19 February 2023 - Early Feb

With only occasional bright days getting into double figures among generally grey windy and uninspiring period for both birds and weather a brief summary of what I've managed to eek out locally in the past couple of weeks, limited to weekends of course.

A walk to Furnace Pond on the 4th - held a surprising number of Linnet with my first Brambling of the year. The usual Mandarin and wintering Teal were on the pond and a Grey Wagtail near the sluice.

A visit to Selsey for a couple of hours on the 5th followed by a brief drop in at Church Norton then Siddlesham Ferry had a few highlights, a movement of 40+ Red-throated Divers plus a single Velvet Scoter at Selsey Bill,  then at Siddlesham, a Green Sandpiper and  Spotted Redshank were notable. A Goshawk was seen flying over the house later in the day.

On the 6th at lunch time my first Firecrest of the year was seen at home, first for the year, in its usual place jut past the chicken pen.

On the 10th a late afternoon walk to Lower House Farm, had the large Linnet flock there which must have been over 300 birds, a singing Yellowhammer and c25 Meadow Pipits were worthy of note.

My first visit to Black Down this year on the 19th was mildly disappointing, ok it was cold,  at least there were 5 Woodlark singing to brighten up the morning, which was good, but no sign of any Stonechat, Dartford Warblers or Crossbill. I probably need to wait a few weeks although there hasn't been any Crossbill around since last May !

Birds in the garden have also been pretty thin in numbers and species compared to previous years at this time., particularly finches, with no Brambling or Redpoll sightings and only a handful of Chaffinch and maybe 3 Siskin and a similar Goldfinch count, whether this a quirk of the weather or something more serious as a result of Avian Flu will have to wait and see. The one notable sighting is the frequency of flyover Linnets. With a large flock of 300 at Lower House Farm and decent numbers the other way near Furnace pond I guess that these birds commute between the 2 favoured sites. A Tawny Owl was seen a couple of times at first light and Red Kite sightings have increased.

Woodlark

Woodlark

Woodlark songflighting