New to birding, Sussex. (1 Viewer)

Hello everyone! Before I get started, I'm actually based in Gloucestershire but I'm doing farm/care work on a relatives farm in Sussex, close to royal tunbridge wells. I have a very keen interest in media and studied it at A level, as a result I'm quite creative! I've also loved doing a bit of photography, but only recently got into birds, quite frankly I love wildlife, but birds in particular! Over the past week or two I've photographed pictures of bank voles, goldfinches, chaffinch, treecreeper, kestrel, great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch and a blackcap, my main aim is to photograph an owl, in my eyes they are the most majestic creatures on this planet! Any tips on shooting one would be great!

What other birds will I encounter in this area? Also how do I find/attract them?

I look forward to hearing from anyone soon!

P.s Great Spotted Woodpeckers love nuts! The woodpecker always visits our nut feeder, amazing bird

As the first reply, welcome to birdforum. The list of species in your area is long, including crows, finches, tits, sparrows, blackbirds and thrushes to name a few. Are you near to water, this will add several more.

Food, nesting sites/boxes will attract birds as will drinking/bathing water.

don't expect them to appear overnight, it takes a while for them to get used to what you have provided.

Welcome to Bird Forum and to Sussex. Sussex is a very good county for birding, we're on important migration routes. Sounds like you may be near Ashdown Forest, very important for heathland species. Check out the SOS website:

http://www.sos.org.uk/

Thank you! - yes I think it is near ash down, I have access to about 5 fields, that have not been worked so I'm sure owls would love that? We have a great big forest and a big fisherman lake along with a few ponds, I've been doing a lot of research on birds, but I hope I'm not looking for birds that don't come to this area! I have 2 great bird books plus the forum that I will look into greater detail. I do Stop motion and animation so I'm very patient!

Kingfishers, would I find them here?

I only discovered Ashdown earlier this year, and it has already become my favourite place! I live in East London so it's a bit of a drive, but always worth it. A great challange for a photographer is the Dartford warbler, a rare heathland species that spends most of its time hiding. In the winter they can be quite obliging, however, and I have got within a couple of meters of one once. Have a look at this website: http://www.ashdownforest.org/wild/birds-n-beasts/birds.php for some more info. Redstarts are found in the area at this time of year and are one of the most striking UK birds; they usually aren't very shy so you should try and see some of them! If your going to be around for a bit I highly recommend you go on a Nightjar walk very close to Tunbridge Wells: http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-308152 They only display and hunt in the evenings and have the most extraordinary call.

Hope this helped!

And...

As for Kingfishers, I don't know much about their distribution in Sussex but they can also be seen sometimes at Ashdown forest. You are a bit more likely to see Grey wagtails, which are almost as impressive. Chafford Gorges EWT is an excellent place to see Kingfishers up close, but is in south Essex so probably a bit too far away.

Wow I'll do some research and get hunting! My time is limited and rarely get time to visit places like that, I do all my photography on the farm which is very large anyway, a lot of wild life here such as a ton of deer.. Two of which are White, they're out every evening.

So it's a case of sitting and waiting? Does it work if you put a specific type of food out (worms) and they'll come? Say in a middle of a field.. Thanks for the info!