Nick's Stuff

'mention that Albatross again Danny boy, it wont be fingers shooting ya next time' lol

Nick "Chelsea Boy" Bond

I tend to remember taking an interest in birds when I was really young, and kind of remember my first outing to Beddington SF in Surrey with my uncle…in a completely different environment to the mess it is today(although still pulls in the birds)!!! Then did not really do any birding, though always remained interested until 1997/1998 when started going out on a few twitches (including Lesser Sandplover at Pagham) and doing some general birding, this is when I also picked up an interest in photography. I then laid low for a while until late 2002 when I started going out regular with the Surbiton Bird Club, this is where I met the other ‘Widerscopers’ and apart from spending the best part of two seasons in 2005/2006 in Cyprus, most of my birding days out have been with the crew! Currently based in West Sussex, I have been spending a lot of my days out recently birding in the Sussex area, mainly in the Pagham Harbour/Selsey Bill area. Sussex highlights so far include River Warbler, Trumpeter Finch, Terek Sandpiper and a fantatic drake King Eider. 2009 looks to be another busy year, with trips to Estonia in March,  another Scilly pelagic in August and a week spent on Scilly in October, the camera will get it's fair share of use this year!!......read below for the adventures!

December 2009

15th - West Sussex - Long-eared Owls! report to follow

Long-eared Owl's - 2 of 3 birds seen today (N.Bond)

13th - West Sussex - (report to follow)

10th - West Sussex - Pretty much followed the same route as the 8th, with the Firecrest showing very well on and off at Climping, with a possible second bird heard calling, there wasn't anything of note at Swanbourne, two Common Buzzards were thermaling in the winter sun near Burpham. At Mewsbrook, 'frenchie' was still present! An adult Black-headed Gull was also found sporting a silver ring on it's left leg...I wonder where this originated from???

A couple of flight shots of 'frenchie' (N.Bond)

Common Gull - Swanbourne Lake, 1 of at least 5 present

Black-headed Gull - Mewsbrook Park, sporting a silver ring sporting the number 9643

8th - West Sussex - Started off at Climping, it was nice to get out in calm, still conditions. The tide was well out, there were 78 Brent Geese on the sea and around 30 Sanderling dotted about. A Firecrest was seen and heard in the wooded area near the Bailifscourt hotel. Had a drive around the Arundel area, with little luck in finding anything noteworthy, headed to Mewsbrook and the second Mediterranean Gull was present on the lake, but still no sign of 'frenchie'(the french-ringed Mediterranean Gull). As we wereleaving the park at 11.45, a adult Mediterranean Gull flew past me, arriving from the north, landing on a near-by post, 'frenchie' had returned, so was nice to see he was still around!

3rd - West Susex - Littlehampton - Whilst out in the Littlehampton area, decided to check Mewsbrook Park again to check to see if the french ringecd Mediterranean Gull was present. Unfortunatley there was no sign, but another adult Mediterranean Gull was found on a nearby roof, more advanced plumage around the head and no rings! On the beach opposite, there were huge numbers of Sanderling. at least 300, with a couple of Dunlin scattered in with good numbers of Turnstone, the largest count of waders I have seen so far on this stretch of beach! At Ferring, there were plenty of gulls roosting in the ploughed fields just inland, nothing unusual, but 46 Ringed Plover, 22 Grey Plover and singles of Dunlin and Turnstone were unexpected finds.

Sanderling - Littlehampton beach, good numbers currently present

A beach full of waders - the stretch between Littlehampton and Rustington hosted large numbers of Sanderling

1st - West Sussex - Climping and Amberley - Finally the weather abated and a bright crisp morning took me back down to Climping! There was not much on offer at Climping, at least 100 Goldfinch's moving east whilst we were there and 2 Mistle Thrushes in the area. 7 Shelduck arrived on the sea, Common Scoter and Red-breasted Mergansers were moving through. A message from Rba alerted me to a Grey Phalarope, just down the road at Amberley, so decided to take a drive up and have a look. I first viewed from the top road, overlooking the wildbrooks. The bird was located on the far left side, so decided to take a stroll down for a closer look. The bird performed well and was dwarfed by the 2 Mute Swans present! This bird took my Sussex list upto 199 for the year, hopefully will get another Sussex year-ticvk before the year is out!

Grey Phalarope - Record shots of how we saw the Amberley bird, note the size comparison with the Mute Swan!(N.Bond)

November 2009

28th - Hampshire - Lower Brook - Crossed county-borders to take a look at the juvenille Spotted Sandpiper, well worth a visit! We parked at Stoneymarsh car-park and walked north, eventually reaching the area next to the River Test, I saw the bird straight away, flying across the river and out of view. The settings wer kinda surreal, with the river breaking up into little streams, within the garden of a large mansion, the bird was out of view, there were a couple of other birders that had headed a little further up the driveway and could clearly see the bird. The lady that owned the house was out walking the dog and gave us kind permission to walk further up the drive, 'but as long as there wasn't too many people as her husband would get cross'! With that, better views were obtained of the Spotted Sandpiper as it fed alongside the stream and on the expansive lawn. The bird never really came too close to photograph but the scope views were good. Several Pied and Grey Wagtails were in the area, whilst a single Fieldfare was in the car-park, before the rain set-in cutting the day in Hampshire rather short!

Birders at Lower Brook, and a record shot of the juvenille Spotted Sandpiper (N.Bond)

26th - West Sussex - Swanbourne Lake and Mewsbrook Park - Headed out before I started work, we had to pop into Arundel, combining with a visit to Swanbourne Lake. It was a worthwhile visit, a Cetti's Warbler was heard calling, then singing, not far from the entrance, a Redpoll and 2 Redwing's moved overhead, 4 Common Gull's were on the lake amongst the 200+Black-headed Gull's, whilst watching these a drake Goosander, flew over south. I have not seen these in Arundel's WWT collection, so must assume that this was a wild one! Heading into Littlehampton, I checked out Mewsbrook Park, dodging the now frequent, heavy showers. We were rewarded with this Mediterranean Gull, possibly one of the tamest Med Gull's I have encountered, showing down to just a few feet. I remember seeing two adult birds in this park 2 years ago, but do not recall them being ringed. Sporting a green band on it's right leg '2M5' and a silver ring on it's left leg, I checked out the relevant websites and contacted Camille Duponcheel in France, who quickly informed me that the bird had been rung on the 16th May 2008 at Seine - et - marne in France(near Paris), the bird had also been reported at Mewsbrook on 23rd October this year by Barry Frost. This bird sure was a character, coming to bread and cake, calling continuously offering fantastic photograph opportunities...

