Water, water everywhere

 11th February

WeBS day today, so I headed over to Petworth at first light to do my monthly count on the private reservoir there. It was pretty disappointing to be honest, with just ten Coots, 24 Shoveler and a couple of Little Grebes. Two each of Canada Goose and Egyptian Goose which flew over the farmland as I walked to the reservoir didn't even meet the criteria to be added to the count. Otherwise, a few Fieldfares, Redwings and Yellowhammers made up the highlights from a rather paltry total of 30 species.  

A brief check of Burton Mill Pond and Hadworth Farm/Bignor Park scrape on the way home proved a little more rewarding, particularly the latter where a Great White Egret flew in to join two Grey Herons already feeding at the edge of the scrape (spooking the lingering Green Sandpiper in the process!). A new species for me here. A couple of Ravens flew over towards Bignor Park, tumbling and calling.

Great White Egret

Green Sandpiper and Great White Egret

12th February

The first clear and frosty morning for a while turned into the most beautiful, sunny, late winter/early spring day. I even managed to work on my laptop in the garden for an hour or so early afternoon!

Two bites of the cherry at Pulborough Brooks (20 minutes or so from by the visitor centre before work and half an hour by the village hall at lunchtime) failed to turn up any sign of the pair of Goldeneye found by a volunteer Rob King yesterday. A real local rarity these days, these represented the first record of the species at Pulborough since the dubious 'are they/aren't they' quartet in October 2021, and before that, well, it was somewhere in the region of 15 years. A nice consolation came in the form of two Great Crested Grebes on the North Brooks (my first anywhere locally this year, incredibly) and a Barn Owl sleepily perched at the entrance of a nest box along the river.

The flood between Pulborough village and the North Brooks

A brief look at a local raptor watchpoint produced a nice displaying pair of Sparrowhawks, a few Buzzards and a couple of Red Kites, but not the hoped-for Goshawk. 

The clear highlight of the day though, came rather out of the blue, when I was putting the bin out at home just after 8pm and heard what I initially took to be a distant dog barking, before realising it was the call of a Brent Goose! I stopped in my tracks and listened in wonder as what sounded like a small-ish flock clearly flew north-east quite high overhead, calling occasionally until the sounded faded away into the distance towards Pulborough. One of those spectacular 'migration in action' moments where one can only pause and ponder the extraordinary journey those birds have ahead of them, after spending the winter on the south coast. Also a rare 'three list' tick in the form of garden, 10km year and 1km year. What a result!      

13th February

A brief look at a very flooded Waltham Brooks before work proved quite productive, with 45 species noted in just over half an hour. The flood water had risen to such an extent as to make circumnavigation of much of the reserve pretty much impossible. As such, and as I was short on time, I checked by the lake first then drove up to Greatham Bridge for another scan before heading on to Woods Mill for work. A Green Sandpiper flying up from near Greatham Bridge was a 1km year tick, as was the heard-only Little Grebe giving its Whimbrel-like call somewhere out on the flood. Four Tufted Ducks and a single Snipe made up the other highlights, although a flock of waders flying north from Amberley towards Pulborough looked interesting, but were too distant to get much on them, especially as they kept disappearing behind trees.  

Long-tailed Tit

14th February

Not much to love about the weather today (see what I did there?), as yesterday afternoon and evening's rain continued into a murky, drizzly and quite windy morning. I had hoped to get up the Downs but, seeing as they were entirely enshrouded in fog, I decided instead to drop in at Pulborough, specifically the Black Wood/Hail's View end, in order to scan the flooded South Brooks. Visibility was poor - so much so that I struggled even to see the far banks of the Arun from the viewpoint. Among the usual dabbling ducks were three Tufted Duck and at least five Coots (my first here this year) while a drake Mandarin flew east across the reserve towards Hollybush Hill.         

