, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll. We noted how it was still almost light at 4.30 !!!  - Spring  must be just around the corner !


Male Crossbill



Dark-eyed Junco

Male Goosander

female / juvenile Goosanders

New Forest - view near Bishops Dyke

Happy New Year !!!

The clock did it's job and ticked over midnight - So what will 2012 bring...

The weatherman was the first person to break his New Year's resolution (assuming that 'give a more accurate forecast' would be a good one to have if you're a weatherman). I planned News Year Day based on the forecast of grey skies with early drizzle clearing from the West. As it turned out the grey and drizzly bit was spot on, until around 11am when strong winds and heavy rain set in for the rest of the day, so it ended up being a case of match abandoned.

We were at home on New Years Eve so didn't have a particularly late one. I started the day early at Selsey Bill and in a two hour seawatch notched up Slavonian Grebe, Great Northern Diver, Black-throated Diver, Red-throated Diver, Guillemot, Razorbill, Shag, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Gannet, Med Gull and Red-breasted Merganser, not a bad start although there were only a few birds around with surprisingly no duck and the auks were only 1 of each and 2 skuas flew past just after I left at around 10 when I  went to Church Norton.  The tide was out, but a decent number of waders were in the harbour, Bar-tailed Godwit, Golden Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Turnstone, Curlew, Redshankl and an Avocet along with Teal, Wigeon, Pintail and a few Little Egrets. A single Chiffchaff was the passerine highlight, then I was getting very wet, I went back to the car intending to go on to Fishbourne Creek then to West Dean, but the weather just got worse so I headed home.

Not deterred  on the final day before back to work, I tried again yesterday (Monday). This time it was bright blue skies and around 8 or 9c and stayed that way for the whole day and a good year tick was my first view of the Sun !. I was out slightly later than yesterday and went to Burpham and walked up onto the Downs, there was no sign of the Bewick Swan flock overlooking the Arun, but surely this looked a good day for Raptors as unusually I hadn't seen one at all yesterday. I spent nearly 4 hours wandering around in comparatively glorious weather. I had no luck with the wintering Rough-legged Buzzard, which made an appearance later on in the day according to reports, but had 20+ Common Buzzards, 2 Red Kites, several Kestrels, Raven, Grey Partidge, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Linnets and another Chiffchaff. I called in briefly at Rackham and again no more interesting Geese other than the Canada and Greylags, and then onto Waltham Brooks, where 2 Bewick Swans took flight from the flooded field near the bridge and 4 Short-Eared Owls were still giving great displays over the brooks. A final call into Burton Pond on the way home didn't yield any wintering Bittern, but the weather was great and I've started the year being out 2 days looking at birds and totalling around 90 species - can't be bad.

The pictures of the garden and fields below were taken on Friday - before the rain and wind !

Short-Eared Owl (light was slightly better than the other week)



4 Owls were contentedly hunting over the brooks - lovely



Watching Owls hunt in daylight is better than any Attenborough programme

View North West across the Burgh

View East across the Arable land - great for Birds of Prey

Winter at home - The Orchard



Fallen tree I need to do something with



Deer are nice to look at (and eat !)  but they eat everything- This was one of 4 bounding across the field.

Bottom corner where the Woodcock was seen.

The dribbling stream (rather than babbling brook) - but it fills after rain

View towards house from back field,