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

Turn the old year go

So, here were are then. My final blog post of 2023 (although not actually published until late January 2024...). All in all, it was a somewhat subdued end to a year of mixed fortunes (both birding and otherwise). My local (~10km from home) total finished on 160, rather short of 2022's 166 - and I did miss some really daft species (Hawfinch, Jack Snipe and others) - but still not too bad, considering all that's been going on. 

If I have the time and inclination to do so I might put together a review of the year at some point, but won't make any promises!

21st December

A quick check of a few local sites today yielded the female Long-tailed Duck still near Petworth along with 21 Shoveler, 22 Tufted Duck and 11 Pochard. Meanwhile, the flooded River Arun near Stopham held 200 Canada Geese, two Grey Herons and a few Teal. 

In the middle of the day I headed up to my old work (Clandon Wood) for Steve Chastell's funeral. It was a good send-off and a nice turnout from the Surrey Birding community. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. An impressive flock of Fieldfares flew over as I and others were leaving. 

On the way home I stopped off briefly at Waltham Brooks which produced 11 Tufted Ducks on the main lake and at least 25 Linnets in to roost in the scrub. 

22nd December

Day two of my Christmas break and, as I had to go down to Chichester this morning for an appointment, I decided to have a walk at The Burgh for the first time in a while (well, it's sort of on the way!). The wind prohibited much in the way of raptor or small bird activity, although the ubiquitous Red Kites were conspicuous in their presence (at least ten). 17 Grey Partridges were noted, including a dozen which flew out from Canada Barn as I passed. Otherwise, highlights from an hour up here were 50+ Common Gulls, ten Yellowhammer, a dozen Skylarks and ~100 thrushes (roughly 60-70 Redwing and the rest Fieldfare).

Skylark

Kestrel

23rd December

A mixed bag of a day with no proper birding as such. A walk round the park/woodland in the centre of Storrington this morning proved surprisingly birdy with six species noted singing in the mild conditions - Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Collared Dove, Robin, Wren, Dunnock - and a flyover Raven. A walk round Watersfield and the farmland near home early afternoon produced good numbers of Redwings but not much else of note (especially not the hoped-for Waxwings!). Finally, a stroll round the hamlet early evening was briefly soundtracked by the screech of a Barn Owl flying overhead in the dark.  

24th December

An enjoyable Christmas Eve morning spent down at Selsey Bill and Pagham with Paul Davy and Steve Baines, for Paul's birthday.

The squally conditions proved for an unseasonably lively seawatch from the eastern viewpoint at Selsey, the clear highlight of which was a dark morph Pomarine Skua powering past, briefly lingering to chase a Herring Gull. Otherwise, notable bits included at least 7-8 Great Northern Divers, five Red-throated Divers, half a dozen Kittiwakes, well over a hundred Gannets and a few Guillemots and Razorbills nice and close in (most went on the list as auk sp., much further out). 

Kittiwakes

Great Northern Diver

Pomarine Skua and Gannet

Continuing an excellent morning for the species, another Great Northern Diver was in the harbour at Church Norton along with a couple of Red-breased Mergansers, two Sandwich Terns and the usual selection of waders including some 250 Knot. A Raven flew over the Severals which was a new species for me here.

Sandwich Tern

We finished up at the Ferry Pool where we added a few bits to the day list including Avocet (22), Lapwing (18) and a single Little Grebe.

25th December

No real birding.

26th December

Birding close to home this morning produced a pair of Tufted Ducks on the main lake at Waltham Brooks, two Little Egrets flying north, and at least 30 Chiffchaffs around the sewage works. 

27th December

Very little birding today owing to the foul weather and other commitments. A check of likely local sites for Waxwing again drew a blank. Hadworth Farm scrape proved quite lively from a quick roadside check, with the highlight being a female Pintail (a first for me here) among 20 Mallards and nine Gadwall.

28th December

A bit of a marathon local session this morning taking in various water bodies and again checking all the potential Waxwing spots (again nothing!). The female Long-tailed Duck was still at the private site near Petworth for at least her 61st day, while the five Russian White-fronted Geese (three adults/two juveniles) were among 100+ Greylag Geese at Amberley. Burton Mill Pond produced the now obligatory Great White Egret plus my first singing Woodlark and drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker of the season, the latter a touch later than in recent years but hardly surprising given the shocking weather we've had recently. At least 30 Siskin and five Lesser Redpoll were noted in the birches and alders around the ponds. 

