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 |
No comments:
Post a Comment