Saturday 13th April - Dungeness

Having found a free Saturday in both our diaries I had a trip out to Kent with Gary, It is still quite early for peak migration and the weather today was bitterly cold with a north east wind that first brought some unforecast rain and gradually brightened into sunshine but several layers were essential. We decided the Dungeness area would be as good as any.

On route to Dungeness we stopped at New Hythe Gravel pits on the off-chance we might find an early Nightingale, but the only Spring songsters were Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs.

Before Dungeness we drove over Romney Marsh finding a nice Little Owl and eventually a few Tree Sparrow and a single Yellowhammer.

We drove down Dengemarsh Road where a very distant Common Crane was on view also hearing but not seeing a Yellow Wagtail, we continued to Dengemarsh Gulley hoping for a few migrants  but it was very quiet with just 2 Wheatear a couple of Chiffchaff and a Cetti's Warbler.

Driving back over the Sussex border to Camber was next, with short walk from the car it didn't take long to locate the  Glossy Ibis at a roadside pool where there was also a pristine White Wagtail. Stopping briefly at Scotney we saw more Tree Sparrows, a single Avocet and a very smart Spring Yellow Wagtail.

We parked at the ARC pits, walking to the Hanson Hide, Sedge Warblers were singing away in the scrub and a group of c75 hirundines gathered over the water a majority of Swallows, several Sand Martin and just a couple of House Martin. We went to the Reserve car park, briefly looking in one of the hides finding the Summer plumage Black-necked Grebe at the back of the pit, then we walked the trail around the reserve despite the strong wind. A Cattle Egret was a brief sighting at the back of Hookers Pit where there were calling Bearded Tits more Sedge Warblers and a fly-past Kingfisher, The final addition to the Spring list was a slightly surprising Lesser Whitethroat that we heard singing before eventually viewing, surprising in that I rarely see Lesser Whitethroat in a Spring before Whitethroat.

It was 5pm when we returned to the car and decided to head back after a reasonable list for the day.

Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis

Yellow Wagtail

Common Lizard

A month of March and April Spring sunshine and rain

The passage of time and good intentions seem to have got the better of me and yet again I find myself updating the blog well in arrears. Its the second half of April and I'm in Portugal

I arrived back from Fuerteventura on 8th March and busily went about a bit of birding interspersed with much work on the garden (we have  renewed the area to the front of the house with several new garden beds and lots of plants) and the occasional work related trip to London.

The weather was fairly typical for March and early April, being mainly very cool and breezy but with only occasional rain.

I completed 2 more Breeding Bird Surveys on Stanley Common , the first was poor with very little recorded and no sign of any Woodlark tha I had seen in early Feb, the second visit on the11th April was much better finding a pair of Woodlark and seeing both Tree Pipit and Redstart and Crossbill, along with a decent number of Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Willow Warbler, which must have just arrived.

The main track on Stanley Common

Typical Crossbill view at the top of a pine

A newly arrived Tree Pipit

.. and a newly arrived male Redstart

I had several visits to Selsey and Pagham, with highlights being all 3 Divers, Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Velvet Scoter, manx Shearwater, Little Gulls, Common and Little Terns, Red-necked Grebe,  and inbound, Sand Martin, Swallow, Yellow Wagtails and Wheatears.

One of the triangle posts at Selsey Bill, importantly used to give directions for passing birds

and occasionally used as a perch

Northern Gannet

Northern Fulmar

On a more local basis I visited Blackdown on 3rd April and saw many Crossbill a Woodlark, a Dartford Warbler plenty of Siskins, and Linnets and later in the day 5 different Goshawk, but the best day I had for raptors was the 11th April after my Stanley common visit when I saw my first Hobby of the year followed by a first for home when a Merlin flew over.

As well as plenty of Brambling throughout, the largest count was 32 birds and there were still 2 present on the 19th April just before we came to Portugal. The early Chiffchaffs that were around at home in March have probably moved on but there are 2 Blackcaps singing and the occasional Firecrest and a Willow Warbler was briefly seen on the 9th and 11th of April.

Rather unusual were 2 Canada Geese that decided to try the pond one morning and then 3 Mandarin Ducks (2 drakes and a female) that also gave the garden a try on the 18th.

CHIFFCHAFF ????

Potentially the most interesting local bird was on Friday 12th April. Dave B had let me know that an interesting sounding Chiffchaff had been heard at the end of Vann Road with the potential of it being an Iberian. It was an awkward place to access but just being up the road I went to have a look mid morning and having heard  a couple of Chiffchaffs then found the bird in question.. and its song was definitivey distinct and was actually a good candidate for Iberian Chiffchaff with no real sign of being a mixed singer it displayed a short song comprising 3 phrases,, a few chiffs (no chaffs) followed by a rattle then a few trail notes. The issue for me was the bird looked quite drab, even thought the light was fairly awkward it didn't seem to have sufficient of the yellow tones and green in the upper body, although did have a clean white belly and lighter legs, base of bill and a supercilium in front of the eye. I took some recordings on my phone of the call, and circulated these. There has been no conclusion yet to the ID so remains a potential Iberian Chiffchaff.

A white belly and yellowish vent and yellowish supercilium and lighter legs

In stronger light though it looks like a typically drab Chifchaff

Chiffchaff with a Spanish lilt to its song

From all angles

February Snow and February Heatwave

This is a bit of a catch up as we are now at the end of March and I'm writing about what happened in the early part of Feb. Luckily, I was away at the end of Feb /beginning of March to the Canary Islands and have written a separate page on the successful trip.

Before the mini heatwave that struck in the middle of Feb, some Winter birding was still in order and indeed a decent snowfall overt the weekend of the 1st / 2nd. In itself, this cold snap didn't really do much for the local birds in terms of change or variety and there was no cold weather movement to speak of, as the cold spell was short-lived. I couldn't get to Blackdown following the snowfall as the roads were blocked so ended up at the Devils Punchbowl in Hindhead, with wintery scenes lots of people and lots of dogs.

After a bit of a thaw I had a trip to Fishbourne Creek on 5th Feb and although rather gloomy weather was quite birdy.

Highlights were a single Spotted Redshank, 3 Greenshank, good view of a Kingfisher and plenty of common waders and ducks a few Rock Pipits and Yellowhammer.

Kingfisher

I also found that I had volunteered to do the Wealden Heath survey at Stanley and Lynchmere commons. I quite like Stanley Common although the habitat is reasonably limited as the decent heathland area is quite small. Lynchmere I never get on well with as it is more poor scrub and generally overrun with dogs. I did my first visit on 13th Feb, with the highlight being a single Woodlark giving brief snippets of songflighting. A few Siskin, Redpoll and common woodland species were present but it was fairly quiet which was not surprising given the time of year.

Otherwise local birds have consisted of several Goshawk sightings, a single Peregrine and local Red Kites, being visible more frequently. The main highlight in the garden is a small build up of Brambling numbers to a consistent 8 birds by the end of Feb.

At the end of the month I went for my 10 day trip to the canaries.