15th February

I had the day off today and fortunately it was a beautiful day - in fact, the warmest of the year so far, with the mercury rising to the mid-teens Celsius by lunchtime, coaxing out the always welcome sight of the first male Brimstone of the year, fluttering around the garden. This was followed later on by a Peacock dashing overhead at speed, as is typical for the species. On the birding front, I decided to indulge in a rather lengthier session than has been possible of late, at Pulborough in the morning. 67 species was the final tally from a little over two hours on the reserve, with just the slightest hints of spring poking its head above the parapet. At least two Lesser Black-backed Gulls were about, a species that really is only a February to late summer feature of birding here. The pair of Stonechats between West Mead and Winpenny were looking particularly dapper in their breeding finery, while a Cetti's Warbler sang nearby. Skylarks were rather forlornly singing and displaying over the flood waters on the both the North and South Brooks, while two Chiffchaffs at the Hanger were 'new in' since my last visit here. Other bits of note included four Raven, at least nine Tufted Duck, half a dozen Shelduck, two Great Crested Grebes, and a heard-only Green Sandpiper below the Hanger. Driving home, I noted a Great White Egret on Widney Brooks through the car window. 

Stonechat

In the afternoon I headed over to the private reservoir near Petworth which proved a little livelier than my last visit at the weekend. Highlights in the brisk and curiously warm southerly wind here were a single Great Crested Grebe, three Gadwall, 24 Shoveler and single drake Tufted Duck, with a couple of Yellowhammers singing in the hedgerows nearby. 

Yellowhammer

16th February

A brief check of the very flooded scrape at Bignor Park/Hadworth Farm first thing produced just a Little Grebe and a pair of Teal of note. As the morning was brightening and warming up, I headed to woodland near Fittleworth after this for a bit of a wander round. The air was ringing with birdsong, including at least two Marsh Tit and a couple of drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers. A very welcome year tick came in the form of a noisy group of ten Crossbills which flew east high overhead. This wasn't the only sign of movement, as I also noted flocks of Woodpigeons flying purposefully north-east - some 250 or so at least, with the biggest group being ~100. Three Lesser Redpolls briefly dropped into a birch near me before flying off.

Lesser Redpolls

A brief lunchtime walk round the local farmland produced a welcome sign of early spring movement in the form of a smart male Stonechat on a fenceline where I've rarely seen one before. In fact, this represented just my third record of the species in the local farmland eBird hotspot since we moved here 18 months ago!

17th February

Not much birding today, although a walk with B in the morning did produce a singing Firecrest just up the road from home, while a check of the local farmland late morning revealed yesterday's Stonechat to be still present, plus a Lesser Black-backed Gull drifting north; another sure sign of the changing seasons! 

18th February

Rain all night and into this morning didn't inspire much confidence in a productive session, but I headed out at first light regardless to check a few lesser-watched local wetland sites. First up, the Bignor Park scrape which didn't hold any surprises, a croaking Raven being probably the best. Next, a check of the flooded Rother at Fittleworth where I found 14 Little Egrets in the fields near the sewage works, a singing Chiffchaff at the works, and a Coot on the nearby floods. Next up I headed over to Petworth for a look at the private reservoir there, where I was surprised to find the female Long-tailed Duck had returned after over a month's absence. She was very active following a group of Tufted Ducks around the place and even displaying a bit. Also present here were five Gadwall, four Mute Swans, 18 Shoveler and five Little Grebes.

Long-tailed Duck and friends

Burton Mill Pond next where I was pleased to see a Great Crested Grebe back on territory - my first record of the species here this year. Other bits of note were Kingfisher, Water Rail, Grey Wagtail and a single drake Pochard among 15 Tufted Ducks. That was about it for birding effort today although a couple of casual local walks later in the day produced another Lesser Black-backed Gull drifting north over Watersfield plus some good raptor action including a pair of Red Kites displaying over Alban Head. 

Great Crested Grebe

19th February

An early walk from home out to Waltham Brooks produced a few bits. At Waltham Brooks there were at least 27 Tufted Ducks on the main lake, while singles of Great White Egret and Marsh Harrier flew north/upriver. A few Snipe were flushed from marshy areas while a single female Stonechat was in the scrub near the railway crossing. Lots of birdsong around including Chiffchaff, Cetti's Warbler and Blackbird.

Mid-morning I headed down to Worthing to join a Sussex Wildlife Trust beach clean, where I finally encountered my first Great Black-backed Gulls of the year plus a few Turnstones on the beach near the pier. I took my lunch break at Goring Gap just up the road where I found at least half a dozen Mediterranean Gulls (also my first of the year) dotted about among the hundreds of roosting Common Gulls, while wader interest on the beach here came in the form of at least 55 Turnstones, eight Sanderling, at least 30 Oystercatchers and half a dozen or so Dunlin. 

