Preston Park, Brighton

went to visit grandparents today in Brighton, and had a brief escape out into the rain, walking around Preston Park. Birds seen/heard were

2 Treecreeper
6-7 Chiffchaff (one singing)
singing Robins and Great Tits again
the tit flocks included a few Long-tailed Tit and one Coal Tit
one group of regulus including four Goldcrest and one Firecrest!

for a suburban brighton park, in heavy drizzle, this was an absolutely brilliant walk. The Firecrest was the first definite bird I've seen this autumn too.

Abbot's Wood, Hailsham

Walking through Abbot's Wood with Mum, Dad, Nick Pope and his daughter and Martin Tickner was better than I expected. Mainly just te old men getting together but we did see a few good birds.

We saw a tit flock near the Old Oak that held several Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests, a Nuthatch, plenty of Coal and Long tailed Tits, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and almost certainly a Firecrest calling. Checking the call against Goldcrest on Xeno-canto only made me more certain. Along this path, we also found a young Grass Snake, the second I've seen here. A HOBBY was the highlight of the walk, briefly circling over the lake. And Martin, the mushroom man, seemed to find them everywhere!

young Grass Snake, being held by Dad

Blatchington Gof Course and The Downs, 8/4/2010

on the 8th Apri, a family walk on the downs above Seaford wasn't hugely productive, but did produce four species of warblers and a few Butterflies.

On the Golf Course between Seaford and Denton, singing Chiffchaffs were in abundance, with at least 20 singing males. There were also a few greyer coloured Warblers with different calls, Willow Warblers, and four of them, and I heard a singing Whitethroat and a Bullfinch. Among the butterflies, both Comma and Peacock were common and I got a few photos of each.

In Greenway Bottom, on the south downs, 5 singing Chiffchaffs, 2 more migrant Willow Warblers and a singing Blackcap finished off a good walk, in which I got one year tick (Whitethroat)

*note-I also heard a Coal Tit on Firle Road, Seaford, my first record from in town, and perhaps a continental bird

New Forest 16/2/10

Back at Homsley Inclosure this morning, where the Great grey Shrike showed brilliantly, perched on telegraph wires and in a bush in the valley mire, other birds were six Mistle Thrush, a singing Woodlark, a few Redwing and Siskin, a Coal Tit and a Buzzard. the famous ponies were also out in force, but no other animal life of interest, and not even any plants flowering yet.

New Forest 15/2/10

Around Burley and Holmsey Common today, no sign of the reported Great grey Shrike, Indeed the only birds of note were a few Siskins and five Green Woodpeckers. At Burbush Hill, near Bransgore, birds seen included a Woodlark, at least 20 Siskin, 5 Crossbill, a Treecreeper and several Goldcrests and Coal Tits, while 20 Lapwing flew over towards Bransgore.