Dark days

11th December

As is typical for the time of year, the darkness creeps ever more into my available birding time, but I managed to squeeze in a couple of short sessions before work and at lunchtime today. First, a 45-minute venture out to the local farmland near home which yielded 40 species including a few Teal and Wigeon on the flooded fields and singles of Chiffchaff and Cetti's Warbler in the bushes. Small groups of Fieldfare and Stock Dove were noted flying south/south-west overhead.

Watersfield living up to its name

Mid-morning I caught sight of a Peregrine circling over Watersfield before drifting off towards Amberley. 

A lunchtime check of Waltham Brooks produced the usual species, with a distant Marsh Harrier over towards Amberley probably the highlight. A male Stonechat in the scrub between the lake and the road was notable only for the large white spot on its face. I'm not sure what it was exactly. At least five Tufted Ducks were still on the main lake. 

Stonechat

12th December

A look at Waltham Brooks this morning en route to work produced an impressive array of ducks on the main lake, including at least 90 Shoveler and 10 Tufted Duck. A Marsh Harrier briefly stopped for a look, flushing 5 Snipe in the process, while 27 Fieldfare flew out of roost. 

Marsh Harrier

13th December

I was down in Rye today for a SWT staff meeting. Conditions weren't great but we had an enjoyable hour's walk round the reserve early afternoon led by new reserve manager Paul Tinsley-Marshall. The lingering Spoonbill was still roosting on Flat Beach which also held good numbers of Shoveler, a few Pintail and half a dozen or so Tufted Ducks. Well over 400 Cormorants flew over into roost as we were walking around, and around 50 Curlew did the same, coming in from the north-east as we were heading back to the car park. 

Cormorants

The obligatory sleeping Spoonbill photo

                              

14th December

Shoreham-by-Sea was the destination for today's work meeting, so I decided to swing past the harbour and Southwick canal while I was down there, hoping to connect with the lingering Great Northern Diver that's been in the ship canal for a couple of weeks now. 45 minutes of trekking around the area between the canal gates and Barrett Steel proved fruitless, as did a walk out to the seafront but I eventually got the bird just as I was leaving, along with the juvenile Eider that has also been around a while. Sadly neither gave as good views as the Turnstones on the sea wall!

Turnstones

15th December

After enjoying a Firecrest in the garden first thing this morning, I just had time for a quick circuit of the local farmland before starting work. This proved unremarkable aside from at least one heard-only Golden Plover flying overhead, seemingly heading east/north-east.

Firecrest

Late afternoon I headed over to Burton Mill Pond for a last light vigil from the viewing platform which produced 27 Little Egrets heading to roost plus 43 Cormorants, ~500 Starlings (dropping in to the reeds on the eastern side where two Sparrowhawks were patrolling), 2-3 Water Rails and a Kingfisher. 

16th December

An unusually free morning saw me taking a tour of various local sites, starting with the private reservoir near Petworth for the WeBS count there, where I found the Long-tailed Duck present again, having apparently gone AWOL on my last visit here a few days ago. Otherwise, waterbird numbers were really poor, with just 11 Tufted Duck, a lone female Pochard, a few Coots and a single Little Grebe. 

A check of the water meadows and farm fields by the Rother in Fittleworth produced seven Little Egrets around the cattle at Street Farm, a Chiffchaff calling at the sewage works and a male Stonechat in the scrubby field nearby.

Fittleworth Water Meadows

Then it was on to check the farm scrape at Hadworth Farm which held a pair of Gadwall, a few Coots and Mallards and a lone Cormorant perched in the dead trees behind the flood (another flew over heading east). Perhaps most notable here was the flock of ~250 Stock Doves which flew up from the fields to the south-west. 

Later in the morning I took a stroll out down the road from home which produced a Peregrine and at least nine Snipe flying high overhead.

Snipe

17th December

A morning walk round the local farmland proved fairly quiet aside from the now almost daily Peregrine circling high over Watersfield, and around 55-60 Fieldfares flying towards Coldwaltham.

Peregrine

Late afternoon I headed over to Thorndale Bridge for a scan from the railway embankment here (flooding made the walk under the railway bridge to the river bank impassable), the highlight of which was a Barn Owl hunting over the southern end of Waltham Brooks. At least 60 Redwings and 30 Fieldfares flew to roost, and at least four Water Rails were calling around the area. A Merlin flew low and fast over River Lane as I was walking down. 

18th December

A brief stop off at Waltham Brooks on my way to work this morning where highlights included an impressive 28 Tufted Ducks on the main lake (certainly my highest count of the species here), four Red Kites together over Quell Farm and a single Marsh Harrier flying north. Redwings were noticeably moving overhead, with 150 west in the 25 minutes or so I was on-site. 

