Late March into Spring

21st March

An initially atmospherically misty start to the day quickly turned into a thick peasouper and put paid to my attempt at a dawn check of Waltham Brooks. I could just about make out 22 Tufted Duck on the lake and there were plenty of Chiffchaffs singing around the place, but otherwise not much to report. 

After dropped B off at nursery I quickly headed up Amberley Mount to see if the top was above the fog, which it was. 20 minutes in glorious sunshine up here proved rewarding with Skylarks in fine voice and my first Wheatear of the year - a female - briefly posing well at Downs Farm before disappearing over the rooftops of the farm buildings. It struck me while I was up here that it's been quite some time since I saw a Little Owl up here, as the cow sheds at the farm used to be a reliable spot for them a year or two ago.

Skylark

Wheatear

Late afternoon I headed out again after work for a quick sweep of a couple of local sites. First, the scrape at Bignor Park which held the lingering Green Sandpiper, three Little Grebes and two drake Tufted Ducks, the latter a first for me here. The private reservoir at Petworth didn't hold any surprises, just a handful of Gadwall, a Little Grebe and the usual singing Skylarks and Yellowhammers around and about. 

22nd March

An early walk out from home to the river via Thorndale Bridge proved productive with first a singing Blackcap by the railway bridge, followed by a Redshank calling out towards Amberley West: All three of those species new for the year list! Up at Waltham Brooks there were again 22 Tufted Duck on the main lake but little else of note. The biggest surprise came in the form of a softly singing Willow Warbler in the scrub by the lake, equaling my earliest ever record of the species following on from one at Pulborough Brooks on 22nd March 2020. 

Early afternoon I headed out again for an early afternoon check of a few more local sites. The scrape at Bignor Park held the lingering Green Sandpiper and Egyptian Geese pair with their four young. Amazingly, as I scanned the water, the sound of another singing Willow Warbler drifted into my peripheral hearing. I made my way over to where the sound was coming from and found it flitting about in the hedgerow willows. 

Willow Warbler

23rd March

No birding today as I was up in Chelmsford speaking at the Essex Birdwatching Society Conference on the subject of Avian Reintroductions: Past, Present and Future.

24th March

Out at dawn this morning for a full loop of Pulborough Brooks before a busy day of non-birding stuff. It was another cold day, particularly in the brisk north-westerly, but pleasant enough in the sunshine out of the wind. As was the case yesterday, it felt like a good day for large/soaring birds, so I actually had Spoonbill or Common Crane in the back of my mind as I set off round the trail. West Mead and Winpenny hides proved rather quiet, with just two each of Dunlin and Avocet out on the South Brooks (I missed the mini wader-fest here on Friday which included Grey Plover, Golden Plover and Ringed Plover - a great day for Chris and Juliet Moore et al). Moving round to the Hanger and, amazingly, almost the first bird I picked up (after a Great White Egret) was a second year Spoonbill busily feeding on the back pool. It continued feeding very actively up until I left soon after 7:00, even giving a little flight across the pool at one point. Evidently it was refuelling to continue its journey, as it wasn't seen by a number of other birders who visited later in the morning. Also on the North Brooks were my first Little Ringed Plover of the year and at least five more Avocets.

Spoonbill

Cetti's Warbler

25th March

I had a work trip down to the New Forest today but managed to squeeze in a very quick look at the Bignor Park scrape before I left, where I found the lingering Green Sandpiper still present along with a couple of Snipe, a single Little Grebe and a Willow Warbler softly singing in the roadside hedge; presumably the same early arriving bird I heard here on Friday. Also singing nearby was a Blackcap, my first for this hotspot.

A couple of hours walking around the Eyeworth Wood and Acres Down areas of the New Forest was great and included my first Hawfinches of the year plus several Firecrests and Marsh Tits. It was fascinating to learn more about the Pine Marten camera trapping project down there, from Marcus Ward from Wild New Forest and Kat Saleiko from Forestry England. 

Eyeworth Pond, New Forest

The scarce Red-belted Bracket fungus in Eyeworth Wood

The obligatory New Forest Pony photo

On the way home I checked a couple of local sites, first up the private reservoir near Petworth which seemed very quiet until I picked up a Little Ringed Plover lurking on the far shore - my first here this year. Next up, I stopped for a look at Waltham Brooks. This seemed even more quiet, with not a hirundine or wader in sight. Four Tufted Duck were on the main lake, as was a nest-building Coot.

