Sunday 18th April - A busy week of Birding

This is unusual for me to have the time to enjoy Spring at it's best and be out doing what I enjoy the most. With Spring migration ramping up towards it's peak and now that we're allowed out, I can spend a bit more time on the coast where visible migration has to be the most enjoyable birding spectacle. This has to be tempered with the knowledge that a seawatch at Selsey Bill can often be unproductive  but enough time spent may yield worthwhile prizes such as Pomarine Skuas and other specialities and optimism is a key trait for productive birding.

Friday 9th April - Selsey Bill

A slight Westerly breeze produced a few good birds with 13 Red-throated Divers, c180 Common Scoter, a Whimbrel, 33 Bar-tailed Godwits, Long-tailed Duck, Great Skua and an unusual sight of a Little Egret flying south and 2 Wheatears on the beach and 4 Swallows in.

Wheatear (female)

Saturday 10th April - Liphook

I was watching Adie play Hockey in a cold biting wind and my first Cuckoo of the year flew over the hockey pitch !!

Sunday 11th April - Blackdown

Another freezing cold morning and a strong NE wind left little joy on Blackdown this morning. I had 4 Woodlarks, 15+ Crossbills and a similar number of Linnet, 2 Lesser Redpolls, 5 Siskin and a single Willow Warbler.

A surprise this afternoon when I found a Tawny Owl sunning itself in the gully just near the back door. The Blackbirds were making a commotion that led me to the Owl who had found a sunny sheltered spot out o the biting wind.

Woodlark

Tawny Owl

Tawny Owl

Tuesday 13th April - Selsey Bill

Still cold this morning ith frost being scraped off the car, the wind this morning was a light NE which swung round to SW at the end of the morning. It was a decent morning with the highlight being a male Common Redstart that battled in from the sea. Also 7 Little Terns, Great Skua, 17 Red-throated Divers, c180 Common Scoters, 9 Whimbrel, 26 Bar-tailed Godwits and 129 Brent Geese. There was an Eider on the sea, a Wheatear flew into the beach and 3 Swallows came in.

This Wheatear flew in and landed on the Green Triangle

Thursday 15th April - Fernhurst

I did a walk this morning from the house and eventually found the male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which showed briefly calling a couple of times. The only unusual sighting for here was a Little Egret that flew over.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (male)

Blackcap (male) in song

Friday 16th April - Selsey Bill

The frost was still on the car and the light NE wind made for a bit of a slow morning. The highlight was a single Little Gull that went through early on followed by a Little Tern it then slowed down rather than being the start of passage with only 14 Common Scoter, 5 BRent Geese, 6 Whimbrel, 3 Sanderling, the Great Skua lingering offshore and a handful of Meadow Pipits..... it will improve !

Brent Geese

Whimbrel

Saturday 17th April - Stanley Common

Again, I was on parent duty, dropping Adie near Liphook to play Hockey I then spent an hour on Stanley Common before picking her up where I found my first 2 Tree Pipits of the year, a surprise Dartford Warbler and some Crossbill.

Sunday 18th April - Black Down

Despite another frosty start it was better conditions this morning on Black Down with less wind and more birds out with 7 Woodlark, 6 Stonechat, 5 Dartford Warbler, 3 Tree Pipit, 7 Willow Warbler, 2 Redstart, 3 BRambling and lots of Crossbill and Linnet. It also seems to be the day with my last Brambling sighting at home.

Thursday 8th April - Who would have thought it possible ?

 A glorious sunny Easter Sunday was spent outside in the garden with family friends for lunch, the first time seeing anyone properly since before xmas was a treat. This was followed by days with cold and strong northerly winds where not much happened. This morning I went down to Selsey as it was the first day for a while where the winds had swung round to the West, not ideal for Spring passage but at least it was a change. It was generally quiet, with 3 Wheatears, 4 Swallows and 5 Red-throated Divers, my first of the year were highlights......... I headed home around 11am.

