Saturday 21st April - Deluge

The government should have announced building the Ark had commenced at the same time they announced the hosepipe ban as it looks as if we might need it. The back-tracking by the water companies who are trying to convince us we are in the worst drought for 3 decades when we are cowering under our umbrellas and telling us it's the wrong sort of rain, isn't going down well !.

Expecting a weather affected day, I visited Apuldram Churchyard on the way to Selsey, where a 'possible' Iberian Chiffchaff had turned up. I let the Ducks and Chickens out before I left and a Willow Warbler was calling in one of the Oaks. I was the only one at Apuldram, but as soon as I got out of the car the bird was calling in a bare Ash tree in the car park. Just as I started taking pictures I realised I'd left my SD card back in the laptop ! (The light was rubbish anyway).

Iberian Chiffchaff is a separate species, but can only be successfully separated from 'normal' Chiffchaffs by it's song/call as visually they are pretty similar. I have only seen one before near Norwich in 2007 so I didn't have bags of experience to bring to the debate. This bird had a song that was in three bits. The first a two note chiff chiff intro, followed by 3/4 notes slightly higher in pitch and more flutey and then a burst of notes at the end but not quite a rattle, but perhaps not as pure as an Iberian Chiffchaffs song should be compared to the majority of recorded individuals. The debate as to it's true parentage seems to be questioned by some who believe it started life as a Chfiffchaff and has potentially learned some song notes of the Iberian variety on it's travels. To me it's just as likely that the opposite has occurred and its' an Iberian Chiffchaff which has grown up with desires for a bit of Chiffchaff in its' life. It is likely the debate will be concluded by graphing the pitch of each note into a sonogram. It was an interesting bird to see/hear  whatever it turns out to be,   I am of course interested in the conclusion, but this is where the science overtakes the hobby - anyway onto the sea.

The sea was reasonably calm but the dark numpty of a cloud which was closing rapidly in with worsening visibility meant I was in for a potential soaking. Beforehand a group of terns lingered including Common, Sandwich, 3 Little and best of all 2 Arctic Terns, but they quickly started to sprint East as the rain approached. I spent 10 minutes fighting with an umbrella and then gave up and sat in the car for another 30 minutes until the rain eased. The skies cleared a little but the birds were very distant. 1 Arctic Skua and 3 Great Skuas being the best and a few Swallows off the sea. The harbour seemed a better bet, so I parked at the Ferry pool end and walked up to Church Norton and back. My first, Reed Warblers, SedgeWarblers and Whitethroats were seen and a pair of Little Ringed Plover were on the Ferry Pool. 3 close Whimbrel were in the harbour and a Cuckoo kept overtaking me on the walk back from Church Norton.

The afternoon comprised some blustery showers, although I did hear a Cuckoo several times in the afternoon at home. The Firecrests are busily vocal, Blackcap and Chiffchaff were seen with a few Buzzards and Sparrowhawk.

A badger appeared just in daylight at home and I managed to get a shot video clip. When I work out how to load it I'll do so !

Patchy arrived a bit early for dinner.

A pair of Bullfinches still put in a daily appearance around the house,

Tuesday 17th April - Easter catch up

It's been an odd period over the Easter weekend and through last week, the Easter bunny made his normal mess with the wine bottles and then disappeared down a hole. The weather had turned to mainly northerly winds and cold, but sometimes sunny, and since the day that the hosepipe ban was announced as we are officially in drought, we've had a decent amount of rain !

I've made a few early morning trips to Selsey, always with high expectations of seeing the visible migration of the millions of Summer birds migrating to the UK shores interspersed with the occasional rare wanderer....mmmm... The reality of a small trickle of birds with long periods squinting into a flat calm sea has been more reality. Rather than try to recount every last magical   painful moment its probably easiest to list the highlights (it will be quicker !). comments of 'its been a very slow Spring' were reverberating around the group of birders that frequent the 'Bill' - no it's not just me !

Manx Shearwater - 37 were seen on a wet and windy bank holiday 9th April.
Arctic Skua - 1 seen on the  9th
Great Skua   - 3 seen on the 9th
Common Tern - first seen on the 9th - more than 50 on the 14th
Swallow - First seen on 9th - lots since
Sand Martin - 4 on 12th
House Martin - 1 on 12th
Little Gull - 7 on the 14th
Little Tern - first seen 2 on the 12th
Velvet Scoter 9 on 12th, 11 on 14th
Redstart - 1 male off sea on the 12th
Roseate Tern - 1 on 14th
Yellow Wagtail - 2 on 14th

As well as all three Diver species (Great Northern, Black-throated and Red-throated), there was a continuous stream of Meadow Pipits (several hundred). Other passerine migrants included several Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, 8 Wheatears, Linnets and Goldfinches and 2 Blackcaps, some of these small birds you can pick up flying towards you a few hundred yards out to see and often they head for the first bush they can see on land. Others such as the pipits fly directly over calling . A Merlin flew in on the 12th.