29th December

Just a bit of casual birding close to home this morning which didn't produce too much of interest, though it was good to hear a Mistle Thrush in full song up at Alban Head playing fields.

In the afternoon we headed down to Arundel, where we found at least 20 Cattle Egrets gathered on Mill Road water meadows (seen from the car) and the usual selection of gulls and wildfowl at Swanbourne Lake, including at least 55 Tufted Duck and 53 Gadwall. 

30th December

Another tour of local berry tree sites sadly failed to produce any Waxwings. The female Long-tailed Duck was still at the private site near Petworth which was otherwise quiet aside from two female Pochard and 11 Shoveler.

Shoveler

 31st December

No real birding aside from a couple of stops at likely Waxwing sites (still nothing!).

A bit of unexpected excitement while visiting family in Merrow up in Surrey though came when a female Sparrowhawk caught and killed a Feral Pigeon in the street just as we got out of the car, and then proceeded to pluck and eat it under a parked car. 

Sparrowhawk (and friend)

Happy New Year!

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. 

Fool's Spring

Many of you reading this will have seen that great meme listing the many seasons we experience in the UK among the officially recognised four seasons - Fool's Spring, Second Winter, Spring of Deception, etc.

I think it's fair to say we're hovering somewhere between the latter two right now. When the sun is out it can feel almost spring-like, but when it's been cold in the past couple of weeks, it's felt really cold - not helped by the dominance of north and north-easterly winds. That said, the daylight hours are getting longer by the day now, with birds still singing at 6PM on sunny days, and much evidence of resident species' breeding cycles really getting into gear. As I write this, the first arriving hirundines have been reported on the south coast and we're just days away from the first Wheatears. We're nearly there!

16th February

A grey and drizzly day for the most part, with a strengthening south-westerly wind, didn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm to get out birding today. Nonetheless, I took a stroll over to Waltham Brooks at lunchtime for a brief session there. The number of wildfowl on the main lake had reduced overall since my last visit, but the diversity of species had improved with at least ten Pintail and six Shelduck among the usual Shoveler, Mallard, Wigeon and Teal. A Little Grebe called several times, out of view, while a flock of around 60 Redwings were in the bushes. 

17th February

As I was due to be away up in Yorkshire at the weekend, I headed out early to do my WeBS count at the usual private farm reservoir site. Nothing particularly unusual here although always nice to see and hear a few Yellowhammers which were in fine voice. Most unusual among the Coots and Tufted Ducks on the reservoir was a lone drake Wigeon which was, remarkably, a site tick! It's pretty crazy to think I've had Long-tailed Duck, Grey Plover and Spotted Redshank here in the past twelve months but not Wigeon!

An out of context Wigeon

Egyptian Goose

A quick check of Burton Mill Pond in passing on the way home produced the first Great Crested Grebe I've seen here this year (at last!) along with the usual scattering of Gadwall, Coots and Tufted Ducks.

18th February

The first of two days away visiting family in Yorkshire and I decided to get up early and head up to the Dales to try and find Black Grouse at what I understand to be their most southerly site in England. I got there before first light, in a howling wind (gusting force 8!), not holding out much hope. A scan of likely fields as the sun came up didn't produce much so I started walking down to a public footpath which took me out towards some fine habitat. Several Red Grouse were strutting about on and near the road, and two Dippers flew down the beck by the road. A little while later I stopped to scan some small trees further down the beck and, sure enough, picked up two female Black Grouse perched in one of them. Only my second British record of this iconic species.

Black Grouse

As I walked a bit closer, a third female flew up from the heather ahead of me and disappeared across the moor. No males seen but still a successful visit - especially as I'd never actually seen a female before! Other highlights here included two Curlew, Peregrine, at least six Ravens and at least two Golden Plover calling loudly but not seen.

Red Grouse

19th February

Day two in Yorkshire and a walk up on the fields above Burley in Wharfedale produced a singing Goldcrest, several Siskins, two Red Kites and a flyover Skylark - the latter a West Yorkshire tick for me, according to eBird!

Not much else to report here really apart from a Curlew flying up from fields by the road as we drove towards Otley on the way home.

20th February

Back in Sussex and, after dropping my daughter at nursery, I decided to drop in at Amberley Wildbrooks, entering from near the castle. A large flock of gulls were wheeling about over the castle and I was pleased to pick out at least two adult Mediterranean Gulls among them, my second local record of the year. Out on the wet grassland in front of the castle were at least 200 Lapwing and 120 Wigeon. Further along past the Swamp, a scan to the east of the path produced a female Merlin perched on a bramble clump, quite near the old building out that way. At least 30 Redwings were in the patch of woodland north of the Swamp, with one or two heard softly singing.