Throughout the winter the odd national rarity stayed around and none more anticipated than the Northern Mockingbird (the 3rd record for the UK) in Exmouth, Devon, a US bird in appearance is a bit of a cross between a thrush and a cuckoo. A lot of birders hoped it would hang on until the lockdown restrictions lifted and it duly obliged, allowing many to make a worthwhile journey to the west country. I had entertained the odd thought of going, but in the circumstance (being fairly conscious of family opinions) was not a strong enough urge to make the trip. Today was the first morning of negative sighting reports of the bird in Devon, suggesting it had eventually departed its wintering venue and as with many other migrants a quick assumption that it would never be seen again..... that was until an incredible report at midday today, that a Northern Mockingbird was seen briefly in a garden in Pulborough in Sussex late this morning last seen flying towards the RSPB reserve. I'd only just got back from Selsey and was thinking about lunch more than anything but was keeping an eye on the reports and sure enough at 1pm a report came through that the bird was still there. I drove to Pulborough village car park and walked the short distance down to the footpath that leads along the riverbank and onwards to the RSPB reserve a group of c20 birders were already there and the Northern Mockingbird was immediately visible in nearby brush that had been cut from Willows and remained in the area for the next couple of hours. A number of people turned up to see the bird and thankfully it was in a large open area which allowed for easy social distancing. Quite amazing really that the bird should decide to turn up here after a straight 130 mile journey.

Having had my fill, I went over to the RSPB reserve where a Pied Flycatcher had been reported the last couple of days. Filled with the sound of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, it took a little while to locate the superb Spring male Pied Flycatcher which gave good views but was obviously covering a wide range on the reserve. A bonus here was a Barn Owl, which was hunting in the afternoon sun from fence posts on the edge of a field.

Turned into a surprisingly good afternoon.

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Friday 3rd April - Springing into migration mode.

 April is the month when Spring migration really gets going, it does rely on a bit of favourable weather to see the best bits, but from the second half of this month for 6-8 weeks it is the best time of year.

On Thursday 1st, which was the last of the recent really warm days I did a local walk in the morning and found both male and female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker with the male actively drumming, when they are as active as they were it is hard to see how they can be missed, but they are tiny birds and if they just keep quiet and remain at the tops of trees they are hard to see, plus they can have a 'home range' of up to 40 hectares, so are difficult to pin down.

Good Friday saw me back at Selsey, the weather had turned from the warmth of the previous few days and the wind was now a fairly strong cool North Easterly, which also kept the birds fairly distant. It still produced a decent list with highlights being a Long-tailed Duck, along with Common Scoter, Shoveler, Shelduck, Pintail and Red-breasted Merganser. My first Fulmar of the year, 4 Great Northern Divers on the sea, a small number of waders included a Curlew, 5 Grey Plover, 17 Sanderling, Gannets, Sandwich Terns and a Common Tern but only 4 Meadow Pipit, 1 Sand Martin and 1 Swallow on the migrant front.

In the increasingly strong and cooling wind I stopped at the visitor centre in Siddlesham and walked along the long pool. The Spotted Redshank was in the channel and 4 Sedge Warblers were singing in poolside brambles although mostly trying to remain hidden out of the wind.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (male)

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (male)

Spotted Redshank

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Wednesday 31st March - Lockdown Ends (again !!)

On Monday we were partially released from lockdown, allowing up to 6 people to meet outside and a loosening of the stay at home rule to an advisory keep local, which in practice allows venturing further afield than just the doorstep. This has coincided with a nice warm spell of weather and a real feeling that Spring is here with the clocks going forward last Saturday night.

My first Chiffchaff at home was on the 24th and on the 27th I walked to Furnace Pond, several Chiffchaff and singing Blackcaps were on route as were a couple of Skylark and 2 Woodlark on the large arable field. The furnace pond had an Egyptian Goose, 8+ Teal and a couple of Mandarin, with 3 Grey Wagtails and just as I caught sight of a male Goshawk flying in the distance, something flew through my line of vision at the back of the pond at treetop height and landed in a Birch tree, well I couldn't quite believe it but is was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. At last, after all the searching I'd managed to find one, but it didn't call at all. It stayed for a few minutes around the birch trees then flew back out of sight. It was a female bird and I waited around the area for another half an hour but no further sighting, but I returned home elated.

