Mid-October

My shoulder injury recovery continues so it was pretty much exclusively 1km from home birding on foot again for this ten day period. It certainly feels as though we have turned a corner, seasonally speaking, as we move into the second half of October. There were still a few summery stragglers making an appearance but I also finally recorded my first Brambling of the autumn (of the entire year in fact, so dire a finch winter as we had last year!). The unusually warm weather has also all but gone now, as I write this, and we have had the first couple of frosts of the year plus the expected October wind and rain. Indeed, parts of the 1km area are getting decidedly soggy now, though not entirely impassable yet.

11th October

A grey and drizzly start to the day saw me checking the moth trap which held a respectable 39 individuals of 21 species, including new for the garden Red-line Quaker, Black Rustic (x 4), Large Wainscot, Barred Sallow, the spectacular Merveille du Jour (x 2) and the migrant Rusty-dot Pearl. Talking of migrants, it seemed relatively quiet on the vismig front overhead while I was emptying the trap, but I did note a couple of Redwings over and eight Swallows powering south.

Merveille du Jour

Rusty-dot Pearl

Black Rustic

Once the trap was emptied I headed out for a loop of Thorndale Bridge, the local farmland and Waltham Brooks. Aside from another group of Swallows heading south-east and a couple of Skylarks south, the low cloud and mizzle seemed to be hampering any migratory activity, so I didn't linger too long at Thorndale Bridge. Highlights here were four Snipe flying about (presumably the same group seen yesterday), a Stonechat, and a female Marsh Harrier which flew upriver. Up at Waltham Brooks the best were two Pintail, three Little Grebes and a single Tufted Duck among the usual wildfowl on the lake plus heard-only Kingfisher, a couple of Swallows and Redwings over. It was also noticeable that Chiffchaff numbers are on the up, with a conservative count of 15 recorded, especially congregating in the sallows on the western side. There was again a curiously calling individual here giving the plaintive 'hew' call, as heard at Thorndale Bridge recently. 

12th October

A similar morning to yesterday. A check of Waltham Brooks again produced two Pintail on the lake along with 10 Shoveler, 13 Gadwall and 15 Teal. Presumably the same quartet of Snipe were again flying about overhead, around 50 Lapwings were up in the air over Widney Brooks and two Green Sandpipers flew over my head near the railway line and dropped down towards the main lake. 

It had been decidedly quiet overhead early morning but on the way home I noticed a bit of a movement of hirundines, so decided to stop off for a skywatch, which proved to be fairly lively. Aside from over 100 House Martins and 20-odd Swallows moving south, the clear highlights were a heard only Golden Plover and a beautiful adult male Merlin which flew fast and quite low over the field where I was watching from, before turning, gaining height and powering off south towards the Downs. Actually my first record for this particular eBird hotspot, although my third record of the autumn locally. 

13th October

A proper October day of wind and rain. Late morning a break in the rain saw me heading out to the local farmland for a bit of a skywatch, perhaps rather over-optimistic given the brisk south-westerly (F5, gusting 6-7). Surprisingly, it was actually a decent 90 minutes, with highlights including three Woodlarks east together (it really is turning into a good autumn for them locally) and a light trickle of hirundines pushing straight into the wind. Particularly impressive was a group of ~20 Swallows which after making one failed attempt to get through fairly high up then dropped down to just a few metres above the ground and powered on into the headwind. 

14th October

The cold morning after the squally night before. Today felt like the first proper crisp morning of the autumn, and I headed out on foot just before 7am wondering if I had under-dressed given the brisk westerly. An hour's skywatching from the local farmland proved fairly lively with a steady stream of Siskins and a few Redpolls, Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches, etc, mostly heading south-west. One species I certainly didn't have on my radar for the third weekend of October was Common Redstart so it took me a moment or two to process what I was looking at when I noticed a passerine flicking about in a nearby hedgerow. Indeed, the way it was lit in the morning sunlight initially brought to mind Red-flanked Bluetail, and it was a heartstopping couple of seconds before I realised I was looking at something rather more mundane, albeit very late. My first record of the species locally since 7th September and undoubtedly my last one of the year. Strangely enough, Ed Stubbs also had one this morning up in Surrey, so perhaps a little late push of Scandinavian ones moving through?

Redstart

The rest of the day didn't include much birding, although a trip down to Worthing with Kate and B (primarily to deliver a Knepp talk) did also include stopping at Marine Gardens for lunch, which featured flyover Siskins (5) and Redpolls (3). 

