Mid July

11th July

Today was one of the few oddly really fine, sunny and reasonably warm days we have had so far this month. I woke up reasonably early but wasn't feeling terribly inspired by the weather to produce much, bird-wise, so just did a short stroll round the local farm fields first thing. Surprisingly, given the weather, there seemed to be a bit of Swift movement going on, with over a hundred noted drifting west in around 10-15 minutes, likely more than this but tricky to count them all from the relatively low level here. Paul Stevens down at Bury also noted a similar movement so it was a reasonably broad front. 

By the time I headed out again a bit later it seemed the Swifts seemed to have dried up, although a heard-only flyover Siskin at Waltham Brooks was my first sign of post-breeding dispersal of this species locally this year. A Nightingale was also calling in the scrub near the road bridge, but it was an otherwise quiet and brief session here. I spent the rest of the day over at Ashdown Forest for work, where I noted lots of calling Siskins and a couple of Marsh Tits. 

Returning to West Sussex late afternoon, still bathed in warm sunshine, I decided to head up Amberley Mount for a brief walk from Downs Farm, where highlights included a Little Owl on one of the farm buildings and a Painted Lady whizzing around right up the top of the hill. 

Little Owl

Painted Lady

12th July

Relatively scant birding opportunity today, though brief checks of Petworth and the local farmland near home both yielded Hobby, typically dashing through low over the farmland at the former, while the Watersfield one was thermalling high with a couple of Ravens for a while before dropping down low and terrorising the Swifts and Swallows. 

13th July

Not much time for birding again today but I did manage to squeeze in a half hour look at Waltham Brooks, which proved pretty quiet aside from a Sedge Warbler busily taking food into a bramble clump near the main lake, out of which also came a female Blackcap and a particularly scruffy-looking Whitethroat.

Sedge Warbler

14th July

An early start this morning for a couple of local wetland site visits. Sadly, Petworth was completely fogged out and I gave up after an hour of staring into the murk here. A heard-only Greenshank was my first of the year at this site, but otherwise nothing much to report really. Onto Pulborough Brooks where I met up with Steve Baines and, later, Paul Evans. The bulk of the interest here was on the North Brooks so we mostly stationed ourselves at the Hanger viewpoint for most of the two hour session. A respectable seven species of wader were feeding on the pools on the North Brooks - at least three Little Ringed Plover, six Green Sandpipers, ten Black-tailed Godwits, three Avocet, a dozen or so Lapwings and singles of Dunlin and Common Sandpiper.

North Brooks, Pulborough

Later in the day a Hobby drifted over the garden; more or less a daily event of late. 

15th July

I had this morning off in lieu of working on Saturday so decided to make the most of it on the birding front. Sadly, the switch to an easterly airflow meant thick fog at dawn, so I had to wait for that to clear before heading out. An hour at Waltham Brooks produced a respectable 46 species, though nothing too noteworthy. As I arrived, a Peregrine was flying south overhead with prey while a female Marsh Harrier was quartering over the reserve briefly before flying north. There was still plenty of song from the breeding Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers, and a Willow Warbler was calling softly from the sallows in the main lake - my first post-breeding/dispersing record of this species locally this season. 

Next up I headed over to Petworth for a bit of a stakeout as the forecast rain was due to arrive. It took its time coming but did eventually set in late morning, though sadly failed to produce anything of note. A juvenile gull which flew west distantly to the south had all the hallmarks of Yellow-legged, but was just rather too far and rather too brief a sighting for me to be one hundred percent confident to add it to the year list. It would also have been a site tick for this hotspot, sadly one that got away on this occasion. Clearly there was a bit of light gull movement going on though as I also noted two Black-headed Gulls and a Lesser Black-backed Gull flying west, and two Black-headed Gulls also flew high south over Waltham Brooks earlier in the day. 

Hobby

16th July

An early stakeout at Petworth this morning failed to produce any goodies, as the originally forecast thundery downpours failed to materialise and the wind had swung back to the south-west.

Yellowhammer

Heavy rain did arrive later in the morning, just as I decided to drop in at Pulborough. It wasn't really worth the soaking as the North Brooks had topped up considerably since the weekend and held noticeably fewer waders as a result. Highlights were three Avocet, two Little Ringed Plover, four Green Sandpipers and 25 Lapwing. 60 or more Sand Martins and a few Swallows were feeding low over the reserve. 

An afternoon check of Waltham Brooks proved similarly quiet, with just a few House Martins feeding over the lake which held some 65 Mallards and a few Gadwall and Shoveler. 

