spring's beginnings

spring is well and truly on the way now.

following on from the Bar-tailed Godwits moving over the house for several days, on 27 February, at about midnight, I heard a flock of Brent Geese move over. Another pretty impressive garden tick, and definitely migrating birds, although they tend to move along the sea.

Along with that, Common Frogs, Common Toads and Smooth Newts are out in force in the pond in our back garden. Daffodils have sprung up everywhere the past fortnight or so, and other flowers have included Violets along the end of our road. In town, birdsong is everywhere, and Herring Gulls are displaying on many of the rooftops.

On 5 March I went to Pett Pools with a friend, although due to their mobility issues it was mostly car-birding for us. We got great views of Turnstone(some feeding within 10 feet of the car), Snipe, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Teal, Curlew, Lapwing, Dunlin, Redshank and Shoveler on the roadside pools, and offshore were several hundred Great Crested Grebes, and 7 Common Scoter flew east then west again. Driving back to Seaford, we got a truly brilliant view of a Sparrowhawk, as it zipped accross the road in pursuit of a clearly injured Song Thrush, that had seconds previously half-ran falf-flew in front of our car in a desperate bid to escape. Sadly for the thrush to no avail, we watched the sprawk lift off from the roadside with the bird's limp body clasped in it's talons.

the following day I took a walk over the downs to Denton. The highlights were a Merlin, giving as good as it got with a far larger accompanying Buzzard, and a Grey Partridge, flushed from some set-aside on one of the smaller and more unobtrusive paths I explored. Along this path I also found the breast feathers of another Grey Partridge, taken by some predator. Maybe a Fox, or a Peregrine, or perhaps even the Merlin.

However, despite the wonderful weather, migrants have been hard to come by. But Sussex recorded it's first Wheatear and Little Ringed Plover of the spring today, so maybe, if I pray hard enough, this weekend will deliver the goods?

sorry for the lack of photos today, but my Dad nicked my camera to hopefully go photograph STELLER'S EIDER in Estonia over the past few days. But I'll leave you with an old image, one of the toads in our garden pond last March.

aside from my parents, the wartiest inhabitant of our property 

adios!

25 Sep, double score!

Late September is my favourite time of year. My first ever local comittee rarity, a Goshawk, was seen exactly one year and 364 days previously to today, in exactly the same area I was walking today. 362 days ago, I saw a Glossy Ibis in the Lower Cuckmere (although I wasn't the original finder that time). And today, I bagged two local rarities, and nice additions to my Self-found list too!

Having noted an execptional movement of birds throughout yesterday around Seaford (two Hobbies, four Grey Wagtails, 350+ Hirundines and 20+ Meadow Pipits) I thought today would be a good day to get out. With clear skies in the morning, it looked to be a good raptor day, although I wasn't too sure about grounded migrants. I opted to walk out to Firle Beacon, where there would be a good chance of seeing any raptors moving.

Along, Firle Road, Seaford, I heard my first migrants, a few Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests calling away in the gardens. There were also a handful of Swallows and House Martins overhead.

On Seaford Golf Course, I recorded a total of 14 Chiffchaffs, 7 Blackcaps and 4 Goldcrests. Single Yellow Wagtail and Meadow Pipit both flew south, and I got a brief view of a Redstart in flight. A flock of Long-tailed Tits, 15+ strong, passed along the pathside. There were also loads and loads of Speckled Woods, some posing very well for shots

A tatty Speckled Wood

While this one was almost pristine!

Hobbs Hawth and Five Lord's Burgh, the areas between the Golf Course and Firle Beacon, where almost devoid of migrants in the windswept weather. about 60 each of Swallow and House Martin were whizzing around, as were 20 Linnets and 30 Meadow Pipits. A Bullfinch called, but just 5 Chiffchaff and 2 Blackcap were recorded, the wind being at least partly to blame here.

The view from Firle Beacon was spectacular...

The birds were pretty good too.

They included 80 Meadow Pipit, 25 Chiffchaff, 15 Swallow, 5 House Martin, 2 Buzzard and single Yellow Wagtail, Sparrowhawk, Wheatear (shown below) and what I thought was a Redpoll, flying south calling. Suffice to say, I was to discover I was wrong, eventually...

a rather lovely Wheatear at Firle Beacon

However, by far and away the best bird I managed to see was over the wood at Bo-peep. A raptor was being blown in the wind. It flew over the wood, at treetop height, in view at a range of 30 metres for about 10 seconds. It wasn't a Marsh Harrier. It wasn't a Common Buzzard. It was a damn fine looking, dark-phase, fairtrade chocolate HONEY BUZZARD! Regrettably, I never got a good view of the tail, so I'm still weighing up whether it is worth a description. But even if not, it is my first self-found HB and I'm rather happy with it!

