West Sussex Birding - 31st January 2015

Had a free day today, the original planned trip to Portland for the weekend cancelled, so decided to stick local, was very tempted to head east but the over-night dusting of ice and snow made my mind up and so I headed to Selsey. The A27 was very dangerous to drive on first thing and almost lost the car at the Arundel roundabout ! Not a gritter seen this morning which was very concerning. Upon reaching the peninsula, it was soon evident the snow was not a issue here so headed straight to the bill where I found Selsey regular Sam observing the sea.
The sea was pretty choppy so was difficult to pick anything up on the sea, but with patience, Great-northern Divers were seen occasionally with at least 9 Slavonian Grebes drifted by very quickly! first picked up 2 birds, followed a little later by a group of 5 birds together, then another 2, all east to west. Good numbers of Gannets were feeding offshore, with the odd Kittiwake seen as small parties of auks, mainly Razorbills moved back and forth many too distant to confidently identify. A couple of adult winter Mediterranean Gulls fed closely on the tideline and 3 Red-throated Divers moved through west. There was enough happening to keep interest going throughout which was pleasing.
I moved onto Church Norton, very rare these days to arrive and to be the only car in the car park! Maybe I was the only nutter brave enough to head out but again, plenty of birds to go through and a delightful male Marsh Harrier was picked up looking towards the North wall, putting up hundreds of birds including a nice flock of Golden Plover. This bird has been seen on and off in the harbour the last few days and here's hoping he hangs around. A Peregrine was seen on it's usual island, Red-breasted Merganser's and a single drake Goldeneye were seen out in the channel. Plenty of the usual waders were present, about 20 Black-tailed Godwits were hunkered on one of the islands, shame there was not many gulls to sort through.
Next stop was Fishbourne creek, parking at Dell Quay and followed the footpath towards Fishbourne. Again, plenty of birds to sort through, very bitter and exposed here but was rewarded with the wintering Whimbrel which showed well, a distant Spotted Redshank was roosting with Common Redshanks and at least 7 Goldeneyes were in the channel. At least 12 Yellowhammer and 2 Rock Pipits added to the variety and had a good look through the c200 Brent Geese failed to produce a Black Brant (there has been one in the area).
Moving in-land and a drive and opportunity to warm up before exploring West Dean woods. I was very surprised to find very few people around here probably resulting in the 2 Little Owls sitting out in the open and seen as soon as I pulled up in the car. A rather large finch flock was sorted through and soon found Brambling in amongst the Chaffinch here, very difficult to count as the finch's were constantly moving down to feed in the next field but included a stunning male bird. I also managed to find Hawfinch pretty easily, with at least 3 seen and probably more birds picked up by their call and generally being very vocal. Marsh Tit seemed to be everywhere here today and a visit here would not be complete without a good view of Red Kite. Heading back to Worthing, I decided to have another look at the returning Kumlien's Gull at Littlehampton, being low tide the bird was easily picked up on the west side of the river opposite the entrance to the golf club. By now the light had gone but still managed a couple of record shots, pretty much the first time the camera came out of the bag today! Good day all round without racking up too many miles.

Kumlien's Gull - Littlehampton/River Arun (N.Bond)



New year - new blog post!

Managed to visit a few sites today and good to get in the field again, was out at first light and having put screen wash in the car, the bonnet would not lock shut properly so decided against going with my inititial plan and stayed local until I managed to fix the bonnet properly. I started with a sea-watch off Worthing that was very quiet, several Gannets and Kittiwakes offshore and 7 Wigeon moved west, Red-breasted Mergansers moved back and forth but the sea was too choppy to see anything on the sea. Home to fix the car then after a few hours delay I felt safe enough to hit other sites

Onto Arundel and covered Swanbourne Lake and the entrance to the WWT where it was nice to find a Chiff Chaff and Mandarin Duck amongst all the usual and expected species.

Siddlesham ferry pool was covered in birds, huge number of Lapwing and the splendid Tundra Bean Goose was in with the Brent and Canada Geese.

At Church Norton on the falling tide, the Ruddy Shelduck were visible distantly towards the North Wall, 2 Peregrines hunted over the harbour, a drake Goldeneye and several Red-breasted Mergansers were in the habour channel and the leucistic Curlew stood out in the winter sunshine.

I decided to head to Barnham Brooks on my way home and managed to eventually see the Whooper Swans in with the Mute Swans, they were tucked down low and out of view in the kale field, with patience they gave themselves up. Well worth the visit here as 2 Short-eared Owls put on a great show as they battled in mid-air and a pair of Stonechats wire fly-catching from the nearby reed bed. A good day out with 77 species seen with ease and would have surely been more without car trouble!