17th July

An early check of the reservoir at Petworth this morning produced little of note on the deck, although there were signs of a hint of movement overhead in the form of five Black-headed Gulls very high south-west and a Grey Heron flying north. 

A stroll round the local fields at lunchtime in warm sunshine was very pleasant and most notable for the increase in butterflies. Certainly the most I have seen locally so far this summer, including quite a few Large Whites. It was also nice to see a couple of Sand Martins perched on wires with around 30 Swallows. Not a species I often get time to study well in a stationary position!

Sand Martin

Late afternoon it was good to catch up with David Campbell for a stroll at Waltham Brooks, where highlights included a Great Egret on the main lake plus a juvenile Tufted Duck and five juvenile Shovelers. Also good numbers of butterflies here including a beautifully fresh Peacock, my first of the second brood season.

Shoveler

Great White Egret

Peacock

18th July

First time I've managed to get out early for a while for a dawn stroll over to Waltham Brooks and back. It was all very quiet really, with no sign of any of the Great Egret or scarcer ducks from yesterday evening. A few Swifts were drifting about and some 40 or so Sand Martins moved east/south-east over t

the main lake. 

A lunchbreak skywatch on the way back from Woods Mill early afternoon produced a distant female Honey Buzzard circling with Common Buzzards for around ten minutes, my first HB sighting of the year at this particular site which has yielded successful breeding in previous years. 

19th July

Not very much time for birding today owing to me attending the National Trust south-east Rangers conference up in Buckinghamshire for most of the middle of the day. A check of the reservoir at Petworth proved quiet aside from a few Swifts, and an adult Black-headed Gull flying high south-west. 

On my way home from the conference I stopped briefly to stretch my legs along the Rother at Fittleworth where 25 or more House Martins were feeding low over the fields and the river, with smaller numbers of Swifts, Swallows and a couple of Sand Martins among them. 

20th July

Checking the moth trap first thing was gave rather slim pickings. A few new ones for the garden list though including Drinker, Chinese Character and Brown-tail. A brief look at Waltham Brooks on my way to lead a butterfly safari at Knepp didn't produce a great deal, despite the promising conditions. Duck numbers continue to increase on the main lake with a few Gadwall and two Teal among at least 50 Mallards this morning. 11 butterfly species was the total from the butterfly safari at Knepp, though sadly Purple Emperor and Marbled White eluded us; most of these sadly battered into submission by the heavy rain earlier in the week. 

Drinker moth

Chinese Character

A detour to Petworth on the way home produced a few bits including at least 40 each of Swifts and House Martin feeding over the fields and reservoir. The highlight though was my first local Common Gull for three months, which dropped into the reservoir with 25 Herring Gulls and a couple of Black-headed Gulls. It was also interesting to see a number of Little Grebes hauled out on the shoreline, I can't recall seeing that behaviour from this species before. 

Common Gull

Little Grebes

Honey, Sandwiches and other local delights

As a birder and all-round naturalist, I always find it tricky to decide on my favourite time of year. At a push though, when August comes around, I am reminded just how great late summer and early autumn can be. The golden and misty mornings and atmospheric evenings, and the feeling that you could bump into absolutely anything every time you leave the house, make birding extra exciting at this transitional point in the year. 

Indeed, this past ten days or so has delivered some of my most enjoyable birding moments of the year to date, including two 10km year ticks and three 1km year ticks. My Watersfield Farmland hotspot close to home has tipped past the 100 species mark with the addition of three new species, two of which were entirely unexpected (more on that later).

Since surpassing my 150 species target at Pulborough Brooks two years ago, I have been enjoying spreading my net further afield, while still staying local to home, and it's times like the past couple of weeks when I'm reminded just how rewarding that can be.

12th August

An early morning walk from home around the local farmland revealed a noticeable increase in Willow Warblers and Whitethroats, with a minimum of 8 of the former and 5 of the latter just in the hedges and scrub on the edge of Watersfield. There was no sign of any other notable migrant passerines though.

Whitethroat

A walk up towards Watersfield Common with B later in the morning produced two Hobbies hunting Swallows together. I'm sure this species must have bred somewhere locally this summer but haven't yet worked out exactly where. 

Talking of Hobbies I also had one low and fast over Shalford Common in Surrey in the afternoon, while up there catching up with friends. 

13th August

No early birding today as I was busy checking the contents of the moth trap, which included Jersey Tiger, Webb's Wainscot, Canary-shouldered Thorn and White-point.

Canary-shouldered Thorn

White-point

A check of Waltham Brooks on my way to Knepp produced a juvenile Marsh Harrier and a couple of Swifts powering south/south-west, but little in the way of passerine activity in the now quite brisk wind. 4 Gadwall were among the Mallards on the main lake. 

