Saturday & Sunday 25th October - A Shrike weekend

Still remarkably mild but lots of cloud and pretty windy on Saturday, whilst Sunday was a perfect autumn day, very calm and bright. During the working week Dave Burgess had found a Great Grey Shrike on Blackdown. There had been a mini-influx of them and several sites in the South now held these birds but I was particularly keen to see the Blackdown shrike with it being so local.

Arriving at 7.30,  it was still very gloomy, 2 Redwings and a Lesser Redpoll had flown over and a handful of Goldcrest were calling, but I was struggling to see a bird of any description. It was shortly after 8am when I was down in the valley bottom that I saw the Great Grey Shrike distantly on top of one of the pines, virtually a silhouette. I walked onto the top path noting a couple of Dartford Warblers and met Dave and Jonathan who had the Shrike in the scope in a pine, it then favoured the top of a couple of shrubs half way up the valley slope and at one point caught what was probably a Pygmy Shrew and downed it in one - in an Owl-like fashion. A couple of Siskin and 4 Brambling flew over calling and 2 Fieldfare landed in one of the pines. The weather was worsening and rain beckoned so I headed home.

Sunday was similar but the weather much improved although I didn't quite take full advantage of the clocks going back and was on site before 7am (8am yesterdays time !) . I quickly found the Great Grey Shrike again in the same bush half way up the Western slope of the valley where it stayed for at least half an hour, other birds seen were 4 Redwing, 2 Brambling, 1 Firecrest and 3 Skylark. It was fairly quiet otherwise with the notable difference to last week being the clear-out of all the thrushes and no Stonechats left on site, although up to 4 Dartford Warblers were present.

At home later in the morning both GreyWagtail and Pied Wagtail were present plus 3 Crossbill flew South. The build up of Woodpigeons were notable with probably 200+ passing West in about 30 minutes - I imagine in about 10 days there maybe thousands seen if like previous years.



Devouring a Shrew on Saturday

Remaining equally distant on Sunday

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Dartford Warblers doing well here at the moment

Regular Kestrel

Sunday 18th October - Blackdown Fog

An update covering 2 weekends and 2 visits to Blackdown. On the 10th my early morning visit was pretty much thwarted by Fog. There was no forecast for it, and when I arrived it seemed confined to the lower valleys but by the time I'd walked from the car to the main path it was a pea-souper that only got worse by 10am rather than clearing.

I saw a measly 9 Meadow Pipit, 3 Redwing and 2 or 3 Dartford Warblers, but stood around for quite a while with Dave trying to talk the fog into lifting. We thought we heard a Ring Ouzel but that was as good as it got.
The following day at home the surprise were 8  Song Thrush flying in a Westerly direction with still a single Chiffchaff and Treecreeper with the commoner birds, a Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit flying over were noted . Then on Wednesday 14th I had an hour at home before going to the airport for work and in that time an estimated 150+ Redwing flew West in groups of 20+ along with 5 late Swallows and 2 House Martin.

My second attempt at Blackdown was this Sunday 18th. Fog was forecast in the area throughout the morning but I went anyway ...and guess what , it wasn't that bad, although it was rather gloomy to start. There were at least some birds to look at. A large Fieldfare flock dominated, my first of the Winter,  with ca75+ birds flying between the Rowans which still had a few remaining berries, most have already been stripped so I would think the remaining fruits have a life of a week at best with all the thrushes around. Amongst the Fieldfare were around 20 Redwing and 2 Ring Ouzel. At one point the same Rowan had 5 Brambling and 4 Bullfinch also feeding on the berries. In total I had at least 7 Brambling, all in flight together but I heard at least one other. 19 Meadow Pipit were counted, 4 Lesser Redpoll seen in flight and a Woodlark heard flying over were other highlights. Goldcrest could only be counted as plenty, and a couple of Chiffchaffs in the Tit flocks , but nothing more exciting despite a reasonable amount of scrutiny and of the larger variety 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel, 1 Raven and 2 Jays.

