Sunday 23rd March - It all starts to move

With the increase in daylight hours and the slight rise in temperatures not only sees the fresh shoots of spring flowers, but a movement in the birds. The residents starting the dawn chorus with more gusto and even earlier (5am start for the Blackbirds and Robins) and the Winter birds are increasing their activity for a final feed-up before hitting the departure lounge on their way back to their northern Spring breeding grounds. Summer migrants have yet to really arrive although a few species are being recorded in small numbers. I managed to see a Sand Martin on the 11th March, having had a fairly unsuccessful  morning at Selsey, we went Wheatear hunting in a cold north-easterly, failing to find any Wheatears but lucking into a single Sand Martin which had obviously just arrived.

Locally, my trips to Black Down have been largely disappointing, with my last visit on the 20th, with only a single Woodlark, with the best birds of the morning being 5 Redpoll and a Crossbill. My attempts to find a local Lesser Spotted Woodpecker have so far drawn a blank. With walks to the furnace pond still producing a very large finch flock in the arable field , with estimates of 250 Chaffinches, 100 Linnets a few Greenfinch and 3 or 4 Brambling. At home, there are 2 Chiffchaffs singing, a pair of Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, occasional Treecreeper, a Grey Heron devouring the frogs and newts in the pond and at last a Firecrest on the 20th. Goshawks have been visible and displaying in the right weather.

A morning visit to a sunny Pulborough on the 14th produced a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Ruff and 3 more visits to Selsey in the last few days, probably more in hope than expectation was crowned by large movements of Brent Geese with the largest flock being around 400 birds. Other than that 5 Little Gulls on Friday was a highlight with a few Common Scoter and Sandwich Terns starting to head East and Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails seen bounding in off the sea with a high count of 120+ of the former. Without getting too despondent about what was seen on the visits, it still produced good seabird lists with Great Northern and Red-throated Divers, Slavonian Grebe, Eider, Long-tailed Duck, Gannet, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Fulmar, would be as good a list in any Southern county sea-watching site and a particular highlight was a very tight flock of 8 Great Northern Divers together, which I don't think I've seen anywhere before.

The spectacular views from Black Down on a morning of almost no birds.

The large arable field on the walk to the Furnace Pond

Linnet flock

Siskin

Mandarin Duck

Mandarins

Mandarin drake on the Furnace Pond

Grey Heron in pond

Grey Heron

Brent Geese migrating

Brent Goose flock 350+ birds

Brent Geese