A mixed bag of Wintery weather the last few days, although not quite cold enough for snow, but plenty of hail, fog, drizzle and an occasional bit of morning frost. It's difficult to fully understand what global warming impacts will affect the Winters here. Reports suggest by 2040 snow will never be seen again in the South. I've been in the house 9 years, and we have had some Winter snow covering every couple of years even if only for a a few days each Winter, although probably more in the first few years, but we have also had Winters that have been exceptionally mild, wet and windy. The last snow was in March 2018, when we had an unusual spell that lasted the whole of the month, the infamous 'Beast from the East'. This Winter so far just hasn't been cold enough, today I saw 2 bumble bees on the flowering Fatsia Japonica, the Delphiniums had a late second flush and are still flowering, and I still have some tender Salvias and Geraniums in the pots at the front of the house that haven't yet wilted. The temperature seems to have been 2C or 3C above what would be expected.
There was an unusual influx of Geese to the southern counties during the week, mainly White-fronted Geese, with a few Tundra Bean Geese in East Sussex and Kent. In a normal Winter you would be lucky to find singles of White-fronts in company of commoner geese such as Greylags and Brents. I had seen a couple of White-fronts at Amberley the other week but wanted to see more. I planned a morning to go firstly to Selsey, then back to Marsh Farm as a Richard's Pipit had been found there and then possibly to Medmerry where a small White-front flock had been.
A Northerly wind was blowing at Selsey and the sea was fairly calm on a dropping tide. The large feeding flock of Gulls, Gannets and Kittiwakes was still present but some distance out. The theme of the morning was divers and all 3 common species were seen, 5 Great Northern Divers, 8 Red-throated Diver and a Black-throated Diver, a flock of 23 Common Scoter on the sea, several Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Sandwich Terns, a single Brent Goose, a Great Crested Grebe and a few Auks filled in the hour.
I then relocated to Marsh Farm, where the Glossy Ibis was seen last week. I met Paul Bowley there. We walked to field where the pipit had been seen and it was in view as soon as we got there feeding in a winter arable crop field. I had excellent views of the Richard's Pipit through the scope, but the light was quite sharp for a good picture. It flew a couple of times and gave the distinctive 'shreep' call. This was my first Richard's Pipit in Sussex, It seemed to be keeping company with a couple of Stonechat. We then walked towards the milking sheds and found the Glossy Ibis at the back of a different field to last week, although it stayed distant. I picked up a flock of 18 White-fronted Geese, 2 fields further back, it looked lie 10 adults and 8 juveniles. 15 Cattle Egrets were in the area and some large groups of Teal flew through. The large flock of Brent Geese that frequent the North Wall area , >300 birds, could be seen distantly in the air, probably relocating fields.
Having seen the flock of White-fronts I didn't venture to Medmerry, but thought it had been a great morning.
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| Richard's Pipit |
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| Richard's Pipit |
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| Richard's Pipit |
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| Richard's Pipit |
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| Richard's Pipit |
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| Richard's Pipit |
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| Richard's Pipit |
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| Richard's Pipit |
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| Cattle Egrets |
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