The home straight of winter...

A change in the weather in the two weeks since my last blog post, with the ice having all melted and relatively little rain having fallen the ground conditions in the Arun Valley are remarkably not too muddy now and have allowed for some exploration of areas that have been impassable for weeks thanks to the flooding and the big freeze. We've been treated to some glorious days of spring-like sunshine too which have really helped lift the spirits as we finally reach the end of the hard slog of January and head into February - the home straight of winter!

24th January

Feeling strangely mild (although still barely above freezing), on the first frost-free morning in over a week. In that time the water levels locally have mercifully receded enough to allow me to access the southern entrance to Waltham Brooks, via Thorndale Bridge and the bank of the River Arun. This is where I headed this morning for a little scan of the river and the north-western corner of Amberley Wildbrooks beyond. As I passed under the bridge I noticed an adult Great Black-backed Gull powering north up the river - my second locally in two days! Across the river, a Kingfisher flew away from me up the drainage ditch flowing out of Amberley Wildbrooks. For a second I thought I heard a Water Pipit call but just the one squeak and I didn't see it or hear it again, so wrote it off. Otherwise, it was usual fare here, with a Water Rail squealing somewhere unseen and a few Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler flying up from the river and the wildbrooks. 

Shoveler

25th January

The day began with a Peregrine low over Watersfield first thing, followed by a walk from home to Waltham Brooks. Grey and misty, still very cold but ice gradually thawing. There had been a noticeable increase in ducks on the main lake but still not exactly spectacular for the time of year. Two Red Kites and a Raven were airborne over Amberley Wildbrooks, while at least three Cetti's Warblers were making themselves heard and a Chiffchaff was singing half-heartedly along the river just south of the reserve. 

26th January

Another grey and frost-free morning, after some overnight rain. A check of farmland over near Petworth finally produced my first Yellowhammer of the year (in an area that's normally very good for them and I've already visited twice in January), along with a flock of ~80 Goldfinches and a Grey Wagtail.

27th January

No birding today.

28th January

A half-hour check of Waltham Brooks at lunchtime proved quite lively, with my first Shelduck here this year on the main lake, along with a female Pintail and 300+ dabbling ducks, mostly Teal but also at least 80 each of Shoveler and Wigeon. Overhead, a Raven cronked its way west while two Marsh Harriers flew north.

Early afternoon we found ourselves in the Arundel area so spent a little while up at the Offham viewpoint which produced distant views of the six adult Bewick's Swans feeding down in the water meadows below.

Gadwall

Shelduck and Wigeon

Raven

29th January

A couple of hours at Burton Mill Pond from first light produced quite a lively session. Following on from Mike Dale's report on Twitter of 13 Little Egrets there on the 25th today I found at least 22, all gathered around Chingford Pond along with the now regular Great White Egret (more on that later). The reason for this gathering of egrets (along with several Grey Herons) is evidently due to the water level at Chingford having dropped dramatically since my last visit, exposing lots of lovely mud around the edges, especially at the southern end. It's such a drastic drop in level that it must have been done deliberately and, indeed, there was a guy fiddling with one of the outflows today, and the main outflow out of the dam was dry.

Back to the Great Egret, which I noticed was bearing a red darvic ring on its left leg. I couldn't see any digits on the ring but a bit of online detective work led to the discovery that this bird had probably been ringed on the Avalon Marshes in Somerset. 

Also of note on Chingford Pond were at least 40 Pochard; by far my highest count of the species here, or anywhere locally, so far this winter.

Little Egrets, Great Egret and Grey Heron

Great Egret (with red leg ring)

Extra excitement in the afternoon as I was doing the obligatory Big Garden Birdwatch from our bedroom window and not recording a huge amount when a small flock of Starlings swirling around a little way down the road caught my attention. Just as I thought to myself 'it's a shame I can't count those' they suddenly all jinked sharply in one direction as a fast pointed shape appeared out of the sky from the west and lunged directly at them, missing completely, before continuing off to the east. The compact size, sharply pointed, rapidly flickering wings could only belong to one species: Merlin! An amazing garden and 1k tick that I certainly was not expecting when I sat down to count the Blue Tits. Amazingly, it returned about 15 minutes later, powering back west, quite high, but as I reached for my camera I lost it, unfortunately. 

