Monday 13th September - A day out in Yorkshire

When news of a Black-browed Albatross broke in June of a bird visiting the Gannet colony on Bempton Cliffs, it was the week I was away in Cambridge and wasn't possible to engineer a visit. Previous UK records have either been from the Northern Scottish Islands or brief lucky fly-pasts from various coastal locations, so a reasonably settled mainland bird was going to have significant attractions for such a great bird. It's continued presence in the following couple of weeks into July, coincided with me being laid low with a bug for 10 days which was the time when most birding friends made their visit, again I couldn't go. It then became a little erratic for several weeks where it would disappear for days at a time, making the commitment to a 5 hour drive more challenging with the uncertainty that prevailed and I was frequently thinking oh well that's one that got away. In recent weeks the Albatross has still been sighted and East Yorkshire added to the temptation with an equally rare White-tailed Lapwing, looking fairly settled at Blacktoft Sands RSPB, and then last Friday, astonishingly, another rarity, a Green Warbler, being found next to Bempton Cliffs at Buckton. 

When I chatted to Gary Howard on Friday about maybe going out birding for the day on Sunday or Monday, we pretty much talked ourselves out of going to Yorkshire having assumed that the Green Warbler would have disappeared by then. By Sunday afternoon we agreed the time I was picking Gary up in the early hours of Monday morning and driving to Yorkshire !

We arrived in the car park at Bempton Cliffs at 6.15am after an easy drive, with already a few birders heading out as the light was just appearing most towards where the Warbler had been seen. We had decided to try for the Albatross first, as it had been seen yesterday evening on the cliffs and we thought it would be an idea to see the bird in case it departed early. We walked South along the cliffs towards a viewpoint called 'New Roll Up', before realising that the bird was last seen at a viewpoint called 'Staple Newk', without checking we assumed this was in the other direction, so we reversed our steps and headed North along the cliffs, arriving at the assumed correct viewpoint after 10 minutes we found this was not 'Staple Newk' and only then did we look at a map and see that 'Staple Newk' was the most Southerly viewpoint. So we reversed again and a further 10 minutes we were arriving at 'Staple Newk' where there were 2 birders intently looking out to sea. Asking the question 'has it been seen', the answer of '...err it's just flown out to sea' was not what we hoped to hear.

We spent the next 15 minutes stewing in silence pretending to look closely at the Gannets and Fulmars and wondering whether our plan for the day was already in tatters, when one or the other birders said ' its heading back in !' and there was the Black-browed Albatross flying towards us and spending a good 20 minutes circling in front of us before disappearing around the corner. What an excellent bird and astonishing to see looking down on the Albatross, at fairly close quarters through bins, as it performed several circles towards the cliffs in front of us! This coincided with the news that the Green Warbler had indeed been seen already this morning and our plan was back on track.

It only took around 25 minute to walk to the site the Green Warbler was favouring, a couple of hundred metres from the cliffs inland in a natural dip in the middle of arable fields where scrub bushes covered the site, which was used as a bird-ringing area. The habitat was densely planted with Willows, stunted Oak, Hawthorn and Rowans and as such there were limited windows of viewing, but quite quickly we had heard the warbler, with it's distinctive di-sybillic call but initially merely glimpsed movement rather than a full sighting. We relocated to one end of the scrub that gave a better but more distant view of some of the bushes and before too long the Green Warbler appeared feeding around a Rowan bush and we had excellent views through the scope over a period of about 15 minutes before it disappeared into cover. Over the next hour we had more brief glimpses before deciding that the initial views were not going to be surpassed and we headed back to the Bempton reserve.

The Albatross had decided to sit on the cliffs with some Gannets although the only view obtainable was fairly distant and was there at least for the next hour. In addition to the Gannets and Fulmar a few Kittiwakes were seen with some distant Guillemot and Razorbill on the sea, a Great Skua flew past along with a fairly distant Sooty Shearwater and a brief Manx Shearwater.

It was after midday before we left Bempton Cliffs and headed South to Blacktoft Sands. A rather slow route that saw us arriving after 2.30pm. Into the 'First Hide' and the White-tailed Lapwing was there in front of us, making it 3 mega rare birds in one day, a great tally and I doubt to be repeated very soon. In addition to the star bird, lots of Ruff, Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, and Teal were feeding in the mud, several Yellow Wagtails dropped in and Bearded Tits were calling from the reedbeds. The Townend hide had more duck including Gadwall and Wigeon, a Water Rail appeared briefly and a Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper were around the edge the Singleton Hide had a Glossy Ibis, Great Egret, lots of Little Egret, which made for a good supporting cast.

It was 5.30pm before we headed for home after an excellent day.