Little Ringed Plover

26th March

A loop of Waltham Brooks before work produced 34 species including an immature Peregrine circling overhead before drifting towards Lodge Hill - amazingly only my second record locally this year, not including Pulborough. Other bits of note included eight Tufted Duck on the main lake, at least ten singing Chiffchaffs and a Grey Heron which flew high south-east.

Peregrine

What was presumably the same Peregrine was seen again later in the morning, drifting over the garden. After a pleasant start to the day, the forecast rain eventually arrived around lunchtime and the conditions felt good for dropping some migrants, so expectation was high as I headed out to check a few water bodies in my lunch break. In reality though, it was all a bit of a damp squib. The Egyptian Goose family were still at the scrape at Bignor/Hadworth Farm, while the private reservoir near Petworth held a few more ducks than on recent visits (three Shoveler, two Gadwall, four Tufted Duck) but there were no newly arrived migrants to speak of really. The water meadows at Fittleworth held four Lapwing but not a lot else.

Egyptian Geese

27th March

An early walk from home out to Thorndale Bridge and up the riverbank to Waltham Brooks at dawn. There were plenty of Chiffchaffs and the odd Blackcap about in the first section of the walk, and a male Stonechat was singing quietly at Thorndale Bridge. As I neared the lake at Waltham Brooks I picked up a lone Sand Martin flying towards me, later joined by five others, all busily feeding overhead. Despite the brisk wind, I was also able to pick out the unmistakable song of my first Sedge Warbler of the year singing in the reeds by the lake; my earliest ever arrival date for this species. A Willow Warbler was also sub-singing nearby, with a second bird in sallows near the sewage works. It really is extraordinary how many seemed to have arrived so early this year.

Waltham Brooks

Later in the day I headed back out to check the scrape at Hadworth Farm/Bignor which held the long-staying Green Sandpiper but little else of note. At the private reservoir over near Petworth I was surprised to see a male Shelduck on the far bank with an Egyptian Goose. A long overdue first for me at this site. It didn't stay long after I arrived, before it flew off south-west. Another Willow Warbler here takes my March total so far to at least five different birds at three sites.

Shelduck

28th March

As forecast, today was a mixed bag on the weather front. Although it started relatively calm and dry after overnight rain, it didn't take long for more rain to arrive and the wind to strengthen, reaching gale force by the afternoon. I didn't get out birding early this morning, instead opting to start working relatively early and take advantage of my booked afternoon off by heading out after lunch. The scrape at Bignor was relatively quiet aside from the usual bits, although I did note a Coot on a nest here. At the reservoir near Petworth, it was encouraging to see ten Sand Martins feeding over the choppy waters; my highest count of the species anywhere so far this year. A quick check of the Rother at Fittleworth produced six Little Egrets, and two pairs of Lapwing, one angrily berating a Grey Heron. 

Pied Wagtail

Finally I headed over to Waltham Brooks for a quick check of the main lake. By now the wind was very strong and it was hard to hold my bins steady. Four hirdundines came in from a northwesterly direction which I initially took to be Sand Martins before realising they were all Swallows! They didn't hang around and flew straight through towards Amberley. Immediately after this, all of the ducks on-site suddenly exploded into flight (flushed by a Marsh Harrier I realised a bit later, when it flew off over the trees towards Amberley). I had previously only noticed a handful of Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon and Tufted Duck but soon realised there was in excess of 150 in total. Realising there had to be a chance of a Garganey in among them, I quickly fired off as many photos as I could and, sure enough, when I looked on the camera screen, there were in fact two Garganey - a male and a female - in among the flight of Teal. Fantastic! Despite sticking around a while longer, I never actually saw them again, but did hear the male croaking a couple of times.

Spot the Garganey!

29th March

I was at Pulborough Brooks soon after dawn this morning where I caught up with Paul Davy and Steve Baines. The South Brooks had the bulk of the action, certainly wader-wise, with two Avocet and a single Black-tailed Godwit here among the breeding Lapwing and Redshanks. Three Dunlin were seen in flight but we couldn't locate the lingering Water Pipit seen by Harry Ramm. A pair of Peregrines flew through low. Moving round to the North Brooks where, from the Hanger, we saw the usual selection of dabbling ducks still hanging on, in significantly reduced numbers since my last visit. 2-3 Swallows were feeding among a dozen or so Sand Martins. Around 40 Herring Gulls and a few Common Gulls were gathered on the spit between the two main pools (with at least another 30 Common Gulls drifting overhead). 
                                

