Turn the old year go

So, here were are then. My final blog post of 2023 (although not actually published until late January 2024...). All in all, it was a somewhat subdued end to a year of mixed fortunes (both birding and otherwise). My local (~10km from home) total finished on 160, rather short of 2022's 166 - and I did miss some really daft species (Hawfinch, Jack Snipe and others) - but still not too bad, considering all that's been going on. 

If I have the time and inclination to do so I might put together a review of the year at some point, but won't make any promises!

21st December

A quick check of a few local sites today yielded the female Long-tailed Duck still near Petworth along with 21 Shoveler, 22 Tufted Duck and 11 Pochard. Meanwhile, the flooded River Arun near Stopham held 200 Canada Geese, two Grey Herons and a few Teal. 

In the middle of the day I headed up to my old work (Clandon Wood) for Steve Chastell's funeral. It was a good send-off and a nice turnout from the Surrey Birding community. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. An impressive flock of Fieldfares flew over as I and others were leaving. 

On the way home I stopped off briefly at Waltham Brooks which produced 11 Tufted Ducks on the main lake and at least 25 Linnets in to roost in the scrub. 

22nd December

Day two of my Christmas break and, as I had to go down to Chichester this morning for an appointment, I decided to have a walk at The Burgh for the first time in a while (well, it's sort of on the way!). The wind prohibited much in the way of raptor or small bird activity, although the ubiquitous Red Kites were conspicuous in their presence (at least ten). 17 Grey Partridges were noted, including a dozen which flew out from Canada Barn as I passed. Otherwise, highlights from an hour up here were 50+ Common Gulls, ten Yellowhammer, a dozen Skylarks and ~100 thrushes (roughly 60-70 Redwing and the rest Fieldfare).

Skylark

Kestrel

23rd December

A mixed bag of a day with no proper birding as such. A walk round the park/woodland in the centre of Storrington this morning proved surprisingly birdy with six species noted singing in the mild conditions - Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Collared Dove, Robin, Wren, Dunnock - and a flyover Raven. A walk round Watersfield and the farmland near home early afternoon produced good numbers of Redwings but not much else of note (especially not the hoped-for Waxwings!). Finally, a stroll round the hamlet early evening was briefly soundtracked by the screech of a Barn Owl flying overhead in the dark.  

24th December

An enjoyable Christmas Eve morning spent down at Selsey Bill and Pagham with Paul Davy and Steve Baines, for Paul's birthday.

The squally conditions proved for an unseasonably lively seawatch from the eastern viewpoint at Selsey, the clear highlight of which was a dark morph Pomarine Skua powering past, briefly lingering to chase a Herring Gull. Otherwise, notable bits included at least 7-8 Great Northern Divers, five Red-throated Divers, half a dozen Kittiwakes, well over a hundred Gannets and a few Guillemots and Razorbills nice and close in (most went on the list as auk sp., much further out). 

Kittiwakes

Great Northern Diver

Pomarine Skua and Gannet

Continuing an excellent morning for the species, another Great Northern Diver was in the harbour at Church Norton along with a couple of Red-breased Mergansers, two Sandwich Terns and the usual selection of waders including some 250 Knot. A Raven flew over the Severals which was a new species for me here.

Sandwich Tern

We finished up at the Ferry Pool where we added a few bits to the day list including Avocet (22), Lapwing (18) and a single Little Grebe.

25th December

No real birding.

26th December

Birding close to home this morning produced a pair of Tufted Ducks on the main lake at Waltham Brooks, two Little Egrets flying north, and at least 30 Chiffchaffs around the sewage works. 

27th December

Very little birding today owing to the foul weather and other commitments. A check of likely local sites for Waxwing again drew a blank. Hadworth Farm scrape proved quite lively from a quick roadside check, with the highlight being a female Pintail (a first for me here) among 20 Mallards and nine Gadwall.

28th December

A bit of a marathon local session this morning taking in various water bodies and again checking all the potential Waxwing spots (again nothing!). The female Long-tailed Duck was still at the private site near Petworth for at least her 61st day, while the five Russian White-fronted Geese (three adults/two juveniles) were among 100+ Greylag Geese at Amberley. Burton Mill Pond produced the now obligatory Great White Egret plus my first singing Woodlark and drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker of the season, the latter a touch later than in recent years but hardly surprising given the shocking weather we've had recently. At least 30 Siskin and five Lesser Redpoll were noted in the birches and alders around the ponds. 