I also managed a couple of local walks, mainly with the same species as previously beeing seen including the Tree Pipit which was in the same area of cleared pines and had started it's songflighting displays. I saw the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (female) on one occasion and the Bramblings (up to 12 were in the same area on the 9th but had disappeared by the 15th). A Willow Warbler was heard briefly on the 9th.

Back at home I saw 2 Ravens fly over twice on the 15th, and heard a Cuckoo briefly on the evening of the 12th, the big 'G' bird was seen on the 15th with plenty of Buzzards, Sparrowhawks and a Kestrel... and the Firecrest is still around.

Just hope the weather warms up again soon otherwise the girls will have a shock when the come back from 30c at the weekend,.

Male Crossbill

local Tree Pipit in song  from a distance.

Speckled Wood butterfly in garden,

Sunday 1st April - No fools here !

The working week has been hot and sunny and on Thursday morning I heard a Black Redstart singing when I was walking to the office from Starbucks along Cornhill around 7.30am. It was up high somewhere and the buildings in the area are so tall that without a penthouse view there's really no chance of locating it. They do still occur in the city of London, and I used to hear them more frequently when I was based in Shad Thames when it was rather more run down than it is now.

With the girls going to Oz for Easter on Wednesday, I was home on Friday early enough to enjoy a bright evening and sat outside as dusk arrived. I saw a Grey Wagtail fly over calling (another new bird for the house) a singing Blackcap and least two bats which I'm assuming are Noctule Bats but I have very little bat knowledge.

I again went early to Selsey on Saturday, the weather had reverted to a more seasonal 10c, overcast and a cold north wind - so again there was little expectation of avian movement on the sea, but I was hoping I might see a swallow or martin as they have been arriving in small numbers over the last week or so.

3 Great Northern Diver remained on the sea with several Red-breasted Mergansers and Gannets flying in both directions, the only other movements were a couple of Common Scoter, 3 Shelduck and a dozen Sandwich Tern. A few migrants stuggled in off the sea with single Wheatear, Blackcap and Chiffchaff lingering briefly . Up to 20 Meadow Pipits, nowehere near the numbers seen last week, and a couple of smaller passerines headed straight inland.

I stopped briefly at the Ferry pool and was surprised to find a sleeping Spoonbill along with the single Avocet, a couple of Black-tailed Godwits and a Wheatear at the back of the pool. There was also a singing Willow Warbler in the scrub there, another spring bird for the year. I called briefly at Ivy lake where a group of 10 Sand Martins were high over the lake but no sign of the Little Gull.

Sunday was bright but cold and the northerly wind still persisting. I went for an early morning walk over the same circuit I've done a few  times now. The bird song was tremendous I counted 9 different Chiffchaffs and 3 Blackcaps and seperately saw another pair of Blackcap. Several Crossbills were high up in some pines including some streaky youngsters (they're a very early breeder), lots of Siskins and 3 pairs of Bullfinches. No luck with the Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers but in the same area there were 10 Brambling chasing around the tops of some oak trees very vocal with their buzzy, wheezy type calls - must be ready to depart North. The Grey Wagtail pair were by the pond which had a Little Grebe, Moorhen and some Mallard, but the best bird was an early Tree Pipit, which quickly flew to an area of cut pines and vanished, an early Spring arrival.

Having picked up a bit of a virus I did some mowing and not much else in the afternoon, but saw the same Raptor species as last weekend  ! and the pair of Firecrest, and lastly there was a Tawny Owl sitting in an Oak by the edge of the field at dusk, given away by the local Blackbirds making a fuss.

Firecrest in flight -such little wings.

Magnolia  - I'm not a fan of the tree but the flowers are good.

Wild Garlic is flowering in the garden.,

Chiff Chaff Chiff Chaff Chiff Chiff Chaff Chaff - guess who ?

Area of cleared pines - (where the Tree Pipit vanished into)

Grey Wagtail lurking in a dark sluice

Fritillaries have appeared in the garden in the last week