Determined to get some normality back into weekend life, I went for an early morning walk from the house on Saturday, which I hadn't done since early May. Not with any great expectation but more to just enjoy some air. It wasn't as warm as recently and rain threatened later , but with the entire route entirely to myself it was a good lungful of the fresh stuff to start the weekend with.
Calling
Chiffchaffs and vocal
Green and
Great Spotted Woodpeckers were the first encounter with 3
Greenfinches, before I headed down between the Farms to the woods beyond, the first field that I pass which must be about 10 acres and has 40 sheep in always seems to me the most likely place for a passing migrant like a Wheatear, Whinchat, Wagtail or Pipit but I've never seen more than a handful of Starlings in it, which was the same this morning. Further on a chacking
Blackcap, some
House Sparrows and a family party of
Swallows, were noisy around the farm buildings . A couple of
Marsh Tits were seen along with
Great , Blue and Coal, and the large field of wheat held many
Woodpigeons and a single
Stock Dove. Nothing much was visible around the Furnace pond other than a couple of moulting
Mallards, then right at the back of an area of replanted spruce,
2 Spotted Flycatchers - an adult and a juvenile still being fed, along with a
Willow Warbler and
Chiffchaff in the same area. This was definitely the highlight of the morning and I still got back to the house before the girls were up.
The veggie patch at home has been fairly productive this year, given nothing was planted until late April, but good crops of Peas, climbing beans, broad beans, Carrots, Celery and now Cauliflower have made it interesting although as usual it's all come at once and there is very little succession in what I've done.
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| A veggie view |
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| Mr and Mrs Fluffy |
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| View from field behind house - note no Wheatears or Whinchats. |
Sunday's early opportunity I went to Pagham, parked at the visitor centre and walked to Church Norton and back - again before many people had arrived.
There was obviously a few migrants around, as good numbers of
Whitethroat (c40), Willow Warbler (c20), Reed Warbler (10), Blackcap (10) and
Lesser Whitethroat (2), were seen on-route, but by about 9am it was quite windy and most had gone to ground.
The Ferry pool was quite with just
1 Common Sandpiper and
1 Black-tailed Godwit and a handful of
Teal and
Redshanks, and the harbour was fairly empty (although the tide was low) with
9 Whimbrel, 1 Grey Plover 6 Ringed Plover and
4 Dunlin. The small pond in the Discovery area near the visitor centre was a hive of activity with a large
Goldfinch Flock,
WillowWarblers ,
Whitethroats and Blackcap all deciding it to be bath time.
So a pleasant 3 hours or so but nothing spectacular on the bird front.
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| Grey Heron |
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| Male Linnet |
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| Little Egret |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Goldfinch bathtime |
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| Willow Warbler |