Common and Mediterranean Gulls

20th February

After dropping B at nursery this morning I decided on a quick look at Amberley Wildbrooks from near Rackham Mill. The flood waters had receded a fair bit since my last visit and the landscape was clearly attracting some interest from waders and gulls, with at least 4 Dunlin and 2 Black-tailed Godwits among the displaying Lapwings, and some 200 gulls gathered at the water's edge right over near the castle - mostly Black-headed Gull and Common Gull. Two Red Kites were drifting about, periodically flushing the rather small numbers of ducks, and one of the White-tailed Eagles was in one of the trees right out in the middle.

Very distant White-tailed Eagle

At lunchtime I headed out for a quick look at the private reservoir near Petworth which produced surprisingly little - just nine Shoveler, five Little Grebes and a Grey Wagtail of note, although a Red-legged Partridge flushed from a track nearby was my first here since early December.

The scrape at Bignor Park/Hadworth Farm proved to be similarly lacklustre in terms of water birds, with just a single Little Grebe worthy of mention here. 

Mid-October

My shoulder injury recovery continues so it was pretty much exclusively 1km from home birding on foot again for this ten day period. It certainly feels as though we have turned a corner, seasonally speaking, as we move into the second half of October. There were still a few summery stragglers making an appearance but I also finally recorded my first Brambling of the autumn (of the entire year in fact, so dire a finch winter as we had last year!). The unusually warm weather has also all but gone now, as I write this, and we have had the first couple of frosts of the year plus the expected October wind and rain. Indeed, parts of the 1km area are getting decidedly soggy now, though not entirely impassable yet.

11th October

A grey and drizzly start to the day saw me checking the moth trap which held a respectable 39 individuals of 21 species, including new for the garden Red-line Quaker, Black Rustic (x 4), Large Wainscot, Barred Sallow, the spectacular Merveille du Jour (x 2) and the migrant Rusty-dot Pearl. Talking of migrants, it seemed relatively quiet on the vismig front overhead while I was emptying the trap, but I did note a couple of Redwings over and eight Swallows powering south.

Merveille du Jour

Rusty-dot Pearl

Black Rustic

Once the trap was emptied I headed out for a loop of Thorndale Bridge, the local farmland and Waltham Brooks. Aside from another group of Swallows heading south-east and a couple of Skylarks south, the low cloud and mizzle seemed to be hampering any migratory activity, so I didn't linger too long at Thorndale Bridge. Highlights here were four Snipe flying about (presumably the same group seen yesterday), a Stonechat, and a female Marsh Harrier which flew upriver. Up at Waltham Brooks the best were two Pintail, three Little Grebes and a single Tufted Duck among the usual wildfowl on the lake plus heard-only Kingfisher, a couple of Swallows and Redwings over. It was also noticeable that Chiffchaff numbers are on the up, with a conservative count of 15 recorded, especially congregating in the sallows on the western side. There was again a curiously calling individual here giving the plaintive 'hew' call, as heard at Thorndale Bridge recently. 

12th October

A similar morning to yesterday. A check of Waltham Brooks again produced two Pintail on the lake along with 10 Shoveler, 13 Gadwall and 15 Teal. Presumably the same quartet of Snipe were again flying about overhead, around 50 Lapwings were up in the air over Widney Brooks and two Green Sandpipers flew over my head near the railway line and dropped down towards the main lake. 

It had been decidedly quiet overhead early morning but on the way home I noticed a bit of a movement of hirundines, so decided to stop off for a skywatch, which proved to be fairly lively. Aside from over 100 House Martins and 20-odd Swallows moving south, the clear highlights were a heard only Golden Plover and a beautiful adult male Merlin which flew fast and quite low over the field where I was watching from, before turning, gaining height and powering off south towards the Downs. Actually my first record for this particular eBird hotspot, although my third record of the autumn locally. 

13th October

A proper October day of wind and rain. Late morning a break in the rain saw me heading out to the local farmland for a bit of a skywatch, perhaps rather over-optimistic given the brisk south-westerly (F5, gusting 6-7). Surprisingly, it was actually a decent 90 minutes, with highlights including three Woodlarks east together (it really is turning into a good autumn for them locally) and a light trickle of hirundines pushing straight into the wind. Particularly impressive was a group of ~20 Swallows which after making one failed attempt to get through fairly high up then dropped down to just a few metres above the ground and powered on into the headwind. 

