Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Sunday 29th - South Africa
Time for a separate page for our trip to SA - which is a week staying with friends then me looking for birds for another 10 days.
Friday, 27 December 2013
Friday 27th December - Festive and Wet
It could have been a lot worse - it was certainly a decent storm on Monday - lost power around 11pm and went through Christmas Eve without it. Rhys Dee and their children, were coming from London to stay but told them to hold off until power was restored, as all utilities here (Light,cooking, heat etc) rely on electricity - I managed to cook the ham on the barbecue and we were giving up hope of the power returning when at 9pm on Christmas Eve it was back on - What a relief ! and consider ourselves lucky as there was little visible damage at home and no flooding... so as a result we had an excellent Christmas despite the weather.
Looking back on 2013 - it's not been a particularly birdy year for me mainly because of work intensity and a lack of time off, I've hardly ventured out of Sussex and my only trip abroad to Zimbabwe was mainly family rather than birding. So 2014 will be different ! - Starting with South Africa at New Year, I've decided to set a target to try and see 1,500 species in the year (It's subject to the usual caveats being health, family, time and other commitments) but may as well start with a number and see how it goes.
There's not been a lot to report of bird interest at home, although on the 22nd a Lesser Redpoll flock of around 30 birds was moving between the Alders and a small birch, and contained a very Mealy Redpoll looking bird. Although the flock was very flighty, so I didn't get clinching views and since then the weather has been so poor I haven't seen the flock since.
Roll on 2014 !
Looking back on 2013 - it's not been a particularly birdy year for me mainly because of work intensity and a lack of time off, I've hardly ventured out of Sussex and my only trip abroad to Zimbabwe was mainly family rather than birding. So 2014 will be different ! - Starting with South Africa at New Year, I've decided to set a target to try and see 1,500 species in the year (It's subject to the usual caveats being health, family, time and other commitments) but may as well start with a number and see how it goes.
There's not been a lot to report of bird interest at home, although on the 22nd a Lesser Redpoll flock of around 30 birds was moving between the Alders and a small birch, and contained a very Mealy Redpoll looking bird. Although the flock was very flighty, so I didn't get clinching views and since then the weather has been so poor I haven't seen the flock since.
Roll on 2014 !
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| Lesser Redpoll in Birch Tree |
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| Lesser Redpoll, one of a 30 strong flock |
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| Before the storm |
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| Lacking any festive colours - Jackdaws have been abundant in the garden |
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| This Stock Dove has already chosen a nesting site in the Oak outside the kitchen |
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| The boundary fence to the first field is one of the first things that needs fixing in 2014 |
Saturday, 14 December 2013
Saturday 7th December - Fernhurst
Hadn't been for a walk from the house for a while, so that was Saturday morning's itinerary. The weather has been fairly benign over the last week, cold with a bit of mist and fog, generally clearing to a dry and partly cloudy day... and this morning was no different. There are still lingering numbers of Woodpigeons, although not the colossal flocks of a couple of weeks ago.
In summary my walk was pleasant but a little unproductive on the bird front, the highlights being a lot of Nuthatches - I counted 8 including what was approaching a flock of 4 birds, 5 Bullfinches and 3 Marsh Tits. I was hoping for a Crossbill or maybe a Woodcock, but nothing unexpected, in fact I may have seen more species staying in the garden. I found several remains of Woodpigeon on the footpaths. It's difficult to conclude the predator involved although I was suspecting that foxes were involved at some point. It could have been Buzzards as a prey the pigeons are slightly big for all but the largest female Sparrowhawks. An outside chance a Goshawk had been involved, but actually more likely some were downed by human intervention.
At home there is still a mobile Siskin flock with up to 30 birds, and a flock of Redpolls numbered 22 but were very flighty, so working assumption is that they are all Lesser Redpolls, although I've not managed to 'scope' them. The vocal Marsh Tit is continuously working around the gully, occasional glimpses of the Grey Wagtails, and very small numbers of Redwing with the odd Fieldfare, and both Song and Mistle Thrush. A Long-tailed Tit flock moves past the back door once a day with about 15 birds and there's often a Treecreeper associating with them.
A Sparrowhawk is given away by an alarm call from our Cockerel. and the local Buzzard puts in an occasional appearance.
Today (the 12th) I heard a Firecrest at the back of the fields in the ivy clad oaks, but only glimpsed it in fading light and fog.