15th October

WeBS count day today so Kate kindly drove me over to the private reservoir near Petworth to carry out the survey; my first visit here for four weeks (I normally tend to visit at least once a week). It was usual fare on offer really, though 55 Tufted Ducks represented my highest count here, while 20 Pochards was one short of equaling the record count. Otherwise, highlights were 54 Egyptian Geese on the shore of the reservoir and at least 15 Swallows and a couple of House Martins feeding over the nearby farmland.

Later in the day I went for a stroll from home, highlights of which included at least five Lesser Redpolls at Thorndale Bridge plus the three White-tailed Eagles thermalling together distantly towards the Downs. Despite the chilly air temperature the warm sun was clearly coaxing plenty of raptors into the sky, as I also had a Goshawk sparring with a Buzzard to the south of Watersfield. Single Stonechats were at Thorndale Bridge and Waltham Brooks while a few Swallows, Siskins and a couple of Skylarks were noted flying over, heading south/south-west.

16th October

A lively morning of local vismig, first from the farmland near home and then up on the high ground to the west, began with two vocal Merlins briefly dogfighting overhead a couple of hundred metres from home before separating and flying off west and south-east. Another Woodlark flew high-northeast, while there was just the slightest hint of some early Woodpigeon movement. Finches were clearly moving in good numbers but seemed to be for the most part too high, hence the change in watchpoint an hour or so into my watch. From here, almost immediately I was seeing and hearing Chaffinches, while after 15 minutes the distinctive call of Crossbills signalled the approach of a flock flying from north to south which I somehow never managed to get eyes on, but it sounded like quite a few. Just a few minutes later another flock of 14 flew south. Finch totals from the morning included 87 Chaffinches (mostly west), 50 Siskins (mostly west) plus a few Redpolls, Linnets, Goldfinches, etc. Curiously notable by their absence again were thrushes with just five Redwings leaving roost along River Lane the only ones noted. 

Looking south-east from the high ground above Watersfield

17th October

With this welcome spell of easterlies continuing, this morning saw me back up at the high ground to the west of Watersfield for another vismig session. Initially the wind was calm and it was a surprisingly brighter morning than had been forecast, which didn't necessarily suggest much in the way of movement. I was wrong though as, twenty minutes into the watch, I noticed a line of geese approaching high from the north/north-east which I quickly realised had to be Brent Geese, owing to their dark colouration, short necks and generally compact shape, plus the distinctive wavy line flock formation. They weren't calling or, if they were, I couldn't hear it over the strengthening breeze, and because they were really pretty high I also spectacularly failed to achieve anything in the way of a useable record shot with my one-handed bridge camera attempts. Still, one of those memorable vismig moments that put it all into context, as these Arctic travellers near the end of the journey, likely bound for the south coast via Watersfield! Other highlights this morning included the first clearly moving Grey Herons I've seen locally this autumn (two lots of three west), a few Redwings and Fieldfares west (60 and 54), three Swallows south, four Crossbills west and a steady trickle of Skylarks. 

A check of Thorndale Bridge late afternoon produced three Marsh Harriers over Amberley, including a beautiful adult male hunting low over the marsh just the other side of the river from where I was stood, plus a White-tailed Eagle briefly in flight and a female Mandarin flying downriver. 

18th October

A remarkable 58 species in just over an hour at Waltham Brooks this morning including my first Brambling anywhere this year (!) heard flying over, a first winter Goosander on the lake and two Great White Egrets which came in from the west and dropped down near the main lake. There has been clearly been quite an arrival of this species in Sussex as there were also records of seven at Arundel WWT this morning and five at Pulborough Brooks later in the day (perhaps all relating to the same birds) following on from a count of 11 flying past Climping yesterday. 

A rather late flock of House Martins flew over towards Amberley with a Swallow in tow and, on a more wintry note, the easterlies had clearly delivered more ducks to the reserve, especially Wigeon, of which at least 25 flew to the main lake. A flock of 11 Fieldfares were flying about in the scrub while around 30 Siskins were near the sewage works. A few gulls were flying over too, including two Common Gulls.