We have also had a male Blackcap in our garden (1st Jan) and a female has been seen today(3rd) in Durrington (Worthing)

Great White Egret - Arundel WWT - 1st September 2014

News filtered through whilst I was at work that a Great-white Egret was present at Arundel wetland centre, apparantley found on Sunday afternoon. Having started my new shift, I was free this afternoon to head over and have a look and after a bit of searching, we were in luck. 2 Kingfishers showed reasonably, many Gadwall and a couple of Teal on site too, large flock of hirundines gathered over the Arun attracting a local Sparrowhawk.

 



Long-tailed Skua - Selsey - West Susex 15th August 2014

Seeing a Long-tailed Skua on the deck is not something you witness very often! Having gained flight views last week, I was more than happy to go back and try again for this fantastic bird and a very welcome one in Sussex. The bird has a habit of returning to the same beach on the east beach of Selsey just up from the lifeboat station at high tide. I decided to head there before and stake the area out as my daughter Robyn was with me too, I was keen for her to see the Skua too.

Upon arrival, I could see some birders in the distance all looking down onto the beach and I could see the Skua on the shingle...surely it would stick until I got there...nope! The Skua flew out into the bay chasing some terns and that was that. We walked down to the area and hoped the Skua would make a quick return, which it didn't! Whilst scanning, a Peregrine was causing havoc flushing small waders off the beach, hirundines were passing through with Sand Martin's moving in number along with Swallows. Little, Common and Sandwich Terns were noted offshore and a Great-crested Grebe was on the sea..Robyn amused herself picking blackberries!

A lady in front of me picked out a interesting bird that dropped onto the sea, I was soon onto it and watched this bird very distantly, banking round harassing a Sandwich Tern, it was the Long-tailed Skua! I followed it as it flew further out before banking around and heading inland before turning towards us. I managed to get the other gathered birders onto it and we followed it as it came closer, eventually plonking itself on the sea in front of us! Stunning ! It soon flew again and landed on the beach right underneath me, no need to move ! Plenty of smiles all round by the people present and Robyn got to see her first Long-tailed Skua!

A few photo's were obtained not having to move, nor sneak up on my hands and knees! The bird was close enough ! One word to describe this bird....AWESOME

 



And finally....a Ross's Gull

For what has been a really good year for gulls for me, the one gull that was left for me to really want to see was a Ross's Gull, a species I have always wanted to see for many years now, although I just did not expect to see one in July, nor in Devon for that matter! Work commitments meant it took me a while to get down to this individual and really pleased I made the effort...

Leaving Worthing at 5am, picking up Garry and Glen en-route, we finally made it down to Bowling Green Marsh for around 9am to take our place in the hide and ready for the stakeout...a little later Gary 'the boiler' joined us alas forming, according to my wife a seventies throwback band named 'Nick and the 3G's', she really must get out more!

Anyhow, around high tide is good for this bird to arrive from feeding on the estuary, we thought we had timed it right but were a couple of hours early, which wasn't too bad as we managed to get a decent spot in the hide and allowed us to see Spotted Redshank in partial summer plumage, Green Sandpiper and a Hobby. Slowly the gulls started to arrive and settle on the marsh, but apart from a couple of Meditteranean Gulls they were all Black-headed Gulls....things were starting to look promising, then something, maybe the local Buzzard or the Hobby flushed the gulls and all flew back towards the estuary. ...the wait continued, the gulls nervously started to return, this time in greater numbers. A shout went up that a smaller gull was flying overhead, but no conclusive features were seen! Then a Little Gull that flew in was originally called in as the Ross's Gull..then several minutes later, the Ross's Gull was called and watched it fly in and join the other assembled gulls, the bird was very quick in it's feet as it went about feeding on the edge of the pool, having a pop at any other gull which got in it's way! We watched the Ross's Gull as it tried o settle but wouldn't and eventually flying off to the other side of the pool, before eventually leaving the reserve. A local birder suggested the bird may have gone over to 'goosemoor' and that the walkway and viewing screens were no open...we gave it a try and paid dividends as the bird gave closer views here and appeared more settled. The light was not great but managed a couple of record shots of the bird on the deck, it did eventually fly over the screens and over us but my camera rather frustratingly did not lock on !

 

Ross's Gull - Bowling Green Marsh - Devon



Getting brighter everyday! - the long staying Kumlien's Gull

I suppose being fairly local, It has been a privilege to spend a fair amount of time with this scarce seagull and seems to have made Littlehampton it's home now. It is interesting how the bird is moulting and appears brighter everytime I pop back to see it.
All those that saw it earlier in the year, may want to re-visit! High tide will give you your best bet to get close views and happily comes to bread, has been sitting on the wall and beach on the west side of the river the last few visits



Time to pay the Duke some respect!

Having only spent minimal time in previous years both looking for and seeing the Duke of Burgundy butterfly, I decided to spend some time with these special little gems of a butterfly on the South Downs in West Sussex. They did not disappoint and was also a new butterfly species for Robyn. There was also many Dingy Skippers around aswell as 1 or 2 Grizzled. A few orchids were in flower...they were purple and I took some photo's but will name them later! A Tree Pipit was singing and displaying nearby...top day out!