14th October

The cold morning after the squally night before. Today felt like the first proper crisp morning of the autumn, and I headed out on foot just before 7am wondering if I had under-dressed given the brisk westerly. An hour's skywatching from the local farmland proved fairly lively with a steady stream of Siskins and a few Redpolls, Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches, etc, mostly heading south-west. One species I certainly didn't have on my radar for the third weekend of October was Common Redstart so it took me a moment or two to process what I was looking at when I noticed a passerine flicking about in a nearby hedgerow. Indeed, the way it was lit in the morning sunlight initially brought to mind Red-flanked Bluetail, and it was a heartstopping couple of seconds before I realised I was looking at something rather more mundane, albeit very late. My first record of the species locally since 7th September and undoubtedly my last one of the year. Strangely enough, Ed Stubbs also had one this morning up in Surrey, so perhaps a little late push of Scandinavian ones moving through?

Redstart

The rest of the day didn't include much birding, although a trip down to Worthing with Kate and B (primarily to deliver a Knepp talk) did also include stopping at Marine Gardens for lunch, which featured flyover Siskins (5) and Redpolls (3). 

15th October

WeBS count day today so Kate kindly drove me over to the private reservoir near Petworth to carry out the survey; my first visit here for four weeks (I normally tend to visit at least once a week). It was usual fare on offer really, though 55 Tufted Ducks represented my highest count here, while 20 Pochards was one short of equaling the record count. Otherwise, highlights were 54 Egyptian Geese on the shore of the reservoir and at least 15 Swallows and a couple of House Martins feeding over the nearby farmland.

Later in the day I went for a stroll from home, highlights of which included at least five Lesser Redpolls at Thorndale Bridge plus the three White-tailed Eagles thermalling together distantly towards the Downs. Despite the chilly air temperature the warm sun was clearly coaxing plenty of raptors into the sky, as I also had a Goshawk sparring with a Buzzard to the south of Watersfield. Single Stonechats were at Thorndale Bridge and Waltham Brooks while a few Swallows, Siskins and a couple of Skylarks were noted flying over, heading south/south-west.

16th October

A lively morning of local vismig, first from the farmland near home and then up on the high ground to the west, began with two vocal Merlins briefly dogfighting overhead a couple of hundred metres from home before separating and flying off west and south-east. Another Woodlark flew high-northeast, while there was just the slightest hint of some early Woodpigeon movement. Finches were clearly moving in good numbers but seemed to be for the most part too high, hence the change in watchpoint an hour or so into my watch. From here, almost immediately I was seeing and hearing Chaffinches, while after 15 minutes the distinctive call of Crossbills signalled the approach of a flock flying from north to south which I somehow never managed to get eyes on, but it sounded like quite a few. Just a few minutes later another flock of 14 flew south. Finch totals from the morning included 87 Chaffinches (mostly west), 50 Siskins (mostly west) plus a few Redpolls, Linnets, Goldfinches, etc. Curiously notable by their absence again were thrushes with just five Redwings leaving roost along River Lane the only ones noted. 

Looking south-east from the high ground above Watersfield

17th October

With this welcome spell of easterlies continuing, this morning saw me back up at the high ground to the west of Watersfield for another vismig session. Initially the wind was calm and it was a surprisingly brighter morning than had been forecast, which didn't necessarily suggest much in the way of movement. I was wrong though as, twenty minutes into the watch, I noticed a line of geese approaching high from the north/north-east which I quickly realised had to be Brent Geese, owing to their dark colouration, short necks and generally compact shape, plus the distinctive wavy line flock formation. They weren't calling or, if they were, I couldn't hear it over the strengthening breeze, and because they were really pretty high I also spectacularly failed to achieve anything in the way of a useable record shot with my one-handed bridge camera attempts. Still, one of those memorable vismig moments that put it all into context, as these Arctic travellers near the end of the journey, likely bound for the south coast via Watersfield! Other highlights this morning included the first clearly moving Grey Herons I've seen locally this autumn (two lots of three west), a few Redwings and Fieldfares west (60 and 54), three Swallows south, four Crossbills west and a steady trickle of Skylarks. 

