A brief update on a period when I was away for c 4 weeks, both to Portugal and Alaska, the trips have been written up so this is the infill.
I only had 3 days between returning from Portugal before flying to Alaska and one of those was a pre-arranged 'birding' walk for the SOS on Black Down on the 26th May. Nothing unusual was seen, but despite breezy conditions that turned a little damp in the afternoon most of the regular species put in an appearance with a few Crossbills co-operating and eventually a male Redstart was glimpsed.
Once returning from Alaska on the 10th June, I was out in Sussex on the 13th, heading down to Pulborough Brooks, where a Savi's Warbler was singing out in the North Brooks. It was tricky to view and was heard more than seen but a couple of brief scope views were satisfactory enough. Sedge, Reed Warbler and Common Whitethroat were very visible and a croaking Nightingale remained hidden.
On Sunday 16th I ventured down to Shoreham, or more precisely Portslade and walked up into the Downland area where a real rarity for Sussex had been found when I was away in the form of a Cirl Bunting. Back in the 1960's and 70's it was still a breeding bird in the county, but vanished from most of southern England throughout the 80's and 90's but kept a small stronghold in the South Hams area in Devon. More recently there have been attempts to protect and increase the population there and it has more recently been seen to spread into Dorset. So a stunning male bird in full song in Sussex was a rarity and something to behold. There was no one else there when I turned up but I soon found the bird singing and actively defending its territory or more likely just desperate to find a mate. Also there was Yellowhammer, Whitethroat and a Hobby flew over.
A rare catch up with Gary Howard on the 19th June, saw us trying Pulborough Brooks again, although the Savi's Warbler had obviously departed we managed to find 6 Little-ringed Plovers along with 5 Ringed Plover and a Green Sandpiper on the North Brooks. A Cuckoo was over the far banks and 4 Cattle Egrets were in with the cows. We made our way over to Woolbeding Common where a couple of hours from the viewpoint produced 3 male Honey Buzzards and a Peregrine, whilst a walk around the common had still singing Tree Pipits and Woodlark and a Spotted Flycatcher was in the woodland edge. A further stop the other side of Fernhurst added a distant Hobby and Red Kites.
Bird Surveys on Black Down included a good Nightjar count of between 11-13 churring males and probably 6 different Woodcock. Other than that a few moth evenings were relatively productive towards the end of the month when the weather warmed a little.
 |
| Sedge Warbler |
 |
| Tree Pipit |
 |
| Tree Pipit |
 |
| Tree Pipit |
 |
| Spotted Flycatcher |
No comments:
Post a Comment