Girona, 3rd-9th July

This was a family holiday rather than ostensibly a birding trip. Nonetheless, any foray into the near continent always produces the goods when it comes to birds and all-round in your face nature, and this trip was no exception!

From our apartment and surrounding grounds (El Nus de Pedra near Llorà) we were treated daily to great views of the likes of Hawfinch, Griffon Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Golden Oriole and Western Bonelli's Warbler, while others such as Nightingale, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Nightjar, Cirl Bunting and Scops Owl were heard but largely not seen.

Perhaps most spectacular of all were the butterflies and moths, with fantastic numbers of a host of species, many of them new for me. Highlights included multiple Swallowtails and Scarce Swallowtails, Broad-bordered Bee and Hummingbird Hawkmoths, Iberian Marbled White, Provençal Fritillary, Southern White Admiral, Spanish Gatekeeper, Cleopatra and Two-tailed Pasha. Certainly a stark reminder of the tragically low numbers of invertebrates we have become used to back in the UK.

3rd July

Mostly a day of travelling. Highlights included flyover Hawfinch and Short-toed Eagle and at least two Iberian Green Woodpeckers around our apartment building soon after we checked in, plus the ubiquitous singing Serins. In the evening at least two each of Nightjar and Nightingale were heard from the garden while a flock of at least 40-50 House Martins and a few Alpine Swifts drifted over. Very vocal Midwife Toads and Iberian Common Frogs/Perez's Frogs added to the atmosphere though sadly not the hoped for Scops Owl.

El Nus de Pedra - home for six nights

Serin

4th July

A little explore of the habitat near our apartment this morning proved very enjoyable with avian highlights including multiple Hawfinch and Iberian Green Woodpecker and a couple each of Firecrest and Western Bonelli’s Warbler. The first Griffon Vultures of the trip were also seen drifting high overhead along with a Sparrowhawk carrying prey. Indeed, by mid morning raptor activity really got going, with several Griffon Vultures and singles of Egyptian Vulture and Common Buzzard seen from our apartment garden.

View across some of the grounds at El Nus de Pedra

A relatively small area of rough grassland by a play park nearby produced a lot of butterfly interest, including Scarce Swallowtail, Great Banded Grayling, Clouded Yellow, Small Heath and Cleopatra, while the more wooded edges of the paths on the way up and down yielded Wall Brown, Iberian Marbled White and Southern White Admiral, plus a Yellow Bands Underwing moth. Meanwhile, the small pond in the garden of our apartment hosted Iberian Painted Frog and Scarlet Darter. Not a bad start to our first full day here!

Great Banded Grayling

Southern White Admiral

Yellow Bands Underwing

Wall Brown

Griffon Vulture

Scarce Swallowtail

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Iberian Painted Frog

Western Bonelli's Warbler

Scarlet Darter

For lunch we headed into Girona itself where a short walk around the Aiguamolls De Les Hortes De Santa Eugenia yielded a singing Great Reed Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, a few Yellow-legged Gulls and the first Ring-necked Parakeet and Cetti’s Warblers of the trip. 

Back at our apartment in the evening, the first and only Goshawk of the trip flew north across the valley, distantly to the east. 

5th July

An early walk from our apartment again yielded several Hawfinches and at least two pairs of Western Bonelli’s Warbler. Golden Orioles continued to prove very vocal but typically elusive in the wooded valleys.

Mid-morning we headed to Banyoles to check out the lake there. Despite severe disturbance from water sports and swimming it was good to see dozens of Yellow-legged Gulls, along with a flyover Booted Eagle and our first White Storks, Tree Sparrows and Mandarin Ducks of the holiday.

L'Estany de Banyoles

Mandarin Duck

On the way back to our apartment we stopped at a couple of spots along the river in Saint Gregori which produced Green Sandpiper, Zitting Cisticola, distant Short-toed Eagle and a Golden Oriole carrying food.

Back at the apartment in the afternoon and it seemed pretty quiet on the bird front but the garden was alive with butterflies including Queen of Spain Fritillary, Two-tailed Pasha and Speckled Wood. Later in the day a walk up the hill behind our apartment also produced the first Spanish Gatekeeper for the trip (another new butterfly species for me).

