Mind the Gap

So yes, as I was saying, June has been quiet...

That wonderfully simple yet accurate term in the butterflying community - 'the June gap' - used to describe the midsummer lull between the dwindling of the spring species and the full emergence of the high summer ones could, I always think, be just as readily applied to birding at this time of year.

Of course there are plenty of resident and migrant birds busy breeding everywhere but still there is that unavoidable sense of things getting distinctly quiet come mid-June and with the spring being so late in getting going this year the onset of the doldrums felt particularly sudden and pronounced, and even I must admit to having found the urge to get up at 5 to hit the patch most mornings waning somewhat recently.

Adult and juvenile Rooks

There have nonetheless been a few birds of note at Pulborough this month with more records of Osprey and Garganey in the past couple of weeks (I still haven't caught up with the former on patch!) and the odd couple of Mediterranean Gulls here and there. What was presumably the same Avocet pair from earlier in the year made a brief reappearance on the North Brooks on the 8th, while the Winpenny area has been playing host to at least one Snipe throughout the breeding season. The seemingly solitary male Nightjar continues to call near Black Pond every evening I've checked, and it's been good to see at least one Barn Owl around on most visits lately - thankfully some of them made it through that awful end to the winter.

After the excitement of the Royal Tern at Pagham, the following evening (20th) delivered my first and so far only patch year tick of June in the form of two Common Terns flying south over the North Brooks. This was particularly noteworthy for me as it's the first Tern of any species on my Pulborough list.

Med Gull over Winpenny, 18th June

Thankfully, the four week quiet spell seems to be coming to an end with the first hints of birds beginning to move again in the past few days. On Sunday morning the Brooks held six Little Ringed Plovers and three Green Sandpipers - one of which dropped down in front of Winpenny for barely three minutes before flying off south at height - and a Sand Martin was noted powering south overhead; the first one I've seen here for a while so presumably not a local bird. Then last night I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a Water Rail calling as it flew over the house. With the evenings gradually beginning to draw in from now on (I get told off if I mention that to my other half...) and July just around the corner, hopefully wader passage will really get going in the coming few weeks.

Signs that the butterfly June Gap is coming to an end were evident on Sunday also, with singles of White-letter Hairstreak and White Admiral seen along with good numbers of Purple Hairstreak. Also of note were my first two Brown Hawkers of the year and two Water Voles plopping into the ditches on the recently opened Wetland Discovery Trail.

White-letter Hairstreak

Two other bits of good news worth a mention: I was delighted to read that the breeding waders at Pulborough have had such a good year with 41 Lapwing chicks and 10 Redshank chicks successfully reared, thanks in no small part to the hard work put in by all the RSPB staff and volunteers. Secondly, I was also pleased to hear that my record of a juvenile Iceland Gull flying over the visitor centre on 2nd April was accepted by the Sussex rarities committee, making it the first record for Pulborough Brooks!

Juvenile Lapwing

A Royal Flush!

My plans for Tuesday evening were fairly sedate: water the allotment, a bit of reading (trying to finish Michael McCarthy's excellent The Moth Snowstorm) and hopefully finish the blog post I've been working on about how quiet June has been so far in birding terms.

Then the orange-billed Tern which had been reported at Church Norton earlier in the day and was presumed to be last year's Elegant Tern was re-identified as an American Royal Tern - the 2nd summer bird that's been in France and the Channel Islands in recent months - and in a matter of minutes I was heading south on the A29.

I got to Pagham in just over half an hour and was pleased to find just a dozen or so cars in the car park, and even more pleased to discover the bird still on show out on the Tern Island. It made a brief flight around the harbour before settling back on the island where it gave good views for all present, its huge carrot bill impossible to miss as it caught the evening sunlight. It was in all aspects a chunkier-looking bird than last year's Elegant, a clear half size larger than the Sarnies around it and with that stouter, straighter bill, pale back and punky black crew cut, spiked at the back and already beginning to recede into winter plumage at the front.

By the time I left at least sixty people had connected with the bird - it was good to run into Robin Stride among other familiar faces.

I even got home in time to finish my book! Now to finish that blog post about June being quiet...