A check of Thorndale Bridge late afternoon produced three Marsh Harriers over Amberley, including a beautiful adult male hunting low over the marsh just the other side of the river from where I was stood, plus a White-tailed Eagle briefly in flight and a female Mandarin flying downriver. 

18th October

A remarkable 58 species in just over an hour at Waltham Brooks this morning including my first Brambling anywhere this year (!) heard flying over, a first winter Goosander on the lake and two Great White Egrets which came in from the west and dropped down near the main lake. There has been clearly been quite an arrival of this species in Sussex as there were also records of seven at Arundel WWT this morning and five at Pulborough Brooks later in the day (perhaps all relating to the same birds) following on from a count of 11 flying past Climping yesterday. 

A rather late flock of House Martins flew over towards Amberley with a Swallow in tow and, on a more wintry note, the easterlies had clearly delivered more ducks to the reserve, especially Wigeon, of which at least 25 flew to the main lake. A flock of 11 Fieldfares were flying about in the scrub while around 30 Siskins were near the sewage works. A few gulls were flying over too, including two Common Gulls.

Goosander (another ropey record shot with my little bridge camera)

19th October

I was giving a Knepp talk in Staines last night, after which I stayed with friends in Surrey before making my way home mid-morning. The walk home from Pulborough station took me past Widney Brooks and through Waltham Brooks and the local farmland. It was all distinctly less lively than yesterday, with barely 30 species recorded at Waltham Brooks this time around. Teal numbers had increased to at least 130 but otherwise waterbird diversity was rather poor with just 80 Mallard, 3 Gadwall, a few Coots and a single Little Grebe. Away from the lake, there were two Stonechats in the scrub and a Mandarin flew downriver. 

20th October

A loop of Thorndale Bridge and Waltham Brooks this morning produced a few bits, especially at the former looking over towards Amberley where there were clearly lots of Black-headed Gulls on the flood water, evidently having just been flushed by a White-tailed Eagle. A Kingfisher flew upriver and several Skylarks flew west. Waltham Brooks was relatively quiet aside from the two Great White Egrets again which circled over the main lake briefly before flying off towards Widney Brooks. Again, several Skylarks flew over and a flock of 17 Redpolls flew over the sewage works. There has been a real absence of winter thrushes the past couple of days, aside from five today over the local farmland.

River Arun near Thorndale Bridge, water level getting high now!

An evening stroll out to Thorndale Bridge revealed another Great White Egret feeding in a ditch just across the river and a smaller egret species in flight over Amberley Wildbrooks which was probably a Cattle Egret. Two fast flying raptors caught my eye and quickly revealed themselves to be an adult male Merlin being chased by a female. They dashed off low through the trees past Quell Farm at high speed and off towards Parham. 

Pulborough and Climping

A fairly quiet morning at Pulborough once the fog eventually began to clear. Highlights were three each of Ruff and Dunlin among the Lapwings on the North Brooks plus the usual throng of Black-tailed Godwits which today numbered somewhere in the region of four hundred. Also of note were three Shelduck, three Stonechat, the now regular Little Grebe at West Mead and heard only Kingfisher and Water Rail from the Hanger/Little Hanger. I left early afternoon and so missed the two Black Swans which turned up at Winpenny later on. Obviously not tickable as my patch year 150 but still would be nice to see, hopefully they'll stick around...

In the afternoon I headed down to Arundel with Kate for a bit of lunch and I couldn't resist a quick look in Kim's Bookshop which has a mouth-watering selection of bird books in the back room upstairs. I treated myself to a copy of Birds of the Atlantic Islands which will come in handy for our belated honeymoon trip to Madeira in May

We then headed on to Climping for a walk along the (surprisingly busy!) beach. Despite the amount of people and dogs there was still a decent selection of birds on offer - probably the 'birdiest' I've seen the place since we moved down this way last year. A flock of c.340 Brent Geese flew east over the sea, at least thirty Turnstones were feeding in the shingle or roosting out on the breakwaters while at least the same number of Mediterranean Gulls were around, either on the sea or feeding with Black-headed Gulls, Carrion Crows and a few Buzzards in the arable field.

Turnstones

Turnstone

Med Gulls

Brent Geese