April Ends
The cold and wet Spring continued to linger to the end of the month. The bird surveys on Black Down were failing to deliver much excitement, Garden Warblers started to arrive by the 25th and a lone Tree Pipit on the 27th appears to be my only Spring sighting on Black Down and it wasn't in song !. Of interest was the flock of 50+ Redpolls on the 25th, with a few individuals that were good Mealy candidates. Woodlarks have shown well this Spring but Dartford Warblers have been fleeting encounters. More of a surprise was a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at home on the 28th, which spent 10 minutes in a bare Chestnut before disappearing.
I was trying to increase my visits to Selsey as we approached May, although they remained hard work and what maybe termed a slow Spring was on offer. Not much Tern passage and low numbers of waders passing though. Skuas have been unsurprisingly in short supply.
I contrived to miss the first reported Poms of the season on the 29th. The wind was such that finding shelter to view was tricky. I was with a small group tucked in behind the East wall when we saw 2 Skuas. The first was a dark phase Arctic Skua, the second we didn't track and therefore could not say for sure what it was. Minutes later we then saw a message from the other Group of watchers reporting 2 Pom Skuas passing through at the same time we had seen our 2 ... oh well ! we clocked up 8 Arctic Skuas and one Great Skua that morning.
Relieved therefore the next day on the 30th when I did see 2 Pomarine Skuas, although a couple of Arctic Terns and a Black-throated Diver were the best of the rest.
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| Redpoll, with Mealy Redpoll features. |
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| male Stonechat |
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| male Dartford Warbler |
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| distant through a grubby window, but there is a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in this tree |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Fulmar |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Distant Pomarine Skua |
May begins
The first few days of May continued a poor weather trend with strong northerly winds. The second week offered a little more although I stayed local, with walk on the 7th that produced a list of 46, which is a high count for here and included Lesser Whitethroat and Nightingale, both are good local records.
On the 8th my first Woodcock survey of the year, did produce several Woodcock and at least 2 Nightjars were calling, although the cold weather probably limited their activity.
A final try at Selsey and Pagham on the 9th produced a surprise Hooded Crow at Selsey, although there was no sign of the Purple Heron at the North Wall and was otherwise quiet despite the activity in the herony with the fine looking Cattle Egrets.
The 10th was the final day before 2 weeks in Portugal without much anticipation I had my first Honey Buzzard of the year and probably the biggest surprise of the Spring so far, late in the afternoon in the garden 2 Turtle Doves appeared, spent 15 minutes and then promptly vanished. I had already packed my camera so could only manage a phone shot !
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| Woodlark |
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| Woodlark |
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| Garden Warbler |
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| A crepuscular Woodcock |
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| Bar-tailed Godwit |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Cattle Egret |
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| Cattle Egret |
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| Turtle Dove ! |