Merlin

Working from home later in the day was enlivened by the sight of five Golden Plover flying fast southwest over the house - my second winter record of this species from home, but my first anywhere locally so far in this calendar year.

21st February

A grey and drizzly morning. I happened to be passing Waltham Brooks so dropped in and walked from Greatham Bridge to the main lake and back. Generally pretty quiet here with even fewer ducks on the lake than my previous visit. 8 Pintail were the highlight along with a heard-only Little Grebe.

In the afternoon I took a short walk up to some local high ground I was hoping might be a good spot for future skywatching, and I wasn't disappointed! Although it's only around 50m above sea level, that's quite high enough in this low-lying area to provide a great vantage point over the trees and houses. I could see as far as The Mens to the north, the South Downs to the south and RSPB Pulborough visitor centre to the north-east. I'm excited to head back there when the weather improves!

The view from the new skywatching spot near home

22nd February

Another grey morning with rain at times. I almost didn't go out first thing but decided to head over to Burton Mill Pond for my first proper walk round there for a couple of weeks. In the end, the rain didn't come to much and it was a largely dry session. It was good to see Great Crested Grebes back on both the ponds along with still quite a few Pochard (~15) on Chingford Pond. Wildfowl numbers are steadily ebbing away locally though, with noticeably fewer Gadwall and Tufted Duck here today. The now usual Woodlark was singing over the vineyard on the western side, moving closer to the main Mill Pond as I was leaving, while three Grey Wagtails were chasing each other about near the boat launch jetty. No Great White Egret today although a Little Egret did fly into the trees at the southern end of Chingford Pond. 

Pochards

I didn't manage to get out again later in the day but did note ~180 Lapwings flying southeast towards Amberley Wildbrooks late afternoon, viewed from home.

23rd February

An early morning walk round Pulborough Brooks proved to be quite lively, with a decent selection of waders on the North Brooks (15 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Dunlin and 3 Ruff), a Water Pipit in flight near the dipping area (behind Adder Alley) and a Peregrine and one of the White-tailed Eagles on the South Brooks.

Mid-morning I headed over to Knepp for a bit of work. In addition to the lively activity of the resident White Storks scrapping over their various nests I also noted nine Teal flying up from the ditches and the pond in the stork enclosure, as well as a Knepp tick Lapwing flying over heading east.

24th February

After dropping B off at nursery I dropped in at Waltham Brooks. Again, reduced numbers of wildfowl on the main lake but still ~30 each of Shoveler and Teal, 4 Shelduck and 10 Pintail. Round at the sewage works at least 3 Chiffchaffs were singing, though workmen in the compoud likely disturbed more birds from congregating here. As I was leaving, two Mute Swans flew north. 

Mute Swans

A lunchtime walk around the local farmland was largely quiet except for a lone Snipe flying around over the open fields south of River Lane and Rooks nest building.

25th February

The weather forecast promised a bright but cold start to the day so I headed out for some more local woodland birding. In the event, there wasn't much sunshine at all, so birdsong and woodpecker activity was a little muted. I did find a flock of at least 30 Siskin though and two Woodcock flushed from bracken cover in an area of woodland near Fittleworth.

Later on, Kate, B and I headed to Pulborough for lunch and a walk around. A bit of sunshine early afternoon sadly didn't last and by the time we headed out on the trail, some really menacing dark clouds had rolled in on the baltic northerly wind and delivered some unwelcome sleety rain. The best I could find here in less-than-ideal conditions were 17 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Dunlin and a single Ruff on the North Brooks. 

Today was also notable for being the day I hit 1,000 days on my eBird unbroken checklist streak. Quite a milestone!

26th February

A rather late start this morning saw me heading over to Waltham Brooks in glorious sunshine to meet Ed for some local birding ahead of a few hours working on the book.

We had a decent haul of 50 species in the hour and a half or so we were here, including at least 20 Chiffchaffs at the sewage works, a female Marsh Harrier in flight to the north, and 8 Pintail, 3 Shelduck and a single Little Grebe on the main lake.