14th August

A quick look at the South Brooks from near the visitor centre at Pulborough proved fairly quiet, with just a few Lapwing and a single Little Egret of note. The strikingly pale Buzzard was perched on a fence post on the bank of the Arun, a bird surely responsible for more misidentifications than any other in the area!

Late morning, a walk near The Mens produced a nice immature Goshawk briefly circling above the wooded hillside to the west. 

15th August

No time for any of my own birding today as I was in East Sussex for a meeting in the morning then hotfooted it down to Dungeness to lead a Wildstarts tour at the RSPB reserve. It was a productive afternoon, with 50 species recorded. All three UK egret species were present and correct, although we unfortunately didn't complete the set with the reported Glossy Ibises at the ARC pit as we didn't make it out that far. Other highlights included Common Sandpiper, a flyover Hobby carrying prey, a heard-only Greenshank and my first Whinchat anywhere this year.

Cattle Egrets

16th August

A bright and golden early autumn start to the day felt like the perfect inspiration needed for a walk up on the Downs. The only issue with Amberley Mount is that a morning walk means ascending towards the sun, so the first hour or so felt a little quiet and frustrating aside from a female type Redstart at the top of the slope. Things livened up once I got up onto the plateau though, where I found two Wheatears and a Corn Bunting along the fenceline, the latter surprisingly my first record of this species at this location. I tend to find I have to go to other downland sites further east or south to find them around here. 

Returning down the slope towards Downs Farm things got even better with a spanking male Redstart revealing itself in the scrub. Two fluffy Little Owl juveniles were playing hide and seek on one of the buildings at the farm and two Whinchats were flycatching from the telegraph wires here - my first locally this year. 

Ravens

Whinchat

Little Owls

17th August

A grey and rather foggy start to the day. My occasional early morning circuit from home to Thorndale Bridge and up the river to Waltham Brooks and back took a particularly exciting and unexpected turn when I heard the distinctive grating call of a Sandwich Tern as I approached the riverbank from the railway bridge. Looking up in the direction of the call I picked up a single bird, quite high, powering in through the murk from the south-west. As it called again I quickly realised there were two birds, rather separated from each other but clearly travelling together. I fired off a few record shots and grabbed a short recording before just standing and enjoying the spectacle as they disappeared off upriver towards Pulborough. 

This was a particularly remarkable record given that just the previous day Ed and I had been discussing historical records of this species in my local area, after he had two over Enton Lakes near Godalming. As I had stated, any tern species is a pretty rare thing in this part of inland West Sussex, so to have these two fly right over my head within about 15 minutes of walking out of my door this morning was particularly extraordinary! As far as I can work out, it's the first record anywhere in the inland Arun Valley area since 2002.

Sandwich Tern

The rest of the walk paled into insignificance to be honest, after such a breathtaking moment as that. Highlights at Waltham Brooks included a few Reed Warblers, Willow Warblers, juvenile Stonechat and at least 18 Greenfinches.

Later in the day I took B down to Arundel for a stroll around Swanbourne Lake, which provided a few bits of interest including at least 3 Willow Warblers, Marsh Tit, two each of Mandarin and Pochard and a flyover Peregrine. 

Pochard

18th August

Rain arrived from the east early this morning and by around 8.30 had turned decidedly biblical. I decided to head over to Petworth for a bit of a stakeout at the private reservoir there. In the end I rather wished I hadn't bothered as I barely scraped to 20 species in 90 minutes, with a Common Sandpiper really the only bird of note. 

Later in the day, after drying off at a home, a walk round the local farmland produced Hobby, Peregrine, a Common Gull drifting south, and a Lesser Whitethroat in the bushes just west of the boundary with Waltham Brooks; the latter species number 100 for my Watersfield Farmland hotspot!

Common Gull

An evening check of local water bodies including a distant scan from Greatham Lane towards Hardham Reservoir, in the hope of Black Terns (lots around elsewhere this evening), didn't produce loads, although heard only Raven and Greenshank here were noteworthy. This section of farmland and wetland is effectively the connecting corridor between Pulborough Brooks and Waltham Brooks but is very underwatched. It's the same area I had two Little Ringed Plovers earlier in the year. 

19th August

An early morning stroll round the local farmland produced very little so later in the morning I headed over to Burton Mill Pond with B, which proved rather more lively. The highlight was a mixed passerine flock in the trees at New Piece (western side of the pond), which included several Marsh Tits, a Willow Warbler and a family part of Spotted Flycatchers.