Adult Mediterranean Gull - this ringed individual photographed in a local park (N.Bond)

25th - West Sussex - Shoreham Harbour and Widewater - A morning visit down to Shoreham harbour ended prematurely when a thunder storm swept in with heavy blustery rain, I decided to try Widewater where I watched a Kingfisher sheltering from the rain, I then found a single female Red-breasted Merganser on the lagoon. 2 Little Egrets and a Redshank still present and at least 4 Little Grebes were in a bay close to the car park, enabling photo opportunities as the sun finally appeared.

Little Grebe - one of at least 4 at Widewater (N.Bond)

Little Egret - feeding close-by at Widewater (N.Bond)

15th - West Sussex - Finished work at 1pm, so decided to head out locally to see if the storms had dropped in any goodies. Starting at Widewater, the pools were pretty empty. A Redshank, Little Egret and a Kingfisher were the only birds of note, with a lone Red-breasted Merganser offshore, and a dozen Turnstone on the beach. Moving onto Shoreham, again pretty quiet, but we had fun returning washed-up starfish, which were still alive to the sea, depriving the local Herring Gulls of a tasty meal!

11th - West Sussex - Climping - Spent an hour down at Climping this morning, pretty quiet to be honest, although a lone Bar-tailed Godwit with 40+ Curlews was noteworthy as well as 2 Grey Plover on the beach, but only 2 Sanderling noted. A single Stonechat was just to the west of the car park.

Just a few birdes needed the Fan-tailed at Pegwell

7th - Kent - Pegwell Bay - Decided to try for a second time for the Fan-tailed Warbler at Pegwell as had been reported reguarly all week. The bird showed well at around 8am when was picked up by its call, plenty of birders here fighting for views of this bird. I left Sussex at stupid o'clock to pick up The Gibster stranded in Tolworth. We arrived on site in good time, finding the car-park open with several birders already on site. The majority of the birders were stood around the hide area, we stuck to the reedbed by the car-park as that is where the bird has been mainly reported from first thing! A couple of Wrens made an appearance in the reeds getting pulses racing, then a bird was calling, but I couldn't quite get onto it as the guys next to us were having a good old natter and catching up! I seriously could barely hear the bird calling, but sounded interesting, although didn't seem high pitched enough for Fan-tailed, they guy next to me finally shut-up, and we got the bird, getting a brief glimpse before it flew further out onto the salt marsh where it showed well, obtaining good scope views. The car-park cafe was calling where the Gibster generously treated me to a bacon roll and made a premature exit, I have seen hundreds abroad, especially in my old garden in Cyprus! A couple of Peregrines had put on a show whilst waiting for the warbler, there were also good number of Golden Plover and several Redpoll over.

4th - Staines Moor - Another fine sunny morning, took me back to see the Brown Shrike, the paths were a lot muddier, I'm sure there will be a few mud-falls here over the next few days! I arrived in the area and was the only birder here! I started scanning, initially not finding the bird, I was then joined by two other birders who were kinda hoping that I was on the bird! It was a lifer for both of them, I managed to re-locate the bird for them 5 minutes later about half way out, surely too far for the camera and any decent pics, although I did try a combination of my Sigma 200mm-500mm lens with the Canon 2x converter gaining the results below -

Brown Shrike - Staines Moor - 4th November 2009 (N.Bond)

The bird remained on view on and off for the hour that I was there before I had to head off via the mudpath to get back to work. A Kingfisher and a fly-over Water Pipit were also highlights...I think I can get used to working these late shifts!

Lapland Bunting - Pagham Harbour - 2nd November 2009 (N.Bond)

2nd - West Sussex - Pagham Harbour North Wall - A nice sunny morning took me back to Pagham, hoping to get better photo's of the Lapland Bunting along the North Wall. Although the sun was out, the breeze was rather bitter so maybe the shorts will have to retire for a few months now! On the Breech Pool there were several Snipe, 70+Black-tailed Godwits with the Spotted Redshank roosting in with them, larger numbers of Brent Geese were in the harbour and Golden Plover were around in good number. Several Rock Pipits were noted along the wall as a Cetti's gave a burst of song. The Lapland Bunting was still present and performed well, showing incredibly close and was even feeding under the leg of my tripod at one stage! The juvenile Spoonbill was roosting out in the harbour on an island with Little Egrets and Grey Heron. A Kingfisher was feeding from the rocks as the tide peaked. Despite the colder blast, butterflies were hanging on with Painted Lady and Red Admiral noted along with a Common Darter dragonfly (below)

.

October 2009

Lapland Bunting - Pagham Harbour - 31st October 2009 (N.Bond)

Spoonbill - juvenile on the Breech Pool, Pagham (N.Bond)

31st October 2009 - Pagham Harbour North Wall and Chichester Gravel Pits - A wet and windy morning saw me brave the elements and make the effort to see the Spoonbill that had been present for some time at Pagham, also a Lapland Bunting had been found there the day before offering extra incentive. It must have been my day, as I turned up on-site the rain had stopped! the luck continued with the juvenille Spoonbill seen feeding on the Breech Pool, offering good views as it fed on the other side of the pool, Black-tailed Godwit's were roosting in good numbers and a Spotted Redshank was found in with them. A bit further west from the Breech Pool, the Lapland Bunting was showing well feeding on the main pathway, just the shame the light wasn't great for photography, but I had a go anyhow, at one stage the bird was put up by a dogwalker(who else)! and landed on the rocks directly below me(above). I moved on from here and walked around Ivy Lake, finding the female Red-crested Pochard at the far east end of the lake, several Chiff-chaffs and a Cetti's were also noted here. A Migrant Hawker was also found near the gravel pits (below)

Migrant Hawker at Chichester Gravel Pits (N.Bond)

28th October - West Sussex - Highdown - A Pallas's Warbler had been reported in Highdown Gardens at 3.30pm as per RBA. I checked the SOS website and there were no further details, so I trudged up to have a look this morning anyhow. We had a good look around, the gardens are fairly large and extensive but unfortunatley was unable to refind the bird! A single Clouded Yellow butterfly looked to be on it's last legs, as 3 Redpolls headed north-east overhead. There were several birders in the gardens hunting around, I located a small tit flock but apart from a couple of Goldcrests, nothing unusual was present. I headed out of the gardens and onto Highdown itself, 33 Skylarks arrived from the south and settled in a nearby field, as did 8 Yellowhammers. Another tit flock was located. I checked through, with at least 40 Long-tailed Tits fairly impressive. In a nearby field a large finch flock of a c300 birds contained mainly Goldfinches with a few Linnets thrown in...a return visit is a must over the next few days!!

