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Sussex Birding (1 Viewer)

Well done on the pic Frank - funny how they're so skulky over here yet on the continent they're not...
Gorgeous male Garganey on the Breach Pool at the North Wall, Pagham Harbour this evening. Thought I was gonna miss that one this spring...!
 
Pulborough

Had a nice early morning walk around Pulborough this Sunday just gone.
The first Whitethroats of the year making there presence known as we stolled down the hill .It didn't take long to pick up Nightingale with at least 6 heard around the trail and 2 seen.
A flyover calling Cuckoo pushed the year list up another notch.
Unfortunately no waders on the brooks having hoped the earlier rain squall might have forced some in.
Some movement in the trees found a Jay nest building and we watched it for a good 10 minutes...not bothered by our presence in the least.
A Garden Warbler singing in the trees just past the Hangar remained just that....a singing bird....couldn't see it for looking.
A few Blackcap and Willow Warbler dotted here and there gave us 5 new ones for the year.
Always a pleasurable place to visit topped off by my customary sausage bap and hot chcocolate.
Roll on the Bank holiday weekend.....got friday off as well so a birding we will go lol.
 
Lovely warm day off from work for a change ....

Birding Cuckmere/Birling Gap/Charlton reed beds:

Common Whitethroat everywhere today with a few Lessers. Blackcaps, Chiffchaff, Willow Warblers, Sedge (not calling), very vocal Reed Warblers, lovely male Yellowhammer, 2 x Ring Ouzel, Red Legged Partridge pair, 2 x Black Redstarts, Raven pair (very vocal on breeding site) but no sign of any fledged juveniles in area, Rock Pipit, Sparrowhawk pair, Kestrel pair, Peregrine pair, Fulmar and Kittiwake, good passage of Common and Sarnie Terns, flock of c.8 Whimbrel coming in off sea, Greenshank, 2 x Green Woodpeckers and a very disturbing sheep worrying incident involving 3 out of control dogs in Cuckmere Valley (I managed to grab a pick and police/rangers/farmer all on the scene - prosecution likely and jolly good too imo considering several mutilated sheep/lambs:C)

Horrendous pic of one of RO, a marginally better Black Redstart and an almost obliging Meadow Pipit - back to work again tomorrow :-C
 

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Went east today to Pett where the highlight was at least two Velvet Scoters in with the hundreds of Common Scoters, quite close in, on the choppy seas. Two Marsh harriers, including a splendid male put everything up; they must be a pair. :t: On to the Reserva Obscura where Kevin is busy fencing ;), loads of birds too numerous to list them all..............at least 7 cettis, sedges singing and glimpsed a few including one doing a display flight, bearded tit, swifts at the sea end of the valley and I counted 19 avocets but there were probably more, two Snipe, several Ringed plover, Common tern, about 40 Whimbrel!, Cuckoo heard but couldn't find any Med gulls. Return journey was via the Brede Valley and low and behold...........baby Lapwing!
 
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joannec said:
On to the Reserva Obscura where Kevin is busy fencing ;)
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:-O Aw Jo, good guess, but I got an alibi and witnesses, m'lud- I was actually busy helping put up deterrents way way closer to the county line, to stop them cross-border raiders from Kent. This weekend I'm repointing Martello towers and bunging piranhas in the Royal Military Canal ;)
 
2 Wood Sands right at the rear of the Breach Pool along the North Wall today...along with 2 drake Garganeys, pair of LRPs and a couple of smart Yellow Wags.
 
nickyb said:
Seems the Breach Pool is attracting the birds again this year!!! Anything on the ferry pool????? lol
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Don't even start that Nicky-boy!!! Ferry duck pond (maybe jus call it *uck Pond and be done with it)...pah, worst mis-management I've seen.....the water's kept high for the breeding Redshank and Lapwing...???? There were 2 Lapwing chicks at the North Wall today so they do like muddy margins too. If any of the chicks on the Ferry walked too near the edges now it'd be akin to one of us falling off of Beachy Head...and they'd probably drown!! Still, it's nice to see so many Tufties diving and doing well...maybe they could start selling bread and seed at the info centre.....
 
if that breach pool gets another Oriental Pratincole this year I might even go west! For some reason never got around to seeing the last one. Partly because Dad couldn't be bothered to ferry me over for a Collared Prat (for his own odd reasons, still a great bird IMO) and when news broke that t'was an Oriental we couldn't get there before it had gone!

