Up to the end of June - Wow its been a long time.

I can't believe that time has flowed so quickly and I haven't updated this since March . This is now my fourth attempt to write an update

I have been birding, although it has been a weird Spring and my camera has largely remained untouched.

Brief Update to the end of June .....

An annual trip to the Portugal coast at Easter was very relaxing and the usual Iberian Magpies, Red-rumped Swallows, Sardinian Warblers and Serins etc were in abundance but returning to the UK the Spring was slow to get going with any Goshawk sightings at home having come to an end by mid-April and my several attempts to migrant watch at Selsey and on the Peninsula were hard work and unproductive, even into early May with no Pom Skuas being seen at all and only a few Arctic Skuas and one single Great Skua. Yes there was the normal hirundine spectacle of arriving birds and the occasional arriving Hobby but anything else was the exception with the highlight probably being a beautiful Roseate Tern that lingered for around an hour at low  tide on the 5th May with numerous Sandwich, Common and Little Terns and a single Arctic Tern .

Then the oddity of a spattering of rarities which were worth an attempt. Both Hudsonian Godwit and Hudsonian Whimbrel. The Hudsonian Godwit when it reappeared after an initial stay in Somerset then the more recent Hudsonian Whimbrel seen at Pagham, which was shortly followed by the Terek Sandpiper earlier this week which I saw on June 22nd , the Whimbrel was still there and the birds were within a couple of hundred yards of each other.

Spring at the house has been interesting, with Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs in full voice until late May, then silence for breeding. A Cuckoo was heard on a couple of occasions and seen once in May. The Firecrest was heard almost daily and has been since March and it occasionally is out in view. A pair of Turtle Doves were seen in late May and then intermittent until a week of continuous purring outside the back door which stopped on Saturday 20th June which coincided with the local plague of Jackdaws who must have fledged young at the same time and decided to use our tall trees as a crèche - there must have been 150 birds making an obscene racket for all daylight hours - They're still around but have hopefully dispersed slightly. I had my first (and currently only) sighting of a Honey Buzzard in display mode on the 8th June so they are definitely around although long spells of particularly windy weather has made viewing less . A Skylark is visible daily over the back of the fields and can by heard songflighting if the wind is in the right direction. Linnets are on their regular fly past and 2 Crossbills were seen on the 12th June, which are the first for nearly 2 years.

Distant Goshawk in April from the house

Spotted Redshank at Pagham

Again slightly distant - but this was the only shot I achieved of the Hudsonian Whimbrel

Pair of Turtle Doves in the garden in June