Wednesday 5th January - Local Bunting

With the first day of still bright cold skies for a couple of weeks, I started the morning at Black Down, for the first visit this year, it was really quiet, the total sum of birds was one Dartford Warbler and 2 Stonechat, not that unusual for this high Wealden heath in the midst of Winter, but I was hoping for a few Crossbills.

I then went to Iping to try and see the Little Bunting again. The view before Christmas was a little distant and on a grim day so I was hoping to catch it in a better light.

Like the last visit it took a while for any success, the small flock of Reed Buntings it has been associating with were not visible at all for 45 minutes, but eventually a few were seen alighting from the long grass they seem to favour. I positioned myself with the light behind me as the buntings entered a small birch copse. I then heard the Little Bunting call behind me, it flew into a nearby shrub for a minute or two before moving on with the other Reed Buntings and yes it was a better view than previously which I was happy about.

Stonechat

Little Bunting

Little Bunting

Little Bunting

Monday 3rd January - Windy Downs

Continuing my measured, steady start to the year, this morning I went to Burpham, arriving around 9.30am. The weather was grey and windy and even though not yet cold, there was a bite to the wind that wasn't there before today, signalling a cold change is on the way.

Parking by the pub in Burpham village, I walked across the field to view the valley towards Arundel and 6 adult Bewick Swans were visible. The Bewick herd has gradually diminished in recent years with not sufficient numbers of young birds to grow the population that frequents the Arun valley. There seem to be 11 birds in total this Winter that have been around the valley, the other group of 5 does have 2 juveniles, but had flown further East towards Steyning. Also visible in the distance were 5 Cattle Egrets near the mill pond stream in Arundel.

I walked up towards the Burgh, stopping briefly at the water treatment plant, where a Sparrowhawk shot through and 6 Chiffchaffs were in the bushes, all colybita.

I'd only seen a couple of Red Kite and Common Buzzard by the time I'd reached Peppering High Barn then I saw a ringtail Hen Harrier hunting a little further up the track in the game strip n the edge of the field, it stayed in the same area for a couple of minutes before drifting off out of view, a great sighting and I was pleased as I didn't see one in Sussex last winter. It wasn't until I reached the track to the dew pond until I saw the first Grey Partridge and a few Red-legged Partridge. A decent number of passerines were in the fields and hedges with c50 Skylark, a similar number of Chaffinch with Linnet, Yellowhammer, Goldfinch and a single Brambling. I was surprised that I only saw one Redwing and no other thrushes. A Firecrest was in the churchyard on the way back.

I called in briefly at Rackham overlooking the wildbrooks but viewing was difficult under darkening skies and directly into a  strengthening wind. Large numbers of Canada and Greylag Goose were on the marsh but I couldn't find any other Geese. 4 Marsh Harriers were hunting including a smart male. Wildfowl numbers looked good with a particularly large number of Pintail with the Wigeon, Shoveler and Teal and a good sized flock of Lapwing were present.

6 adult Bewicks (with a juv Mute Swan)

Ringtail Hen Harrier

Rintail Hen Harrier

Ringtail Hen Harrier

Ringtail Hen Harrier

female Yellowhammer

Saturday January 1st 2022 !! - A new start

Everything is reset, the slate is wiped clean and we go again. At least when your a birder that's exactly what you do and a New Year means a new list. I've not been driven by trying to achieve any particular total but just like to go out birding and see what birds I can. The weather is still set in a very mild, strong SSW airflow which has dispersed many birds and not displaced or brought in anything of particular note.

Today was a fairly leisurely pace. I started at Selsey Bill with a number of others, ticking off plenty of Red-throated Divers, Gannets, Kittiwakes, Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Scoter and both Razorbill and Guillemot, but the choppy waters made finding anything on the sea difficult and I failed to see a Great Northern Diver or Slavonian Grebe, but had the unexpected bonus of a close fly-by Red-necked Grebe, a bird I did not see at all last year.

The tide was at it's highest point around 10am and rather than go to Church Norton I went to Fishbourne Creek, and met up with Ian, who was doing a Peninsula New Years Day challenge trying to get 100 species. The high tide made for slightly more difficult viewing but a number of birds were added with highlights being a Sandwich Tern, 4 Goldeneye, Spotted Redshank and 5 Greenshank, Rock Pipit and Cetti's Warbler.

The last stop for me was at the North Wall of Pagham Harbour, although the strong breeze made viewing a bit more challenging. A large flock of Golden Plover was the stand out of the common waders, a Marsh Harrier over the reeds the large flocks of Brent Geese, a Chiffchaff and Stonechat were the other limited highlights, returning home there was enough light to add both Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker. A slow-paced 70 Species for me on the day, but it was good to be out.

Red-breasted Merganser

Turnstone

Sandwich Tern

Brent Geese