Seasons collide

As the schools go back and we enter meteorological autumn of course the weather has decided to go all 'high summer' with the first anticyclonic system to reach our shores since June, as I write this in early September. It's been a bit of a shock to the system to dig out the shorts and suncream again after what felt like a protracted bout of autumnal weather in recent weeks. It's also scuppered the first week and a half of September from a birding point of view, in some ways, with many migrants clearly making a quick getaway in the fine weather. Vismig in particular has been pretty poor so far, but I'm still hopeful for better to come in the next few weeks.

It's still been an enjoyable start to autumn proper though, with plenty of bits to talk about in this ten day period. 

1st September

It was our fifth wedding anniversary today, so we headed down to Ferring for breakfast and a walk along the beach followed by a stroll around Parham gardens.

At Ferring, avian highlights came in the form of three Ringed Plover and two Sanderlings among around 75 Turnstones roosting on the beach, and at least ten Sandwich Terns and three Common Terns past at sea. A lone Teal briefly landed offshore before flying off west. Eight Oystercatchers flew west while we were having breakfast.

Sandwich Terns

Sanderlings

The highlight of the morning though came when Kate asked 'what's that flapping about on the beach there?' Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a Convolvulus Hawkmoth, presumably newly arrived from across the Channel. It was struggling to stay clear of the incoming tide so I gently scooped it up and placed it in a patch of vegetation at the top of the beach, safely away from a nearby flock of House Sparrows. A remarkable encounter!

Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Parham was, comparatively, pretty quiet, though raptors were much in evidence in the by now warm afternoon sunshine, with at least half a dozen Buzzards thermalling overhead along with a couple of Red Kites and a Sparrowhawk. At least three Ravens were around too, and I commented to Kate that it's amazing how quickly the species has spread into this part of West Sussex, going from being a relatively infrequently occurrence when we moved down here in 2017 to now being a daily event. 

2nd September

An early morning loop of Pulborough Brooks produced 58 species including a pleasing selection of waders on the North Brooks (seven Black-tailed Godwits, four Ruff, three Green Sandpiper, four Snipe and 120 Lapwing) but sadly not the Spotted Redshank seen by Chris and Juliet et al the previous day. At least a dozen Yellow Wagtails were with the cattle near Winpenny and a Spotted Flycatcher was among a mixed flock at the picnic area on the way down to Nettleys.

Ruff and Lapwings

Later in the morning, while at our allotment, I noted a Swallow flying over carrying food, so presumably still feeding young in a nest. Later still, a Cattle Egret flew low over the A29 as we were driving home. 

3rd September

A morning walk from home with Kate and B produced a couple of Willow Warblers and three Spotted Flycatchers up Sandy Lane. 

A check of the North Brooks at Pulborough en route to Knepp was again lively on the wader front, with Wood Sandpiper the highlight along with eight Black-tailed Godwits, two Ruff, heard-only Green Sandpiper and at least 140 Lapwings. At least five Yellow Wagtails were with the cattle up towards Brookgate Farm, one of the Knepp White Storks was also wading about on the North Brooks but too distant to read the ring number, and a Hobby was hawking overhead.

Yellow Wagtails

Knepp itself was rather quiet on the bird front, but a check of Southlands Farm in West Chiltington on the way home produced singles of Tufted Duck and Shoveler on the little pool there; both new species for me at this site. 

4th September

After dropping B at nursery this morning I headed up to Amberley Mount, hoping I would find it above the fog level. Frustratingly, the fog was sitting just at the height of the Downs here and took a little while to clear. As I reached the top of the western slope, it had thankfully mostly dissipated and the first birds to reveal themselves were three Wheatears on the fence line around the sheep fields. There were several Yellow Wagtails calling and occasionally flying up from among the sheep too - I reckoned at least six by the end of the session here. Other highlights from a lively couple of hours included a minimum of ten Redstarts (mostly on the southern slopes), a few Willow Warblers, singles of Whinchat, Stonechat, Corn Bunting and Spotted Flycatcher, and a Marsh Harrier powering north. Swallows and House Martins were trickling west/south-west throughout the session, and three small groups of Siskin were also heard flying over, seemingly heading in the same direction. 

