Locked down....but not out

Well, what a strange few weeks it's been since my last post on here. It's hard to keep us birders away from our passion though, wherever we are and whatever challenging situations we're put into, and it's been wonderful to see the 'BWKM0' (birdwatch kilometre zero) challenge take off so strongly on Twitter. Inspired by similarly locked down birders in Italy, Steve Gale has taken on the impressive task of curating the light-hearted competition over here, posting daily updates on his blog.

The rules are simple: to see how many bird species you can record from your house or garden (seen or heard) and ultimately discover what your final tally represents as a percentage of your overall garden list. So far I'm on 78 species out my garden total of 126. I should point out this includes nocmig records as well, of which six are on the 'lockdown list' now, but more on that later.

As anyone who follows my Twitter ramblings will have probably noted, I do a lot of my BWKM0 watching from my attic skylight, which offers fantastic views across the North Brooks, with the South Downs in the background. It's ideal for a scan of the Brooks early morning but I tend to migrate to the garden mid-morning (when I'm not at work) for a better view of the sky, and to concentrate my efforts on looking south down the Arun, which is presumably a flyway of sorts.

Highlights from the attic since the lockdown listing began include a Great Egret on 1st and 5th April, a ringtail Hen Harrier on 30th March and 1st April, and my first Swallow of the year on 28th March; the latter pleasingly followed by others among a steady trickle of Sand Martins this weekend. 

In the warm sunshine this morning it was great to watch a couple of Ravens tumbling over the garden, as my first Sedge Warbler of the year started chattering away down by the Arun. Then this afternoon a drake Goosander flew south along the river, only my second garden record.

Raven over the garden

Raptor-wise, Buzzards are numerous, Red Kite and Peregrine are regular, while Kestrel and Sparrowhawk have put in occasional appearances. Sadly, I'm still yet to join either the Osprey or White-tailed Eagle lockdown club, but here's hoping! 

Peregrine over the garden

Onto nocmig, and it's been an eventful week on that side of things too. The star species at this time of year is of course Common Scoter, with many thousands of them moving overland when conditions suit. A busy night over the north of the country on the night of 1st-2nd April seemed to largely pass the southeast by, but the following night delivered the most spectacular passage of the species I have experienced since I started nocmigging in 2017. I recorded two sizeable flocks over Pulborough at 22:23 and 22:40 on the 2nd (second video below) and almost anyone in their garden or with a recorder out heard calls too - clearly helped by the reduction in traffic and aircraft noise. Other bits of note this past week were a Whimbrel over on the 1st (first video below) and fourteen calls from at least two Oystercatchers on the 2nd. 

The warmer weather has really brought out the butterflies too with plenty of Brimstones and Peacocks visiting the garden this weekend, plus the odd Comma and Small Tortoiseshell and, best of all, the first male Orange-tip of the year this morning. 

Brimstone in the garden

Pulborough, late September

Well, what a quiet September that was. The continuing low water levels and an almost total absence of easterlies didn’t help and I spectacularly managed to get through the month without a single patch year tick. It's been good to see some signs of the seasons changing though with a few Wigeon around now and the welcome return of at least two Marsh Harriers, again a regular sight quartering over the Brooks. The bulk of the hirundines and summer passerines cleared out pretty sharpish towards the end of the month, meaning we are now in that rather odd limbo period as we await the arrival of most of the wintering ducks and thrushes.

The month ended with a bang for some though as lucky regular Paul messaged me first on Saturday evening while I was in London informing me of two Great Egrets on the North Brooks and then again Sunday afternoon asking what looks like a Little Egret with a yellow bill that hangs around cows... Cattle Egret of course! Evidently two were briefly on the North Brooks that morning before flying east. Particularly galling that one as they would have been a Pulborough tick and also because I was actually on site that morning! Fingers crossed there'll be more to come, given how many are in the country at the moment.

One of the two Cattle Egrets on the 30th (photo: Paul)

The two Great Egrets on the North Brooks on the 29th (photo: Paul)

Now we’re past the equinox and the nights are growing longer than the days, before and after work birding time is limited so it’s full on nocmig season again! I put the microphone out most nights in the last week of September and was rewarded with my third Common Scoter of the year on the 22nd, the first Redwing of the season (25th) and another Oystercatcher (28th). I'm excited to see what else I manage to pick up in the coming weeks, this being my first full autumn of nocmigging.

Common Scoter

Redwing

Oystercatcher

Pulborough, 8th April: an unexpected double

After the disappointment of missing the Long-eared Owl at Pulborough on Friday I arrived at the Brooks this morning after a couple of days away, full of optimism despite the rather inclement weather. The murky, drizzly conditions prompted me to check the Hanger first - I usually tend to end up there after checking West Mead and Winpenny - hopeful for a Little Gull, a Tern or just a nice lot of hirundines. In the event I found none of these but, with more or less my first scan with the scope, was amazed to find myself looking at a drake Common Scoter. Clearly it wasn't the only one brought down by the weather as various large water bodies across the south-east found themselves hosting one or more of these today. Still a pretty remarkable record for Pulborough, and evidence of how high the water levels have got here with all the recent rain.

Common Scoter (and Little Egret)

I quickly put the news out before a further scan revealed a Spoonbill busy feeding in the distance. Two patch lifers in as many minutes - that doesn't happen every day! The Spoonbill was still present in the evening but there was no further sign of the Scoter after about 08:00, unfortunately for Pete Hughes who arrived just after I'd last seen it. Whether it had flown when I was looking elsewhere or just drifted into vegetation and gone to sleep, we may never know! It was nice to hear the first Nightingale of the year singing near The Hanger though while we tried to relocate it.

Photos and video all very grainy unfortunately - clearly the murky conditions that brought down the Scoter are also not conducive to great photography!

 

Spoonbill

Other bits of note from my visit this morning were three Ruff, a Green Sandpiper, three Tufted Ducks (two drakes/one female), five Sand Martins, one Swallow, a heard only Water Rail, at least two Redshank and two Fieldfare. Warbler numbers continue to creep up with at least ten Chiffchaffs, eight Blackcaps and two Willow Warblers around.