deborah4
Well-known member
It could have been worse, you could have been working like me! Shame you couldn't find the Firecrest - it's amazing how many Goldcrest one sees while trying though!
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Sussex Birding (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Ben Rackstraw
- Start date
It could have been worse, you could have been working like me! Shame you couldn't find the Firecrest - it's amazing how many Goldcrest one sees while trying though!
joannec
Well-known member
I spent the day at Pett Level.....nothing out of the ordinary...a peregrine chasing lappies really fast! Cool. About 4 auks some distance offshore, probably guillemots. We then went down to Cliff End and watched the courting fulmars. It was really nice down there today in the sun and out of the wind. Got a few behaviour shots.
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Matt Silk
Well-known member
Walked down to the marina after school today (lessons ended at lunch) and spent much of the time grilling the gulls, eventually finding a/the 2cy CASPIAN GULL on the end of the west arm. Also about were 3 Yellow Legged Gulls, a heinei Common Gull and a very dark 2cy Herring Gull (although it didn't really look right for a smicker). There was a Rock Pipit, Oystercatcher and Little Egret on the beach to the east of the marina and a Razorbill offshore with 2 diver spp. east. Yearlist on 122 now
joannec
Well-known member
Mark43
Well-known member
Mark43
Well-known member
A beautiful day (arguably the best day of the year so far) and i managed to get my 3rd day of birding in since 2008 began........yes i know its a rubbish effort but some of us have to work you know.:-O
Joined up with Bernie Forbes and Dave Smith and about 20 others for a Sussex Ornithological Society outing round East Head ,Snowhill Marsh and Ellanore and most enjoyable it was to.
Only just pulled up in the car park and someone called the Black Brant which luckily had decided to wander away from the main flock of Brents and so was easily identifiable........so much easier than searching through a flock of 700 odd geese..........a lifer for me also.A large flock of Golden Plover were put up by something before they returned to feed on the fields behind the cafe.
A quick look on the sea before we left also found a single Black Throated Diver........lifer number 2..........was this going to be a good day.........could i possibly crack Slavonian Grebe also........a nemesis bird i cannot seem to find.
Anyway on to Ellanore with a few Curlew,RL Partridges,single Mistle Thrush and a Green Woody enroute.Arriving at Ellanore we found 57 RB Mergansers just offshore..........the largest amount i have ever seen in one go.........very nice indeed.A few Turnstones and Ringed Plover on the beach and a couple of Dunlin feeding on the sand and half a dozen GC Grebes offshore was about it for here.A Peregrine was spotted in the distance sat on a concrete pipe.
A walk back along Snowhill Marsh produced 4 Common Buzzards,Stonechat,GS Woody and a Black Wit etc.
We took lunch then proceeded out to East Head.........the enormous amount of dog walkers and sun worshippers made birding on the Head very difficult so we opted to go round the shoreline finding Dunlin,Knot,Skylark,Mipit and Reed Bunting on the way.
A check offshore found several Common Scoter,a Guillemot (unusual for here),another Black Throated Diver then Bernie called a Slav Grebe.
Trust me this story doesn't end well..........i got my scope on the spot and.......thats right.......no bloody grebe there :C..........it had dived and for all i know it had dived and drowned itself because i don't think anyone saw it again.
That was about the end of the trip.......some went off to find the RB Goose.
A good trip with about 50 species logged.
Joined up with Bernie Forbes and Dave Smith and about 20 others for a Sussex Ornithological Society outing round East Head ,Snowhill Marsh and Ellanore and most enjoyable it was to.
Only just pulled up in the car park and someone called the Black Brant which luckily had decided to wander away from the main flock of Brents and so was easily identifiable........so much easier than searching through a flock of 700 odd geese..........a lifer for me also.A large flock of Golden Plover were put up by something before they returned to feed on the fields behind the cafe.
A quick look on the sea before we left also found a single Black Throated Diver........lifer number 2..........was this going to be a good day.........could i possibly crack Slavonian Grebe also........a nemesis bird i cannot seem to find.
Anyway on to Ellanore with a few Curlew,RL Partridges,single Mistle Thrush and a Green Woody enroute.Arriving at Ellanore we found 57 RB Mergansers just offshore..........the largest amount i have ever seen in one go.........very nice indeed.A few Turnstones and Ringed Plover on the beach and a couple of Dunlin feeding on the sand and half a dozen GC Grebes offshore was about it for here.A Peregrine was spotted in the distance sat on a concrete pipe.
A walk back along Snowhill Marsh produced 4 Common Buzzards,Stonechat,GS Woody and a Black Wit etc.