Willow Warbler

Marsh Harrier

5th September

A rewarding early morning jaunt from home produced a 1km year tick in the form of a Whinchat in the scrub near the railway crossing at Waltham Brooks. Atypically, it didn't hang around for any photos as it flew strongly off towards the river almost as soon as I'd lifted my bins. This followed a flyover Yellow Wagtail - species 104 for the Watersfield Farmland hotspot. At least one Yellow Wag was heard around the cattle at Waltham Brooks too, with other highlights including at least three Lesser Whitethroat, half a dozen Common Whitethroat, three Snipe (my first of the autumn here), two Stonechat, Water Rail, three Tufted Duck and a Little Grebe.

Whitethroat

Lesser Whitethroat and Stonechat

A mid-afternoon skywatch from the fields near home proved rather quiet in the searing heat, though at least 100 Swallows were milling about, some purposefully heading WNW, with a few House Martins in tow. An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull also drifted the same way.

6th September

After a morning garden safari at Knepp (highlights of which were Hummingbird Hawkmoth and a lot of hornets!) I made an impromptu decision to pop down to Mill Hill near Shoreham, even though the Red-backed Shrike hadn't been reported for a couple of days. I hadn't been here for a few years and it was lovely to have a stroll round, even if it was blisteringly hot and the shrike didn't put in an appearance. 

Highlights included two Spotted Flycatchers in the scrub north of the car park, a heard-only Redstart and, best of all, a Honey Buzzard which suddenly appeared to the west of the hill, flying away from me before gaining height, banking and heading north. Annoyingly, a combination of the element of surprise, suncream on my glasses and terrible light meant I wasn't able to get any useable photos of it, so the record shot below is purely for posterity. Mill Hill is always a great site for butterflies and today didn't disappoint, with several Adonis Blues about and my first UK Clouded Yellow of the year. 

Adonis Blues

Spotted Flycatcher

Honey Buzzard (honest!)

On the way home I briefly stopped off at Pulborough for a scan of the South Brooks from Hail's View which produced just a couple of Green Sandpipers. 

7th September

A dawn walk from home was rather too hampered by fog and low light to be anything other than a nice breath of cool air after a sticky night.

Sunrise over Watersfield

After dropping B off at nursery I decided to head over to the farmland and private reservoir near Petworth. The temperature was already climbing fast and it was uncomfortable to be in the sun for any length of time. It proved to be a fairly lively 90 minutes or so here though, with 42 species recorded. Highlights were a hotspot first Redstart briefly in flight along a hedgerow, Wheatear, two Common Sandpipers at the reservoir and at least two Ringed Plover flying over, calling, seemingly heading west but not seen.

Farmland near Petworth

8th September

Not much birding today aside from a trip to Warnham LNR with B. My first visit to this reserve for a while, today it produced 32 species including Kingfisher, Marsh Tit and the usual assortment of wildfowl and gulls. 

Best from the garden moth trap at home in the morning were two Light Emeralds and the first Centre-barred Sallow of the autumn.

Light Emerald

Centre-barred Sallow

While in the garden in the afternoon, singles of Yellow Wagtail and Siskin flew south and south-west, respectively. 

9th September

A morning safari at Knepp was scorching hot and rather quiet on the bird front, though the odonata put on a good show, especially Migrant Hawkers which seemed to be everywhere we looked. 

An evening walk out to the river at Thorndale Bridge was a relief after the heat of the day, and produced a juvenile Marsh Harrier quartering just across the river at Amberley and a Great White Egret which flew across to Amberley from Waltham Brooks, the latter my first record for this eBird hotspot. 

Great White Egret

Marsh Harrier

10th September

The moth trap was out again overnight which produced a new for the garden Marbled Green. Prior to emptying the trap, an early morning loop of Waltham Brooks and Thorndale Bridge produced a/the Great White Egret again, flying in from Amberley before turning and heading up the river towards Pulborough. Also noteworthy were two Whinchats along the river bank, a Green Sandpiper which flew in from the north and dropped in under Greatham Bridge and a heard-only Kingfisher.

Marbled Green

Waltham Brooks sunrise

Whinchat

Great White Egret

Later in the morning, half a dozen Siskins flew high south-west over the garden. There already seem to be more of these around lately, even if just moving through. Fingers crossed for a better winter ahead for them and other winter finches.

With rain forecast around lunchtime I headed over to the private reservoir near Petworth hoping for a wader to drop in. In the event, there was just a Common Sandpiper of note on the deck, although at least two Ringed Plover were again heard flying over, 16 Pochard was a fairly high count here and at least 70 Swallows drifted east ahead of the approaching weather. 

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