In summary my walk was pleasant but a little unproductive on the bird front, the highlights being a lot of Nuthatches - I counted 8 including what was approaching a flock of 4 birds, 5 Bullfinches and 3 Marsh Tits. I was hoping for a Crossbill or maybe a Woodcock, but nothing unexpected, in fact I may have seen more species staying in the garden. I found several remains of Woodpigeon on the footpaths. It's difficult to conclude the predator involved although I was suspecting that foxes were involved at some point. It could have been Buzzards as a prey the pigeons are slightly big for all but the largest female Sparrowhawks. An outside chance a Goshawk had been involved, but actually more likely some were downed by human intervention.
At home there is still a mobile Siskin flock with up to 30 birds, and a flock of Redpolls numbered 22 but were very flighty, so working assumption is that they are all Lesser Redpolls, although I've not managed to 'scope' them. The vocal Marsh Tit is continuously working around the gully, occasional glimpses of the Grey Wagtails, and very small numbers of Redwing with the odd Fieldfare, and both Song and Mistle Thrush. A Long-tailed Tit flock moves past the back door once a day with about 15 birds and there's often a Treecreeper associating with them.
A Sparrowhawk is given away by an alarm call from our Cockerel. and the local Buzzard puts in an occasional appearance.
Today (the 12th) I heard a Firecrest at the back of the fields in the ivy clad oaks, but only glimpsed it in fading light and fog.
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| Muddy Winter Tracks. |
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Tuesday 3rd December - A sea full of ducks
Twice in the last week I've managed the same birding itinerary, with the weekend taken up by tree felling, and leaf sweeping, my reduced work pressure has allowed some longed-for spare time during the week.
On the 26th of November I went early to Selsey where dawn broke to a day of bright blue skies, after about an hour the amount of glare on the sea was prohibitive. The first 2 birds seen were surprising for the time of year, a Little Gull and a Sandwich Tern, both patrolling together before flying off East. 4 Great Northern Divers were on the sea, 3 Red-throated Divers flew East and a flock of 40 female Common Scoters were present and a single Sanderling on the beach. I headed to Church Norton where 4 Long-tailed Ducks had been seen at the weekend. With the tide pretty much fully out, birds on the sea were distant and no sign of the Long-tailed Ducks, but 20 Slavonian Grebes were impressive and 14 Eiders mixing with the usual flock of Red-breasted Mergansers.
I then headed to Medmerry. It is a new RSPB reserve in the making, where they have purposely breached the sea defences to flood what was the old Selsey West Fields in order to alleviate the pressure on the tidal attack of the coast nearer the peninsula where there are more houses (a mistake in hindsight in the 70's and 80's building so many houses on a piece of land being eroded by the sea !), and even though it is now under RSPB ownership the construction is still going on, but it maybe pretty good for birds in the future . The main issue appears to be access - it was a bugger to find a way in - despite being fairly obvious on the map - the only route in was through the massive caravan park, which has gated access to prevent non-residents entering - luckily being midweek and off-season the barriers were raised, so I drove through through the maze of caravans to the other end of the site, parked and walked along the beach to the breach wall. I walked through the rather derelict area of rubble, where 5 Snow Buntings had been seen - which was the purpose of the visit - I found a single Snow Bunting creeping around, as his mates appeared to have gone, there were also 3 Stonechats present , I couldn't have a good look at the newly created pools as there were men working on the bund which you would have to enter to view - one for the future.
Today (Tuesday 3rd), with the Long-tailed ducks still being reported off Church Norton I headed again to the coast. This time it was grey and murky, the sky and sea being the same colour and blending into one, with little wind and around 5c .
I started at Selsey, 2 Chiffchaffs were calling from the tamarisks when I arrived and a small bird of prey shot through, which I only caught a glimpse before it headed over the houses but was probably a Merlin. A good count of 8 Great Northern Divers were on the sea, 3 Slavonian Grebes and 15 Common Scoter with 2 Velvet Scoter which landed briefly then flew off East,4 Razorbill , 4 Shelduck , 1 Eider and a very distant Skua sp were seen in flight. 5 Red-throated Divers and 2 Black-throated flew East and the normal count of 20 or so Red-Breasted Mergansers. After a brief chat with Chris, who I'd met on the trip to Georgia and Armenia in 2010, I headed to Church Norton.
At the end of the footpath to the beach a Firecrest was with a couple of Goldcrest. It was high tide in the harbour, with lots of Grey Plover, Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit and Dunlin flying around in flocks to find roosts, Good number of Teal, Wigeon and Pintail and 3 Goldeneye were the harbour and a Peregrine was making sorties from one of the islands.