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Two-tailed Pasha

Speckled Wood (nominate aegeria race)

Spanish Gatekeeper

6th July

A morning around the apartment grounds produced the now familiar array of species including Golden Oriole and Nightingale. A late morning walk up into the hills yielded multiple of both these species plus the first Sardinian Warbler of the trip. Best of all though were the butterflies which were on the wing in great numbers in possibly the warmest temperatures of the week so far. Among those identified were Swallowtail, Scarce Swallowtail, Southern White Admiral, Cleopatra, False Ilex Hairstreak, Provençal Fritillary and Small Heath, plus several Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoths nectaring on Echium on a sunny bank near our apartment. 

Cleopatra

Swallowtail

Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth

Southern Skimmer

A lunchtime jaunt out to Canet d’Adri for lunch proved worthwhile with 13 Griffon Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Honey Buzzard, two Hoopoe and a Crested Lark seen from the car on the way there and back. In addition, a stop by the river between Saint Gregori and Llorà resulted in both Kingfisher and Red Kite being added to the trip list.

Honey Buzzard

Back in the apartment garden and the very first bird that greeted us was a Hawfinch in a tree near the car park - this following on from a family party in the same area earlier in the day. It was warm but cloudy for the rest of the afternoon and evening which made for good skywatching conditions, the clear highlights being a rather unexpected and very vocal trio of Eleonora’s Falcons hunting together high overhead and a Short-toed Eagle characteristically hanging in the air above the nearby hillside. In the evening the second Lesser Spotted Woodpecker of the trip was heard calling in trees south of our apartment. 

Hawfinch

7th July

A morning walk from the apartment produced the usual fare - Short-toed Treecreeper, Golden Oriole, Western Bonelli’s Warbler and a bonus Lesser Spotted Woodpecker calling again in trees down the road. 

Golden Oriole

Early afternoon we headed up to Figueres to visit the Parc Natural dels Aiguamolls de l’Empordà, an almost 5,000-hectare Ramsar reserve on the Costa Brava, generally regarded as the finest wetland in the region after the Ebro Delta. One afternoon sadly wasn’t enough to see it all but just a couple of hours here still produced an impressive selection of species, many of them new for this trip, including Spoonbill, Black-winged Stilt, Green Sandpiper, Marsh Harrier, Greater Flamingo, Glossy Ibis and Whiskered Tern. On the way out back towards Llorà, other new species for the holiday list (seen from the car) included Purple Heron, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Iberian Grey Shrike. 

White Stork

Spoonbills

Black-winged Stilts

Blue-headed Wagtail

Nightingale fledgling

Observatory tower at Parc Natural dels Aiguamolls de l'Empordà

...and the view from the top!

A walk out from the apartment late in the evening at last produced a couple of Scops Owls calling high in the wooded valley to the north, along with the daily Nightjars churring.

View across the fields near our apartment

8th July

Our penultimate day started with a short walk up the road from our apartment early morning. In addition to the now ubiquitous Western Bonelli’s Warblers, Short-toed Treecreepers and Firecrests, new species for the trip list included singing Turtle Dove and a heard only Siskin. Mid-morning saw the raptors getting up locally with at least five Griffon Vultures, two Hobbies and an Egyptian Vulture seen from the apartment garden.

Egyptian Vulture

Turtle Dove

There wasn’t much else in the way of birding or butterfly action today although a trip out for lunch did produce another Hoopoe and Common Buzzard (not a species we saw many of throughout the week). In the evening a Booted Eagle and three Hawfinches flew over our apartment while a presumed family party of four Western Bonelli’s Warblers were flitting about in trees near the car park.  

Booted Eagle

9th July

As was the case on day one, today was another day dominated by travelling, with farewell birds at our accommodation at El Nus de Pedra including Golden Oriole, Western Bonelli’s Warbler and Nuthatch. Last minute additions to the holiday species list included Red Underwing Skipper in the apartment garden and two Monk Parakeets across the road as we drove back to Barcelona airport. 

Red Underwing Skipper

Is it autumn yet?

It's always tricky to get back into the swing of things after any trip away from home, and returning to the later stages of summer in Sussex after a week away in Spain has proved no exception.