Goosander (another ropey record shot with my little bridge camera)

19th October

I was giving a Knepp talk in Staines last night, after which I stayed with friends in Surrey before making my way home mid-morning. The walk home from Pulborough station took me past Widney Brooks and through Waltham Brooks and the local farmland. It was all distinctly less lively than yesterday, with barely 30 species recorded at Waltham Brooks this time around. Teal numbers had increased to at least 130 but otherwise waterbird diversity was rather poor with just 80 Mallard, 3 Gadwall, a few Coots and a single Little Grebe. Away from the lake, there were two Stonechats in the scrub and a Mandarin flew downriver. 

20th October

A loop of Thorndale Bridge and Waltham Brooks this morning produced a few bits, especially at the former looking over towards Amberley where there were clearly lots of Black-headed Gulls on the flood water, evidently having just been flushed by a White-tailed Eagle. A Kingfisher flew upriver and several Skylarks flew west. Waltham Brooks was relatively quiet aside from the two Great White Egrets again which circled over the main lake briefly before flying off towards Widney Brooks. Again, several Skylarks flew over and a flock of 17 Redpolls flew over the sewage works. There has been a real absence of winter thrushes the past couple of days, aside from five today over the local farmland.

River Arun near Thorndale Bridge, water level getting high now!

An evening stroll out to Thorndale Bridge revealed another Great White Egret feeding in a ditch just across the river and a smaller egret species in flight over Amberley Wildbrooks which was probably a Cattle Egret. Two fast flying raptors caught my eye and quickly revealed themselves to be an adult male Merlin being chased by a female. They dashed off low through the trees past Quell Farm at high speed and off towards Parham. 

The wider horizon more clearly seen

While obviously less than ideal from the perspective of not being able to drive or lead Knepp safaris, etc, I have to say I am weirdly enjoying this period of enforced reduced travel and hyper local nature study. I have always said I am someone who would struggle to ever become bored and have kept myself busy the past couple of weeks with regular 1km area walks as well as rekindling my love for vismigging and nocmigging, and occasionally moth trapping when time allows (although this is a little trickier to manage with only one fully functioning arm!)

From a migration point of view, it's clear we have very much turned a corner now from the dregs of summer to the days of peak autumn proper. It's still a little on the slow side but as I write this I have just enjoyed a spectacular day of Redwing passage as well as my first Fieldfares and Merlins of the season, while the straggling hirundines are still to be seen trickling south most days. It's not just migrant birds that have featured either. This morning there was another Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the garden (my third record of the autumn after a relatively poor summer for them) and southward Red Admiral migration on a scale I haven't seen for many years has been a daily feature of late. A few migrant moths have been turning up in the trap too... All in all, perhaps not the most spectacular or memorable autumn so far (albeit not for good reasons!) but it's always nice to see the seasons changing gear at this point in the year.

Again, sadly rather a lack of decent photos this time, due to not being able to use my proper camera. 

1st October

So, a whole week into my shoulder injury recovery, and with the weather looking good I decided to give one-armed moth trapping a bash. It proved a worthwhile decision as it produced various new for the garden species, including Red-green Carpet, Lunar Underwing and the migrant Clancy's Rustic.

Clancy's Rustic

Red-green Carpet

Before emptying the trap I tried a spot of vismigging from the high ground to the west of home, which proved quiet aside from 55 Meadow Pipits mostly west and a few Swallows south. Late morning, Kate dropped me off at Pulborough for a whizz round, where I had a catch up with Steve B and Josie N. Highlights here included the lingering Curlew Sandpiper (my first anywhere this year!) among the usual waders, increased numbers of ducks, a Marsh Harrier and two Hobbies.

2nd October

A walk from home to Waltham Brooks this morning was fairly quiet. Highlights on the reserve were two Little Grebes, 20 Swallows, singles of Kingfisher and Snipe and a rather late Willow Warbler among the Chiffchaffs by the main lake. Down at Thorndale Bridge were a Stonechat, a flock of 25 Siskins spooked from Alders by a Kestrel, and another 17 Swallows south. 

While having lunch in the garden I picked up an Osprey circling quite low just to the east. It was in view for a couple of minutes as it gained height before drifting south. My first record anywhere this year, and just in time as it was one that I thought was going to evade me altogether as I'd reached October without seeing one. Unfortunately I was only able to get a very ropey one-handed record shot with my little bridge camera - better than nothing though I suppose! 