29th December

Just a bit of casual birding close to home this morning which didn't produce too much of interest, though it was good to hear a Mistle Thrush in full song up at Alban Head playing fields.

In the afternoon we headed down to Arundel, where we found at least 20 Cattle Egrets gathered on Mill Road water meadows (seen from the car) and the usual selection of gulls and wildfowl at Swanbourne Lake, including at least 55 Tufted Duck and 53 Gadwall. 

30th December

Another tour of local berry tree sites sadly failed to produce any Waxwings. The female Long-tailed Duck was still at the private site near Petworth which was otherwise quiet aside from two female Pochard and 11 Shoveler.

Shoveler

 31st December

No real birding aside from a couple of stops at likely Waxwing sites (still nothing!).

A bit of unexpected excitement while visiting family in Merrow up in Surrey though came when a female Sparrowhawk caught and killed a Feral Pigeon in the street just as we got out of the car, and then proceeded to pluck and eat it under a parked car. 

Sparrowhawk (and friend)

Happy New Year!

All change

 As I said in my 2021 Pulborough review, last year was a record breaking and memorable year in so many ways. I'd decided by the autumn though, once I reached my 150 target, that 2022 would be a year for change. Not least, in part, due to becoming a father in October, my priorities changed somewhat. It seemed rather a fruitless exercise to go through the same routine as last year and try to beat my own record Pulborough year list.

Instead, I decided this year would be about exploring, adventures and enjoying birding for its own sake. Indeed, I have made it my goal, within reason to visit as many new places as possible, and try to go somewhere different every day. Discovering new places and species right on my doorstep. Coincidentally, Birdwatch/BirdGuides then announced their #LocalBigYear challenge, which fitted perfectly with what I'd already been planning for the new year.

So, I set about studying maps and decided a rough 10km radius around Pulborough would offer plenty of interesting and diverse habitat to get stuck into. Some of it, like Pulborough Brooks, Waltham Brooks and Amberley Wildbrooks, I know very well or reasonably well, other areas I have been to far less, if at all. I also tweaked the radius slightly to include the Knepp Estate where I'll be spending a lot of time this year, as I start leading safaris there in the spring.

The new 'uber patch'

There are some good stretches of woodland, particularly to the northwest and southwest of Pulborough, and also various intriguing flooded patches along the various rivers that crisscross the recording area. The South Downs offer plenty of opportunities for sky-watching as well as some enticing patches of farmland. 

As of the time of writing I've already notched up 100 species within the recording area. Highlights have included a Little Gull on the flood behind the house on the 4th, a Hen Harrier at Waltham Brooks on the 1st, Cattle Egret and 3 Great White Egrets at Burton Mill & Chingford Ponds on the 10th, the eleven Bewick's Swans at Amberley also on the 10th, Merlin and Corn Buntings galore up Chantry Hill on the 15th and my first ever local Dartford Warblers at Lavington Common on the 17th.

After just under three weeks I already feel as though I have a greater understanding of the mosaic of habitats within this corner of West Sussex, and I'm excited to see what else I discover in the months to come.

Grey Wagtail

Goosanders

Bramblings

Corn Buntings

Little Gull

It begins...

After a dribs and drabs sort of affair for much of March (quite apt after my last blog post), migration has at last stepped up a gear in the past week with some real goodies turning up at Pulborough in recent days.

The undoubted star of the show was the stunning male Pied Flycatcher which has been present since Saturday morning until the time of writing. It was performing particularly well this morning along the fence line in the northeast corner of Brook Field, and this evening was flicking around one of the large Oaks up Green Lane. Although we've had a couple of good autumns for this species on the reserve, this certainly wasn't one on my radar to add to the year list so soon. Indeed, it's the first one I've seen in the spring here, and the first adult male I've seen anywhere for years.

Pied Flycatcher

One of the true harbingers of spring at Pulborough, the first Nightingale of the year rather hesitantly announced its arrival along Adder Alley on Easter Day, followed by another singing very briefly at the Hanger this evening; three days earlier than my previous earliest record here. 

