As Spring marches on I need to ensure the breeding bird surveys on Black Down are up to date. I visited there on the 11th, even though the weather was quite cool and breezy at least it was in between rather wet spells. Nothing unusual to report but decent numbers of the main species for the list (Woodlark, Dartford Warbler, Stonechat, Redstart, Crossbill) the only bird that seems to have reduced numbers is Tree Pipit. Which is maybe why the very vocal Cuckoo has an element of frustration in his voice, presuming that Tree Pipit is the chosen host species .
I also went to Black Down on the evening of the 14th for the first of 3 Woodcock Surveys organised by the BTO. The idea is to spend 75 minutes in one spot, starting 15 minutes before official sunset. It was quite successful as I recorded 4 sightings of Woodcock and 10 'heards'. It is difficult to assess how many birds this involved but I would guess at 4. I also heard 2 Nightjars which was good as they must have only arrived recently.
On the 17th a / the Turtle Dove turned up in the garden feeding at the back of the veggie patch near the chicken pen. I'm working on the assumption this is the same bird that has been in the area the last few years as it's habits seem the same.
On the 18th I visited Knepp with Sally and Paul Bowley and his wife Nancy. This was my first visit there and it is quite special. The White Storks were excellent to see on their nests and flying around, several Nightingales were present with many Whitethroats, Blackcaps and a couple of Garden Warblers and we also saw Turtle Dove. The herds of Long-Horn Cattle and Tamworth Pigs were great and amongst the Red Deer a fine looking stag.
Another visit to Pagham on the 22nd. Principally to see if I could catch up with the Roseate Tern that had been reported on and off over the last few days. I was meeting Paul Bowley at Church Norton at 8am. I'd arrived about 7.45am and immediately saw a report that the Roseate Tern was on the mud at Church Norton so I walked down to the harbour, there were no other birders there but I scanned the Terns that were using the mud, plenty of Sandwich Terns a few Little Terns a Common Tern and another Common Tern that looked a little different, but I think this was a 2cy bird that had a very dark bill... no sign of any Roseate that I could see. Paul turned up and we spent a good hour scanning the harbour. The gull colony was thriving and it was easy to spend time just watching the activity, with c200+ pairs of Black-headed Gulls , what must be 30-40 pairs of Sandwich Terns, c20 pairs of Little Terns and 4 Common Terns. There were c100 Dunlin with an obvious large and long-billed individual that was probably of the alpina race, 4 Sanderling a few Ringed Plover, Turnstone and Curlew but no other waders. We walked along to severals seeing Lesser Whitethroat, whitethroat a Blackcap and Linnet. It was quite cold and the wind was certainly picking up to a strong southerly, so we decided to relocate to Selsey Bill for an hour. It was a bit blowy, but we managed to see a very distant Arctic Skua and 2 Manx Shearwaters, 4 Kittiwake and 3 inbound Swift.
We called back to Church Norton to see whether the Roseate had appeared, no luck but there was a 2cy Little Gull on the mud with the terns and the Peregrine put in an appearance before the rain started. SO it was a decent morning without the star bird in deteriorating conditions.
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| young Fox at home |
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| Stock Dove |
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