30th January

Not a huge amount of birding today although I did manage a couple of short walks at Ashdown Forest as I was over there for work purposes. Very quiet here though, despite the pleasantly warm spring-like sunshine, with just the odd Siskin of note among the many Coal Tits and Wrens.

On the way home I popped in at Weir Wood Reservoir where I bumped into local patch watcher Alastair Gray. I didn't have my scope unfortunately but Alastair let me use his to see the lingering two female Wood Ducks and the 51-strong flock of Barnacle Geese. It was also nice to see Grey Herons carrying nest material up to the heronry. Spring is getting closer by the day.

31st January

A pleasantly mild morning. I dropped in to Waltham Brooks again for half an hour as I was passing. The lake again yielded lots of wildfowl including three Shelducks (two of which flew off towards Pulborough) and a pair of Pintail.

Best of all though was a male Yellowhammer which flew in from the south and briefly dropped into the scrub and allows near the lake. My first record here and only the second within my 1k area since moving to Watersfield in September last year.

Yellowhammer

Late morning I headed up to Surrey to meet Ed, mostly to work on the book, but we managed to squeeze in a bit of birding in his 1k area. A Peregrine over Eashing Fields was the highlight, although I actually had seven hotspot ticks here including singing Coal Tit. A walk along the river a bit later in distinctly spring-like conditions produced Grey Wagtail, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite and a flycatching Goldcrest.

On the way home I decided to stop at Burton Mill Pond for a little dusk session which actually turned out to be a very sensible decision. As has become a bit of a thing here lately, the first bird I saw was a Great White Egret flushed from the reeds near the road, although I think a different bird to the one on Sunday, as I couldn't see a red ring on this bird. Little Egrets were trickling over in ones and small groups, heading south to roost, with a single Cattle Egret among them. A Kingfisher darted low over the water towards the outflow channel. Just as the light was fading to its last I had two unexpected Burton Mill Pond ticks in close succession. First, a Goshawk which I picked up late flying lower over the pond before disappearing into the trees on the west side - the whole experience lasting a matter of seconds, but no doubt about the ID. The second was another 'flying away from me by the time I got on it' moment, as I noticed a lone duck flying southwest, the long neck and whirring wingbeats so diagnostic of a Goosander.

Cattle Egret

1st February

I didn't have time for lots of birding today but managed a late morning walk around local farmland and woodland. Lots of singing Song Thrushes, Mistle Thrushes and others, but the highlight was a Peregrine over Lodge Hill and Coldwaltham Farm, presumably the same bird that I've seen a few times since Christmas, so is presumably wintering in the area.

Peregrine

2nd February

I headed over to Pulbrough Brooks this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks (I'm ashamed to say!). There was no sign of the Avocet found by Chris and Juliet Moore yesterday but two Ruff among the many hundreds of Lapwing were a year tick. Also among the Lapwing was a striking leucistic Lapwing which really caught the eye. Otherwise highlights from an hour here were two Snipe, Peregrine, Marsh Harrier and the highest count of ducks I've seen here this winter, including at the very least 80 Pintail.

Leucistic Lapwing

Ruff with Lapwings

3rd February

Not a lot of birding today but anecdotal highlights included five Little Egrets in the wet meadow next to the River Rother in Fittleworth, seen from the car, and the two local White-tailed Eagles (still sounds weird to think of them like that) soaring over the Downs, viewed from my office/bedroom window in the afternoon. Also seen from home was the now daily Raven flying low over the hamlet. I'm sure there must be a pair nesting somewhere in my 1k area but haven't worked out where yet.

4th February

This morning I joined members of Shoreham and District Ornithological Society for a walk round Henfield Levels, led by local birder Val Bentley. This was primarily for the purposes of researching the book, as it's not an area I know well and, last time I visited, most of it was underwater and many of the paths impassable!

Henfield Levels

We had a productive morning with highlights including a Water Rail and several Chiffchaffs at the little pond north of Rye Farm and good numbers of Lapwing (~500) and Teal (400+) along with smaller numbers of Wigeon, Pintail and Shoveler.