27th October 2009 - West Sussex - Climping - A quick morning stroll produced very little of note, continuing the Scilly theme, with more butterflies than birds! A Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady and several Red Admirals were still on the wing, birdwise there were 9 Sanderling all smart in their winter plumage on the beach, 10 Brent Geese moved east as did 2 Swallows. A female Kestrel was mobbed by a Carrion Crow whilst 20 Meadow Pipits were observed heading out to sea. A single Stonechat kept guard in the now 'closed for the winter' car-park and 2 Skylarks lingered overhead.

Juvenille Arctic Tern - with gulls at the Majuba car park in Redcar (N.Bond)

25th October - Co.Durham, Cleveland and East Yorkshire - A day which was good for endurance driving, but our prize had left overnight!! I finished work for the week at 8pm on Friday night and was left with a dilemna...do I head up to South Shields overnight for the Eastern-crowned Warbler?? Garry and Gordon had gone already and were successful, Seth, Glen and Tim were not free due to work commitments until the Sunday...I checked the weather forecast and decided to skip the Saturday and head up with a car-load on the Sunday! Checking my Sat-nav..South Shields was a 700 mile round trip from here on the south Sussex coast so I prepared with a 3hour kip, taking in the clocks going back one hour!! I was in Tolworth by 1.20am to pick up The Gibster and Glen, then on to Hammersmith to gather Tim whilst revellers were still roaming the streets returning from their Saturday night exploits! I kinda questioned our sanity but then there was a first for Britain at stake...this alone took us to South Shields for first light, stopping briefly for refuelling and Costa-lot Coffee! Sat-nav took us straight to the coast road and I rather made a mess of parking my little Ford Ka! The Gibster was straight off to the now famous 'Trow Quarry', whilst I had to wait for the others to gather hats and flap-jacks before locking up! We joined the crowd, which by now had spread out in a nice line, like a firing squad waiting for the Eastern-crowned to wake up! Ads and Chris were here also heading up from Sussex, Richard Bonser had just arrived from the Azores and Drunkbirder arrived a little later (just as he had last Sunday)! Birds were waking up slowly..the light improved and a feeling of expectation filled the air. More people arrived, a couple of Reed Buntings dropped in, as Redpolls moved overhead along with Skylarks. As time moved on, the confidence of clapping eyes on this first for Britain was draining away fast....the Yellow-browed Warbler that was also present the day before also failed to appear....the bird had gone, we clinged on for another half hour but rather despondent, we decided to move on and try a few other sites on the long journey home! We headed south via Hartlepool, where Glen was happy to tick of the 'monkey hangers' ground as a stadium tick as he put it! We decided to try and locate Port Clarence pool, fortunatley some older local folk, informed me this was on the big new reserve where that Glaucous wingy thing was earlier in the year....Saltholme pools! We found this, and entering the new state of the art visitor centre here (which looked rather out of place considering it's gas-works surroundings) a member of the RSPB team informed us that the pool we were looking for was back along the main road...then decided to show us a picture of the mega we had just missed, licking our wounds he tried to pacify us by showing a picture of a Hare that had taken up residence in their play area....this was real dudey stuff, so we hastily headed off to Port Clarence Pool. Parking on a somewhat dangerous road, we scanned the pool and soon managed to find and watch the drake Blue-winged Teal which was a Uk lifer for me! I have never twitched one before an with most ducks, they hardly get my pulse racing, but this was a smart bird feeding mainly at the back of the pool with Shoveler. Moving on we headed into Redcar, looking for Paddy's Hole which seemed to intrigued Tim where a Lapland Bunting had been reported on the way home, instead we ended up at the Majuba beach car-park as Seth had spotted a Tern in with the roosting gulls, I pulled into the car-park and the Tern revealed itself as a juvenille Arctic, Glenn was keen to move on, we were keen to eat at this point, with the car parks burger van offering a 'Swiss' burger as a special, a burger containing cheese/mushrooms/bacon etc, I couldn't quite get my head around why this was labelled a 'Swiss' burger, especially as we were in the North-east of England! Perhaps a 'mouse' burger would give this burger a more descriptive name...besides Glenn and Tim tucked into one! There was a consolation prize on offer at Bempton Cliffs, a Red-flanked Bluetail, that had been present for the last few days, the guys crashed out en route(it's hard work being a passenger)!, except for Seth and the journey through the Yorkshire moors and Scarborough was rather tedious and for the first time I was struggling! We got to Bempton, the final hurdle was following an awfully small coach trying to get down the access track for coffee's, the track being narrowed by birders trying to get onto the Bluetail! The guys were obviously too lazy to walk from the main car - park, or were non-members too tight to park in the main car-park! We searched in-vain for the Bluetail which had apparantly been chased off by a Robin ten minutes before our arrival. There were people everywhere, there were easilly more people on-site here than what were at the Eastern-crowned twitch earlier! We took in the distant juvenille Red-Backed Shrike which was shown to us kindly by some lady near the visitor centre as Tree Sparrows were seen at the feeding station, there was a discrepancy between me and Seth, counting the fly-over Redpoll flock. Light was fading and time moving on, we were all about to give up, when Tim mentioned that there was a different feeding station to the one we had looked at earlier, as we approached the area it was soon obvious that the small crowd gathered were onto the bird, within seconds we were onto it as it fed low down in amongst the leaf litter, at one stage fltting out towards us before heading back into the trees, amazinly close views as the flanks flashed as it flew towards us....news spread fast and more people arrived, with increased noise etc the bird moved further in, occassionally showing well, but not coming nowhere near as close as we had just seen! A top quality bird, Seth asked the usual question 'have you got your camera on you Nick'?, to which I had, but the light was poor and the camera stayed in the bag so I could sit back and enjoy this beauty! Glen had got his lifer, a yeartick for the rest of us, it was time tio make tracks and head south ! Dropping the guys back in London, I arrived home late havig spent the best part of 19hours on the go....Widerscope has a new endurance driver! A good day despite the dissappointment of missing the Warbler, the banter and the 'Swiss' burgers kept us going!