Of course, July can be a very exciting time of year, with spring migration well and truly done and dusted and the first subtle hints of return migration beginning to get into gear as the breeding season starts to wrap up for a lot of species. 

Certainly it felt rather longer than a week we had been away, when one sees how things have progressed in the natural world at this time of year. Take the Purple Emperors at Knepp for example, which were just a fortnight into their season when I was last there at the start of July, and are now already burning out fast like a spent firework as I write this in the third week of the month. 

The birds too are rapidly coming to the end of their various breeding cycles, with the cacophony of song that defines April, May and early June now reduced to just a few bursts, and most migrant species now just content to give their various whistles, tacks, croaks and squeaks in the bushes as we pass.

So it is to this backdrop of summer winding down and autumn just beginning to poke its head above the parapet that we ease into this rather brief summary of a somewhat unspectacular ten-day period of local birding. It's still been good, but don't expect any fireworks!

10th July

Our first full day back in the UK and, after dropping B at nursery, I decided to swing by Pulborough for a quick look at the North Brooks (I didn't have time for the full reserve loop today) which produced a tasty selection of waders: 2 each of Greenshank, Green Sandpiper and Avocet, 10 Black-tailed Godwits, at least 8 Little Ringed Plovers and a single Common Sandpiper. 

A short walk and skywatch round the local fields at lunchtime produced a light trickle of Sand Martins moving through, roughly south, and my first UK Painted Lady of the year nectaring on bramble flower. 

11th July

A check of local water bodies today proved fairly quiet. A Common Sandpiper was at a private site, while Burton Mill Pond yielded juvenile Grey Wagtails and Reed Warblers from a quick look in passing. An afternoon check of Waltham Brooks yielded just usual fare.

In fact, the resounding highlight of the day was not a bird but a butterfly - a Brown Argus, to be precise - which briefly alighted on a Viola in our garden at lunchtime, just as I had sat down to eat my sandwich! My first record for the garden here.

Brown Argus

12th July

A sweep of local water bodies today either side of a garden safari at Knepp. The afternoon saw some lively showers moving through with one in particular producing a substantial amount of rain. A private site near Petworth produced a Common Sandpiper and two juvenile Little Ringed Plovers, while a Common Sandpiper was also found on the pool at Southlands Farm, West Chiltington on my way back from Knepp.

Common Sandpiper

Knepp itself was good too (it always is, to be fair!) with heard only Lesser Spotted Woodpecker calling in trees near the Walled Garden and at least one Spotted Flycatcher about too. 

13th July

Another busy non-birding day but I managed to squeeze out for an hour round the local farmland and a brief look at Waltham Brooks at lunchtime. Highlights included the two White-tailed Eagles soaring together north of Greatham Bridge (the first time I've seen both together for quite some time), at least a dozen Sand Martins feeding over the main lake and a few Swifts trickling south-west. 

14th July

A cool, grey and squally day, more akin to October than mid-July. A whizz round Pulborough this morning proved quite productive, especially for waders. Highlights were 28 Black-tailed Godwit, 9 Green Sandpiper, 3 Greenshank, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpiper and 2 Avocet. A Grey Wagtail flew over Green Lane as I was walking back to the car park, and around 8-10 each of Sand Martin and House Martin were feeding over Uppertons Field, Fattengates and the South Brooks.

North Brooks looking autumnal

15th July

A particularly autumnal day with severe winds (gusting up to almost 50mph), leading to the cancellation of various summer fayres and other events (Goodwood Festival of Speed included). I was also looking after B all day, so no birding today.

16th July

For the first time in a while I got out early for the loop up the river from home to Waltham Brooks and back past the sewage works. The clear highlight of an otherwise relatively uneventful couple of hours was a Grasshopper Warbler reeling intermittently on the north-western side of Amberley Wildbrooks, just across the river east of Thorndale Bridge. It was hard to pinpoint exactly where it was, given the still blustery wind, but it was unmistakable nonetheless. My first record of the year, taking the local year list to 147 and the 1km area list to 117.