Spotted Flycatchers

20th August

WeBS day today, so I headed over to the private reservoir near Petworth where I do my monthly count. It was rather uneventful today, as it has been for the most part of late, to be honest. Still, three Common Sandpipers represented my second highest count of the species here (4 on 4th May this year) and I again saw one of the leucistic Egyptian Geese in flight with one of the small flocks flying about to and from the reservoir - 59 in total today.

Common Sandpipers

Egyptian Geese

Later in the morning, a walk out to check the local fields and scrub on the western side of Waltham Brooks proved relatively quiet aside from a flyover Hobby worrying the Swallows and a somewhat out of context Reed Bunting in a hedgerow down River Lane. 

Hobby

In the afternoon I was back at Knepp leading a safari, the highlight of which was a lovely female type Redstart in one of the hedges north of New Barn Farm; my first here this year. 

21st August

My car was booked in for its MOT this morning, so I decided to try the walk home from the garage in Pulborough for the first time (around 4km). I was interested to see how long it took (admittedly at a birding pace) but also explore any bits of less familiar habitat I encountered along the way.

It was actually fairly quiet for the most part, until I reached Waltham Brooks, with the exception of a Tawny Owl in flight along the Wey South Path on the west side of Widney Brooks. Waltham Brooks itself held a few Willow Warblers and a female type Redstart in the scrub, the latter my 130th species for the site.

The best was yet to come though as I exited the reserve and headed into the farmland that separates it from home. I was in a 'home straight' sort of mindset by this point, having been walking for around two hours, so wasn't perhaps quite as alert as I had been at the start. Nonetheless, I immediately recognised the raptor heading straight towards me from the north-west as something 'interesting' and lifted my bins to confirm it was a Honey Buzzard, powering east/south-east on flat wings. A lovely adult male, it briefly circled over my head, gaining height as it did so, before continuing onwards towards Parham/Amberley. Needless to say, my first for the 1km recording area and my 101st species for the eBird hotspot here. 

Honey Buzzard

Savage and serene in one hour

I did title my last blog post 'Fool's Spring' for good reason. After some pleasant, spring-like days in mid-February and despite the onset of meteorological spring, winter has really returned with a vengeance in early March, with only the second proper covering of snow of the winter on the ground as I write this. Emily Dickinson once said 'March is a month of expectation'. Well, it's fair to say the expectation and anticipation of spring migration has, temporarily, been placed on hold. I think a more appropriate quote right now would be: 'Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.' (Ralph Waldo Emerson). 

Weather aside, I also haven't been out birding as much as usual during this ten-day period, due to some pretty dreadful personal news on the first weekend of March, although I have found getting out even for half an hour or so some days has helped, despite the weather. 

27th February

This morning I headed out to Sparrite and Greatham Commons between Rackham and Pulborough, a site I have only visited once before. The species I had in mind was Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, as the habitat here looks spot on. Sadly no joy today but I will return. The effects of excessive numbers of Fallow Deer were much in evidence, with little to no understorey vegetation across much of the landscape. The best of the birds were a Firecrest and around 40 Meadow Pipits; my largest count of the latter species locally since September.

Greatham Common

Meadow Pipit

After popping into Pulborough village mid-afternoon, I decided to stop off for a quick look at the stretch of farmland between Pulborough and Hardham, or rather a quick listen, as it was here I connected with Little Owl last year. Sure enough, I heard two different birds calling simultaneously here today, albeit rather distant and not seen. Sadly this species is getting harder and harder to find locally now - I had more records of Goshawk at a greater number of sites in 2022 than I did Little Owl and, given it's taken me until the end of February to find the latter this year, it seems 2023 will be much the same.

28th February

A quick loop of Burton and Chingford Ponds this morning proved fairly quiet, although it was good to see a pair of Great Crested Grebes on BMP (and a single on Chingford). It was nice, too, to bump into Bernie Forbes and Owen Mitchell as I was leaving, who were hoping for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. They looked disappointed when I said I hadn't seen any - and, indeed, had had very little woodpecker activity at all - which made it even more gripping when I received a call ten minutes later to say they'd just found a LSW! Normally I would have raced back to see it but I had somewhere to be so sadly couldn't, but still a great find from them.

Later in the day, Paul Stevens came round to fit a Swift nest box and some House Martin nest cups on our house. Fingers crossed they're used in the coming years!

Swift box and House Martin nest cup

1st March

The first day of meteorological spring, not that it felt like it in the freezing north-easterly under gun metal grey skies. I was at Ashdown Forest for most of the day for a meeting about the proposed Black Grouse reintroduction project. Brief birding highlights here were singing Skylark and Stonechat at Pippingford Park and a singing Woodlark at Friends Clump.