Offshore the water was calm (although still very grey) and it was incredible to sea the number and variety of sea ducks present. 5 Long-tailed Ducks were the stars (not often seen in this number in Sussex), with 20 Slavonian Grebes, 10 Great Crested Grebes, 5 Redhead Goosanders flew in from the harbour mouth and drifted down the Severals, 3 Black-throated Divers were together on the sea and 2 Red-throated giving good comparison, a single Eider and 2 Velevet Scoters topped off the list. I can't recall there being such a good gathering of species off the coast on the Selsey Peninusula and in such good numbers.
On the 26th of November I went early to Selsey where dawn broke to a day of bright blue skies, after about an hour the amount of glare on the sea was prohibitive. The first 2 birds seen were surprising for the time of year, a Little Gull and a Sandwich Tern, both patrolling together before flying off East. 4 Great Northern Divers were on the sea, 3 Red-throated Divers flew East and a flock of 40 female Common Scoters were present and a single Sanderling on the beach. I headed to Church Norton where 4 Long-tailed Ducks had been seen at the weekend. With the tide pretty much fully out, birds on the sea were distant and no sign of the Long-tailed Ducks, but 20 Slavonian Grebes were impressive and 14 Eiders mixing with the usual flock of Red-breasted Mergansers.
I then headed to Medmerry. It is a new RSPB reserve in the making, where they have purposely breached the sea defences to flood what was the old Selsey West Fields in order to alleviate the pressure on the tidal attack of the coast nearer the peninsula where there are more houses (a mistake in hindsight in the 70's and 80's building so many houses on a piece of land being eroded by the sea !), and even though it is now under RSPB ownership the construction is still going on, but it maybe pretty good for birds in the future . The main issue appears to be access - it was a bugger to find a way in - despite being fairly obvious on the map - the only route in was through the massive caravan park, which has gated access to prevent non-residents entering - luckily being midweek and off-season the barriers were raised, so I drove through through the maze of caravans to the other end of the site, parked and walked along the beach to the breach wall. I walked through the rather derelict area of rubble, where 5 Snow Buntings had been seen - which was the purpose of the visit - I found a single Snow Bunting creeping around, as his mates appeared to have gone, there were also 3 Stonechats present , I couldn't have a good look at the newly created pools as there were men working on the bund which you would have to enter to view - one for the future.
Today (Tuesday 3rd), with the Long-tailed ducks still being reported off Church Norton I headed again to the coast. This time it was grey and murky, the sky and sea being the same colour and blending into one, with little wind and around 5c .
I started at Selsey, 2 Chiffchaffs were calling from the tamarisks when I arrived and a small bird of prey shot through, which I only caught a glimpse before it headed over the houses but was probably a Merlin. A good count of 8 Great Northern Divers were on the sea, 3 Slavonian Grebes and 15 Common Scoter with 2 Velvet Scoter which landed briefly then flew off East,4 Razorbill , 4 Shelduck , 1 Eider and a very distant Skua sp were seen in flight. 5 Red-throated Divers and 2 Black-throated flew East and the normal count of 20 or so Red-Breasted Mergansers. After a brief chat with Chris, who I'd met on the trip to Georgia and Armenia in 2010, I headed to Church Norton.
At the end of the footpath to the beach a Firecrest was with a couple of Goldcrest. It was high tide in the harbour, with lots of Grey Plover, Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit and Dunlin flying around in flocks to find roosts, Good number of Teal, Wigeon and Pintail and 3 Goldeneye were the harbour and a Peregrine was making sorties from one of the islands.
Offshore the water was calm (although still very grey) and it was incredible to sea the number and variety of sea ducks present. 5 Long-tailed Ducks were the stars (not often seen in this number in Sussex), with 20 Slavonian Grebes, 10 Great Crested Grebes, 5 Redhead Goosanders flew in from the harbour mouth and drifted down the Severals, 3 Black-throated Divers were together on the sea and 2 Red-throated giving good comparison, a single Eider and 2 Velevet Scoters topped off the list. I can't recall there being such a good gathering of species off the coast on the Selsey Peninusula and in such good numbers.
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| Selsey at Sunrise |
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| Sanderling on beach |
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| Snow bunting at Medmerry |
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| A murky Pagham harbour at high tide |
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| A drake and 2 Female Goldeneyes |
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| 7 of the 20 Slavonian Grebes on the sea at Church Norton |
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| A further 4 |
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| 5 Goosanders |
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