Also of note were a female Teal with six juveniles on the main lake at Waltham Brooks and a family group of Nightingales flitting about and calling constantly in the scrub right next to Thorndale Bridge. There was just a hint of some south-westerly movement of Swifts overhead throughout the session, but still nothing spectacular - still waiting for a really big day for these this summer. A pair of Stonechats were by the railway crossing at Waltham Brooks and there were several juvenile Whitethroats about. 

Stonechat

Despite the wind, there were plenty of butterflies out, even at this early time of day, including a couple of box fresh Peacocks sunning themselves on a fence near home. There seem to be so many of these and Red Admirals about at the moment!

Peacock

17th July

A day where I was all over the place but didn't squeeze in a whole lot of birding. Perhaps the most notable bird of the day was at least one flyover Crossbill (heard only) while I was surveying some private land near North Chailey in East Sussex - only my second record of this species anywhere this year!

At Knepp in the afternoon, the remarkable Turtle Dove summer there continued with a single bird low over the heads of my safari group in the Southern Block - a pleasing Knepp first for one of the staff members present. Also of note here was my first Willow Emerald of the year. 

On the way home a quick look at Southlands Farm in West Chiltington produced a Green Sandpiper, while a family group of 5 Peregrines were noisily flying around over Amberley Station as the female brought back prey. 

Green Sandpiper

18th July

No birding today. 

19th July

An early walk from home out to Waltham Brooks and back proved fairly quiet, aside from the usual fare at the main lake (7 Shoveler, Cetti's Warbler, Water Rail) and 25 Swallows perched on the telegraph wires near home. 

Later in the morning I headed out to the private site near Petworth which produced a single Common Sandpiper and 25 Egyptian Geese, including two striking leucistic individuals. 

Egyptian Geese

On the way home from Knepp in the afternoon I stopped at Southlands Farm to check the pool there, which again held a Green Sandpiper, presumably the same bird from a couple of days ago.  

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. 

Dust and lowering skies

Given that this is supposed to be the relatively quiet period in the birding year, the past fortnight or so has actually been one of the most enjoyable periods of 2023 so far for me, from a local birding perspective. The clear highlight, of course, was finding a Marsh Warbler just a few hundred metres from home, which was still present at the time of writing (update: it has since departed, it seems).

Otherwise it's been a fairly steady stream of waders, Cuckoos and various less common breeding species, plus some of the first high summer butterflies and odonata of the year.

Weather-wise, it's been a relief to get some much-needed rain in the past week or so, including some particularly impressive thunderstorms. I have been once again reminded how spectacular lightning is when it flashes around the South Downs, as storm fronts slowly approach Sussex from the English Channel.

12th June

A fairly brief whizz round Pulborough Brooks this morning produced a pleasing selection of species including 3 Little Ringed Plover, Cuckoo, Dunlin, 10 Avocet, my first Redshank chick of the year, a single White Stork on the North Brooks and at least three Nightingales still singing. 

13th June

I was out of the house before 05:30 this morning (not something that has happened often lately) with my plan being to head up the Arun to Waltham Brooks then back via the sewage works. In the end I never even made it as far as the river as around 500m from home my attention was drawn to an odd Acro song coming from an area of mixed rank vegetation right next to the railway line at Thorndale Bridge. I've often heard Cetti's Warbler in this spot but not Reed Warbler as far as I can remember, so it instantly stood out as rather out of context. This, combined with the fact I was hearing elements of mimicry (including Goldfinch, Swallow, Blackbird, Blue Tit and even Bee-eater) immediately rang alarm bells and my thoughts quickly turned to Marsh Warbler. I positioned myself near the railway bridge and, over the course of the next hour, hoped that the bird would show itself well enough to get some record shorts and audio recordings, which it dutifully did, and I left site at 07:00 very happy I had self-found my first Sussex Marsh Warbler and, indeed my first anywhere in the UK for around ten years!

Marsh Warbler

14th June

A decent session at Burton Mill Pond this morning produced 43 species in 100 minutes. Highlights included a female Mandarin with young on the outflow near the mill house, the Great Crested Grebe pair feeding three young on the main pond and a Little Owl hunting along the fenceline at Burton Park Farm. Two Siskins over Newpiece Moor were also noteworthy, given what a poor first half of the year it's been for the species. Apparently, they were once known as 'barley birds' owing to their tendency to reappear around the onset of high summer (i.e. the time that barley is ripening for harvest), presumably due to dispersing young birds and post-breeding adults.