On the way home I stopped off at Waltham Brooks which produced a single Shelduck, Little Grebe and 10 Pintail on the main lake, 60-70 Linnets into roost and a Marsh Harrier flying south, presumably to roost at Arundel. 

2nd March

A busy day for work today but I managed to get out for a couple of hours late morning/early afternoon, the first sunny day for a while just too much to bear while trying to work indoors. Although it was still bitterly cold in the north-easterly wind, the sunshine brought some raptors out to play, and I managed seven species of bird of prey from a local skywatch, including one of the White-tailed Eagles thermalling distantly over Amberley and a 'first adult' plumage female Goshawk which drifted quite low into a nearby wood. This was the closest I have seen Goshawk to home but sadly it was clearly too windy and cold to coax her back out as I didn't see her again. Other highlights included a distant Peregrine, a few Common Gulls heading north and a small but pronounced south-westerly movement of Stocks Doves in small groups.

A dusk walk down the lane didn't produce a great deal apart from a Chiffchaff calling in one of the hedgerows; the first one I've had this year away from the wintering hotspots like Coldwaltham sewage works. 

Stock Doves

3rd March

Taking advantage of another bright start to the day (albeit icy), I headed out ten minutes before sunrise for a stroll through local farmland to the Arun. Not a massive amount to report from an hour session here really although it was nice to hear Great Spotted Woodpeckers going for it so early in the morning, as well as Marsh Tit, Blackbird, Reed Bunting and Chiffchaff in full song. 7 Snipe flushed up from the marshy ground near the river, while a pair of Stonechats were just across the river on the western side of Amberley Wildbrooks.

Treecreeper

After dropping B at nursery I headed over to Pulborough Brooks for an hour or so. One of my target species here was Avocet, which I seem to keep missing recently, despite the first report of a returning bird being a couple of weeks ago now. Luckily, today was the day my luck changed and I found three roosting together on the North Brooks. Other highlights here were comfortably a thousand or more Lapwing (~200 on the North Brooks and at least 800 on the South Brooks), with 3 Ruff among them, two Marsh Harriers and two Peregrines (an adult female on the South Brooks and an immature female inadvertently flushed from the big Ash tree near the Hanger viewpoint, midway through its breakfast by the looks of it!)

Lapwings

4th March

I was busy working on the book all morning but managed to get out for a couple of hours around lunchtime. First up I headed over to Pulborough Brooks, specifically, Wiggonholt Common, to try and catch up with the Crossbills seen there yesterday. This species, along with all northern finches, has been in seriously short supply this winter. In fact, a check of eBird told me it's been over seven months since I last saw one. It didn't take too long to pick one bird up in flight, giving its distinctive chup chup call and, a little later, I had distant views of three birds together in the tops of pine near the tumulus - adult male and female and a third bird which I couldn't age or sex due to the distance and bad light, but Jon Winder later reported two males and a female. 

Crossbill

After this I headed over to my private WeBS site near Petworth which produced some impressive numbers of gulls moving from the farm reservoir to the ploughed fields and back. Exact counts were hard to ascertain due to the constant to-ing and fro-ing, but given there were birds drifting around the whole time I managed a minimum of 120 Black-headed Gulls and 140 Common Gulls, many of the latter looking resplendent in their summer plumage. Certainly one of my best gull counts here to date. Otherwise not much of note aside from a scattering of Tufted Ducks, Shoveler and 3 Gadwall.

Common and Black-headed Gulls

 5th March

No birding today.

6th March

A very brief look at Waltham Brooks this morning in passing produced 4 Little Grebe, 9 Pintail and a single Shelduck on the main lake along with another Shelduck flying high south-west.

7th March

This afternoon I headed out for a 1k area walk, first to Thorndale Bridge via the local farmland then up the river to Waltham Brooks. Highlights included the two White-tailed Eagles circling high over the Downs, an adult Great Black-backed Gull north and the usual ducks on the main lake, including a single Shelduck and 8 Pintail. A Barn Owl gave a brief fly-by here too. At the sewage works were a single Grey Wagtail, at least 5 Chiffchaffs and singing Treecreeper and Goldcrest.

8th March

I was surprised to wake up and see a centimetre or so of snow on the ground and rooftops this morning. After dropping B at nursery I dropped in at Pulborough for a quick whizz round, as I was passing on my way somewhere. I was hoping the snow and murk might have forced down a Kittiwake but no such luck. A nice selection of waders were on the North Brooks though, with two pairs of Avocets busily feeding along with 6 Dunlin and two roosting Black-tailed Godwits. Otherwise, a very wintry feel to proceedings, though duck numbers had noticeably dropped since my last visit.