Gateway to summer

June is traditionally a bit of a doldrums month for birding but in recent years has increasingly produced some surprises. There's always the chance of late overshoots from the continent and, towards the end of the month, one's thoughts already turn to return passage of waders and dispersal of breeding migrant passerines. This year, spring seemed to start so late that it does feel as though there are still plenty of migrants moving through on their way to breeding grounds - especially waders, which have continued to feature pretty heavily in my local birding efforts in the past week or two.

Weather-wise, after the washout of April and early May, it now hasn't rained properly for about six weeks, grasslands are looking scorched and water bodies are rapidly drying out. Someone said to me recently that the weather we should expect in the UK now is 'est' - hottest, coldest, wettest, driest - which, sadly, seems very accurate, and this is reflected in the increased frequency of odd and out of sync bird records. Examples of highly unexpected local records for June so far have included Dunlin and Mediterranean Gull, both species I would usually only expect here passing through, not at the height of the breeding season!

1st June

Pinch punch, and a blasting northerly wind. It was properly cold out this morning. I got out soon after dawn for a walk out to the river, round Waltham Brooks and home, highlights of which included Lesser Whitethroat, Cuckoo, at least three Nightingales all singing, and 7 Little Egrets together by the Arun at Thorndale Bridge. 

Later in the day I headed up to the Norfolk Estate for a very interesting guided tour of the conservation work taking place there and the Curlew reintroduction project, from the Duke of Norfolk, head keeper Charlie Mellor and farmer Conor Haydon. Best of all was seeing a sitting hen Grey Partridge on a nest. 

Curlews on the Norfolk Estate

In the evening it was good to hear one of the local Nightingales still singing well, from the garden at home (in fact, from the bedroom window!) Hopefully he finds a mate soon though...

2nd June

Today began with a return visit to the area of farmland near West Burton where I carried out my second South Downs Farmland Bird Monitoring survey of the year. Very little of note to report here aside from a handful of Swallows and common warblers, though a calling male Tawny Owl was rather more unusual. Weather-wise it felt more like March/April than early June, with total cloud cover and the continuing stiff north-easterly wind. 

After dropping B at nursery I stopped off at Waltham Brooks for a quick whizz round. Again, fairly quiet really aside from a few bursts of song from a Nightingales, plus the usual warblers and a few Swifts.

3rd June

A check of a few local water bodies this morning produced good numbers of Swifts and Sand Martins near Petworth, along with an unseasonal pair of Teal on the private reservoir there. At Burton Mill Pond, the resident Great Crested Grebe pair were still present, with one sitting on a nest.

4th June

Not much birding today but another dusk safari at Knepp produced a fantastic Turtle Dove encounter, with one seen and heard singing on a dead oak branch in the evening sunshine before flying pretty much over our heads to a nearby sallow where it continued to purr for several minutes before being seen in flight again a little while later. It does seem to be a particularly good year for the species here this year. 

Turtle Dove

5th June

My BBS late visit to Parham Park this morning produced a Spotted Flycatcher in a rather incongruous location (perhaps a late passage bird) and 3 Shelduck - my first of the latter species here for a while. I assume they breed somewhere on the estate but haven't ever been able to prove it. I remember being quite surprised when I made my very first visit here in 2018 and found quite a gathering of Shelduck on the front lawn of the main house!

After Parham I dropped in at Pulborough for my first circuit of the reserve for a week or so. As ever, it didn't disappoint, though it does seem as though the spectacular wader spring may finally be drawing to a close. Still, singles of Little Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper and Greenshank were nice to see among the resident Lapwings, Redshanks and Avocets. The female Pintail on the South Brooks was still about and joined by a few Teal, while a solitary Shelduck was on the North Brooks. The other noticeable thing was the amount of fledgling birds about - from Long-tailed Tits to Egyptian Geese. We're very much into that period of the year now where there seem to be lots of squeaking things in every tree and bush!

Long-tailed Tit fledgling

6th June

A brief check from Greatham Bridge this morning produced my first signs of post-breeding wader dispersal with half a dozen Lapwings and Redshank dropping onto the marsh near the main lake at Waltham Brooks.

Later in the day, a skywatch on farmland north-west of Pulborough produced a distant female Goshawk and two flyover Siskins - my first locally since April. 

7th June

No real birding today but a White Stork Safari at Knepp produced fab views of a Hobby flying low and fast through the scrub then seen again later circling over the same area. 

8th June

I was over in Byworth first this morning, carrying out my final South Downs Farmland Bird Initiative survey visit of the year. As I've said before this has consistently proven to be the more productive of the two squares I've surveyed the past two years, and so it proved again this morning with 40 species recorded including a singing Firecrest (my first at this site). Best of all though was stumbling across a Kestrel nest just 3 metres up in an oak tree, having a few minutes before seen an adult male flying towards the group of trees carrying a rat, and hearing the squeaking of the chicks. 

Kestrel chicks

Firecrest

9th June

After dropping B at nursery I swung by Waltham Brooks for the short loop down the river and past the main lake. It's a good one to do when short on time and lately has produced a decent selection of species (45-50) in less than an hour. Today's highlights included six adult Mediterranean Gulls which I picked up on call coming in quite high from the Pulborough direction. They circled over the site a few times before continuing west towards Watersfield. Also of note here this morning were two Little Egrets flying north together and my first Whitethroat fledglings of the year. 

Juvenile Whitethroat

Mediterranean Gulls

10th June

The hottest day of the year so far and not much birding for me today but a quick look at the roadside pool at Southlands Farm in West Chiltington in passing in the evening produced a singing Reed Warbler - a first for me at this particular site.

11th June

A dawn start to check out some local water bodies didn't produce much. In fact, the highlight of the morning was a Barn Owl over the junction of Bury Gate and Waters Lane, just a few hundred metres from home.

Late morning I headed up to the Burgh with Kate, B, and Sean and Abi Foote, who were visiting from Wiltshire. It was still cloudy and pleasantly cool when we parked up but it didn't take long for the sun to burn through and raise the temperature significantly. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't particularly lively on the bird front, aside from a Grey Partridge and plenty of Red Kites and Whitethroats. It was good to have Sean's eye for invertebrates present though, which resulted in us finding my first Bryony Mining Bees of the year. 

Bryony Mining Bee

In the evening I stopped off at Waltham Brooks for a quick dusk session which produced a singing male Cuckoo down the river towards Amberley and a squealing Water Rail in the reeds.