15th June

Not much birding today aside from an hour or so at Thorndale Bridge in the evening, where I bumped into Michael and Dan Booker, hoping to connect with the Marsh Warbler. Sadly, we didn't have any luck this time, despite a Reed Warbler doing its best to convince us otherwise, by throwing in occasional bursts of Goldfinch mimicry into its song - strange, considering I hadn't heard Reed Warbler here before, but a quick Google search on my phone brought up a BB paper which suggested Reed Warblers which spend any length of time in the vicinity of Marsh Warblers have been known to incorporate mimicry into their songs. A Barn Owl kept us entertained, hunting around Wharf Field, while there were again plenty of Swallows flying about overhead and a Nightingale called briefly by the railway line as I was heading for home. 

16th June

An early two hour session at Pulborough this morning proved to be quite lively. Highlights included all three egrets (9 Little Egret and one each of Great Egret and Cattle Egret), two each of Ringed Plover and Little Ringed Plover together on the North Brooks (which was a bit confusing at first as it's very unusual to see these two species together here at this time of year), singles of Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and White-tailed Eagle and three White Storks (GB0S, GB6S and GB3U from Knepp). There was still plenty of birdsong around including Yellowhammer and Stonechat near Winpenny and a few bursts of Nightingale around the main trail. There were plenty of young birds about too, especially Whitethroat, with at least three family groups seen. 

White Storks

In the afternoon, I headed down to Worthing with B for a walk around Brooklands Park where the highlights were a newly fledged Reed Warbler, a few Swifts and House Martins, two Cetti's Warblers and two Great Black-backed Gulls. On the way home we dropped in at Knepp to watch a bit of the White Stork ringing.

Reed Warbler

White Stork ringing

17th June

Not much birding today other than a short local walk in the morning which was uneventful. While I was at Knepp in the afternoon and evening, news emerged that the Marsh Warbler had been rediscovered along the riverbank at Waltham Brooks so I swung by on my way home in the hope it might still be singing well after sunset. Sadly no luck, just the odd burst of song from Sedge and Reed Warblers. It was quite impressive and more than a little unnerving to be out on the riverbank as lightning flickered distantly all around, but I was glad to get home before the big storm hit in the small hours!

18th June

WeBS day today so I headed over to the private reservoir near Petworth, which produced the usual fare on the water - Coots, Tufted Ducks, Mallards and singles of Mute Swan and Great Crested Grebe - plus two Little Ringed Plovers on the shore. The best in this area though was discovering an active Barn Owl nest in a farm building, with an adult seen leaving a box which I was able to see contained three small chicks.

The owl theme continued later in the day, as a dusk safari at Knepp produced heard-only Barn Owl and at least two squeaking juvenile Tawny Owls near the campsite. Anecdotally, it seems to have been an excellent year for breeding Tawny Owls, as I've been seeing and hearing them all over the place, especially at Knepp, where at least three pairs have bred in the Southern Block. Also of note this evening was a Peregrine over the Southern Block, not a raptor I see here all that often. 

19th June

Not a great amount of birding today due to other life stuff.

20th June

The first butterfly safari of the season at Knepp this morning produced my first White-letter Hairstreaks of the year, but otherwise not a massive amount of lepidopteran interest, as it was decidedly cool and grey, with even a bit of light rain in the air at times.

21st June

An hour early afternoon checking out the local fields near home for the first time in a while didn't produce much in the way of birds, but it was great to discover a colony of White-letter Hairstreaks in some hedgerow Elms just a couple of hundred metres from the house - in an area I had actually earmarked for the species a few weeks back. It's always nice when that happens! Typically they were either whizzing about at high speed above the trees or hidden up in the foliage, so no useable photos really...

An evening session at Thorndale Bridge and the very south-western corner of Waltham Brooks produced a great selection of species, most notably the Marsh Warbler singing in reeds/willow on the south side of the river. This is the first time I've managed to catch up with this elusive bird since finding it last week. It does seem to be splitting its time between the original location and this spot along the river. It was really belting out its song this evening, until just before 22:00 when it went quiet. Mimicry included Goldfinch, Swallow, Wren, Bee-eater, Blue Tit and Nightingale. 