30th March

A misty start to the day as the wind shifted to south-easterly overnight. I headed out early for a sweep of some water bodies. The reservoir over at Petworth held a lone Great Crested Grebe, and three Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew high north-east. The mixed singing Willow/Chiff was still present, but otherwise it was a quiet affair here. In fact, the bird of the morning was a Barn Owl which flew low over the road near Bury. The Rother at Fittleworth had fully overtopped again, completely flooding the water meadows, which held little of interest aside from my first Mallard ducklings of the year (one female with eleven in tow!). The scrape at Bignor/Hadworth Farm was still hosting the lingering Green Sandpiper as well as Little Grebe, five Tufted Duck, and multiple Coots (including one sitting on a nest). 

Mid morning we headed down to Arundel to feed the ducks at Swanbourne Lake. Two Shelduck which flew off the water and over towards the WWT were my first here, while other bits of note included at least five Mandarin and a pair of Egyptian Geese with two young. As the day was beginning to warm up, so insects began to become more apparent, including Brimstone and Peacock butterflies seen here. 

Later on, back at home, I headed out for a little walk around the local fields and added Speckled Wood to the year list, with two doing their courtship dancing flight through a garden on River Lane. A check of several of the local fields and paddocks failed to produce any migrants, aside from a couple of singing Blackcaps. Back at home, Blue Tits were busy nest-building in our garden nestbox.         

                           

Mandarins

Lesser Black-backed Gull

31st March

A mixed bag today, taking in various local spots. A return family visit to Swanbourne Lake for a go on one of the rowing boats produced an unexpected local year tick in the form of an adult Great Black-backed Gull chilling towards the northern end of the lake. This species often proves to be a bit of a low key tricky one to find locally, with perhaps 2-3 records most years, so it's always a reassuring one to get on the year list relatively early in the year.

Great Black-backed Gull

Later in the day I checked out some of the other local water bodies. First up, the private reservoir over near Petworth which held a lone Dunlin but was otherwise quiet aside from the Willow/Chiff still singing. The scrape at Bignor Park/Hadworth Farm, meanwhile, produced just a pair of Teal of note. 

The end of March

Two things you can say about March are it's never predictable and it's never dull. After several springs in a row of largely fine, north-easterly airflow dominated weather conditions, we have been overdue a proper wet, squally, Atlantic-driven start to the season - and that is sure what we have been getting plenty of this second half of March!

In terms of birds, it's fair to say that, unless you spend the entirety of March indoors, you cannot fail to see at least one migrant species by the end of the month and this year has been no exception. That said, while hirundine numbers have been extraordinary (I reckon I've already seen well over 200 Sand Martins and at least 10 Swallows locally in the last two weeks - more hirundines than I can ever recall seeing so early) passerine migrants have been relatively thin on the ground, with just a good scattering of Chiffchaffs, a single (admittedly rather early) Sedge Warbler and one or two Blackcaps noted so far.

20th March

A drizzly, murky start to the day with a return to south-westerly airflow. I dropped in at Waltham Brooks as I was passing and was immediately greeted by the sight of two Sand Martins hawking over the main lake - my first of the year here. The Tufted Duck flock had now increased to 29, which seems a pretty amazing number for the relatively small amount of water here. Later on in the session a Great White Egret flew in from Amberley and dropped into the main lake and the visit was topped off nicely by a singing Blackcap along Brook Lane as I was about to leave. My first record locally this year.

Great Egret

21st March

A little tour of local sites this morning produced good numbers of Sand Martins, including at least 18 at Waltham Brooks, but not a huge amount else. ~40 Fieldfare near Swan Bridge in Pulborough will surely be one of the last large local counts of this first winter period.

While working from home during the day I noted two lots of two Sand Martins flying past the window, the first pair going north and the second two going west. Clearly a good day for movement of this species. I'm not sure I've ever had so many records of Sand Martin by such an early date in March. Sadly no local Alpine Swift yet though...