We took lunch then proceeded out to East Head.........the enormous amount of dog walkers and sun worshippers made birding on the Head very difficult so we opted to go round the shoreline finding Dunlin,Knot,Skylark,Mipit and Reed Bunting on the way.
A check offshore found several Common Scoter,a Guillemot (unusual for here),another Black Throated Diver then Bernie called a Slav Grebe.
Trust me this story doesn't end well..........i got my scope on the spot and.......thats right.......no bloody grebe there :C..........it had dived and for all i know it had dived and drowned itself because i don't think anyone saw it again.
That was about the end of the trip.......some went off to find the RB Goose.
A good trip with about 50 species logged.
Matt Silk
Well-known member
Brighton, there was a report of a caspo, glauc and iceland there earlier in the week, so i headed down to check it out. The caspo (although the rarest in sussex) was the only one that wouldn't have been a lifer!
Long tailed duck at widewater this afternoon. Nothing of note at the fort amongst huge numbers of people and very very quiet on the patch this morning.
Long tailed duck at widewater this afternoon. Nothing of note at the fort amongst huge numbers of people and very very quiet on the patch this morning.
Mark43
Well-known member
Advice needed.
Fancy a trip out tomorrow to Amberley Wildbrooks.I know how to walk onto it from Greatham but want to do it from the other end.Is the Sportsman Pub a good place to park and if so which direction do i then head.........sorry don't know the area very well.
Also where can you park in North Stoke and how do i get out to the Burgh.......looking for SEO's hopefully.
Any help appreciated.
Cheers.
Fancy a trip out tomorrow to Amberley Wildbrooks.I know how to walk onto it from Greatham but want to do it from the other end.Is the Sportsman Pub a good place to park and if so which direction do i then head.........sorry don't know the area very well.
Also where can you park in North Stoke and how do i get out to the Burgh.......looking for SEO's hopefully.
Any help appreciated.
Cheers.
joannec
Well-known member
Aaaah Mark.....bad luck:-C. And it was your birthday yesterday.
Otherwise sounds like a great day. BF is brilliant...met him last year and those SOS walks are good but ya know, I've lost my programme for this year:egghead:. Gonna have to ask for a new one.
I spent the morning on Ashdown Forest doing my count....lots of birds; highlight was two redpoll. Then this afternoon my other half fancied an afternoon out so it was Splash Point. I was too tired to do much walking on my old crock knees after this morning so didn't go far but pleased to see the kittiwake are back, also two rock pipit.
Matt: huge numbers of people at Splash Point too today...... but it was the first springlike day of the year!
Joanne
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Matt Silk
Well-known member
Mark - am heading to the burgh area tomorrow afternoon, don't know where to go but was just going to head up the road from North Stoke and find somewhere to pull over.
As for the wildbrooks, i've always stopped in the car park south of rackham woods. if you walk towards rackham mill you get good views over the area. don't know about accessing the wey south path from amberley but have heard it can be incredibly wet/muddy at this time of year.
As for the wildbrooks, i've always stopped in the car park south of rackham woods. if you walk towards rackham mill you get good views over the area. don't know about accessing the wey south path from amberley but have heard it can be incredibly wet/muddy at this time of year.
Mark43
Well-known member
Thanks Matt.
In the end i found a little lane just outside Amberley then walked a short distance onto the South Downs Way.It was a bit muddy but not to bad but nothing much about except a few Stonechats,Reed Buntings and Goldfinch.A very nice Common Buzzard perched made a nice scope view and a nice chance to see this bird close up.
Went up to N.Stoke but could not really be sure if we were in the right spot.Certainly no sign of SEO's anywhere.Will try and find out from someone on SOS and i will post it back here.Birdwise there were lots of Redwing about and a few GS Woodies and at least 6 Buzzards over the area.
Matt Silk
Well-known member
There were 7!!! Short-eared Owls hunting in the valleys south of Downs Farm this afternoon. Also up there 4 Buzzards, 3 Kestrels and a Sparrowhawk as well as Brambling, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Skylark + calling grey partridges. also saw what were presumably the bewick's swans way down the valley nr burpham from the top of the downs.
At Coates Common no woodlarks but a nice flock of siskins and a male brambling.
Cattle Egret with a little egret nr chichester gps (too late for the whooper swans)
missed the lapland bunting at selsey - i think the hundreds of dog walkers had disturbed it as it was seen earlier in the morning.
No red breasted goose or brant at west wittering. i still haven't seen the rbg and am worried it might have gone.
At Coates Common no woodlarks but a nice flock of siskins and a male brambling.