18th October 2009 - Middlesex - Stanwell Moor - The 1st winter Brown Shrike finally caught up with!! We blitzed up overnight, after staying at Dan's new pad in Par, Cornwall, apparantley really good for wildlife, but i wouldn't be able to tell as we only saw it in darkness. We were at Staines Moor for first light, with only a handful of birders present, we walked out onto the moor just as the sun was rising on our backs, we started to can as the thick mist started to rise, and shortly after the 1st winter Brown Shrike appeared, in front of us in the largest hawthorn bush, the bird showed well as more and more birders arrived, it was strange seeing a few birders present that we had seen on Scilly the week before. It was time for our holiday to end and head down to Sussex, what a bird to finish on!

Staines Moor, shadows of expectant birders lined up along the river bank!

Is it a Richard's?? Is it a Blyth's??? 100% Tawny Pipit!! St.Agnes 17th Oct 2009 (N.Bond)

Radde's Warbler at Little Arthur's Farm - St.Martin's - a cracker! (N.Bond)

10-17th October 2009 - Isles of Scilly - More butterflies than birds!!

It's that time of year again to head down for our now annual trip to the Scillies, to catch uop with 'the pirate', good birds, familiar faces and not forgetting the Rattler! I set off from Worthing in the early hours with the Gibster, making it to Penzance in good time, we were not missing the Scillonian this time! The weather looked set fair for the crossing, we met up with Gary ' the boiler' Thoburn on the Scillonian...let the holiday begin! The crossing was pretty quiet bird-wise with just a few Manx Shearwater's and Kittiwake's seen, but the highlight for me, was to finally catch up with a Minke Whale , seeing it fairly close to the back of the Scillonian, then offering brief distant views, I have missed sightings on previous trips of Minke Whale, so was happy to finally see one! Arriving on the quay, we met up with the pirate and decided to catch the first boat to St.Agnes. The sun was pretty warm by now, I have never been to St.Agnes before(a crime I know)!! but, news of an interesting Pipit took us there, I was particuarly interested as it had been confirmed as a Tawny, this bird had gone from being reported as a possible Richard's Pipit to a probable Blyth's, back to Richard's, then confirmed as a Tawny! Local birder Robin joined us as we headed to Wingletang Down, where the bird was frequenting the area of Beady Pool. Another birder put us onto a Firecrest en-route, whilst news broke of a possible Eastern Bonelli's Warbler on St.Mary's causing a scramble and desertion of birders from St.Agnes! I joked with the lads that I was hoping for it to be a Western! This left us to enjoy the Tawny Pipit to ourselves, causing me to suffer from arm-ache taking over 500 shots, as the bird approached ever closer, giving fantastic views, also flying by at close quarters at times, calling frequently, the surroundings and habitat reminded me of watching the last Tawny Pipit's I saw, on Cape Greco in Cyprus! We headed off to look for a Richard's Pipit that had been reported, finding the juvenille Rose-coloured Starling en-route, the bird showing well on and off, no sign of the Richard's Pipit, we searched for our own stuff, a Whitethroat was dug out and a Wheatear was seen on a nearby beach. 4 Bar-tailed Godwits were noteworthy, we sampled some Rattler in the Turk's head and basked in the warm sunshine waiting for our boat back to St.Mary's. 5 Common Scoter's were seen in 'the roads' and high number of Shag's. This large number allowed a birder to announce 'I had hundreds of Shag's today' at the roll call at the Scillonian Club! We headed out this evening until the early hours gatecrashing a private party in the Mermaid, with a live band playing although we were good and avoided the Porthcressa disco!

The following day(11th) took us to St.Martin's(again another island I haven't visited before)! We made our way to Little Arthur's Farm, hoping to see a Red-throated Pipit that had been found here. The farmer kindly allowed us access through his farm and up onto the higher fields, plenty of Meadow Pipit's buzzing around and we located the field with white geese in it, where the bird had been found, so we had to work for this one, scanning and chasing the Meadow Pipit flock around from field to field, they were proving to be very mobile and did not have herds of twitchers chasing them around, the weather did not help neither as it became rather gusty with light drizzle. Eventually we all got onto the bird, on the deck with the Meadow Pipit's, it was good to see one and finally get one onto my UK list after seeing so many abroad. A Seal pup was found by Lucy on the rocks, we had to make tracks as we had to trudge to the other side of the island to catch the 4.30 boat back, the weather hardly improved! We headed back to St.Mary's, I decided to head up to Porthloo Lane to try for the Little Bunting that had been showing, we bumped into Wayne and his following about half way who informed him that the farmer, who had allowed access to birders had shut the field! great! we tried anyhow, Seth and Dan got onto the bird by climbing up onto the roadside walls(they got one of many lecture's from Waynes for doing this)! whilst I battled with the crowd at the iron-bar gate hoping to catch a glimpse, but to no avail! We headed back to the Garrison, checking for our own stuff in the proceeding fields, before daylight got the better of us.

We spent the 12th, thoroughly working the Garrison, we birded here all day, no chasing other peoples birds, we were all suprised at the general lack of birding coverage up here, the majority semed to be gathered on the Lower Broome looking for a Yellow-browed Warbler. Up on the football pitch area we picked up on a Reed Warbler, which offered brief hope of something more interesting, but it proved to be just that, a Reed Warbler! I stuck with this area for a while as there seemed to be a fair bit of activity whilst Seth and Dan went off to check out the pines. Good number of Blackcaps were around, met up again with Seth and Dan, we checked out the Lower Broome where Seth managed to get views of the Yellow-browed Warbler, i saw a brief flicker as it dissappeared even lower into the Lower Broome! I can't count that one even for a year tick! despite plenty of searching, we failed to muster anything of real interest, a Clouded Yellow seen up near Mourning Point, proved to be our only sighting of the trip...time to check out the pines and enjoy the fantastic Scilly sunshine....it felt more like summer than October in the Atlantic.....talking of which...we haven't visited this pub yet! A whole day spent up on the Garrison..at least the sun-tan is coming on!