Osprey

3rd October

A check of Waltham Brooks this morning produced my first Pintail of the autumn here among the Teal, Shoveler and Gadwall on the main lake, plus a single Little Grebe and heard-only Kingfisher. A few Swallows were moving south which bode well for a follow-up skywatch from the field near home. In an hour, around 160 hirundines moved south here, roughly half and half Swallow and House Martin. The only other movers during this session were a single Linnet and two Herring Gulls south, and a few Siskins south-west. Another hour vismigging later in the day proved very quiet in almost summer-like conditions, with just a few hirundines and Meadow Pipits south, although two Lesser Black-backed Gulls going the same way were my first locally for a while. The warm sunshine also encouraged a few raptors into the air including a trio of Buzzards, a Red Kite and one of the White-tailed Eagles over Amberley.

4th October

Following on from my first Merlin of the autumn north-west over the garden first thing, a lively skywatch from the high ground on the western side of Watersfield produced a pleasing selection of species including a single late Sand Martin among 114 Swallows and 62 House Martins heading south, three Skylarks west and the first Redpolls of the season here (two north-east and three south). I had planned to have a good go at vismigging locally this autumn and it's already proving rewarding, although by all accounts not a vintage vismig autumn yet.

My vismig watchpoint this morning

5th October

In sharp contrast to yesterday, this morning's skywatch from the high ground near home failed to produce much excitement, despite early promise in the form of a Snipe flying north-west. Swallows and House Martins were in notably smaller numbers. 

Late afternoon I headed over to Thorndale Bridge which produced a juvenile Marsh Harrier flushing at least three Snipe from the near side of Amberley Wildbrooks, a light southerly passage of Swallows and House Martins (16 and 7, respectively) and a weird calling Chiffchaff in the scrub by the railway, which seemingly was just a vocally aberrant collybita rather than anything more interesting. 

6th October

A skywatch from the local farmland produced a bit of movement in the form of 30 House Martins south, four Skylarks west, a couple of Siskins south and a Chiffchaff 'bush hopping' its way south through the landscape. 

Waltham Brooks, meanwhile, held singles of Marsh Harrier, Snipe and Little Grebe, a couple of Stonechat, 34 House Martin and three Swallows flying south and a single Redpoll flying south-west.

Swallow

7th October

An early morning stroll out to Thorndale Bridge to skywatch from the river bank here proved reasonably lively with a pleasing trickle of Swallows, House Martins, Meadow Pipits and Siskins overhead plus a couple of Redpolls. Two Stonechats were kicking about and a Kingfisher briefly perched up on a post near where I was stood. The alarm call of a Green Sandpiper alerted me to two birds flying up from just across the river on the near side of Amberley with a Sparrowhawk in hot pursuit, which narrowly missed catching one of them. As I was heading for home a Yellowhammer flew west, not a particularly common bird here.

Mid-morning, Kate kindly dropped me off at Pulborough Brooks where I met up with Steve Baines (and later Paul Davy) for a stroll round the trail. Highlights included the continuing Curlew Sandpiper on the North Brooks with two Ruff, around 80 Lapwing, 50+ Snipe and 550 Teal; the whole lot flushed by a passing Marsh Harrier a few times. A rather late Yellow Wagtail flew south over the Hanger, while the South Brooks held three Cattle Egrets among the cattle and a couple of Stonechats. Three Clouded Yellows were noted during the circuit.

Early after a cream cap Marsh Harrier made an appearance drifting south high over the garden, my first record of the species from here.

8th October

Despite huge numbers of Redwings arriving further north yesterday and this morning, the conditions just weren't in my favour in Watersfield and an hour up above the recreation ground in clear skies and virtually no wind produced little in the way of movement aside from 20 Linnets south-west, 18 Swallows, a few Meadow Pipits and a single Skylark south. Perhaps most interesting was a single flock of 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls high south, which tallied with similar movements over Capel in Surrey (per Wes Attridge). Clearly a few of these on the move today. 

Looking east from the hill above Watersfield

Fast forward a couple of hours and I arrived in Merrow in Surrey to visit my mother-in-law. A 15-20 minute watch from her garden proved lively, with a few Swallows, Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Siskins over, topped off by my first two Fieldfares of the autumn chuckling their way south. 