Dragons on the doorstep

Despite spending ten hours at the Brooks over the weekend it was proving to be relatively quiet on the bird front - unsurprisingly for the time of year - so on Sunday afternoon I headed to Fittleworth in search of dragonflies. Common Clubtails, to be precise, which I had no idea were so close to home (thanks to Pete Hughes and Amy Robjohns for their Twitter tip-offs!).

A short walk from the B2138 road bridge east along the River Rother and sure enough we enjoyed fantastic views of at least 4-5 Clubtails patrolling about and occasionally perching on the riverside vegetation. There were also amazing numbers of Banded Demoiselles around, including a female we watched catch and then eat a Mayfly right in front of us!

Common Clubtail

Common Clubtail

Banded Demoiselle (male)

Banded Demoiselles

Banded Demoiselle (female) with an unfortunate Mayfly

    

Closer to home: Hairy Dragonfly (male) at Pulborough Brooks

Further adventures in Surrey seawatching

Just thirty days after the four Bonxies that Wes, Robin and I had past Leith Hill the last thing I was expecting was another inland pelagic surprise so soon, but that's exactly what happened this morning.

I'd just pulled up to the front gate at my work in Clandon and was beginning to open up when a rather distant bird caught my attention. I had my bins around my neck as usual and scanned to see a Swift dashing low over the trees, but then noticed two much larger black and white birds flapping slowly in the opposite direction in the distance. I couldn't immediately interpret what I was looking at but a few seconds through bins was enough to convince me they were something a bit unusual.

Luckily I had my scope on the back seat of my car (which, by the way, was still stopped in front of the gates with the engine running at this point!) so quickly got it out and got on the birds in question. I was then immediately in no doubt what I was looking at as the birds' brilliantly white backs and long scythe-like wings contrasting strongly with their jet black wing tips - even in the rather gloomy light conditions - and bulky bodies tapering at both ends with a yellowish tinge to the head ticked all the boxes for adult Gannets. I continued watching in disbelief and managed to get a couple of shaky-handed phonescope record shots as the birds powered slowly east-northeast over the trees, gliding quite frequently as they went.

I've had two previous records of Gannet in Surrey, both juveniles and both within a few weeks of each other in autumn and early winter 2013 but to see two full adults flying over the leafy landscape of Clandon in June was just bizarre. Presumably they were 'cutting the corner' of the south-east and heading for the Thames Estuary and had got pushed down low by the cloud and drizzle. It was interesting to note that another or one of the same two (age unknown at this stage) was seen flying west over Sutton a couple of hours later.

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

Greenshank invasion!

An hour at the Brooks this morning produced a single Black-tailed Godwit, the Grey Plover again and three Ringed Plover. While at Winpenny with Alan Baker I picked up a flock of waders flying in which I initially took to be Godwits, but as they came into land it became clear they were all Greenshank - 22 of them to be precise! Quite a sight and certainly the most I've seen in one place in the UK, although I know there have been larger counts at Pulborough in the past.

Sadly this doesn't really do justice to the spectacle but you get the idea! 11 of the 22

Later in the day Alan Kitson reported on Twitter that the Temminck's Stint was again on show at Winpenny along with ten Ringed Plover and singles of Common Sandpiper and Snipe. The latter is interesting as I recorded one on nocmig a couple of weeks ago so perhaps they are breeding nearby.

A brief visit after work produced the 22 Greenshank still at Winpenny along with three Ringed Plover but no sign of any of the other unusual waders. A flash of movement at Fattengates Courtyard alerted me to a Blue Tit nest in the old wall here though which was nice to see.

Waders galore! (Part two)

Another excellent day for waders at Pulborough today with the Curlew Sandpiper and Grey Plover both still present for my dawn visit along with two Dunlin, nine Black-tailed Godwits and ten Ringed Plover. Also of note were a couple of Redshank chicks at Winpenny and a flyby Kingfisher on the North Brooks - my first here for a while.

Later in the morning news came out on Twitter via Alan Kitson of first a Wood Sandpiper then a Temminck’s Stint, all with the aforementioned crowd in front of Winpenny Hide.

By the time I got back there after work, around 6 this evening, all but the Grey Plover and Wood Sand had gone. The latter was a very welcome year tick though - I’ve missed a couple in recent weeks - taking my 2018 Pulborough list to the grand total of 140!