We headed out on the bikes today, Dan had managed to get for us, these proved worthwhile, although refused to cycle downhill at the Garison, i had little faith in the brakes. We ventured across island, doing a bit of map reading en-route, finally arriving at Deep Point, where a Minke Whale was performing very close in-shore(below), this drawing many admirers and was a rare spectacle on Scilly. Again, the glorious sunshine prevailed as we sat on the coastal path admiring this wonderful animal! Our joy soon turned to dismay as the Sea Safari boat decided to get too close and the whale dissappeared onto the horizon, much to the annoyance of a gtroup of locals that arrived 5minutes too late. Perhaps they caught up with it when it was re-found later off of Old Town bay. 2 Whimbrel also flew past whilst we were here. Back on the bikes we dropped them at Lower Moors, where we saw the 10 Whooper Swan's that had been present there all week, we coulod hear them calling as we approached the hide! A ringtail Hen Harrier headed high overhead, it seem to take me an age to get onto it!! but got views as it headed off north, later seen over St.Martin's, a single Snipe, at least 3 Water Rail's and 5 Greenshank were all on Porth Hellick pool. We took a slow cycle back to Hugh Town, checking out fields along the route. Seth treated us to a pint and crisps in the Bishop, before we finished the day checking the pines and surrounding areas up on the Garrison...we were determined to find something here..does a Garden Warbler count??? The bird-logs in the evening were proving to be less inspiring, the tables were full, but, unfortunatley for the photographers, not full of rarity photo's so far....sums up the trip so far!

'It's a Minnnnkeeeeee' - it's not a wave, it's a whale!! (N.Bond)

We caught the first boat to Brhyer the next day, although, again we had glorious sunshine, the birding had improved a tad, with more expected birds seen, 2 Ring Ouzel's circled overhead, large number of Redwing were around with 2 Fieldfare in with them. A Black Redstart was seen at the horse paddock, but our target species was missed! It had been seen near the pool, but we were heading off to the Fraggle Rock bar, for refreshments! Dan had chased off, to see the reported Great-crested Grebe off of Samson, the Richard's Pipit had flown by the time we arrived there, heading towards St.Mary's! A single Stonechat, a Peasant(sorry Pheasant), a Sparrowhawk, 2 Kestrel's and a Greenshank summed up the other sightings on here. We relaxed with a pint of £2.00 Doombar at the Fraggle Rock bar, whilst waiting for our boat back to St.Mary's. 4 large white birds seen from the boat back caused some interest, rather long-necked but just that little bit too far to nail them....a little later, 4 Spoonbill's were reported on rocks just off of Samson..surely the same birds! We saw these later viewed from the Garrison. 2 Shelduck were alos seen on the boat trip back. Seth was happy, he managed to see his 600th Uk plant species, with Beaked Tasselweed found on Brhyer. We finished the day ith checking the pines around the Garrison again..Blackcaps and Chiff Chaff's....are we on Scilly in October???

Another sunny morning on the 15th, another busy day starting up on the Garrison, 13 Redwing's headed over, a Mistle Thrush and a Fieldfare also in the area of the Woolpack. The 4 Spoonbill's were scoped and were still present off of Samson. Seth and Dan were keen to check out the north of the islands on the bikes..being the lazy git that I am, I wanted to spend more time on St.Martin's. so we went our seperate ways and I took the first boat over. The boats were rather busy and seemed that every birder on St.Mary's was heading for St.Martin's. I'd questioned whether I was making the right choice here...surely this bunch were not heading there for a Radde's Warbler and a Little Bunting?? Two boat loads headed over, bloody madness in my book! we got dropped off at Lower town bay, birders stormed off, yep, pretty sure they are here for the previous mentioned! I took my time birding along the way, good numbers of waders were on the sandflats, a Greenshank, 2 Dunlin  in with the many Ringed Plover and at least 200 Sanderling, whilst up near the art gallery in Higher town a single Fieldfare and 5 Redwing was found. I headed across the cricket pitch and saw a single male Common Redstart in the field behind, at Little Arthur's Farm, the place was madness, as I arrived, there were birders that were on my boat walking away, having seen the Little Bunting. I saw the same farmer, who kindly allowed us access only a few days previous looking rather disgruntled and had denied any access to his fields this....no surprise there! Crowds gathered, looking for the Little Bunting, whilst I moved away and checked the adjacent bulb fields. Plenty of interest here with good number of Chiff Chaff's and Blackcap's to sift through, a pale Chiff caught the eye, with birders trying to turn it into a Bonelli's, whilst another was sporting a ring! The Little Bunting finally showed, offering fairly decent views, but had to laugh at the hysteria that this bird caused, one old guy stacked it whilst trying to get a view through the crowds, whilst someones tripod was knocked, sending someones scope flying! All this for a Little Bunting, again highlighting how desperate this Scilly season was! no sign of the Radde's, I decided to quit the madness, checked out the cricket pitch and the surrounding areas and headed back to St.Mary's picking up a male Peregrine hunting near telegraph en-route! Tonight, we were to head out an adventure to the Eastern Isles on a gig boat, which Dan had kindly arranged with Jacklyn and Tristan. As we left the quay, it was obvious time was against us as light was already starting to fade. First off we went out to the islands just off of Samson and good quality, closer looks of the 4 Spoonbill's not getting too close to disturb them.then we headed east. We landed on Great Ganilly, where apparantly the Earl of Aran was wrecked here in 1872! This un-inhabited island proved a challenge to us all, Seals stalked us as we headed around the island, dead gulls were scattered, we were definatley trespassing on Peregrine Falcon hunting ground here! A Peregrine was duly seen, followed by a dead racing pigeon! I was definatley out of my comfort zone here, climbing up and down the steep rocks, it seemed a breeze to the others but I struggled and determination got my back to our gig boat. Good number of Rock Pipit's were scattered around the island, a couple of Chiff Chaffs were on the beach area, little else around, not really a suprise, with the Peregrine at work here!! I wonder how many rarities have succombed here??  A great trip out though, cheers to Dan for organising and to Jacklyn and Tristan for taking us out there!