Shovelers

The best was saved until last though as, just shy of the gate exiting the reserve on the river bank, Ed picked up a Water Pipit on call, taking flight from the north-western side of Amberley Wildbrooks. In fact, there were three birds together which may have all been Water Pipits, but we unfortunately didn't get enough plumage detail to confirm this. Certainly, the lead bird seemed a little larger, so perhaps just the one with two Meadow Pipits? This was swiftly followed by a male Marsh Harrier quartering in the same airspace as the two immature White-tailed Eagles. As Ed said: 'incredible 1km scenes!' Incidentally, Water Pipit was my 90th species within my 1km from home area so far this year.

On the walk back to mine we tried a likely looking bit of wet woodland for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but no joy. Perhaps another day!

Lesser Celandine

The home straight of winter...

A change in the weather in the two weeks since my last blog post, with the ice having all melted and relatively little rain having fallen the ground conditions in the Arun Valley are remarkably not too muddy now and have allowed for some exploration of areas that have been impassable for weeks thanks to the flooding and the big freeze. We've been treated to some glorious days of spring-like sunshine too which have really helped lift the spirits as we finally reach the end of the hard slog of January and head into February - the home straight of winter!

24th January

Feeling strangely mild (although still barely above freezing), on the first frost-free morning in over a week. In that time the water levels locally have mercifully receded enough to allow me to access the southern entrance to Waltham Brooks, via Thorndale Bridge and the bank of the River Arun. This is where I headed this morning for a little scan of the river and the north-western corner of Amberley Wildbrooks beyond. As I passed under the bridge I noticed an adult Great Black-backed Gull powering north up the river - my second locally in two days! Across the river, a Kingfisher flew away from me up the drainage ditch flowing out of Amberley Wildbrooks. For a second I thought I heard a Water Pipit call but just the one squeak and I didn't see it or hear it again, so wrote it off. Otherwise, it was usual fare here, with a Water Rail squealing somewhere unseen and a few Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler flying up from the river and the wildbrooks. 

Shoveler

25th January

The day began with a Peregrine low over Watersfield first thing, followed by a walk from home to Waltham Brooks. Grey and misty, still very cold but ice gradually thawing. There had been a noticeable increase in ducks on the main lake but still not exactly spectacular for the time of year. Two Red Kites and a Raven were airborne over Amberley Wildbrooks, while at least three Cetti's Warblers were making themselves heard and a Chiffchaff was singing half-heartedly along the river just south of the reserve. 

26th January

Another grey and frost-free morning, after some overnight rain. A check of farmland over near Petworth finally produced my first Yellowhammer of the year (in an area that's normally very good for them and I've already visited twice in January), along with a flock of ~80 Goldfinches and a Grey Wagtail.

27th January

No birding today.

28th January

A half-hour check of Waltham Brooks at lunchtime proved quite lively, with my first Shelduck here this year on the main lake, along with a female Pintail and 300+ dabbling ducks, mostly Teal but also at least 80 each of Shoveler and Wigeon. Overhead, a Raven cronked its way west while two Marsh Harriers flew north.

Early afternoon we found ourselves in the Arundel area so spent a little while up at the Offham viewpoint which produced distant views of the six adult Bewick's Swans feeding down in the water meadows below.

Gadwall

Shelduck and Wigeon

Raven

29th January

A couple of hours at Burton Mill Pond from first light produced quite a lively session. Following on from Mike Dale's report on Twitter of 13 Little Egrets there on the 25th today I found at least 22, all gathered around Chingford Pond along with the now regular Great White Egret (more on that later). The reason for this gathering of egrets (along with several Grey Herons) is evidently due to the water level at Chingford having dropped dramatically since my last visit, exposing lots of lovely mud around the edges, especially at the southern end. It's such a drastic drop in level that it must have been done deliberately and, indeed, there was a guy fiddling with one of the outflows today, and the main outflow out of the dam was dry.

Back to the Great Egret, which I noticed was bearing a red darvic ring on its left leg. I couldn't see any digits on the ring but a bit of online detective work led to the discovery that this bird had probably been ringed on the Avalon Marshes in Somerset. 

Also of note on Chingford Pond were at least 40 Pochard; by far my highest count of the species here, or anywhere locally, so far this winter.

Little Egrets, Great Egret and Grey Heron

Great Egret (with red leg ring)

Extra excitement in the afternoon as I was doing the obligatory Big Garden Birdwatch from our bedroom window and not recording a huge amount when a small flock of Starlings swirling around a little way down the road caught my attention. Just as I thought to myself 'it's a shame I can't count those' they suddenly all jinked sharply in one direction as a fast pointed shape appeared out of the sky from the west and lunged directly at them, missing completely, before continuing off to the east. The compact size, sharply pointed, rapidly flickering wings could only belong to one species: Merlin! An amazing garden and 1k tick that I certainly was not expecting when I sat down to count the Blue Tits. Amazingly, it returned about 15 minutes later, powering back west, quite high, but as I reached for my camera I lost it, unfortunately. 