There's a nice selection of waders to be seen on the North Brooks now, with up to three pairs of Avocet looking very settled, plus up to three Little Ringed Plovers, several pairs of Redshank and Lapwing and five Ruff. 24 Black-tailed Godwit stayed for a few days last week, many resplendent in breeding plumage, but these have since moved on. A Grey Plover on the North Brooks this morning was the first I've seen on the reserve since 2019. Sadly, its stay was short-lived as it met its end at the talons of a Peregrine this afternoon. 

Wildfowl numbers have really dropped now. There were a couple of drake Pintails lingering into this weekend and a dozen or so Wigeon and Shoveler as of yesterday but otherwise it's only really the Teal hanging on in reasonable numbers. The first Garganey of the year, a splendid drake, showed well on the North Brooks on Wednesday and Thursday but hasn't been seen since.

Garganey. Photo: Dave Carlsson

Warbler numbers continue to increase, with dozens of Chiffchaffs around now, many paired up and already nest building, and Blackcap numbers are steadily building too. The first Willow Warbler turned up on 31st March, followed by at least two more this past weekend. Strangely no Sedge Warbler or Whitethroat yet, although it's still early days, but the Cetti's Warbler persists below the Hanger.

Chiffchaff

It took until the last weekend of March for me to see my first Sand Martins, and Swallows only began trickling through last week, but this past weekend has seen good numbers of both, plus the first House Martin of the year on Easter Day.

Other highlights from this weekend included a year first Great Crested Grebe on the Arun on Saturday and Sunday, a fly-through male Hen Harrier on Saturday and a sloughing male Adder enjoying the sun (out of the wind!) most days.

Great Crested Grebe

Adder

After such a great ten days or so, my patch year list now stands on 119, out of a total of 121 for the reserve so far. Hopefully once this icy spell has passed the flood gates will really open!

Pulborough, 7th-14th May. Waders get moving

It's been a bit more lively on the patch in the past week thanks to some more favourable conditions, and new species for the year have started coming at a rather more seasonal rate once again.

Aside from up to three Little Ringed Plovers on the North Brooks and a lingering trio of Whimbrel near West Mead, the bulk of the wader action has been on just about the most distant area of wet mud imaginable, on the area of the Mid Brooks nearest the Arun (see map below). It's here that highlights of the past week have been up to a dozen Dunlin (on the 10th and 12th) and six Ringed Plover (on the 10th). At least one Greenshank has been doing the rounds too and there was one in this area on the 12th, while the same or another was at West Mead on the 13th. The first Wood Sandpiper of the year was a good find by Paul Davy on the 7th, first in the Hog Brook area, then later refound by Gary Trew on the North Brooks.

A single Avocet was at West Mead on the 9th and was joined by a second on the 10th. The pair have been touring the reserve since then and today were largely on the North Brooks. A Snipe flew up from the South Brooks on the morning of the 11th which is encouraging as drumming has been heard on at least a couple of occasions recently. Rather unexpected on the 12th were two Barnacle Geese on the South Brooks.

My first Yellow Wagtail of the year was a welcome sight and sound flying over West Mead on the morning of the 11th, especially as it took me until the autumn to get one here last year. Equally welcome was a very vocal Spotted Flycatcher in Black Wood this morning - my first of the year - following on from two together near Little Hanger on the 10th, found by John Russell. Anna Allum found a further two singing males/pairs on her breeding bird survey in the wooded heath area this morning. Is it me or does this species seem to have had a littlee 'comeback' in the past couple of years?

Last year the last couple of weeks of May really produced the fireworks on the wader front; here's hoping for a repeat performance this year!

26th and 27th January: Pulborough and Coldwaltham

I didn't get in a huge amount of time on the patch this weekend owing to being in Hampshire from Saturday lunchtime to Sunday lunchtime for the wedding of two very good friends. Despite that, I still managed to sneak a couple of patch year ticks.

Two hours at Pulborough first thing on Saturday before the wedding and the rain was a fairly lively session with my first Barn Owl of 2019 quartering over the South Brooks followed by an immature male Marsh Harrier causing havoc over the North Brooks. A decent selection of waders too with the highlights being at least five Ruff (Ads Bowley had ten later in the day), 36 Black-tailed Godwits and a single Golden Plover in with the Lapwings. Shelduck numbers are starting to increase now with at least 17 yesterday and 16 today.

