31st August - A bit of a catch up April - July

 With the best laid plans , I have completely failed to keep this blog updated, so in a vain attempt to bring this up to speed as we get into mainstream autumn migration there will have to be a swift and brief catch up. 

Spring was quite slow and I was still working until the end of May, so much of the activity I fitted in was to complete the breeding bird surveys on Black Down for Wealden heath birds, specific surveys for Woodcock and Nightjar and then switching focus to Honey Buzzards, which pleasingly seem to have had a record year, with enough juveniles seen to suggest at least 2 successful nests in the area none of which I managed to locate.

April

After the Portugal trip, I increased the visits to Black Down for the bird surveys,. The weather was fairly mixed in April but remained cool. Although most of the heathland birds were present and migrants had turned up, numbers seemed lower for Dartford Warbler and Stonechat, Redstart had 2 fewer territories than last year and only 1 Cuckoo was around. Woodlark faired ok and there were better numbers of Garden Warbler by the end of the month and Willow Warbler showed no sign of decline here like they had seen elsewhere. It was not a Crossbill year this year, which seems to be the case across the whole of Southern England. Perhaps one pair held on.

Roseate Tern

I managed a couple of visits to Selsey, with Spring passage also being slow and no days with really good numbers of seabird passage. The highlight of which was a Roseate Tern which spent an hour with a Common Tern flock before moving through on the 30th. I only saw 1 Great Skua and Arctic Skuas were also low in number, possibly as a result of the previous years collapse in seabird colonies as a result of avian flu. There were no Poms recorded in April.

Roseate Tern

May

A continued theme, where the weather became dry and sunny but backed by a continuous brisk NE wind that was cold, which seemed to dampen bird activity, I had some pretty numbing early morning visits to Black Down.

Despite the increased number of bank holidays my work was more intense as I was getting towards the end of my contract and the only Pom skuas that went through were midweek in the first week of may, so another year with my spring total at zero. In fact the only decent morning I had at Selsey was on the 31st when a late movement of terns included 3 Black Terns and at least 7 Arctic Terns.

Locally, at least Honey Buzzards turned up, with the first bird being seen on the 7th, which is at least a week earlier than my previous records.

A displaying male Honey Buzzard

The 'butterfly' wing display these birds have is incredible to watch. 

June

Seemingly my first proper trip out for months and my only decent one in the month was to the Brecks with Gary Howard on the 14th. We started at Lakenheath Fen RSPB where initially the reedbeds and skies seemed pretty quiet, only as we walked back along the river bank did we see a Bittern and 4 Common Cranes which were highlights. We then went to Weeting Heath where the Stone Curlews were showing albeit a little distant and from there we drove to Fen Drayton, where there had been a Blue-winged Teal the previous day, but we were out of luck, however it is always good to visit a reserve for the first time. We finished the day at the Ouse Washes RSPB, where we eventually had good views of at least 2 Black-crowned Night Herons.

Common Cranes

Common Crane 

Bittern

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

July

The beginning of July can be a slow month. The National Trust organised a co-ordinated Nightjar count on Black Down, followed a week later by one on Woolbeding Common. On Black Down we recorded a record 12-14 Churring birds, with plenty of Woodcock seen as well. A smaller number were on Woolbeding but both sites seem to have done well this year. I also found a pair of Hobby attempting to nest on Black Down.

As autumn migration signs started mid-month I visited Selsey and Medmerry, on the 12th. Common Sandpipers , Greenshank and some early moving Sand Martins were the only signs of migration, but at least it had started. On the 24th I dropped into Pulborough where 11 Green Sandpipers were a more significant number with a Little Ringed Plover. The White-tailed Eagle from the re-introduction scheme even put in an appearance.

Common Sandpiper

Mediterranean Gull

Common Whitethroat

Linnet

Honey Buzzard