Saturday 21st January - Fine Winter Freeze

As low as -8c last night and promise of sunshine today but with temperatures barely above freezing. However I needed a day out !

I didn't have much of a plan before I left home around 7.45 (it had taken 15 minutes to defrost the car) and actually was still in two minds having driven as far as Midhurst as to which direction to head. First up was Fishbourne Creek.

A frozen but bright start, the tide was well on the way out biy the time I was walking along the creek and the exposed mud was glistening with a frozen ice crust.

A number of Yellowhammers were gathered around the horse paddock and the first area of tideline with a couple of Reed Bunting. On the water's edge 100+ Dunlin, Grey Plover, Oystercatcher, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Turnstone worked the edges with 300+ Wigeon in the Channel and a dozen Pintail and a few Teal and surprisingly only a single figure count of Brent Geese. A Little Egret and Grey Wagtail were near the sluice and a large Black-headed Gull roost was at the northern end where there was a Spotted Redshank, small numbers of Lapwing and 5 Snipe,

Walking back a close Rock Pipit was one of several encountered and a smart Kingfisher was fishing from the sluice wall. Before heading back to the car a Water Pipit was seen close to the fence-line, there has been one around for a few weeks, a bird that is often tricky to see in West Sussex.

Tide well out on arrival

Reasonable number of birds feeding on the falling tide

Rock Pipit

Little Egret

Kingfisher

Mrs Reed Bunting

Water Pipit

The sun was now rising , but it honestly wasn't any warmer, I headed to Church Norton. The tide was well out, distant waders on mud made for awkward viewing in the bright light,  Dunlin, Curlew, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, with 50+ Shelducks on the mud, and the usual large roost of Cormorants and Greater Black-backed Gulls.  Little Grebes were the only bird seen in the channels  and 8 Skylarks were on the spit. 5 Slavonian Grebes were distant on a choppy sea, the cold air making my eyes water trying to look through the scope..

Around midday I decided to head out of the quiet peninsula, the Ferry Pool was completely frozen and there was not one bird to be seen . I called in at  Ivy Lake, there was no sign of the Scaup or Long-tailed duck  just a good gathering of Pochard, Shoveler, Tufted Duck and Coot. The Greylag and Canada Geese had a Bar-headed Goose with them, obviously feral.

I drove in still bright sunshine  to Burpham and walked out towards the downs.

I scoped the group of Swans that could be seen in a field down by the Arun , amongst 6 Mute Swans were 22 Bewick Swans, a larger group than had been reported here. Small numbers of  Fieldfares and Redwing, joined Mistle Thrushes, Song Thrushes and Blackbirds in the sheep paddocks, but I don't think I got into double figures for either species of Winter Thrush. A large group of House Sparrows were around the farmhouse. Up beyond Peppering Farm a Hare crossed the track and Kestrel and Red Kite could be seen distantly. A ringtail Hen Harrier glided down one of the game strips until I no longer had a view through the hedge and was seen again later. There are probably not many Hen Harriers in Sussex at the moment so always good to catch up with one in Winter. A flock of  Reed Bunting didn't hold any other finches and other than  Lapwing, Common  Buzzard and more Red Kites, I saw little more than this which was a tad disappointing. A few Pheasant were the only game bird, I imagined if I'd stayed in the area longer towards late afternoon I may have seen more Partridge and maybe an Owl but I wanted to move on. On the way back to the car, a couple told me there was a Great White Egret in the valley near the railway, so I walked there and sure enough the Great White Egret was in the field behind a hedgerow. It has been in the valley for a while, but can be very mobile.

Extensive fields of the Norfolk Estate

Red Kite

Light became challenging

Next stop was Waltham Brooks. No sign of the Shrike when I was there , just a Stonechat in the open scrub. The Sewage works filter beds were working and several Chiffchaff , one Siberian Chiffchaff, Pied and Grey Wagtails were working the beds. There is no view into the beds only to the sides so you have to wait for the birds to jump up to see them. Several Teal and Wigeon were being scattered by wildfowlers guns along with a few Snipe.

Waltham Brooks

Last stop was Burton Mill, to see whether a bittern would appear going to roost at dusk.... it didn't. Just added a Water Rail to the list.

A decent day out with a few species seen.