Sadly I couldn't find the two White-fronted Geese that have been around on and off a few times this month, most recently on Friday, so it was a bit galling to see Sean Moore and Ads Bowley reporting them as present again on the North Brooks from late morning yesterday. Clearly these birds don't get up as early as I do!

With that in mind, when we got home just after noon today I quickly set up my scope in the attic and set about scanning what was clearly a good size flock of geese just south of the Stor. It took a while thanks to unfavourable sunlight and the distance but I eventually picked up the White-fronts among the Canadas and Greylags. Later on I dropped in to the reserve and had much better views of them from the Hanger - they were still in much the same spot when I headed home a little after 16:00.

With no news on the Glaucous Gull at Holmethorpe SP in Surrey since yesterday morning - which I was tempted to go and see - I decided instead to stay much closer to home and dropped in to Coldwaltham Sewage Works early afternoon in the hope of finding the two Siberian Chiffchaffs which have been around for a week or so at least.

Having not visited since the autumn I was pleased to find the place absolutely heaving with Chiffchaffs - certainly at least fifteen but likely many more. Some clumps of Willow had four or five in at a time and there were often as many as that flycatching out over the filter beds. I quickly found a Firecrest flicking around the brambles near the main gate but after an hour of sifting through the Chiffs still hadn't seen one I felt happy calling a tristis. Another look through the gate just as I was about to call it a day revealed a very cold two-tone looking Chiff on the edge of one of the filter beds - this looked the part. It flew off into the brambles and a short while later I heard a couple of clear tristis-type calls close by and the two Siberian Chiffchaffs revealed themselves together. As reported by Alan Kitson last week, these two do seem to associate with one another rather more exclusively instead of just tagging along with the other Common Chiffs. Nice birds to see so close to home.

Siberian Chiffchaff, Coldwaltham Sewage Works

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

Pulborough, 1st-6th August

It's all got distinctly autumnal since my last patch round-up post, starting with the evocative sound of a Willow Warbler sub-singing at dawn on the 2nd and culminating in the first returning Wood Sandpiper of the season on Sunday.

Thursday and Friday's visits were fairly uneventful with just the usual scattering of Green and Common Sandpipers on the North Brooks, though two Gadwall among the Mallards on Thursday were of note as they're the first I've seen onsite for a little while. On Friday I walked to the eastern side of the North Brooks from the village, stumbling across a Tawny Owl along the footpath. I met up with the usual Friday birding gang who reported a Whinchat and occasional calls from the lingering Grasshopper Warbler in this area.

Tawny Owl

Saturday morning produced a single Black-tailed Godwit in among the usual suspects on the North Brooks while John Russell reported a Little Ringed Plover and a Whinchat again.

The mornings are getting steadily mistier and dewier at the moment so it was no surprise to find the North Brooks still largely hidden in the murk when I arrived on Sunday morning. A quick scan revealed a fall of Green Sandpipers though, with at least ten scurrying about. As the mist cleared further a Wood Sandpiper revealed itself - feeding separately from its stockier Tringa cousins. Teal numbers had increased to twenty and there were at least five Snipe about. Everything was sent skyward a few times thanks to a couple of half-hearted swoops from a juvenile Peregrine.

Wood Sandpiper - obligatory long distance phonescope shot

It wasn't just the water birds that had increased overnight as there were clearly more warblers in the bushes. I managed to glean at least six juvenile Willow Warblers and two Lesser Whitethroats. Despite scouring every area of suitable habitat several times over the weekend though I sadly wasn't able to join in the Pied Flycatcher fun, but the autumn is still young!

Lesser Whitethroat

Another foggy start today, though it was nice to hear a Little Owl calling on the east side of the North Brooks as well as a Kingfisher which flew across the water unseen. When the mist did eventually start to clear it revealed seven Green Sandpipers, two Common Sandpipers and a single Little Ringed Plover. Things are certainly hotting up, although the approach of some cooler, rainier weather towards the end of the week is particularly overdue and will hopefully deliver some more migration action.

Raven

Pulborough, late July

An encouraging last few days of July with some signs of migration stepping up a gear and the unusually prolonged hot and dry spell breaking at last with some much needed rain arriving over the weekend.