Duck Pond would be great!! You might even get a Wigeon if you are really lucky, or maybe even a Moorhen!;)
 
birdboybowley said:
2 Wood Sands right at the rear of the Breach Pool along the North Wall today...along with 2 drake Garganeys, pair of LRPs and a couple of smart Yellow Wags.
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I don't get down to Pagham very often. From the North Wall is Breach Pool the closest pond to the wall, looking inland? Or one of the more distant ones? Where is the best viewpoint? Thanks.
 
joannec said:
I don't get down to Pagham very often. From the North Wall is Breach Pool the closest pond to the wall, looking inland? Or one of the more distant ones? Where is the best viewpoint? Thanks.
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Yes, its the main large pool with the reeds in the middle of it. The actual wall is the only viewpoint, and its right next to it, so the views are generally good, although as you have already suggested, there are several distant pools too.

hollis_f said:
I've never tried the North Wall at Pagham. What's the best tide for visiting?
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Like all Harbour/estuary birding, at, or near to, high tide is best, as thats when many of the ducks and waders come onto the permanent brakish pool. But of course most migrant water birds may be on the pool at any time.
 
The Burgh

Visited The Burgh on Saturday for the first time. Good location, with excellent numbers of birds showing - plenty of finches and skylarks, Whiffwhaffs (both species singing) and Blackcaps, swallows, Corn Buntings singing and Yellowhammers flying past. And a cuckoo singing from the direction of South Stoke down in the valley. And Grey Partridge and Red-legged Partridge seen too - both firsts for me.

If nothing else, the Burgh is a lovely place for a downland walk with stunning views across the valley towards Arundel. Lovely.
 
Sean F said:
Yes, its the main large pool with the reeds in the middle of it. The actual wall is the only viewpoint, and its right next to it, so the views are generally good, although as you have already suggested, there are several distant pools too.
.
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Thanks Sean.

Went to Newhaven Tidemills this morning; at least 4 wheatear including a pair chasing and a female winchat. Nothing on the sea in the north wind.

Stoggler: I agree with you, The Burgh is a fantastic birding spot, even better in the winter if you can put up with really really cold Downland birding.
 
Red-Necked Grebe still at Climping this morning, best viewed from the beach from bread lane, moving slowly east.
 
Lesser Spots currently showing off at Pulborough at the moment. Apparently there are two males drumming. Yesterday I saw one in the large oak in the car park, and then again briefly on the top of the 'mound' on Wiggonholt, flying over the young Chestnut coppice.

I also witnessed a Blackbird fiercely mobbing a Grass Snake there!
 
gropperwinch said:
if that breach pool gets another Oriental Pratincole this year I might even go west! For some reason never got around to seeing the last one. Partly because Dad couldn't be bothered to ferry me over for a Collared Prat (for his own odd reasons, still a great bird IMO) and when news broke that t'was an Oriental we couldn't get there before it had gone!

Duck Pond would be great!! You might even get a Wigeon if you are really lucky, or maybe even a Moorhen!;)
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Lets hope there is another one, one day, at least you were in the country when this bird was at Breach Pool, I was working out in Denmark!! I managed to catch up with it at Dunge a week later tho!

For a bit of fun, predict the next Sussex scarcity/rarity/mega and where it will turn up......I'm going for...Great Reed Warbler.....Breech Pool...(where else)!!!
 
next sussex rarity... obviously a spring overshoot. Mind You, if spring ends like it's started we probably won't get another rarity until Autumn! My money, discluding stuff like Cattle/GW Egret, Alp Swift, RR Swallow, Bee-eater, Crane etc. is Lesser Yellowlegs. Or WWB Tern. Or Pallid Swift (surely a new sussex species long overdue now?). Or Sardinian Warbler at Hope Gap, Seaford Head !!! (I'll be looking next good day!)
 
A late posting: Thursday birding for The Hen Harriers took us to Pevesey Levels, off piste for us. Highlights were 7 hobbies at once!! Also a late male merlin, seen close. At least 10 yellow wags were in a field between Rickney and Pevensey......I'm not really sure where Rickney becomes Pevensey but it was north of the scrape viewable from the lane. Had a nice encounter with the female farmer there who reported lapwing chicks, nice that they are doing so well. I thought I glimpsed a marsh harrier but it was brief and uncertain and several cettis throughout the morning; they seem to be doing well here. This is a pretty underwatched area of East Sussex............gonna put it on our regular birding list.

Edit: Chillies Farm shop does nice cream teas!
 
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