Wryneck - St.Mary's near airfield (N.Bond)

Dan had another tripped planned for us today(16th), he had planned for us to head out on a seal survey. I decided reluctantly to decline, so they headed off on the boat, I stuck on St.Marys, starting at the Garrison, propbably my most productive morning up here, a Firecrest was found with 3 Goldcrests in the pines near our digs at the Woolpack, I walked around towards morning point, then the Lower Broome finding a Black Redstart here and the partially albinistic Blackbird(worth seeing)!  Along the Lower broome, I saw the Yellow-browed Warbler well, calling frequently, moving around with some Great and Blue Tit's. Not a bad start!, i headed up towards the airfield, finding a Little Egret and a Greenshank in Old Town bay, several Painted Lady butterflies still on the wing. I managed to see the Wryneck that eventually showed well, drawing in several admirers, moving onto Lower Moors a Jack Snipe was showing well on Porth Hellick pool as were the Whooper Swans, so a couple of yearticks picked up, another Firecrest was found at Lower Moors, i was at Carreg Dhu gardens when news broke of a Radde's Warbler nearby at Longstone's, I headed around to the area which was already busy with twitchers, there was no further sign and with the birding population of St.Mary's descending, I trudged off and caught a boat to St.Martin's to escape the madness! There were just 2 other birders on the boat, I re-visited Little Arthurs farm and saw familiar birding faces here, all watching the Little Bunting, affording good views without all the madness of the day before! The Radde's Warbler showed very well aswell, allowing to take a few shots as it fed low in the bulb field bushes, proving fairly mobile and calling occassionally. Our final night took us out to our final roll-call at the Scillonian, then onto the Porthcressa disco(enough said)! The last day, we did not get much birding down, although I managed to re-find the Common Rosefinch that had been previously reprted from the Old Town at the dump near the incenerator, I tried in vain to contact Seth and got through to Gary as was un-sure that I was watching the bird and describing the features over the phone. It was then time to hit the Scillonian club to watch the Chelsea match, to which I had missed most of it, much to the disgust to Wayne, who could not believe that I was missing the match to see a 'grot' finch! As it happens, we lost much to the delight to the gibster, with Villa beating us! For a change, the pirate headed home with us on the Scillonian, dropping him off at his new home in Cornwall...where we made a brief stay before heading back to Surrey...and a Brown Shrike on the menu!

8th October 2009 - A few sightings whilst at work in Sussex

4th October 2009 - A visit to Highdown and Widewater, 2 local West Sussex sites

September 2009

As you can see below, plenty of days out in the field in September, mainly locally! All reports will be up-dated now we are back on-line

Little Grebe with youngster at Arundel on 20th (N.Bond)

27th September 2009 - Kent - Pegwell Bay - Left in the early hours to head to Kent, with my uncle, Glen and Seth, we dipped badly with no sign of the Fan-tailed Warbler all morning, we did notch up a couple of Wheatear, a Hobby and a couple of Reed Warbler's with one rather paler and had us looking at a possible Marsh Warbler, but none of us could get enough on the bird to be positive. The main car park was hosting a dog show, we should have done what the warbler did and.....avoid the bloody place!!! I dropped Glen and Seth back into Dorking, where they headed back out to Kent again for Glossy Ibis's!

25th September 2009 - East Sussex - Seaford/Hope Gap

22nd September 2009 - West Sussex - Pagham Harbour North Wall

20th September 2009 - West Sussex - Cissbury Ring + Arundel

18th September 2009 - West Sussex - Pagham Harbour North Wall

13th September 2009 - East Sussex - Sheepcote Valley

12th September 2009 - West Sussex - Pagham Harbour and Thorney Island

11th September 2009 - West Sussex - Highdown

10th September 2009 - West Sussex - Cissbury Ring

9th September 2009 - West Sussex - Pagham Harbour North Wall

7th September 2009 - West Sussex - Cissbury Ring

5th September 2009 - West Sussex - Cissbury Ring and Highdown

4th September 2009 - West Sussex - Climping Gap

August 2009

August should be a busy month, with another Scilly Pelagic on the MV Sapphire on the 22nd and 23rd August lined up, alongside several birders present on our trip in 2008... and to see how we got on in 2008 please click here for a full report!

30th - Oxon - Farmoor Reservoir - American Black Tern seen alongside a juvenile White-winged Black Tern and a juvenile Black Tern (full report to follow)

29th - West Sussex - Cissbury Ring - Plenty of migrants on the move early am, with 2 Redstarts and 2 Spotted Flycatchers being the highlights with a couple of fly-over Tree Pipits also seen

28th - West Sussex - Selsey Peninsula - 2 Black Terns on Ivy Lake with Common Terns...(report to follow)

21st - 24th - Isles of Scilly - St Mary's and Pelagics -  Excellent weekend trip on the pelagics with excellent company again! At least 8 Wilson's Petrels were seen as well as Great and Sooty Shearwaters, adult Sabine's Gull, 2nd summer Pomarine Skua, Great Skuas, Storm Petrels and a Grey Phalarope. 3 Blue Sharks were also seen with one being fished out by our very own Widerscope Pirate!! A Lesser Yellowlegs was seen at Porth Hellick on St Mary's. (Full report and many more photos to follow.) 

Wilson's Petrel - 1 of at least 8 individuals seen on Sunday's pelagic! (N.Bond)

Storm Petrel - seen in good numbers (N.Bond)

Sabine's Gull - Put on a good show following the boat for long periods! (N.Bond)

Great Shearwater - one of several seen on most days often offering excellent views (Nick Bond)

Sooty Shearwater - this one stayed with us for a while on the Saturday(Nick Bond)

Pomarine Skua - this bird passed through offering limited viewing (Nick Bond)

Great Skua - several were seen on each trip (N.Bond)

Fulmar - feeding on popcorn at the end of the boat (N.Bond)

Gannet - close views overhead (N.Bond)

13th - West Sussex - Cissbury Ring - Popped up after work as the weather was fair to check for any migrants and butterflies. The road leading up to the car park produced up to 70 Swallows all hunting in the nearby field and resting on the telegraph wires, there were a few House Martins thrown in as well. The short walk around the scrub produced many Chiffchaffs including several young birds, Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and Blackcaps, birding wise was pretty quiet although I did mange to photograph a juvenile Green Woodpecker. On the butterfly front it was fairly busy until cloud cover! Highlights being several Wall, Small Heath, Common Blue, Painted Ladies, Red Admiral, Brown Argus and Speckled Wood. On the route home I noticed the fields have now been ploughed near the Goring seafront, encouraging gulls to gather. I grabbed the scope and checked through, the group mainly consisted of Black-headed Gulls unsuprisingly, but also contained small numbers of Common, Herring, Lesser black-backed and Greater black-backed Gulls, but the most unusual sight was of 3 Sandwich Terns roosting with them...I don't recall seeing Sandwich Terns sitting with gulls in a ploughed field before, a worthwhile check!

