Late February

21st February

A pretty foul day, weather-wise, with rain for much of the time, sometimes heavy. I had to drop my car off at the garage in Pulborough first thing so took the opportunity to check out one of my old haunts: Old Place Pond. There haven't been any reports of Goosander here this winter, so I was pleasantly surprised to find two drakes and female chilling on the water. As I watched them, the call of a Kingfisher alerted me to a previously unseen one dashing low across the water, narrowly avoiding a Sparrowhawk which was heading straight for it!

Goosanders

Late afternoon, when the rain finally eased somewhat, I popped in to Waltham Brooks for a brief check of the main lake and scrub. At least a dozen Tufted Ducks and the usual dabblers were on the lake, while some 200 or so Linnets were gathering to roost in the brambles near the road. 

22nd February

Not very much time for birding at all on what was another wet and pretty unpleasant day. A brief look at the South Brooks from the tea terrace at Pulborough before work yielded just seven Tufted Duck of note (though a Water Pipit was reported again later in the day from Winpenny hide).

As I was leaving Woods Mill late afternoon a Firecrest was calling near the car park, while later still back at home a Barn Owl flew over the houses in the dark, calling several times. 

23rd February

Not much birding today owing to the long drive up to visit family in West Yorkshire. A minor ambition for me for this trip was to try and fill in some of the gaps in my eBirding, which included submitting my first ever checklists in Buckinghamshire and Nottinghamshire - both of which were achieved during the drive up today! As we arrived at our destination near Ilkley, the sound of Pink-footed Geese flying overhead in the darkness greeted us as I loaded our bags out of the car. 

24th February

Despite a busy day of family time ahead, I managed to get out early and up on to Burley Moor for a couple of hours this morning. I'm glad I did, as it was by far the best morning of our short stay up north, and the dawn was breathtaking. Last night's Pink-footed Geese were clearly the frontrunners of quite a pronounced movement of the species, with two pretty large flocks (107 and 81) over the moor, flying north-west and north, respectively. Other bits moving overhead included an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull high north and a tight flock of 40 Golden Plover going the same way. Local interest on the moor itself came from the various bubbling Curlews flying about, around 40 Lapwing and, of course, the ubiquitous Red Grouse. 

Pink-footed Geese, Curlew and Red Grouse

25th February

A day largely taken up by driving home, but we did stop off in Nottinghamshire en route, for our first visit to the Notts Wildlife Trust's flagship Attenborough Nature Reserve. It was, ostensibly, a lunch break which incorporated a little bit of birding, but I am keen to come back again. Highlights from today's visit included more Goldeneye than I have seen at one site in several years (at least ten), plus a couple of redhead Goosanders.

Goldeneye

26th February

A cold and grey day with a blasting north-easterly - not ideal for a day off! Still, I wasn't about to waste the opportunity to get in a bit of an extended morning birding session, so I headed over to a still very flooded Pulborough Brooks for a walk round. My target bird of the morning was Water Pipit, with one having been showing very well recently. No sooner had I got in to Winpenny hide and lifted my bins than the bird appeared and spent the next ten or fifteen minutes slowly working its way along the waters edge towards me, eventually getting within just a few metres of the hide. Easily my closest and most prolonged views of the species in Britain. Other highlights from the morning included 31 Black-tailed Godwit, 15 Dunlin, seven Tufted Duck and a single Great Crested Grebe (on the North Brooks). 

Water Pipit

Teal

Black-tailed Godwits

A brief look at Bignor Park scrape in the afternoon produced a Little Grebe and drake Gadwall, while an evening stakeout at Burton Mill Pond yielded 18 Tufted Duck and a Great Crested Grebe on the water, and seven Little Egrets and four Cattle Egrets flying east/south-east to roost. 

27th February

Not loads of birding today but half an hour at Waltham Brooks before work produced 43 species including seven Tufted Duck on the lake, a couple of Stonechats and lots of Reed Bunting and Cetti's Warbler song. There were noticeably fewer Chiffchaffs around the sewage works than last time I checked there; a sure sign of species redistributing ahead of the breeding season. 

Long-tailed Tit

A lunchtime walk at Woods Mill was pleasant in the sunshine, with highlights being a couple of Reed Buntings along the stream and a Red Kite distantly in flight towards the Downs, the latter a long overdue reserve tick for me!

28th February

Following Pete Hughes' report of a ringtail Hen Harrier flying downriver at Waltham Brooks late yesterday afternoon, I decided to use this as an excuse to drag myself out of bed significantly before dawn, to see if I might by chance see it coming out of local roost this morning. Sloshing through the (very) wet grassland near the railway line to give myself a good viewpoint looking across towards Amberley I inadvertently flushed up a few Snipe and a Woodcock, while Tawny Owls called in the nearby trees and at least three Water Rails squealed around me. A few minutes before I knew I really had to head home a Merlin shot across from Amberley West towards Watersfield; a good omen! Then, just as I had made up my mind it was time to leave, an alarm calling Magpie drew my attention to the Hen Harrier flying low across the reeds by the river bank before gaining height and heading over towards Amberley. Result! My first in the 1km recording area this year and only my second record anywhere this year after one at The Burgh a few weeks back.

After dropping B at nursery I decided to pop my head in at Amberley to see what the water levels were looking like. They had receded a bit since I last looked and there were quite a few Lapwings scattered about on the various shorelines. One of the adult White-tailed Eagles was in one of its favourite trees in the middle of the reserve and, amazingly, I picked up both a Merlin and ringtail Hen Harrier in flight over the island in the centre of the flood - presumably the very same two I had seen at dawn over at Waltham Brooks. Bird of the morning though, was the Turnstone which flew up with a group of Lapwings. A remarkable record, only my third anywhere locally after two records at Pulborough in recent years and a first for Amberley as far as I can make out. Sadly, once I lost sight of it I wasn't able to relocate it, despite trawling through the dozens of Dunlin (at least 35) dotted about the place in little feeding flocks. Interestingly, inland records of Turnstone with large gatherings of Dunlin seem to be a bit of a recurring theme this winter, with similar occurrences in other areas, perhaps most notably at Cowbit Marsh in Lincolnshire, which has seen counts in excess of 480 Dunlin and 27 Turnstones! Sadly, events at Amberley happened all a bit too fast and distant for me to get any photos, but a pair of Firecrests in the bushes near where I parked my car proved rather more obliging!

Firecrest

29th February

A leap day day off work, so of course it was pouring with rain for my planned extended morning birding session. I checked a few local wetland sites, with umbrella in hand, but didn't find too much worth getting a soaking for. It was nice to see the Great Crested Grebe pair back on Burton Mill Pond and displaying, despite the weather, while Chingford Pond held around 30 Tufted Ducks and a Little Egret. A singing Chiffchaff at the Bignor Park scrape was new here for the year, so perhaps a low key sign of migrants beginning to trickle in.