Cattle Egret with a little egret nr chichester gps (too late for the whooper swans)
missed the lapland bunting at selsey - i think the hundreds of dog walkers had disturbed it as it was seen earlier in the morning.
No red breasted goose or brant at west wittering. i still haven't seen the rbg and am worried it might have gone.
Patrick_L
Counting Down
As it's been seen on both Hayling and Thorney Islands recently, sounds like it's getting a bit more mobile.
At least it appears it hasn't slipped under the Splash Point radar, after the hours that have been put in there recently counting Brents.
Matt Silk
Well-known member
The highlight on the patch this afternoon was distant views of a calling Little Owl at St. Georges, also a Reed Bunting and ca. 80 Greylags there and 2 Marsh Tits and a Redwing in nearby woods. Commoner species were much in evidence as well and i saw/heard 9 Treecreepers and 8 Great Spotted Woodpeckers - much more than normal.
joannec
Well-known member
I'm planning to go to Cuckmere Haven tomorrow morning looking for the spoonbill. It's been reported on 'the scrape'. In many years of going to CH, I have never heard anywhere there referred to as 'the scrape'. Any ideas anyone? I thought I'd go down the East side as that seems more likely, the oxbow, more pools.
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Mark43
Well-known member
Matt Silk
Well-known member
Had a great day around Shoreham today. Caught the train to Southwick and walked down to the power station where i almost immediately had fantastic views of a male PEREGRINE as it came scything across the canal and spent a couple of minutes chasing/harrying a crow. Then walked all they way down to the hove end of the canal and back but failed to find the Glaucous Gull. Headed across to Shoreham Fort where i almost immediately picked up the GLAUCOUS GULL on the beach next to the lifeboat station - it wasn't there when i had walked past earlier and wasn't there when i walked back past in the afternoon. Nothing at the fort and only 2 gannets of note out to sea. I then walked along the beach for a mile or so seeing only ringed plovers and linnets before cutting through the estate and walking up the estuary. Between the railway bridge and cuckoo corner there was: Grey Plover, Knot, Turnstone, Redhsnak and Dunlin, a pair of teal, 2 drake wigeon, a dozen or so Little Grebes, 2 Little Egrets, 2 Mute Swans, 1 YELLOW LEGGED GULL, ca. 150 GBBGs, ca. 20 LBBGs, ca. 80 Herring Gulls, ca. 1500 BHGs, ca. 2500 Common Gulls, ca. 1500 Lapwings (mainly on the airfield), a Snipe, a WATER PIPIT, 2 Reed Buntings, a Stonechat and 2 BLACKCAPS. The highlight came when a Spitfire took off over my head, flushing all of the Lapwings from the airfield, before circling aroung and doing some acrobatics over the bypass, flushing just about everything into the air. Wow!!
Mark43
Well-known member
There you go Matt........bird watching and aircraft spotting all in the same day..........you can't beat it.:-O
Decided to leave the Spoonbill and head out to Lavington Common today to get the Shrike on the year list.It was very mobile but much closer in than when i saw it last year and Jackie and i had some great views including watching it catch 2 small rodents and jam them into a fork of a branch..........amazing to watch.Had 2 Woodlarks over as well so that was a nice bonus.
From there we drove over to Ambersham Common looking for Dartford Warbler.
Walking up the main path we found a beautiful male Firecrest in one of the Pines then after waiting for 10 minutes we found a male Dartford Warbler flitting between the heather and the gorse.
Driving down to Pulborough we had 5 Common Buzzards very low over Byworth.Nothing much at Pulborough but added Snipe and Nuthatch to the year list.
From here we went to search for the Burgh again up at North Stoke and managed to find the right place this time.Just after 3 o'clock we had 4 SEO's hunting just below us in the valley with great scope views of them perched on fence posts.As we were leaving we found another 50 yards in front of us perched on a fence which we watched for a while till dogs flushed it.
Grey Partridge,Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting were the only other birds of note .
Directions to the Burgh as i promised i would add on my last post.
Drive into Amberley and follow sign to North Stoke.When you get to the T-junction turn left and drive for about a mile up a single track road till you can go no further.Park on the road or in the barn area on your right.Walk up the road towards a gate and go through here branching left and up the incline.
At the top the path swings left and down towards a gate.The valley and fields beyond here are where the SEO's hunt.
joannec
Well-known member
Amazing what the sun brings out!:t: sounds like a brilliant day! I think I might just go looking for those SEOs.
Matt: Sounds like you had a good day yesterday too. I went to Cuckmere Haven yesterday......brilliant views of the spoonbill. Report in this link:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=107591
Joanne
Edit: forgot to include firecrest in quote.
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