Black-browed Albatross

Black-browed Albatross

The Green Warbler - rather distant but amazed I got any sort of shot.

The crowd looking for the Green Warbler

Gannets

Gannet

Fulmar

White-tailed Lapwing

White-tailed Lapwing

White-tailed Lapwing

Ruff and White-tailed Lapwing

White-tailed Lapwing

Ruff

Yellow Wagtail

Glossy Ibis

Sunday 12th September - Garden Activity

There has only been one notable morning so far this autumn at home when a bird flock has passed through with interesting species,which held my first Lesser Whitethroat for the garden list. This morning felt like another morning which could see some passage as the winds were a light Easterly with a little early morning mist and a fairly warm temperature. That's exactly what happened as an early bird party had Blackcap, Chiffchaff, 3 Firecrest, Goldcrest and a Spotted Flycatcher, which was my first here in a couple of years. I've only had 4 records in 10 years and usually it is an autumn passage bird that passes through.

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher in Oak at home.

Saturday 11th September - South Coast repeats

I had a free morning today so decided to revisit the coast. With a change n the wind direction to a more usual Westerly, it's not normally productive for sea-watching. The 3 hours spent at Selsey did have a variety of species which was a bit of a bonus. As well as 3 Balearic Shearwaters (possibly the same 3 as Wednesday ?) there was an Arctic Skua, Garganey, over 200 Swallows, 80+ House Martins and 20 Sand Martins and a trickle of Wagtails, unusually more Grey Wagtails than Yellow Wagtails with 14 of the former and 12 of the latter. 

I relocated to the North Wall with Paul Bowley and had better views of the Red-backed Shrike, which has surprisingly stayed around for a week, 2 close Wheatears, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting and 100+ Black-tailed Godwits. The breeding Cattle Egrets were still feeding young in the nest.

migrating Yellow Wagtail

'dispersing' Grey Wagtail

Great Crested Grebe

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Wheatear

Wheatear

Lapwing

Cattle Egret above young.

Wednesday September 8th - The warm spell continues

 It looks like this warm spell will be at an end tomorrow when the wind shifts and a bit of rain moves in. This morning I met Paul Bowley at Selsey Bill at first light, clear blue skies and a temperature that climbed into the high 20's, with an ESE F4 wind there was always a chance of something more interesting moving.

The morning was dominated by a continuous movement of hirundines flying South, to start mainly Swallows but increasingly large groups of House Martins moving in tight flocks. Our count over a 3 hour period was c700 Swallow,s c1,200 House Martins and c100 Sand Martins, but this probably significantly underestimated the true numbers as we would often picked up dots on the horizon moving through that weren't picked up to count. The other movement was Yellow Wagtails, as soon as we arrived about 30 took off from the beach, we counted over 85 going through in total, again this was probably an underestimate. 4 Wheatears around the beach were the only other passerine of note. It is great when you see this sort of visible migration. There was not much moving on the sea itself with just a handful of Sandwich Terns, a Fulmar which flew directly over us, a couple of Med Gulls and the usual Gannets. 8 Common Scoter and 2 Teal were seen, but the best were 3 Balearic Sheawaters. A Single at 7.20am and 2 together at 8.45am. The pair were slightly closer (still quite distant) and allowed a better view, being able to pick out some of the features. It is sometimes said that the flight is not a true indicator of separation to Manx Shearwaters, whether that's the case or not these birds had a lot of wing-beats and only short glides, compared to the sometimes arching shears that the Manxies display.

We tore ourselves away from the beach and relocated to Medmerry. It was quite windy which was keeping any passerines low so other than a Kingfisher, we saw very little until we reached the Stilt Pools. It looked very birdy, but that was probably because the 300+ Canada Geese were there with 14 Egyptian Geese and some awkward looking others, included Barnacle types and some 'Lesser' Canada Geese types. On closer inspection there were quite a few other birds with 20+ Wigeon, several Teal, 10 Tufted Duck, Gadwall and a Pintail. A surprise when we found the juvenile Black Tern feeding at the back of the water, it had been reported a few days ago but assumed to have gone. 2 Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank and Avocet were there with 4 Cattle Egrets, a few more Yellow Wagtails, and c50 Sand Martins over the water. On returning I managed to see an Osprey rather distantly land in trees at the far side of the reserve.

A pretty good morning.