The 29th I stayed at home as I had some jobs to do in the garden, the weather turned into a perfect Spring day with a light Westerly breeze, but the first couple of hours were quite misty. At about 10.30 when I sat down for a coffee outside just as the mist had lifted, I noticed some groups of Meadow Pipit flying through through heading North, I'm not really on any migration flyway here but you get occasional trickles of birds like the Pipit visibly migrating when the weather is right. Then I had a lone Sand Martin which was excellent, as the last Sand Martin I recorded here was an Autumn bird in 2012, followed by a Swallow then two further Swallows, my first hirundines of the year. My tally for Meadow Pipits in an hour was 78 birds. I also recorded 10 Brambling a few flyover Linnets, a singing Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Firecrest and on the raptor front, 10 Common Buzzards, Goshawk, Sparrowhawk and Red Kite.

The 30th was my first visit to the coast for over 3 months, I went to Selsey Bill at first light in an Easterly breeze and joined my group of 6 for a sea watch, I actually felt quite emotional being able to get out again and dip my toe into a bit of Spring migration although it is still early, however the list wasn't too bad and it was a great morning with c300 Common Scoter, 4 Great Northern Divers a few Gannets, 2 Shag, Red Breasted Mergansers, several Sandwich Terns, a Common Tern, c 30 Brent Geese, a Pochard (giving more than a few moments of unnecessary confusion as we momentarily talked ourselves into seeing a Garganey in bad light) and 6 Shoveler. Best of all was my first Wheatear of Spring, 2 Sand Martin and 4 Swallows and bizzarely a Rose-ringed Parakeet (ring-necked).

A quick call in at the Ferry pool added 3 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Gadwall, Shelduck, Lapwing and Curlew. A very enjoyable morning.

Today, the 31st, I went to Black Down at first light for 3 hours. The local birds were all setting up territories with decent numbers of Woodlark, Dartford Warbler and Stonechat the number of Crossbills and Linnets are still high and c20 Lesser Redpoll were on the heath. With Chiffchaff and Blackcaps in full voice and my first Willow Warbler of the year, although I didn't see the Redstart that Dave and Jean Killick found.

A bit distant but a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Egyptian Goose

Woodlark

migrating Brent Geese

Rose-ringed Parakeet

Red-breasted Mergansers

Wheatear - the 1st of Spring is always a joy to see.

Wheatear

Common Scoter with a Pochard (left hand duck)

Crossbill (female)

Woodlark

Saturday 20th March - Early Spring meanderings

 The subtle shift in seasons feels like its's now starting properly, still in local mode with the firm date of the 29th firmly in sight to be able to venture further and progress was that today I had my first Covid vaccination jab.

A mix of weather over the last couple of weeks largely staying cold with a bit of rain, plenty of wind and a decent amount of bright days. 

Bird highlights from the last couple of weeks were 4 Snipe that flew in front of the car near Milland when I was driving Adie to school, being my 3rd wader of the year and my 4th an unexpected Curlew from the house flying high an North on a particularly stormy day, but was my 4th wader and a house tick, which doesn't come very often. Last weekend Sal and I went for a walk around Iping Common, the wind was a problem and I only really saw a single Stonechat on the heath but a flock of c30 Mediterranean Gulls was a surprise inland sighting, there is a very large gravel pit just south of Stedham, which unfortunately has no viewing point and is still actively worked but the gulls must have been roosting on there before flying over.

I've been on a few local walks around the area, keeping an eye and ear out for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in suitable habitat but to date no luck at all, plenty of Great Spots and Green Woodpeckers but none of the rare cousin and I'm sure there is at least one in the area.

Plenty of Goshawk sightings over the last week with up to 6 birds visible have been one of the joys with various displays and aerial battles, local Chiffchaffs turned up from the 16th and a survey of Blackdown on the 18th had Woodlarks, Dartford Warblers and Stonechat in small numbers but high numbers of Crossbill and Linnet on site.

At home the Brambling flock is hanging on with still 21 birds recorded today, a pair of Mallards have been using the pond daily for the last week, which has been great but they have made a bit of a mess in the pond. A Firecrest is singing in the gully, so assume it has set up territory there and the dawn chorus is now changing up to 4th gear, such a joy to hear. The local Tawny Owls are back in the Gully and heard on clear nights. I haven't done much more with the moth trap as the nights have generally been cold and often clear.

There is one patch of the wild Daffodil near the pig pen at home.

The male Mallard next to the pond

Woodlark on Black Down

Stonechat

Stonechat

Stonechat

Stonechat

Crossbill