Paul Matson's Birding Blog: February 2015

Friday, 27 February 2015

Friday 27th February - Winter Surfing Excursion

Today was a sunny but cold, and perfect for a coastal excursion - I purposely did not take a wet suit and stayed entirely out of the water. I went to Gosport, across the border in Hants down to the edge of the Solent at Stokes Bay. A male Surf Scoter had been seen there over the last couple of days and an adult male Surf Scoter is not only a very smart looking Sea Duck but pretty unusual on the South Coast. There are always a few each Winter reported from coastal locations around the UK but more often in the far North and not always a smart male.

On finding the correct car park, with lots of birders on the beach (non of whom had yet entered the water), it was within seconds that the Surf Scoter was visible, with 2 Common Scoters as companions. It was around 150m offshore so with good scope views it was a pleasure watching it for the next hour or so. It's facial markings clearly visible being an all black bird with a large white patch on it's nape and forehead and a beak which looks almost deformed compared to the common scoters, with yellow, orange and white markings.

I returned home around 1pm, the weather was still bright with a slight breeze and patchy cloud cover - perfect for raptors as it turned out. - At least 6 Common Buzzards, 2 Red kites, 2 Sparrowhawks and best of all a large (presumably female) Goshawk seen on 3 occasions between 1.30pm and 2pm. 2 Ravens also flew over and in the garden a brief burst of song from a Firecrest in the gully although remaining unseen, it will be interesting to see whether it stays through spring.

The Scoter pictures below are heavily cropped due to the distance - but you get the idea.

Left, Middle, Right, the male Surf Scoter

It's bill is double the size of the Common Scoter

Male Sparrowhawk in garden - possibly hungry due to repeated misses.

Thursday, 26 February 2015

Wednesday 26th February - February doldrums

At least it feels like that today - grey and wet. However there have been quite a few pretty clear days but temperatures not yet making double figures it's been a fairly cold month and seems ages since I last did a blog post. Some half-hearted birding attempts coupled with work related frustrations have meant little seems to have been achieved.

A couple of local walks have been quiet, with the only sighting of note 8 Teal on the furnace pond - a first for me around here. I have managed a single Goshawk sighting, despite a few attempts in what seemed like perfect weather, on the 23rd when 2 birds were seen flying south before dropping below the treeline. The garden activity increased with a couple of weeks where Bullfinches were making regular appearances and up to 8 Lesser Redpolls have been on the Nyjer Seed with half as many Goldfinches and only a single Siskin. A Grey Heron called in on the garden pond and both Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers are active, Marsh Tits are still calling in daily and Long-tailed Tits are present in pairs rather than flocks. Redwing numbers are now much lower. A male Sparrowhawk does a daily swoop on the feeders although I've yet to see it successful.

A half-day visit to the Ashdown Forest, saw me standing around for 4 hours in wait for a Little Bunting that failed to materialise when I was there . It was seen before I arrived and after I left, but my toes started to freeze and 4 hours is a lengthy spell in one area when save for a few Woodlarks and Reed Buntings there was nothing else on offer.

Went for a walk at Burpham yesterday a bit cold and overcast but bracing on the downs, the skies were filled with song-flighting Skylarks. In the fields and hedgerows Grey Partridge, Corn Bunting, Linnet, Meadow Pipit were seen along with Red Kite, Buzzard and Kestrel. A few Hares in the open fields with 3 Roe Deer and 3 Chiffchaffs were in a hedgerow near the village, one with a quick burst of song which still seemed inappropriate given the weather.

female Bullfinch in the garden

male Bullfinch

garden Long-tailed Tit

Hare - through the bushes

Slightly odd gathering of Snails

Corn Bunting

Sunday, 1 February 2015

Saturday 24th January - Winter in West Sussex

With a cold bright day on the cards, Gary and I decided that we would visit a variety of sites in West Sussex with little to tempt us further afield.

We started the day at East Head, West Wittering (twinned with Battersea Dogs Home) seeing an early Red Kite on the drive over the downs near Cocking. On arrival we walked to view Snowhill Marsh in bright winter sunshine, with Brent Geese continually arriving from their overnight mudflat roost to feed on the fields near the car park. A Spotted Redshank was the first bird seen on the marsh which quickly departed calling. We then found the 3 Spoonbill at roost looking particularly cold, probably wondering how long it would take to get to the South of France. A couple of Greenshank were also in the small creek before moving to the marsh as did a Kingfisher. Other waders on the mud flats included Black-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Redshank and Curlew. A Stonechat was moving along the fence line so after a promising start to the day we decided to walk around East Head accompanied by various hounds, only adding Skylark and Meadow Pipit with 2 Red-breasted Mergansers being all on offer on the water. I still think East Head and Snowhill Marsh is such a promising site for birds if it weren't for the dogs, which inevitably scare off much of the birdlife and birders.

We then drove to Church Norton, stopping briefly at the Ferry Pool en-route, where a number of Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit, Shelduck, Wigeon and a few Snipe were feeding mainly in the fields. The tide was well out at Church Norton although a good gathering of common waders were on the exposed mud occasionally being shifted by a pair of marauding Peregrine. We walked to the beach and scanned the see at first struggling to find anything at all but eventually picking up a Great Northern Diver in flight then distantly 2 Slavonian Grebes.

Our next stop was back inland to West Dean Woods and a sandwich, we saw another 2 Red Kites as we approached the area. Hawfinches in winter are more traditionally found in late afternoon at pre-roost gathering sites, so it always feels a little odd looking for them just after midday, but the birds in this area seem to frequent a particular paddock surrounded by a mixture of tall trees, which conveniently is on a bend in the narrow road with enough verge to stand with scopes, and can be seen at any time of day. It obviously has the potential to be a long wait and I've called in here many times and blanked but we were only there 5 minutes when a group of 6 Hawfinches flew into the top of an Oak, 3 were seen well in the scope before they disappeared. We waited a while longer and had a short walk around adding Marsh Tit but then with the afternoon progressing we decided to move on, firstly finding the Little Owl in it's favoured tree on the way out.

Next to Littlehampton to see the Kumlien's Gull (returning bird from last winter) as soon as we got out of the car the Kumlien's Gull flew over and went the other side of the harbour mouth, we couldn't find it for the next 30 minutes so walked to the sea where a group of Turnstones and Sanderling were feeding on the shore with another 2 Stonechat nearby. The Gull had obviously doubled-back and was re-found perched up river on the harbour wall, we then had 20 minutes very satisfactory views in good light, before deciding to leave in order to visit another site before we lost the light for the day.

We finished the day at Burpham, where we scanned over the downs from the viewpoint at the Triangle, seeing 3 Short-Eared Owls, plenty of Common Buzzards, Kestrel, 2 Ravens, Grey Partridge and Red Legged Partridge before the light went. So a really good list of birds for the day and notably we didn't see any Winter Thrushes.