A little lunchtime walk round the local farmland didn't produce too much although there were quite a few raptors up and about, including at least four each of Red Kite and Buzzard and one of the White-tailed Eagles drifting lazily south over Amberley.

White-tailed Eagle - so massive you can't miss it, even from a kilometre away!

22nd March

Not a huge amount of birding today as I was mostly up in Godalming with Ed working on the book. Passing through Fittleworth first thing though I briefly stopped by the river to scan the water meadows here, as I noticed quite a few Little Egrets from the car. Sure enough, I counted an impressive 21 feeding here - my highest count here by some margin and, indeed, the largest congregation of the species I've ever seen anywhere locally, I think!

Fittleworth water meadows (and some of the 21 Little Egrets)

After a long session of book work, Ed and I headed out for a short session at Eashing Fields late afternoon. We joked that we were going to try and find me five ticks for my eBird hotspot list. In the end we managed eight in a little over half an hour! This included both mine and Ed's first Swallow of the year which I picked up first, dashing south over the fields to the east of the site; evidently only the second anywhere in Surrey this year after one at Holmethorpe a couple of hours before. Other highlights from what turned out to be a pretty lively session included a Peregrine heading west and two Greylag Geese flying north-west, which Ed tells me was only the seventh site record!

23rd March

This morning I headed over to Waltham Brooks at first light in the hope of relocating the Garganey reported yesterday by Graeme Charles. In the end it wasn't to be but it was still an enjoyable, if rather blustery, session here; 49 species in total including Water Pipit, 5 Sand Martins, Marsh Harrier at least 3 Shelduck and 8 singing Chiffchaffs. Oh and a drake Mandarin flying about at breakneck speed when I arrived - don't see too many of those here!

Later in the day I headed out for another short walk round the local farmland which was again pretty windy and quiet, bird-wise, save for half a dozen Sand Martins powering into the wind over towards Amberley.

24th March

Another blustery and showery day. I popped my head in at Waltham Brooks again briefly as I was passing in the morning. Not a huge amount doing here aside from the usual wildfowl on the lake and singing Chiffchaff, Cetti's Warbler, etc. One of the introduced White-tailed Eagles got up over the treeline east of the river and drifted south over Amberley.

White-tailed Eagle

In the afternoon I was on my way back home from my mum's house in Hampshire so had a quick look at some farmland near Petworth. It was very windy indeed by this point, so again not a huge amount to write home about, but a flock of ~100 Linnet whizzing around over the fields was nice to see.

Linnets

25th March

An early morning stroll out to the river didn't go quite as planned, mainly because in my bleary-eyed state I strayed too deep into a large puddle under Thorndale Bridge and my wellies filled with water! Lesson learned, I headed home without much reward, aside from a Blackcap singing briefly on River Lane in Watersfield.

Mid-morning I headed over to Pulborough Brooks which again felt largely quiet, although it was great to see my first local Swallow of the year flying over Fattengates. Duck numbers have really dropped away now, and there were three Avocets on the North Brooks. It was pleasant enough in the sunshine to persuade a Brimstone butterfly to emerge and give a flypast near the visitor centre, otherwise it still felt quite wintry in the blustery south-westerly wind.

26th March

A switch to north-easterly winds and rain before dawn sounded like a good recipe for producing some migrants, so I headed out to check a couple of water bodies at first light. First up I checked the private reservoir over near Petworth which was productive - in 90 minutes here I had a dozen Sand Martins through, with one Swallow among them, while on the shoreline of the res were four Little Ringed Plovers and a single Dunlin. In the fields nearby the Linnet flock was somewhere in the region of 120 birds, all whirling about over the fields and hedges.

Dunlin and Little Ringed Plovers

After this I went over to Waltham Brooks for a bit of a stakeout. Sadly no sign of the Garganey in an hour here but I did have at least 80 Sand Martins through in waves, each group dropping in to feed over the lake for a short while before continuing north.

A late afternoon walk round the local farmland didn't produce much aside from the resident Rooks noisily flying to and from their nests. It's pretty mad that we've almost reached the end of March and I still haven't found a local Wheatear...