30th January

Not a huge amount of birding today although I did manage a couple of short walks at Ashdown Forest as I was over there for work purposes. Very quiet here though, despite the pleasantly warm spring-like sunshine, with just the odd Siskin of note among the many Coal Tits and Wrens.

On the way home I popped in at Weir Wood Reservoir where I bumped into local patch watcher Alastair Gray. I didn't have my scope unfortunately but Alastair let me use his to see the lingering two female Wood Ducks and the 51-strong flock of Barnacle Geese. It was also nice to see Grey Herons carrying nest material up to the heronry. Spring is getting closer by the day.

31st January

A pleasantly mild morning. I dropped in to Waltham Brooks again for half an hour as I was passing. The lake again yielded lots of wildfowl including three Shelducks (two of which flew off towards Pulborough) and a pair of Pintail.

Best of all though was a male Yellowhammer which flew in from the south and briefly dropped into the scrub and allows near the lake. My first record here and only the second within my 1k area since moving to Watersfield in September last year.

Yellowhammer

Late morning I headed up to Surrey to meet Ed, mostly to work on the book, but we managed to squeeze in a bit of birding in his 1k area. A Peregrine over Eashing Fields was the highlight, although I actually had seven hotspot ticks here including singing Coal Tit. A walk along the river a bit later in distinctly spring-like conditions produced Grey Wagtail, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite and a flycatching Goldcrest.

On the way home I decided to stop at Burton Mill Pond for a little dusk session which actually turned out to be a very sensible decision. As has become a bit of a thing here lately, the first bird I saw was a Great White Egret flushed from the reeds near the road, although I think a different bird to the one on Sunday, as I couldn't see a red ring on this bird. Little Egrets were trickling over in ones and small groups, heading south to roost, with a single Cattle Egret among them. A Kingfisher darted low over the water towards the outflow channel. Just as the light was fading to its last I had two unexpected Burton Mill Pond ticks in close succession. First, a Goshawk which I picked up late flying lower over the pond before disappearing into the trees on the west side - the whole experience lasting a matter of seconds, but no doubt about the ID. The second was another 'flying away from me by the time I got on it' moment, as I noticed a lone duck flying southwest, the long neck and whirring wingbeats so diagnostic of a Goosander.

Cattle Egret

1st February

I didn't have time for lots of birding today but managed a late morning walk around local farmland and woodland. Lots of singing Song Thrushes, Mistle Thrushes and others, but the highlight was a Peregrine over Lodge Hill and Coldwaltham Farm, presumably the same bird that I've seen a few times since Christmas, so is presumably wintering in the area.

Peregrine

2nd February

I headed over to Pulbrough Brooks this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks (I'm ashamed to say!). There was no sign of the Avocet found by Chris and Juliet Moore yesterday but two Ruff among the many hundreds of Lapwing were a year tick. Also among the Lapwing was a striking leucistic Lapwing which really caught the eye. Otherwise highlights from an hour here were two Snipe, Peregrine, Marsh Harrier and the highest count of ducks I've seen here this winter, including at the very least 80 Pintail.

Leucistic Lapwing

Ruff with Lapwings

3rd February

Not a lot of birding today but anecdotal highlights included five Little Egrets in the wet meadow next to the River Rother in Fittleworth, seen from the car, and the two local White-tailed Eagles (still sounds weird to think of them like that) soaring over the Downs, viewed from my office/bedroom window in the afternoon. Also seen from home was the now daily Raven flying low over the hamlet. I'm sure there must be a pair nesting somewhere in my 1k area but haven't worked out where yet.

4th February

This morning I joined members of Shoreham and District Ornithological Society for a walk round Henfield Levels, led by local birder Val Bentley. This was primarily for the purposes of researching the book, as it's not an area I know well and, last time I visited, most of it was underwater and many of the paths impassable!

Henfield Levels

We had a productive morning with highlights including a Water Rail and several Chiffchaffs at the little pond north of Rye Farm and good numbers of Lapwing (~500) and Teal (400+) along with smaller numbers of Wigeon, Pintail and Shoveler.