9th October

Well, it had to happen at some point. This morning was evidently the day that the vismig tap was turned fully on in the south-east. Heading out on foot from home at around 07:45 I immediately started seeing and hearing Redwings - my first of the autumn. Fast forward two and a half hours later and I had seen over 1,500 of them, streaming mostly west in waves, with around 200 being the biggest single flock. Watching from Thorndale Bridge, it was far and away my most enjoyable local vismig session to date, with 52 species recorded including a Merlin powering west, two Woodlarks south-west (and one grounded at Waltham Brooks), Cattle Egret and Peregrine south, plus Fieldfares, Skylarks and Swallows among many others. 

A rather frustrating moment came towards the end of the session, when I noticed a line of geese tracking south-west distantly over the Downs. I'm sure they had to be Brent Geese, but the distance, lack of scope or DSLR camera and only being able to hold bins with one hand, meant I just couldn't get enough on them to be 100% certain. Still, an amazing session and a timely reminder of just how enthralling vismigging can be when it's good! It also nicely took my Thorndale Bridge eBird hotspot list to 100 species with the addition of the various aforementioned goodies!

10th October

After yesterday's vismig fireworks I was hoping for more of the same but it sadly never quite delivered despite two bites of the cherry, first at Thorndale Bridge then later up on the hill to the west of Watersfield. After an initial flurry of 70 Redwings west between 07:50 and about 08:10, no more were recorded. Indeed, there were considerably fewer birds moving in general. A few late hirundines were drifting south/south-west late morning and Skylarks were trickling south-west throughout the morning. The main mover in the second session though was Red Admiral, with 31 flying strongly south in around 90 minutes. It really has been a remarkable year for this species and the spectacle of so many of them vismigging at this time of year never fails to impress. 

Eyes to the skies

Expect the unexpected is a good rule to abide by in birding, and it's fair to say the period covered in this blog post has produced some surprises. Firstly, I didn't think I would be writing this with one arm in a sling (more on that later) and that I would have got very good at using my binoculars with the remaining good arm. Secondly, I didn't have such an inland wader curveball as Knot on my list of expected species when I set out on this year's local big year list effort a few months ago, having only had one previous local record six years ago. Even more unexpected was the fact that it was a migrating individual flying over the farmland a few hundred metres from home! Again, more on that later. 

It's fair to say though that September has been unexpectedly good in a local context (albeit free from the influx of American passerines further west...), and even an enforced period of close to home birding on foot has produced some quality moments and a number of local year ticks or eBird hotspot ticks. Indeed, the 1km area from home is receiving a good amount of daily coverage now, which is oddly well-timed as we head into autumn proper. 

Weather-wise, September has evidently been warmer overall than either July or August this year and as I write this in early October, it is still pleasantly warm and largely fine. It's hard to believe we are entering the season of Redwings, Fieldfares and Bramblings when it still feels like late summer. A staple of my birding time during these dying days of September though has been the more or less constant southward trickle of hirundines and Meadow Pipits reminding us that, whatever the weather, the days are now longer than the nights for the next six months, and the cold and dark are on their way, sooner or later. 

21st September

A brief stop-off at Waltham Brooks en route to Knepp this morning produced just a handful of Gadwall and at least two heard-only flyover Siskins. 

An hour at Hail's View on the way home was more productive, with highlights including three White Storks, two Great White Egrets, a fly-through White-tailed Eagle (mobbed by a Raven which was making the most extraordinary high pitched, wader-like call as it did so), two Marsh Harriers, two Green Sandpipers and a juvenile Hobby. What an unthinkable line-up most of those species would've been round these parts not so long ago!

White Storks and Great White Egret

Great White Egret (left), Little Egret (top) and White Storks

Raven and White-tailed Eagle

22nd September

A walk from home in the morning was largely uneventful aside from a few Swallows and Meadow Pipits flying through south/south-west. Upon arriving home, a juvenile Hobby flew over the garden, mobbed by a Jackdaw. 

Hobby and Jackdaw

A session up at Amberley Mount late morning proved quite lively, especially for Meadow Pipits which must have numbered at least 300 across the various fields, with a few trickling south. Also on the move overhead were Swallow (78 south) and House Martin (255 west/south-west). Ten Red Admirals were also noted flying powerfully south. One of the adult White-tailed Eagles was drifting about over Rackham Hill then later flew straight overhead towards Arundel. Also of note were a Wheatear at Downs Farm and five Cattle Egret with the cattle down at Amberley Wildbrooks. 

Wheatear

White-tailed Eagle

A brief look at Waltham Brooks in the afternoon produced a single Little Grebe, two Snipe and four Tufted Duck at the main lake and a strong easterly movement of Swallows. 

