It's been a difficult couple of weeks as my Mum passed away at the end of last week - she'd had a long and fulfilled life and it was great that we managed to get back and see her in time, with that and getting the girls back into school routine everything else has been a little slow and I've only just turned my attention to finishing the Australia blog.
Most of my birding since I've been back has been from the back garden. which at the end of last week was pretty good with large flocks of Swallows and House Martins - sometimes in their 00's hawking over the trees on at least 3 occasions there were 2 Hobbys in attendance, although by Wednesday this week they all seemed to have vanished. Other raptors were just singles of Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel. Meadow Pipits have started to move and a few small groups were seen flying over the house (mainly last Friday) along with the odd Grey Wagtail and small numbers of Pied Wagtail. Whilst the bushes around the garden have been fairly quiet the occasional flock moves through with Long-tailed Tits, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit and a Chiffchaff whilst only 2 Blackcap sightings indicate they have largely moved on. A young Green Woodpecker is often present with Great spotted Woodpecker staying in the trees not visiting the feeders yet, and the same behaviour displayed by pair of Nutchatches . Last week there were 2 Firecrests that were occasionally glimpsed along with a Goldcrest..
6th September
An early morning walk at Blackdown was pretty quiet 2 Redstarts being the best, with 3 resident Stonechats, It appears that the Rowan berry crop is hopeless this year, at least in this part of the world, but the Whitebeams and Hawthorns are berry-laden - which is the opposite of last year.
11th September
My first proper birding venture out was yesterday to Pagham, deciding to walk from the Siddlesham car park out to Church Norton and back. I'd seen the reports of the previous couple of weeks with an abundance of migrants, but with a few days of clear nights my expectations were lower as most were very likely to have headed South. At the Siddlesham end of the harbour a few skulking Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs a couple of Whitethroat and a Cettis Warbler indicated that most migrants had moved on. Waders were more interesting in the harbour with a Curlew Sandpiper and Whimbrel at the West end, and on the Ferry Pool 6 Green Sandpipers, 3 Avocet and 5 Black tailed Godwit
The walk up to Church Norton was fairly quiet with 3 Whinchat in the scrubby field being the best. On the rising tide at the Church Norton end to the harbour, Greenshank, Grey Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Curlew and Black tailed Godwits were worthy of some time scanning through, then to my surprise a small falcon that was flying towards me and looked to dark for a Kestrel turned out to be a Merlin. It whizzed behind the trees but then carried on low over the saltmarsh towards Pagham spit, always pleasing to see a Merlin. Otherwise just a couple more Whitethroats with plenty of , Swallows, House Martins, and 2 Sand Martin concluded a pleasant morning.
 |
| Whimbrel |
 |
| young Green Woodpecker |
 |
| Little Egret |
12th September
I went to Blackdown again first thing this morning, it was slightly misty which held better potential for migrants and I came across a large flock of passerines with probably over 50 Chiffchaffs, with the best being 6 Spotted Flycatchers. I spent quite a while with this flock as it moved around, and added Willow Warbler, Firecrest, Whitethroat and 3 Tree Pipits. Up to 6 Stonechats were seen along with resident Woodpeckers, Treecreeper, Marsh Tit and Goldcrests. 6 Jays together I assumed were part of the recent influx and a single Kestrel was the only raptor.
 |
| Spotted Flycatcher |
 |
| Tree Pipit |
 |
| Stonechat |
No comments:
Post a Comment