Yellow Wagtail

Fulmar

Kingfisher

Black Tern

Black Tern

Black Tern

Black Tern

Sunday 5th September - Pagham

 The heat continues and very enjoyable it is too, there has been a distinct increase in birds on the over in the last couple of days, even at home I have noticed good numbers of Swallows and a few House Martins all flying purposefully South. A quick trip down to the North side of Pagham Harbour this morning after a Red-backed Shrike was found. I had been a little elusive through the morning although it didn't take long to see the juvenile Red-backed Shrike.  Viewing was over a wall near the harbour edge not far from Siddlesham Quay. It was a shame it was not really sitting up and viewing was slightly into the light, but still good to see.

A couple of Wheatears and a Whinchat were also in the area along with many Common Whitethroats and several Yellow Wagtails. A large group of mixed hirundines Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins probably c300 birds were near the North wall and the Cattle Egrets were in Owl Copse. The water levels on the breach pool remain high, so little to tempt any waders other than the few Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank that were in the area with a couple of Greeshank in the harbour. By 1pm it was actually very hot touching 27C as I left.

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Friday 3rd September - Summer arrives late

 A drop in winds and an increase in temperatures is a good way to end the Summer period. The first few hours of the day remained pretty overcast but clearing to bright blue skies and a reasonable heat makes a pleasant change to the entire month of August. I went to Black Down this morning on the hope this might trigger a bit more bird activity. It did , but only a little.

There was certainly more activity from the local Stonechats, being much more visible now the wind has dropped off, but no sign of any Wheatear or Whinchat with them, which was my hope, only a couple of the local Dartford Warblers. I saw a male Redstart, 2 Tree Pipit and 3 Spotted Flycatchers, being the only migrants of significant interest.

The bonus bird of the morning was seen as I was leaving, a calling Hawfinch perched atop an old Ash tree, fairly distantly before flying strongly North, probably indicated a dispersing bird. 

Distant Hawfinch

Hawfinch flying away.

Kestrel

Monday 30th August - Bank Holiday

The August Bank Holiday weekend is traditionally a good time to see a coastal Wryneck. There have been a lot of Wryneck records from the Pagham area, usually either at the Severals in Church Norton or the North Wall area and historically I would think around st September is probably the peak date.

Unusually for this weekend we went to a large festival from Friday through to Sunday, CarFest, at Laverstoke Park in Hampshire, it was excellent, although felt a bit weird being among so many people given the restrictions over the last 18 months. I was going to say that there were no birds involved, but ironically I did see a Honey Buzzard over the car as we drove in the first day !

True to form, a Wryneck was found at the Severals, Church Norton on Sunday and also true to form the weather turned to a very cold strong northerly wind with leaden skies on the Monday to coincide with when I drove down to Church Norton.

The good news was that I saw the Wryneck, but in the strong winds that made my eyes water, unsurprisingly it was for the most part staying deep in cover only briefly popping out twice for a better view, but not for the camera. A Little Stint  on the mud at Church Norton was the pick of other birds in the locality and one of the local Peregrines was flying around. A brief stop at the ferry pool produced 2 Spotted Redshanks, 100+ Black-tailed Godwit, 60+ Lapwing, 40 Dunlin and 2 Avocet, but it wasn't the day to hang around.

Believe it or not there's a Wryneck in the middle of this bush.

Little Stint

Curlew

Thursday 27th August - Number 100

A moment to celebrate.

Birds seen at or from home has always been fairly important to me both for record keeping and also the significant pleasure when you see a good bird at home that might be common elsewhere. In our previous house, Greyhound House which was fairly rural, I recorded 91 species in the 13 years I was there. I had no particular expectations when we moved to Fernhurst 10 years ago as there was some similarities in habitat to Greyhound with no real significant water bodies nearby and perhaps expected a similar number but not necessarily more. Today I reached a milestone with my 100th bird species at home, a Lesser Whitethroat. It was with a small bird flock which included a Blackcap ,Willow Warbler and the usual Tit species and was seen a few times over the course of an hour this morning. Lesser Whitethroats are not uncommon Summer migrants but for some reason in this part of Sussex we don't seem to have any population at all. At Greyhound, which is only 6 miles away, I saw them on several occasions and in the last couple of years they bred in the hedge surrounding the house.

So far this year I have seen 5 new birds for the garden list.

Common (mealy) Redpoll - Feb

Curlew - March flyover

Common Tern - June Flyover

Med Gulls - flock of 20 over the valley a couple of days in June

Lesser Whitethroat - August.

I also had a possible Great White Egret in flight in May that I got an insufficient view of before it disappeared behind trees and on 14 August with Paul Bowley, when we had just set up the moth traps an almost certain Nightjar flew over, which was both our conclusion, but the view was just too brief to conclude that I could add this to my list.  Pretty unlikely it will happen again.

This was the first view I had of the Lesser Whitethroat in a Hawthorn near the chicken pen

Lesser Whitethroat

Lesser Whitethroat