Continuing the theme at home I heard a Brambling calling from the Oaks but couldn't locate it, maybe a decent Winter for them is in prospect ?




Dawn looked promising - but then the fog came in

THe foggy dew made the cobwebs look spectacular

and then it became more foggy !

A week later you could see the birds - Ring Ouzel

Plenty of Wrens on the site

Only a few Rowan berries remain

A few Fieldfares with a Ring Ouzel

Mostly at the tops of the pines when not feeding



A tree full of Fieldfare

Saturday 3rd October - High Peaks

On Tuesday this week a juvenile Pallid Harrier had been reported from the South Downs at Burpham in almost identical circumstances to one at this exact site at the same time of year in 2011 , i.e. following a spell of easterly winds with an anticyclone stubbornly sitting over the continent and a harrier reported from this area firstly as a probable Montagu's then re-identified from pictures as the much rarer Pallid Harrier.

Wednesday 30th was my last day before back to full-time work in London, so I took the opportunity to visit the area, well I spent from about 8.30am to 1.30pm with not a whiff of the Harrier and limited compensation in numerous Red Kites, Buzzards, Ravens, Kestrel and a single Merlin. The gathered crowd concluded the bird to have moved on, only for another sighting around 5pm confirming that this bird was still present but far less predictable than it's 2011 relative.

Other than a spattering of Yellow-browed Warblers at various places on the south coast there seemed very little new on offer on Saturday, so I opted to start the morning at Blackdown then head to Burpham to try for the Harrier again. Arriving just before 7am there was a lingering mist over Blackdown, reducing visibility a little but it could have been a lot worse. Initially seeming quiet then a few Meadow Pipits were recorded, 18 in the 1.5 hours I was there, a Kestrel flew over early and 2 Dartford Warblers were in familiar places along with several Stonechats. I then heard a familiar high pitched thrush call as a party of 9 Redwings flew over, my first of these autumn arrivals. A couple of Jays, 2 Lesser Redpolls and 2 Pied Wagtails seemed transient birds. I then reached the area where the Ring Ouzels had been favouring and wasn't disappointed. At least 3 birds were seen although very flight and not in the least approachable, and associating with 7+ Mistle Thrushes and at lest 10 more Redwings and several Song Thrush. I didn't linger on site and headed off towards the South Downs parking at Canada Barn from the North Stoke end.

The mist here on the Downs was much thicker than at Blackdown, I walked up the tack from Canada Barn, seeing a Sparrowhawk, Blackcap and ca30 Linnets, I bumped into a group of birders walking towards me who had just had a Harrier they thought was probably a Pallid, fly briefly over a hedge and into the valley I'd just walked up, so re-tracing steps we scanned that valley (although the mist made it difficult), there wasn't actually a lot of Harrier habitat in that direction. Walking further north again we stopped at a gate which in theory overlooked the main valley which leads down to Burpham. The mist was being stubborn so visibility was poor until at least after 11am. A few Common Buzzards appeared then a couple of distant Red Kites. The large numbers of Skylarks were quite a spectacle and another Linnet flock had in excess of 100 birds all testimony to the great downland habitat here. A single Wheatear was in one of the fields and a covey of Grey Partridges were seen as I relocated to the track which holds the Dew Pond (which is now completely dried up) .

Standing with around 10 other birders at this point I picked up a Harrier in the distance which moved quickly across a ploughed field, it turned and vanished beneath a hillbrow in one of the many undulations but a couple of minutes later re-appeared in a nearer field where it's credentials were confirmed as the Pallid Harrier with deep plain orange underparts, a clear neck collar and pointed wings with a swift flight. It was then lost to view again  - The hedges here have been allowed to grow which means unless you are at least 7ft tall some views across fields become restricted.  Satisfied that this was probably going to be considered a good view of this bird and maybe having to wait several more hours before it re-appeared  I went home happy .... less said about the rugby the better !!!

A misty Blackdown at first light

The vast area and big undulations didn't make easy for finding a Harrier even when the mist cleared

..but it is fantastic Sussex downland habitat

Red Kite