27th March

A change of scene this morning as I decided to head up Amberley Mount for the first time in quite a while, partly driven by the desire to find a Wheatear, but also just as a break from hammering the local wetland sites. As I ascended the slope on the western side one of the very first birds I saw was a Barn Owl, still out hunting at around 08:30. It perched up on a fencepost for a while but was getting a lot of grief from a Kestrel so didn't rest for long.

Barn Owl

Two Peregrines flew over and there were several Meadow Pipits singing and engaging in territorial squabbles. Yellowhammers and Skylarks were in fine voice too and both Grey and Red-legged Partridges were heard, but sadly no migrants were to be found. 

At the furthest point around the loop from where I'd parked the car, a text from Juliet Moore alerted me to the presence of two Great Crested Grebes at Waltham Brooks, which is a bit of a local mega, so I dropped in there on the way home and connected with the birds on the main lake. Sadly the Garganey was again nowhere to be seen, but I'm pleased for Juliet and Chris that it showed again a few hours later.

Great Crested Grebe

28th March

Back to Waltham Brooks this morning for another attempt at the Garganey... An hour and a half here sadly wasn't long enough to coax it out of hiding, despite a Marsh Harrier scaring seemingly all the ducks out into open water - including 50+ Teal, 40 Wigeon, 20 Shoveler and half a dozen Gadwall. Nonetheless, it was a rewarding session that yielded three 1km area ticks. First, two Swallows in among the 50 or so Sand Martins feeding over the lake, then two fly-through waders - a Little Ringed Plover (which wasn't seen but was clearly flying north, given by the doplar effect of its calls) and a Redshank (heard to call only once, but again not seen).

29th March

It was another drizzly, murky start to the day today (I seem to have been saying that quite a bit lately!) with a brisk southerly breeze. It was so misty and murky that when I eventually got out of bed and lifted the blinds I saw that visibility was down to about 50m. This felt like it might be conducive to dropping in some waterbirds so, after dropping B off at nursery, I headed over to the private site near Petworth for a check of the reservoir there, in the hope that the drizzle had pushed something down. In the event, it wasn't to be, with an hour here producing just a single Swallow and Little Ringed Plover of note. On the way home, a scan of Fittleworth water meadows produced 13 Little Egrets.

Working from home during the day was tricky with the distraction of Sand Martins and the odd Swallow streaming past the window every few minutes, not helped when Juliet Moore text news of an Osprey heading south from the North Brooks at Pulborough. A bit of a stakeout at the window sadly didn't yield any unusual raptors, just the local Red Kite, Buzzards and Kestrel.

30th March

A bit of a change of scene today, as I was on the road early with the rest of the Knepp safari team, heading to Salisbury Plain to visit the Great Bustard Group and see some of the birds. I absolutely love Salisbury Plain and it's become a bit of an annual pilgrimage most summers now with Ed and others to go and soak in the ambience of Yellow Wagtails, Whinchats, Stone-curlews, etc, usually in June. While I had seen a few distant Great Bustards during my visits over the years I had never actually been to see the work that the project group have been doing. Today we were treated to a talk by one of the group at Enford Village Hall before being taken out in Land Rovers to try and see some of the birds in the field. In classic Salisbury Plain fashion, pretty much the first two birds we saw out of the gate were a Corn Bunting and a ringtail Hen Harrier, the latter quartering over the fields south of Enford Hill.

Hen Harrier

A short distance further we saw our first Great Bustards of the trip: a group of six just on the crest of a rise ahead of us. We moved round to get a better angle and saw that there were in fact quite a good number together in this field: we reckoned at least 27, although it can be surprisingly tricky to count them accurately when they keep popping their heads up and down! Nonetheless, another excellent visit to one of my favourite birding locations in England.

Great Bustards

31st March

In a fortnight packed with damp and windy days, it's hard to pick out the worst of the bunch, but today was certainly a contender! Showery or sometimes more persistent periods of rain, heavy at times, blowing through on a howling force 7 west/south-westerly wind. In other words, pretty horrific for birding, so unsurprisingly I didn't get out much. A short session at Waltham Brooks first thing was quite lively though, with around 120 Sand Martins feeding low over the main lake, with a couple of Swallows in among them. A singing Sedge Warbler in the reeds was my first of the year (and I think my first ever March record!) and was presumably the same bird reported by Tim Morgan yesterday (you can just about hear it over the wind noise and the Greenfinch towards the end of the video below).