The rain didn't do a great deal to raise the water levels on the patch, mind, with the North Brooks still the only area offering anything for waders and waterfowl - so it's here I've been largely focussing my early morning efforts recently.

An hour before work on Friday (27th) produced my only year tick of the month with a Grasshopper Warbler (142 on the patch year list) reeling briefly along the footpath on the east side of the North Brooks. It was still present in the same area on Sunday morning but again keeping well hidden.

Waders have been in surprisingly short supply, relatively speaking, despite my best efforts in the foul weather on Sunday morning which I had high hopes would deliver something tasty, especially given the numbers of Whimbrels and Curlew Sandpipers moving elsewhere the previous day. Indeed it's been business as usual for a while now with a fairly standard selection of varying numbers of Green Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers, half a dozen or so Black-tailed Godwits and ones or twos of Dunlin and Little Ringed Plover. It's good to see Snipe numbers gradually increasing though with at least ten dotted around the North Brooks on Saturday morning.

On the wildfowl front there are a few Shoveler and Teal to be picked out among the Mallards, but an eclipse drake Wigeon on Saturday morning was a little more unexpected. This is presumably either or failed breeder or perhaps one that has summered somewhere fairly locally.

Talking of species I haven't seen a great deal of locally since the spring, on Saturday morning there was a decent trickle of Sand Martins moving through and an immature Marsh Harrier dropped in and quartered for a while, putting the wind up all the other birds on the North Brooks.

After the previous weekend's single juvenile Mediterranean Gull, two more dropped in during the rain on Sunday morning just gone. It seems to have been a good summer for this species generally with some amazing counts along the south coast and juveniles popping up all over the place inland. I've not had much experience with young ones in the past so it's been good to get my eye in on them and I now find they stand out like a sore thumb among the more frequently seen Black-headeds.

Mediterranean Gulls

As I mentioned in my previous patch round-up the single Whinchat on the 21st was unexpectedly early, and Saturday just gone there were at least two kicking around: an adult male still in near breeding finery and one very young-looking juvenile. Gary Trew reported one in the same area on Tuesday this week. This all seems rather early for a string of migrants to be moving through already so I'm actually beginning to wonder if they haven't in fact bred somewhere fairly nearby -  especially as it appears the species has bred up on Cissbury Ring this summer which is not very far away.

Whinchats (honest!)

Mind you, with the days now getting perceptibly shorter as we head into August and an autumnal freshness just starting to creep into the mornings and evenings, it hopefully won't be long before return passage really kicks off!

Bank Holiday birding

I made two visits to the Brooks on Friday to see if the ongoing waderfest had any more surprises in store. At Winpenny in the morning there were five Greenshank and sixteen Ringed Plover while in the evening I bumped into Anna Allum and Graham Jenner and we all enjoyed good views of a spangly Wood Sandpiper. A Water Vole swam across the pool in front of the hide which was a nice bonus. I ended the day with a watch across the Mid Brooks from behind the visitor centre which produced an impressive 75+ Rooks flying west to roost, then wandered over to the heath where a single male Nightjar churred near Black Pond and a couple of Stag Beetles flew around. Thankfully I remembered my insect repellent this time - the Pulborough midges are ruthless!

On Saturday morning I spent a couple of hours at Winpenny with Alan Baker where I finally caught up with the very smart summer plumage male Grey Plover reported the previous couple of days along with the first summer bird, now present for its sixth day. It's good to see several Redshank and Lapwing chicks around now - apparently seven pairs of the former and twenty pairs of the latter have bred onsite this year, which is great news.

Grey Plover

Also here were four Greenshank and three Ringed Plover. The North Brooks held a single Black-tailed Godwit and a couple of Shoveler and Teal, while at Hail's View I found a hawking Hobby, and the regular Great Spotted Woodpecker pair still busy feeding young. By the time I headed home it was getting very warm so I stopped at Black Pond for a bit to take in the impressive numbers of dragonflies here, mostly Four-spotted Chasers but also the odd Hairy Dragonfly and others too quick for me to identify! (Odonatology is not my strongest subject but I'm determined this year to try and learn more as Pulborough is a perfect place to do so).