23rd September

A beautiful early autumn morning saw me heading out from across the farmland towards the river, which was soundtracked by Meadow Pipits and Siskins overhead plus a heard-only Yellow Wagtail going south. Around 07:15 I was alerted by an unfamiliar call to a wader flying fast overhead heading south-west. It called again 'whet whet' and i managed a few seconds good views through bins of a relatively compact medium sized wader with long wings, greyish underwings but otherwise plain underparts and a medium length bill (longer than say Golden Plover but not as long as Dunlin). It took a while of checking calls online and my Collins app to be sure what I had seen and heard was a Knot - a wholly unexpected addition to the the local farmland hotspot and 1km year list! Amazingly, it's six years to the day since my only other local record of the species - when one was on the North Brooks at Pulborough in 2017.

Later in the day, highlights from the garden included a basking male Migrant Hawker and 33 of the White Storks from Knepp drifting over Amberley.

Reed Bunting

White Storks

Migrant Hawker

                                        

24th September

No real birding today thanks to skateboarding related misadventure which ended me up in hospital with a dislocated and fractured shoulder!

25th September

My first day of convalescing from my shoulder injury started with a short walk from home around the local farmland. Aside from a light trickle of Swallows and Meadow Pipits south/south-west it was relatively quiet on the bird front. Once the sun started to get up further the insects sprang into action and I ended up spending a good while watching a patch of ivy near home which was heaving with Ivy Bees, various wasps and hoverflies and a couple of Red Admirals.

Batman Hoverfly

Tiger Hoverfly

Red Admiral

26th September

Skywatching from the local fields mid-morning and early afternoon proved to be fairly quiet for the most part, with just a light trickle of House Martins south/south-west. The first vismigging Skylark of the season was nice though, heading west, as were ten Siskins (seven east and three south-west).

27th September

Another day restricted to birding on foot near to home which ended up being dominated by some fairly lively vismig. A morning session split between the high ground to the west of Watersfield and the farmland close to home yielded 252 House Martins, 95 Swallows and 27 Meadow Pipits south and a few Siskins in various directions. I'm unlikely to be able to use my proper camera for a while due to my knackered shoulder but photographic interest today came from the scenery and a Common Marbled Carpet moth which flew across the lane in front of me on my way home. 

Looking south from one of my local vismig spots

Common Marbled Carpet

A late afternoon session back out in the local fields started well with a flock of 12 Golden Plover south. A rush of Swallows east/south-east were followed by a Hobby which dropped down to just inches above the ground as it powered through, while at least 60 House Martin drifted through south-west as I was heading for home. 

28th September

A really enjoyable and lively couple of hours out this morning, a mix of vismigging combined with a check of the lake and the scrub at Waltham Brooks. At the latter, the highlights were three returning Wigeon (my first of the autumn) and around 80 Lapwings which took flight from Widney Brooks, plus two flyover Ravens. There were the usual two or three vocal Water Rails about plus a similar number of Cetti's Warblers.

Vismig was lively too and produced a few bits of interest, starting with two Woodlarks south over the farmland near home - my first record for this eBird hotspot (107 for the hotspot and my 127th species in my 1km from home recording area this year). This was followed by a little wave of Swallows heading east/south-east and a few House Martins south/south-west. Then, on the walk home, two Snipe flew high west - my first vismiggers of this species this autumn. Vismigging continued in the garden with two Yellow Wagtails north, another Snipe south-west and further little pulses of Swallows and House Martins.

29th September

Not much birding today but a brief skywatch from the local farmland produced a flurry of Swallows and Meadow Pipits south and two Reed Buntings south-west.

30th September

Seven Raven west over the garden first thing set the scene for another relatively lively early morning vismig session. Meadow Pipits were the main movers today, with 55 south in an hour plus a few Siskins and Swallows over and two Skylarks west. Water Rail and Kingfisher were heard along the river at a misty Thorndale Bridge. The Meadow Pipit movement continued throughout the day, when I was able to step outside and check, with direction of travel shifting to more of a west/south-westerly track late morning. A Hobby was over the fields near home late morning, taking the opportunity to harass some of the passing Swallows and House Martins. In the afternoon I checked Waltham Brooks which produced a female Marsh Harrier flying downriver and a few Swallows heading south-east. 

Looking east across the Arun from Thorndale Bridge