22nd June

Proving the old adage that it's better to get in the field for a few minutes than not at all, this morning I dropped in at Waltham Brooks for all of 15 minutes on my way to Knepp, but it turned into a surprisingly great little session. The Cuckoo was still singing away along the river, my first 1k Little Grebe for a while was on the main lake but, best of all, a Common Sandpiper was perched up on the post in the middle of the lake before taking flight and disappearing out of view towards the western end. A 1k year tick for me, taking the local total to 116 (146 for the wider 10k). Also my first locally for four weeks - too early to call it the first returning bird of autumn?

Song Thrush

After a great butterfly safari at Knepp which yielded my first Purple Emperors of the year, an evening session in the Beaver enclosure produced some equally breathtaking encounters with the resident pair, including a spectacular tail slap just as we were about to leave! It really is astonishing what a great job they have done of engineering the wetland habitat in this part of the estate in the past 18 months or so. Avian highlights here included multiple singing Chiffchaffs, a couple of croaking and whistling Nightingales and what sounded like at least two fledgling Bullfinches calling in the scrub.

Purple Emperor

 

The Beaver enclosure at Knepp

23rd June

The planned early start didn't happen this morning but, after dropping B at nursery, I headed over to Amberley for an hour walk from the castle entrance up to the river bank and back. A pleasing selection of 40 species were recorded including Cuckoo, Hobby (putting the wind up around 40 Swifts gathered over the castle) and a Mute Swan pair with seven cygnets.

Mute Swans

An evening session up the river from home to Waltham Brooks sadly didn't produce the Marsh Warbler, but three singing male Cuckoos were pretty remarkable to hear so late in June (as reported by Pete Hughes the previous evening too), and a female Mandarin with eight ducklings on the main lake represented my first confirmed breeding for the site.

Gateway to summer

June is traditionally a bit of a doldrums month for birding but in recent years has increasingly produced some surprises. There's always the chance of late overshoots from the continent and, towards the end of the month, one's thoughts already turn to return passage of waders and dispersal of breeding migrant passerines. This year, spring seemed to start so late that it does feel as though there are still plenty of migrants moving through on their way to breeding grounds - especially waders, which have continued to feature pretty heavily in my local birding efforts in the past week or two.

Weather-wise, after the washout of April and early May, it now hasn't rained properly for about six weeks, grasslands are looking scorched and water bodies are rapidly drying out. Someone said to me recently that the weather we should expect in the UK now is 'est' - hottest, coldest, wettest, driest - which, sadly, seems very accurate, and this is reflected in the increased frequency of odd and out of sync bird records. Examples of highly unexpected local records for June so far have included Dunlin and Mediterranean Gull, both species I would usually only expect here passing through, not at the height of the breeding season!

1st June

Pinch punch, and a blasting northerly wind. It was properly cold out this morning. I got out soon after dawn for a walk out to the river, round Waltham Brooks and home, highlights of which included Lesser Whitethroat, Cuckoo, at least three Nightingales all singing, and 7 Little Egrets together by the Arun at Thorndale Bridge. 

Later in the day I headed up to the Norfolk Estate for a very interesting guided tour of the conservation work taking place there and the Curlew reintroduction project, from the Duke of Norfolk, head keeper Charlie Mellor and farmer Conor Haydon. Best of all was seeing a sitting hen Grey Partridge on a nest. 

Curlews on the Norfolk Estate

In the evening it was good to hear one of the local Nightingales still singing well, from the garden at home (in fact, from the bedroom window!) Hopefully he finds a mate soon though...

2nd June

Today began with a return visit to the area of farmland near West Burton where I carried out my second South Downs Farmland Bird Monitoring survey of the year. Very little of note to report here aside from a handful of Swallows and common warblers, though a calling male Tawny Owl was rather more unusual. Weather-wise it felt more like March/April than early June, with total cloud cover and the continuing stiff north-easterly wind. 

After dropping B at nursery I stopped off at Waltham Brooks for a quick whizz round. Again, fairly quiet really aside from a few bursts of song from a Nightingales, plus the usual warblers and a few Swifts.