As I walked the 31/2 mile walk back to Seaford, still on cloud nine, I didn't see too many more birds. Greenway Bottom held a few Meadow Pipits and Linnets, and two Buzzards, a nice comparison with the Honey Buzz. Goig back through Seaford GC, I found this (very!) recently deceased Red Admiral.



R.I.P, the one that didn't make it to hibernate again.

Back Home, about 6.00 PM

what I thought was a Redpoll, flying south calling. Suffice to say, I was to discover I was wrong, eventually...

I had heard a mysterious bird flying south calling earlier today. It bore some resemblance to a Linnet call, but was at the same time distinctive, and having heard plenty of Linnets, I knew this sounded different. Stuck for ideas, I took my next fallback, a Redpoll.

But, being nosy, I decided to check Redpoll calls on Xeno-canto when I got home. And it became apparent I was wrong in my ID. It wasn't a Redpoll. Or a Siskin. Or a Linnet, or any other finch. However, when I came accross this page, my queries were happily resolved!

That's right, a second brilliant self-found bird, a LAPLAND BUNTING! With so many around at the moment, it isn't too surprising. I saw one less than two weeks ago, in fact. But as a self-found bird, they don't come much better.


As I said before, I love late September!


My totals for today were
Meadow Pipit-120+
Linnet-100+
Swallow-90+
House Martin-70+
Chiffchaff-55
Long-tailed Tit-30+
Blackcap-9
Goldcrest-6
Buzzard-4
Yellow Wagtail-2
Bullfinch-1
Sparrowhawk-1
Wheatear-1
Redstart-1
HONEY BUZZARD-1
LAPLAND BUNTING-1

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

Dull day on the Downs

With strong NW winds for most of the day, it was never likely to be a fantastic day's birdwatching, and so it has turned out today.
On Bishopstone Golf Course, four singing Chiffchaffs, (presumably breeding birds), and a fly-over Bullfinch the best birds seen. In Greenway Bottom, there were two more Chiffchaffs, a Grey Partridge and a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker. Around Rachfinny Farm House, a flock of birds on the fields was made up of 50+ Linnets and 20+ Skylarks (the linnets being a year tick), while there was also a singing Corn Bunting (also a year tick). A few Red-legged Partridge also present in these areas, and a pair of Stonechats posed well in the scattered bushes at the foot of Camp Hill, where there were two more singing Chiffchaffs. On Cradle Hill, a roughly acre-sized patch of Wasteland held another pair of Corn Buntings,and there were three Red-legged Partrisdges.

The days total was
Chiffchaff-eight singing males
Grey partridge-one in Greenway  Bottom
Great Spotted Woodpecker-one drumming in Greenway Bottom (in wood opposite Blatchington Reservoir)
Linnet-50+ around Rachfinny Farm House
Skylark-20+ around Rachfinny Farm House
Corn Bunting-singing male at Rachfinny Farm House, pair in Cradle Valley
Red-legged Partridge-3 on Cradle Hill, 4 around Rachfinny Farm and Camp Hill
Stonechat-pair at foot of Camp Hill

I seemed to spend the whole time with my head stuck perpetually skywards, in the hope of finding an Alpine Swift, but alas I had no luck whatsoever.

adding to the list

My Sussex year list currently stands at 104 species. Not bad for 48 days, many of which I was stick in school, and on the other days most of the time all I had to assist me was binoculars and my feet/bike/public transport. However, I still had some odd birds missing from the list. By far and above the worst offence was my failure to see Linnet in Sussex this year. So having to taked the dog out for a walk was for once an opportunity, and not a chore! I decided on taking the mutt up to Greenway Bottom, just North of Seaford. Here, as well as the Linnet, I hoped to add both partridge species and Corn Bunting, while there is always the possibility of a bird of prey, especially Merlin, and in the fields around Denton Hill Golden Plover are sometimes seen in winter, and Mediterranean Gulls may follows the tractors with their many more numerous relatives. Sadly, despite the glorious weather, things didn't turn out as I'd hoped. I added Grey Partridge and Red-legged Partridge to my year list, taking it up to 106, but I am still missing Linnet, and no Corn Buntings showed up either.

13 Jan- Seaford and the Downs

some more light snow in Seaford today. Thrush numbers up again with 20 Fieldfares in Seaford and another 30 or so on the downs around here. in the fields above Grand Avenue, Seaford, was a flock of 400+ Skylarks, while around Blatchington Golf Course a Buzzard, a Jay and several Long-tailed Tits.