7th - Middlesex - Staines Reservoirs - Finished work at 1pm, the usual for a Friday, and was hoping to combine my regular weekend journey to London with a trip to Bough Beech for a juvenile Marsh Sandpiper that was found the evening before. There had been no sign, but a White-winged Black Tern had been found with 20+ Black Terns at Staines which is sooo conveniently close to my girlfriend's! I have seen many WWBTs before abroad,  but only one in the UK, which was a fine summer-plumaged individual at Cliffe Pools in Kent a few years ago with Glen. The conditions were rather fair for Staines, nice and calm as we stood on the main causeway. A Common Sandpiper was found feeding along the water's edge, then I started scanning the terns. About ten Common Terns were feeding nearby, before noticing a small party of Black Terns hawking the north basin, all in variable moult stages heading into their winter plumages. I couldn't see the WWBT at first so moved further along the causeway and saw Tim, who had been here for a while already. The WWBT was soon found with a group of Black Terns of which we counted a maximum of 17, the bird was clearly moulting into it's winter plumage, looking a lot paler headed in flight, with the dark armpit patch apparent, the rump and tail was all white and the tail looked somewhat squarer than the Black Tern's. The tern flock stayed loyal to the North Basin for the duration I was there, often doing full circuits of the basin, occasionally gaining quite a height before dropping down again. These birds were here to entertain, at one stage the party started taking high stoops, and whilst in mid-flight the birds head would look back, the tail prop up, whilst the bird quickly preened it's back feathers...rather hard to describe in words but magical to see. In the meantime we had located the Black-necked Grebe on the South Basin that had earlier been reported, whilst Tim was convinced he had found another at the far end of the North Basin, 2 Ringed Plovers then flew past. I then located some Black Terns on one of the tern rafts, keeping a close eye in the hope the WWBT would follow suit, within ten minutes it did, offering on-the-deck comparisons with Black Terns. The WWBT was obviously paler with a strong white neck collar, there was some mottling on it's back and seemed a little longer legged than the Black Terns, the birds face was very pale with an black eye patch. This enabled Tim to gather some digiscoping shots, from what I saw were pretty good given the distance of the rafts. By now we had lost several hours and it was time to head home in the Friday night Staines rush hour....good bird and was good to see with Black Terns for comparison...it kinda took me back to where I had last seen WWBT, at Larnaca sewage works in Cyprus...directly behind the salt pans you had planes coming and going at Larnaca airport...here we had Heathrow in the background!

5th - Hampshire - Farlington Marshes and Hill Head - Finished work at 5pm and headed west on the A27, reaching Farlington bang on 6pm. I noticed a few birders gathered and headed off along the sea wall to the lagoon. The tide was well out and on the exposed mud to the west of me there was a juvenile Mediterranean Gull amongst the good number of Black-headed Gulls with the majority now wearing their winter plumage. As I approached the lagoon I scanned the back of the pool with my bins and spied what looked like the crake moving in between the base of the reeds. The gathered birders were scanning but not mentioning the bird, so I set the scope up and my suspicions were right, the bird was indeed the Spotted Crake that had originally been found the day before. I watched the bird as it continued to dart in and out of the reed base, before then becoming brave and heading out onto the exposed mud. It was then, a cry from one of the gathered birders mentioned that the Spotted Crake was now on view, I realised that perhaps this was their first views and I had not said anything!! I had just assumed they were watching/had seen the bird and not mentioned anything to me!! Oh well, the bird showed very well albeit a little distant, the bird remained at the back of the pool for my duration of stay, also on the lagoon was 2 Green Sandpipers and numerous Black-tailed Godwits, which the Spotted Crake was particuarly wary of !! Conscious of time, I decided to head off down to Hill Head to check through the tern colony that gathers there. There had been a Roseate Tern and Black Tern reported there the previous evening amongst 350+ Common Terns. As I arrived it was soon apparent that the roosting terns were present, but certainly not in the numbers that had been quoted the evening before. I gave it a good hour here and found a couple of Sandwich Terns in with Common Terns, probably numbering upto 150 birds. I counted up to 26 Mediterranean Gulls on the beach here including at least 8 juveniles. A pleasant evening, I arrived home just after 9pm, a good days work!! 

4th - West Sussex - Littlehampton West beach - I spent the evening checking the birds along the coastline here as the tide was out leaving plenty of exposed mud. At least 20 Sanderlings were spread out, along with 6 Ringed Plover and as many Dunlin, many still sporting their full summer plumage, 3 Sandwich Terns were around and Common Gull numbers had increased. Linnets have seemed to have had a good breeding season with many young seen this evening as with Meadow Pipits. On Littlehampton Beach, 20 Oystercatchers were roosting, a Little Egret fishing in the shallows and a 2nd summer Mediterranean Gull found in with the large number of roosting gulls. Also of note locally, large numbers of Swifts were gathering again at dusk as well as good numbers of local House Martins, the local gull population are having a field day feasting on flying ants the last few days!

2nd - Norfolk - Kelling and Titchwell - We stayed overnight in a cracking bed and breakfast in Taverham, near Norwich, large buddleias in the garden attracting many butterflies, including Peacock, Painted Ladies and Small Tortoiseshells. We headed off north to Kelling, where a long walk through Kelling water meadows and onto the beach to view the RAF compound and to see my second UK Great Spotted Cuckoo. This bird had been refound the day before, having gone missing for around a week, the bird showed well on top of some bramble and was not doing very much, sheltering in the brisk wind. This bird proved very popular with a constant stream of people coming and going, until the bird was flushed by two crows and flew up and over the mound and out of view! Apart from seeing the cuckoo, the one memory that would stick in peoples mind would be the amount of ladybirds that had infested the coastline...they were everywhere...the coastal paths leading out to the cuckoo was full of crushed insects, almost laying down a red carpet for us! I have never seen so many and soon realised that these little blighters do bite!! On Kelling Water Meadows itself several Sand Martins fed and 3 Egyptian Geese were found. The area was covered in butterflies, with the highlight being a single Wall, which I managed a few snaps of! We moved onto Titchwell, again the ladybirds were also here in force and Jo soon realised that ladybirds do bite with a painful nip of her arm...she soon fell out of love with them! We didn't spend a lot of time here as we had to start heading home, but there was good number of Ruff on the Freshmarsh, I gave up counting at the 100 stage all in various plumages, 3 Little ringed Plovers were seen as well as Common and Green Sandpipers. A Whimbrel and a Greenshank flew over the causeway heading west. We headed home via Wolferton triangle, but as usual the Golden Pheasants did not show for us!

