Mid July

11th July

Today was one of the few oddly really fine, sunny and reasonably warm days we have had so far this month. I woke up reasonably early but wasn't feeling terribly inspired by the weather to produce much, bird-wise, so just did a short stroll round the local farm fields first thing. Surprisingly, given the weather, there seemed to be a bit of Swift movement going on, with over a hundred noted drifting west in around 10-15 minutes, likely more than this but tricky to count them all from the relatively low level here. Paul Stevens down at Bury also noted a similar movement so it was a reasonably broad front. 

By the time I headed out again a bit later it seemed the Swifts seemed to have dried up, although a heard-only flyover Siskin at Waltham Brooks was my first sign of post-breeding dispersal of this species locally this year. A Nightingale was also calling in the scrub near the road bridge, but it was an otherwise quiet and brief session here. I spent the rest of the day over at Ashdown Forest for work, where I noted lots of calling Siskins and a couple of Marsh Tits. 

Returning to West Sussex late afternoon, still bathed in warm sunshine, I decided to head up Amberley Mount for a brief walk from Downs Farm, where highlights included a Little Owl on one of the farm buildings and a Painted Lady whizzing around right up the top of the hill. 

Little Owl

Painted Lady

12th July

Relatively scant birding opportunity today, though brief checks of Petworth and the local farmland near home both yielded Hobby, typically dashing through low over the farmland at the former, while the Watersfield one was thermalling high with a couple of Ravens for a while before dropping down low and terrorising the Swifts and Swallows. 

13th July

Not much time for birding again today but I did manage to squeeze in a half hour look at Waltham Brooks, which proved pretty quiet aside from a Sedge Warbler busily taking food into a bramble clump near the main lake, out of which also came a female Blackcap and a particularly scruffy-looking Whitethroat.

Sedge Warbler

14th July

An early start this morning for a couple of local wetland site visits. Sadly, Petworth was completely fogged out and I gave up after an hour of staring into the murk here. A heard-only Greenshank was my first of the year at this site, but otherwise nothing much to report really. Onto Pulborough Brooks where I met up with Steve Baines and, later, Paul Evans. The bulk of the interest here was on the North Brooks so we mostly stationed ourselves at the Hanger viewpoint for most of the two hour session. A respectable seven species of wader were feeding on the pools on the North Brooks - at least three Little Ringed Plover, six Green Sandpipers, ten Black-tailed Godwits, three Avocet, a dozen or so Lapwings and singles of Dunlin and Common Sandpiper.

North Brooks, Pulborough

Later in the day a Hobby drifted over the garden; more or less a daily event of late. 

15th July

I had this morning off in lieu of working on Saturday so decided to make the most of it on the birding front. Sadly, the switch to an easterly airflow meant thick fog at dawn, so I had to wait for that to clear before heading out. An hour at Waltham Brooks produced a respectable 46 species, though nothing too noteworthy. As I arrived, a Peregrine was flying south overhead with prey while a female Marsh Harrier was quartering over the reserve briefly before flying north. There was still plenty of song from the breeding Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers, and a Willow Warbler was calling softly from the sallows in the main lake - my first post-breeding/dispersing record of this species locally this season. 

Next up I headed over to Petworth for a bit of a stakeout as the forecast rain was due to arrive. It took its time coming but did eventually set in late morning, though sadly failed to produce anything of note. A juvenile gull which flew west distantly to the south had all the hallmarks of Yellow-legged, but was just rather too far and rather too brief a sighting for me to be one hundred percent confident to add it to the year list. It would also have been a site tick for this hotspot, sadly one that got away on this occasion. Clearly there was a bit of light gull movement going on though as I also noted two Black-headed Gulls and a Lesser Black-backed Gull flying west, and two Black-headed Gulls also flew high south over Waltham Brooks earlier in the day. 

Hobby

16th July

An early stakeout at Petworth this morning failed to produce any goodies, as the originally forecast thundery downpours failed to materialise and the wind had swung back to the south-west.

Yellowhammer

Heavy rain did arrive later in the morning, just as I decided to drop in at Pulborough. It wasn't really worth the soaking as the North Brooks had topped up considerably since the weekend and held noticeably fewer waders as a result. Highlights were three Avocet, two Little Ringed Plover, four Green Sandpipers and 25 Lapwing. 60 or more Sand Martins and a few Swallows were feeding low over the reserve. 

An afternoon check of Waltham Brooks proved similarly quiet, with just a few House Martins feeding over the lake which held some 65 Mallards and a few Gadwall and Shoveler. 

17th July

An early check of the reservoir at Petworth this morning produced little of note on the deck, although there were signs of a hint of movement overhead in the form of five Black-headed Gulls very high south-west and a Grey Heron flying north. 

A stroll round the local fields at lunchtime in warm sunshine was very pleasant and most notable for the increase in butterflies. Certainly the most I have seen locally so far this summer, including quite a few Large Whites. It was also nice to see a couple of Sand Martins perched on wires with around 30 Swallows. Not a species I often get time to study well in a stationary position!

Sand Martin

Late afternoon it was good to catch up with David Campbell for a stroll at Waltham Brooks, where highlights included a Great Egret on the main lake plus a juvenile Tufted Duck and five juvenile Shovelers. Also good numbers of butterflies here including a beautifully fresh Peacock, my first of the second brood season.

Shoveler

Great White Egret

Peacock

18th July

First time I've managed to get out early for a while for a dawn stroll over to Waltham Brooks and back. It was all very quiet really, with no sign of any of the Great Egret or scarcer ducks from yesterday evening. A few Swifts were drifting about and some 40 or so Sand Martins moved east/south-east over t

the main lake. 

A lunchbreak skywatch on the way back from Woods Mill early afternoon produced a distant female Honey Buzzard circling with Common Buzzards for around ten minutes, my first HB sighting of the year at this particular site which has yielded successful breeding in previous years. 

19th July

Not very much time for birding today owing to me attending the National Trust south-east Rangers conference up in Buckinghamshire for most of the middle of the day. A check of the reservoir at Petworth proved quiet aside from a few Swifts, and an adult Black-headed Gull flying high south-west. 

On my way home from the conference I stopped briefly to stretch my legs along the Rother at Fittleworth where 25 or more House Martins were feeding low over the fields and the river, with smaller numbers of Swifts, Swallows and a couple of Sand Martins among them. 

20th July

Checking the moth trap first thing was gave rather slim pickings. A few new ones for the garden list though including Drinker, Chinese Character and Brown-tail. A brief look at Waltham Brooks on my way to lead a butterfly safari at Knepp didn't produce a great deal, despite the promising conditions. Duck numbers continue to increase on the main lake with a few Gadwall and two Teal among at least 50 Mallards this morning. 11 butterfly species was the total from the butterfly safari at Knepp, though sadly Purple Emperor and Marbled White eluded us; most of these sadly battered into submission by the heavy rain earlier in the week. 

Drinker moth

Chinese Character

A detour to Petworth on the way home produced a few bits including at least 40 each of Swifts and House Martin feeding over the fields and reservoir. The highlight though was my first local Common Gull for three months, which dropped into the reservoir with 25 Herring Gulls and a couple of Black-headed Gulls. It was also interesting to see a number of Little Grebes hauled out on the shoreline, I can't recall seeing that behaviour from this species before. 

Common Gull

Little Grebes