Four-spotted Chaser

Just a couple of fairly brief visits on Sunday and Monday morning were enough to show the wader extravaganza was coming to an end with 'just' four Greenshank, eight Black-tailed Godwits and two Ringed Plover on Sunday and just the Godwits again on Monday. Still, it was exhilarating while it lasted, and perhaps there's still one more gem to come before things really quieten down into the summer months? But then, if birding teaches us anything, it's to expect the unexpected!

Greenshank

I spent most of Monday exploring some famous but hitherto unknown to me sites in East Sussex, trying to help Charlie Peverett with his attempt to record 110 species in the Newhaven/Hailsham area in a single day. I joined Charlie a few hours into his marathon at Splash Point where the sea proved to be very quiet but we still managed to add Sandwich Tern, Gannet, Rock Pipit and Kittiwake to the day list, along with a few other common bits. I'd never been here before so the Kittiwake colony on the cliffs was quite a sight to behold.

Kittiwakes

Our travels later took us to Charlie's patch of Pevensey Levels, a remarkable East Anglian-style landscape, where fellow patch watcher Chris Ball had earlier found a Rose-coloured Starling, which we soon caught up with, along with Yellow Wagtail and Hobby for the day list. We then headed to Arlington Reservoir, hoping the gathering storm clouds would drop a Black Tern or something special, but in the end the best birds here were Little Egret, Common Sand and Nightingale, plus a singing Yellowhammer which was another day tick. Charlie and I parted ways early evening and he went on to notch up 87 species in total; really not too bad for the time of year and the limited area in which he was recording. Perhaps we can try again next year with a bit more success!

Rosy Starling, Horse-eye Level - the fourth time I've seen this species but the first time in near full adult plumage

Waders galore!

A really enjoyable couple of sessions at the Brooks last night and this morning with some long awaited high quality wader action.

I headed straight out after work yesterday with the forecast thundery showers filling me with hope for a Black Tern, given the numbers turning up at various inland sites.

In the event this particular species didn't show up but a flock of thirteen Black-tailed Godwits and two LRPs on the North Brooks was a good start and, as the rain approached, I made my way over to Winpenny Hide. Here I quickly got on a Spotted Redshank - presumably the same bird that was present on Friday, although where it had been hiding all weekend is anybody's guess. As the rain got heavier a Grey Plover appeared seemingly out of thin air, followed closely by two Dunlin, looking very smart in summer plumage.

All the above waders were still present this morning and had been joined by three Ringed Plover (Gary Trew had four later on) and a resplendent Curlew Sandpiper. I was really pleased with the latter as it's one of a few species I narrowly missed out on last autumn.

Both Grey Plover and Curlew Sand were Pulborough lifers for me and take my patch year list to 139. Let's see what else this week has in store!

(Please excuse the grainy phonescope pics - poor light and distance too much even for my bridge camera)

Spotted Redshank

Grey Plover and Curlew Sandpiper

May so far...

It's been a busy couple of weeks and, with the days getting longer, computer time has now inevitably taken a backseat to time in the field - hence the rather reduced amount of blog posts recently, particularly when it comes to the patch stuff.

It's fair to say it's been a challenging spring for birders (unless you happen to have been lucky enough to be on Shetland this past week!) and, indeed, birds. Many species have been arriving later than usual, in reduced numbers or in some cases not at all.

At Pulborough the lion's share of migrant species have arrived or passed through now, it seems, although numbers do seem rather low in many cases. There certainly seem to be three Nightingale territories as far as I can ascertain, but seemingly no more. A couple of weeks ago we were all hopeful that they and many other birds were just delayed and on their way but it does now seem as though many birds just aren't coming back this year, which is a little worrying.

Wader passage has been rather slow to get going too. After the excitement of the Black-winged Stilt at the end of April and a little flurry of LRPs, Common Sandpipers and the odd Whimbrel and Wood Sandpiper, there's wasn't much of note during the first half of May aside from the lingering Avocet pair and a couple of Greenshank. Singles of Ringed Plover and Spotted Redshank on Friday provided a little more promise though - hopefully spring has a few more tricks up its sleeve yet. In more positive news it was good this week to see the first Lapwing chicks appearing on the Mid Brooks, hopefully to be followed soon by young Redshanks.