3rd June

A check of a few local water bodies this morning produced good numbers of Swifts and Sand Martins near Petworth, along with an unseasonal pair of Teal on the private reservoir there. At Burton Mill Pond, the resident Great Crested Grebe pair were still present, with one sitting on a nest.

4th June

Not much birding today but another dusk safari at Knepp produced a fantastic Turtle Dove encounter, with one seen and heard singing on a dead oak branch in the evening sunshine before flying pretty much over our heads to a nearby sallow where it continued to purr for several minutes before being seen in flight again a little while later. It does seem to be a particularly good year for the species here this year. 

Turtle Dove

5th June

My BBS late visit to Parham Park this morning produced a Spotted Flycatcher in a rather incongruous location (perhaps a late passage bird) and 3 Shelduck - my first of the latter species here for a while. I assume they breed somewhere on the estate but haven't ever been able to prove it. I remember being quite surprised when I made my very first visit here in 2018 and found quite a gathering of Shelduck on the front lawn of the main house!

After Parham I dropped in at Pulborough for my first circuit of the reserve for a week or so. As ever, it didn't disappoint, though it does seem as though the spectacular wader spring may finally be drawing to a close. Still, singles of Little Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper and Greenshank were nice to see among the resident Lapwings, Redshanks and Avocets. The female Pintail on the South Brooks was still about and joined by a few Teal, while a solitary Shelduck was on the North Brooks. The other noticeable thing was the amount of fledgling birds about - from Long-tailed Tits to Egyptian Geese. We're very much into that period of the year now where there seem to be lots of squeaking things in every tree and bush!

Long-tailed Tit fledgling

6th June

A brief check from Greatham Bridge this morning produced my first signs of post-breeding wader dispersal with half a dozen Lapwings and Redshank dropping onto the marsh near the main lake at Waltham Brooks.

Later in the day, a skywatch on farmland north-west of Pulborough produced a distant female Goshawk and two flyover Siskins - my first locally since April. 

7th June

No real birding today but a White Stork Safari at Knepp produced fab views of a Hobby flying low and fast through the scrub then seen again later circling over the same area. 

8th June

I was over in Byworth first this morning, carrying out my final South Downs Farmland Bird Initiative survey visit of the year. As I've said before this has consistently proven to be the more productive of the two squares I've surveyed the past two years, and so it proved again this morning with 40 species recorded including a singing Firecrest (my first at this site). Best of all though was stumbling across a Kestrel nest just 3 metres up in an oak tree, having a few minutes before seen an adult male flying towards the group of trees carrying a rat, and hearing the squeaking of the chicks. 

Kestrel chicks

Firecrest

9th June

After dropping B at nursery I swung by Waltham Brooks for the short loop down the river and past the main lake. It's a good one to do when short on time and lately has produced a decent selection of species (45-50) in less than an hour. Today's highlights included six adult Mediterranean Gulls which I picked up on call coming in quite high from the Pulborough direction. They circled over the site a few times before continuing west towards Watersfield. Also of note here this morning were two Little Egrets flying north together and my first Whitethroat fledglings of the year. 

Juvenile Whitethroat

Mediterranean Gulls

10th June

The hottest day of the year so far and not much birding for me today but a quick look at the roadside pool at Southlands Farm in West Chiltington in passing in the evening produced a singing Reed Warbler - a first for me at this particular site.

11th June

A dawn start to check out some local water bodies didn't produce much. In fact, the highlight of the morning was a Barn Owl over the junction of Bury Gate and Waters Lane, just a few hundred metres from home.

Late morning I headed up to the Burgh with Kate, B, and Sean and Abi Foote, who were visiting from Wiltshire. It was still cloudy and pleasantly cool when we parked up but it didn't take long for the sun to burn through and raise the temperature significantly. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't particularly lively on the bird front, aside from a Grey Partridge and plenty of Red Kites and Whitethroats. It was good to have Sean's eye for invertebrates present though, which resulted in us finding my first Bryony Mining Bees of the year. 

Bryony Mining Bee

In the evening I stopped off at Waltham Brooks for a quick dusk session which produced a singing male Cuckoo down the river towards Amberley and a squealing Water Rail in the reeds.