I was up early this morning for no particular reason, it was quite cool and I was unsure which way the weather would turn as there were a few early dark clouds around , however these cleared to turn into a glorious early morning. I was quite content sitting outside with a coffee or two, set up with scope and bins and just content to see what would fly past . Surprisingly by 10.30am I had a list of 39 species !! Given that July is often referred to as the doldrums from a birding point of view it surpassed expectations.
A few
Swallows flew past chattering early on joined by the dozen local
House Martins and later 4
Swifts (the majority of whom I imagine have already headed South). A
Common Buzzard was sitting on the fence of the field and a
Raven flew past twice calling and a
Grey Heron kept enough distance that I had no concerns whether it was eyeing up the pond for newts. Then the local birds showed well with
Great Tit, Blue Tit, 2 Marsh tit, Coal Tit and a flock of
Long-tailed Tits, all of which looking bedraggled in their post-breeding dress. Both
Goldcrest and
Firecrest were seen and 2
Goldfinches 4
Greenfinches, 4 Chaffinches, 2
Bullfinch and 2 Siskin made up finch numbers.
5 Chiffchaffs and 2 Willow Warblers gave brief song snatches as they worked through the trees and
Great-Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Treecreeper but no Green Woodpecker today.
4 Mallards flew over and so did a
Black-headed Gull, but the other aerial contenders were a
Kestrel a
Hobby but best of all 2
Honey Buzzards which flew from the South right over the house. I had seen a distant bird soaring but lost this to view at about 8.30, then 2 birds suddenly appeared low over the trees and gained height until I lost them again behind the Oaks but after 5 minutes they appeared again soaring high over the house and flying North. Definitely a male and female.
I had a quick wander early afternoon at Pulborough Brooks, but the brooks were particularly dry. A single
Green Sandpiper amongst the
Lapwing was the main interest with a few eclipse plumage
Teal, Wigeon and a couple of
Mandarin amongst the hundreds of
Greylag and
Canada Geese.
I did buy a couple of new bird feeders at Pulborough, with Squirrel guards - I'd given up feeding the birds for a couple of months, partly as there is plenty of natural food available but the Squirrels are becoming a huge nuisance. I had a 'Squirrel Buster' feeder, which actually did work, preventing access to the food as soon as a fat Squirrel put weight on the feed tube, but it made the Squirrels so frustrated that they managed to yank the whole thing to the ground and ran off with one of the pieces so I now can't use it, so 'Squirrel Buster' was busted by the Squirrels - So I will see how Plan B goes, it might be temporary before I get driven to an all-out assault.
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| 2 Honey Buzzards, male on left, slightly larger female on right. |
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| Male Honey Buzzard |
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| Female Honey Buzzard |
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| Common Darter on Garden Pond |
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Damselflies making more Damselflies
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| and again |
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| Broad-bodied Chaser |