Avocets

Probably the standout bird so far this month was a long overdue drake Garganey found by Alan Baker at Winpenny on the 17th. Perhaps half of a pair that has bred nearby, they're a species I never tire of seeing - particularly the males. Typically, I missed the bird first thing as I'd opted to check out Hail's View and Black Wood before work, where I did at least find my first patch Spotted Flycatcher of the year, but thankfully the Garganey stayed until the evening. Indeed, as of yesterday it was present for its third day but there were no reports of it today.

Spotted Flycatcher

Garganey - distant but unmistakeable!

One of the male Cuckoos (there were definitely two singing for a short while a couple of weeks ago) has now paired up - if one can call the rather half-hearted relationship that Cuckoos engage in 'pairing up'! I saw them both together in Fattengates Field on the 5th and the male has not been singing quite so much this past week. The local Dunnocks must be getting nervous now! After a brief lull it was good to see and hear Lesser Whitethroats along Adder Alley and at The Hanger again this week. Also encouraging via Liam Curson was a singing male Redstart in Black Wood on the 16th. A species still absent from my Pulborough list, hopefully it sticks around and finds a mate, if not I'll probably have to wait until the autumn to catch up with one.

An evening vigil on the heath on the 13th produced my first Pulborough Nightjar, with one briefly churring rather distantly to the south of The Clump around 21:20. It actually sounded like it was probably just south of the Greatham road, but a patch tick is a still a patch tick! My Pulborough year list now stands on 137 with still all to play for, with Yellow Wagtail, Osprey and various waders still among the 'easy' additions to the list in what's left of spring.

Tawny Owl - the popular family near West Mead seem to have moved on now after the RSPB wisely chose to temporarily shut the path for the birds' protection

Kestrel at Winpenny

Away from the patch, and possibly one of my most memorable birding moments to date came on Bank Holiday Monday when, a couple of hours into an otherwise rather unremarkable visible migration watch from Leith Hill Tower, Wes Attridge clocked four 'interesting' birds tracking east along the North Downs. We Leith Hill-ers always joke about Wes's extraordinary abilities to not only pick up birds at distance but also to identify them before most of us have even got eyes on them, so for him to hesitate at the ID on these four immediately hinted at them being something a bit special.

Sure enough, I'd barely got my scope on them before he'd already ruled out Cormorant/gull/wader and exclaimed 'Are these...Skuas?!!'. As they banked around in front of Box Hill and the London skyline and started powering south past Leith Hill towards the coast, we could clearly make out the broad but pointed wings with white flashes towards the tip, the overall dark colouration, the bulky head and barrel chest and short tail of GREAT SKUAS. A Surrey lifer for me, and totally unprecedented. We had them in view for over ten minutes before they eventually disappeared into the mist towards the Shoreham Gap. Totally unforgettable and one of those heartstopping moments every birder dreams of.

The view from Leith Hill Tower on what shall forever be remembered as 'Bonxie Day'

The memory of that day was still fresh in the mind when Wes and I convened with Ed Stubbs and Stuart Cossey pre-dawn on the 12th to attempt to defend our title as Mole Valley Bird Race champions for the third year running. Despite the very worst conditions - heavy rain all afternoon - on top of the aforementioned disappointing spring, we still managed 89 species which I'm pleased to say was enough for us to secure the hat trick. As is always the way though with bird races, there's always some odd omissions - we spectacularly failed to find a Sparrowhawk all day and, rather more worryingly, not one of the teams managed to record Tree Pipit, despite the heath at Leith Hill being a failsafe location for them in all previous years. On a positive note though Cuckoo numbers seem up this year, particularly at Leith Hill where there must have been at least four or five singing males.

Tawny Owl chick, ringed in Capel by Wes and Stu during a brief break in the bird race

Finally for this round-up, I couldn't resist a bit of an excursion to the furthest corner of East Sussex yesterday to see the Terek Sandpiper at Rye Harbour. A new bird for me, it showed beautifully in the sunshine for all present. On the odd occasion I do bother to twitch it's always an added bonus to run into some friendly faces as well as the target bird, and yesterday was no exception as it was a pleasant surprise to see Oliver Simms and Steve Gale down there.

Terek Sandpiper

 

Whether or not May is still to deliver a flood of very late migrants or a nice local overshoot (Little Bittern please!), it's reassuring to remember the days start getting shorter again in just over a month which means the start of return migration is just a few weeks away... You're welcome!