Quite a lot of Tufted Ducks!

A lunchtime stroll at Woods Mill also proved reasonably lively for the time of year, with 30 Common Gulls over, a Water Rail showing very well but very briefly swimming across a ditch, and a Kestrel which was surprisingly a reserve tick for me!

Moorhen

19th December

A pretty rancid day, weather-wise. I did manage a brief lunchtime walk from home over to Waltham Brooks and back, but there wasn't much on offer there to write home about. Yesterday's bumper count of Tufted Duck had reduced to just a single drake, six Pintail and a single Raven flew north/north-west and nine Siskins flew into the Poplars near the lake. 

20th December

A quick dash up Amberley Mount before work proved to be quite lively, with as many as ten Red Kites, three Buzzards and 50+ Common Gulls all distinctly displeased by the arrival on the scene of a juvenile White-tailed Eagle which powered north low over the tumulus, briefly disappearing over the northern slopes before returning and drifting around over the vineyard towards The Burgh. It still blows my mind to see the size of these things in direct comparison to a Buzzard!

White-tailed Eagle

Red Kite

A lunchtime stroll at Woods Mill produced a similar number of Common Gulls to Amberley Mount and a reasonably showy Cetti's Warbler in the scrub along the stream.

Cetti's Warbler

Pulborough, 10th-11th March

A weekend of reasonably mild weather which saw an increase in birdsong and apparent seasonal movement, with three new birds for the patch year list taking my total to 99.

The Woodlark continues to announce its presence over the heath and on both days this weekend was heard straight away as I arrived in the car park. It was good to discover two birds now present and the RSPB locking the gates to the central section of the heath to prevent disturbance.

Woodlark

It's clearly not just the Woodlarks thinking about breeding as one of the seven Grey Herons seen on Saturday was flying over the visitor centre with an impressively large piece of nesting material. The large flock of Linnets is still favouring the area around the ploughed field immediately behind the visitor centre; certainly well over a hundred birds in total but hard to get an accurate count as they're always so flighty!

Grey Heron

Linnets

Meanwhile, it was good to hear my first patch Chiffchaff of the year singing intermittently near the top of the Zig Zag path on Saturday. The North Brooks held c.175 Black-tailed Godwits, an Avocet (only my second ever here after one on 13th January this year), ten Shelduck, three Little Egrets and a single Dunlin which flew off towards the South Brooks. Finished off Saturday's visit with a look at Hails View which produced another dozen Shelduck, two Dunlin, two Egyptian Geese, a Grey Wagtail and a pair of Gadwall.

Avocet on the North Brooks

On Saturday afternoon we took some non-birding friends for a little walk around The Burgh. Evidently we were in the wrong area for the Short-eared Owls but it was nice to run into the ringtail Hen Harrier again, with a supporting cast of at least eight Red Kites, two Ravens, four Lapwing, heard only Red-legged & Grey Partridge and a minimum of three hundred Common Gulls. I've still yet to have a bad session up here, no matter what the weather. Surely one of the best sites of its kind in the south-east?

Sunday at the Brooks began with the Woodlark and at least two Chiffchaffs again in fine voice. It was good to see a pair of Redshanks from Winpenny as well as three distant Dunlin. Something spooked all the waders at one point which revealed the presence of four previously unseen Golden Plover which flew north over the hide. Another single bird flew north-east over Brook Field later in the morning.

Golden Plover over Brook Field

Lapwings seem to be pairing up and getting territorial now, as do Shelducks, with the odd one flying around and checking out the grassy slopes of Hollybush Hill. At least 26 on site on Sunday was a patch record count of this species for me. On the North Brooks on Sunday morning were c.130 Black-tailed Godwits, three Little Egrets, a lone and vocal drake Gadwall and another couple of Dunlin, while a Raven cronked north-west high overhead. Highlights from Hails View, meanwhile, were two each of Peregrine and Red Kite and heard only Water Rail and Red-legged Partridge, the latter a Pulborough lifer! A quick scan from The Hanger in the afternoon produced the third and final year tick of the weekend in the form of a pair of Coots; a surprisingly infrequent sight here but right on cue as we're getting into peak rail migration season now - in fact I've heard one calling through the bedroom window the past couple of nights, presumably flying overhead. I experimented the other night with setting up my nocmig microphone through the attic window so as to get a bit closer to the action (and less background noise from the neighbours!) so will let you know how that worked out in a future blog post.

Raven over Jupp's View

Patch gold!