Long days and short nights

A rather brief summary of the last week of June and first couple of days of July, and my last UK birding for a little while as we headed off to Spain for a week on the 3rd (blog post on that trip to come in due course).

It's been another rewarding period in the birding year though. Particularly pleasing was being able to confirm local breeding of two less common duck species, one of them a RBBP listed species: Shoveler and Gadwall.

Weather-wise, it's not been quite as fiercely hot, with a rather more 'normal' temperature range and a pretty dominating west/south-westerly element to the wind. 

24th June

An early check of my private WeBS site over near Petworth produced 2 Little Ringed Plover and a Barn Owl, but otherwise usual fare. I then headed over to Knepp later in the morning for a butterfly safari, the highlight of which (aside from lots of juicy Purple Emperor action!) was a Curlew flying high north-west over the Cow Barn as I and fellow guide Mark McManus arrived to set up - a Knepp tick for both of us!

25th June

Not much birding today, although some great Purple Emperor and Turtle Dove action again at Knepp in the morning. On the way home a check of Southlands Farm in West Chiltington produced a Green Sandpiper on the roadside pool there.

In the evening I headed over to Lord's Piece/Coates Common for my second Nightar survey visit, which proved to be quite successful, despite much of the habitat having been cut down since my previous visit. The first bird as I arrived was a Hobby hawking over the east side of the heath. By 21:40, the Nightjars started churring, with a total of two males on the main heath and at least 1-2 others across the fields on the clearfell area east of Sutton Common. One of the males on Lord's Piece itself responded well to a few of my handclaps and buzzed right over my head a couple of times. Always an amazing experience! Also of note here this evening were at least four Tawny Owls - two hooting males and two squeaking juveniles.

Hobby

                                            

26th June

After dropping B at nursery this morning I stopped off at Pulborough for a check of the South Brooks and Black Wood. A Green Sandpiper was on the pool out from Hail's View - my first returning bird here this... season (I won't say autumn, just yet!) while the lingering Great White Egret was still on West Mead Pool and a Spotted Flycatcher was along the path just west of Black Pond. 

A lunchtime walk round the local farmland produced quite a few Swallows (12+), a flock of at least 180 Starlings, a few Swifts and one of the White-tailed Eagles being mobbed by a Hobby high over towards Amberley.

27th June

A brief look at Waltham Brooks on my way to Knepp this morning proved to be a fruitful one, as I discovered a female Shoveler on the main lake with four ducklings in tow. I've suspected the species might be breeding here, as there were a few records of drakes kicking about earlier in the summer/late spring, but it was nice to prove it today.

Shoveler female and ducklings

28th June

A check of local water bodies this morning proved quite productive. At an undisclosed site, Little Ringed Plovers were back on eggs after a failed breeding attempt earlier in the year. 

Burton Mill Pond was on particularly fine form, with 52 species recorded in a little under two hours. Spotted Flycatchers were at Lodge Green and New Piece, along with a Willow Warbler and two Marsh Tits loosely tagging along with my first roving mixed flock of the season in the latter area. Also at New Piece, a Hobby was noisily flying about and carrying food, which was encouraging to see. A Firecrest was singing near the north-west corner of Burton Mill Pond itself, while the usual Little Owl was again out on the fence at Burton Park Farm. A Peregrine and at least 25 Sand Martins were over Chingford Pond. The best of the ducks, meanwhile, were single female Gadwall and Mandarin on Chingford Pond with nine and four ducklings, respectively. 

Gadwall female and ducklings

Little Owl

Peregrine

29th June

A check of Southlands Farm, West Chiltington on my way to Knepp again produced a Green Sandpiper plus an impressive 60 Mallards squeezed onto the little pool there.

In the afternoon a short walk from home through the local farmland out to the river at Thorndale Bridge proved fairly quite, aside from a Hobby high over Amberley Wildbrooks and a mixed flock of around 30 Swallows and Sand Martins feeding over the river.

Back at Knepp in the evening for a dusk safari which turned into a mini owl-fest, with Barn Owl seen a couple of times around the white route, and a Tawny Owl in flight just west of the campsite. Rather more out of context was a Reed Warbler singing in dense sallow in the stork enclosure, while I popped by to watch some of the team ringing another stork nest.

30th June

Half an hour on the tea terrace at Pulborough this morning, scanning the South Brooks. It was an enjoyable and productive session including one of the White-tailed Eagles perched up on a gatepost, the lingering Great White Egret at West Mead and two Hobbies flying over Hollybush Hill towards the heath. 

An enjoyable safari at Knepp this morning, the highlight of which was finding a Turtle Dove for my group of students (who'd never seen one), which gave prolonged views of its singing and preening. 

Turtle Dove

A rare foray into Surrey in the evening for the Surrey Bird Club AGM saw me dropping into one of my old haunts - Papercourt GPs. Not a huge amount of interest here aside from 26 Egyptian Geese roosting near the sailing club, and two Ring-necked Parakeets flying over (only my fifth UK record this year!)

1st July

A short walk and skywatch round the local farmland this morning didn't produce much aside from a Peregrine low and fast over north towards Lodge Hill.

Early afternoon I headed over to Pulborough Brooks with Kate and B to catch up with my old friend Steven. A couple of hours around the main trail proved enjoyably productive, with highlights including the Great White Egret still with at least five Little Egrets at West Mead, the two White-tailed Eagles, two White Storks on the North Brooks along with 24 Black-tailed Godwit, at least 9 Little Ringed Plover and a lone Green Sandpiper. A rather late Cuckoo flew over Uppertons Field, followed later by a Hobby, while a female Tufted Duck with six ducklings at West Mead represented my first breeding record here. 

Great and Little Egrets at Pulborough

Ringlet

2nd July

No birding today.