Kelling - the mound full of birders as we approached the Great Spotted Cuckoo

This is how the Great Spotted Cuckoo sat, sheltering from the brisk wind, record shot taken from a fair distance but offered excellent scope views

Ladybirds - 'Stuck in the mud'

Little-ringed Plover - showed well at Titchwell

Wall - Seen at Kelling Water Meadows

Whimbrel - took this shot looking into the sun as the bird was calling at Titchwell

1st - Norfolk - Welney and Breydon Water - A few weeks ago, I had booked a bed and breakfast in Norfolk for the Saturday night, to have a weekend away with my girlfriend and visiting a good friend from Cyprus who was singing that night nearby. As usual, birding was never off of the menu and when news filtered through the day before of a White-rumped Sandpiper at Welney, our travelling plans were hastilly changed and headed straight there for the 9.30am opening time. We arrived at site at 9am and watched the hundreds of Swallows, House and Sand Martins feeding around the visitor centre. We headed for the Buxton Hide and was soon watching my first White-rumped Sandpiper, showing well feeding with a single Dunlin. I managed the distant/cropped photo below and realised that this is where digiscoping comes into it's own! There were many Ruff out on the scrape and good number of Dunlin and Lapwing mixed in. By now the hide started filling rather quickly, with one lady offering her scope out to one and all to grab a view of the bird....I kindly pointed out that she had fixed her scope on a sleeping Dunlin...the White-rumped Sandpiper was still feeding and stood out with the naked eye with it's paleness. Although, this bird was a world lifer, I decided to move on and let the newcomers enjoy the Dunlin ! Many Yellow Wagtails were encountered and a singing Corn Bunting gave itself up easilly in the car park...time to head to Breydon Water!

A heavilly cropped shot of the White-rumped Sandpiper (right bird) seen at Welney

We parked up at Breydon/Asda's, it just seemed to take an age to get here, but frequent pager messages informed us of the Pacific Golden Plover's presence. We headed out and soon saw the tern rafts and had a quick scan, noticing several birders opposite along the sea wall. As we walked out we passed a few of these birders and all passed with bad new, the bird had flown, along with some Golden Plover...the tide was out and the expanse of exposed mud was huge...we had a bit of time on our side and continued. We had walked as far as the tern rafts and decided to stay put, by now the remaining birders had left. For the next hour, I continued to scan in vain, we were then joined by another local birder, who claimed he had missed the bird 3 times previous....great!! I then picked up on a plover sp in flight, but landed rather distantly, I watched and noticed the bird looked weedier than our European birds and was in full summer plumage still. The bird then dropped out of view and could not be re-located. Another local birder arrived, this one having seen the bird before and had returned to try and photograph. I explained what I had seen, and shortly picked up on the bird again, this time with several European Golden Plovers, the size of the bird was slightly smaller and longer legged with a short wing projection. I put the local birder onto the bird I was watching through my scope and he instantly claimed that it was the Pacific Golden Plover. The bird associated loosely with the Golden Plover flock whilst I was there, feeding actively. (report to be continued)

July 2009

Yellowhammer - singing and putting on a good show at Pulborough (13th)

28th - West Sussex - Cissbury Ring - The sun was out after work, so decided to head up to the area of Cissbury to look for butterflies. Although slightly breezy, I soon found a few sheltered spots with butterflies soon visible. Several fresh Painted Ladies were around, as were Red Admiral and Peacocks. A few tatty Meadow Browns were clearly hanging on, several Gatekeepers and a Small Skipper were later found. There was one area, that hosted 3 Common Blues (2males and a female), whilst photographing these, I noticed a larger, lighter blue butterfly, it was a male Chalkhill Blue...eventually tracked down and posed for the camera. The cloud cover rolled in from the south and soon all the butterflies were gone! Birdwise, there were plenty of Yellowhammers around, young Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps and Whitethroats. Back at home, at least 50 Common Swifts were gathered high above the house, maybe congregating and ready to head south?? 

Male Chalkhill Blue - Cissbury Ring - 28th July 2009

27th - West Sussex - Goring-on-Sea

Sandwich Tern - 1 of 5 found roosting on Goring Green whilst checking through the roosting Gull flocks

26th - Kent - Elmley and Oare Marshes - report to follow

25th - Surrey - Thursley Common (report and photo's to follow)

20th - West Sussex - Pulborough Brooks - Another evening trip to the reserve, on a cooler overcast evening. It was almost as if summer had given in to autumn overnight, no butterflies on the wing, no birdsong, the visitor centre and the path leading down to the reserve was devoid of anything except Greenfinches. Maybe this had something to do with the weather, or perhaps the current work taken out by the RSPB to improve the drainage to stop the path erosion! Things improved as I reached the pond at the bottom of the hill with several young Chiffchaffs fighting for food. A young Bullfinch was found, a couple of Mistle Thrushes flew over. Around the picnic area, several young Blackcaps were seen along with more young Chiffchaffs, a couple of fresh Painted Ladies were seen along with a couple of Purple Hairstreaks that were fairly low in the canopy for a change offering good views, although one was rather tatty! Around Nettley's and Jupp's View a Spotted Flycatcher was found and the family of Treecreepers were still performing well. On the North Brooks, Lapwing numbers were fewer than recently, but at least 6 Green Sandpipers were present, as were 3 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Little-ringed Plovers and a Redshank with just two young now! Four young Shelduck have taken up residence, a male Kestrel hunted the grass verges.

Broad-bodied Chaser - Pulborough Brooks

15th - West Sussex - Cissbury Ring - Was planning another trip to Pulborough this evening, but was diverted by a pager message advising of a male Red-backed Shrike at Cissbury ring, seen early morning for it's second day but no sign since 11am. I decided to give it a go! It was very blustery and I didn't hold out much hope. I headed up the first slope, observing a pair of Common Buzzards, then a female Kestrel, scanning the surrounding area, looking for the shrike but with no luck. I wandered up to the upper slopes, a family party of Green Woodpeckers were seen and a Yellowhammer was in full song along with a male Linnet, still no shrike though, but Painted Lady butterflies gave some consolation. With the wind increasing, I was ready to give up and head back to the car when I noticed a bird perched fairly high on a dead tree, this looked good! I moved closer and was soon observing a male Red-backed Shrike sitting motionless and being buffeted by the wind. I decided to phone RBA and text local birders to inform them the bird was still present. The bird was then flushed by 2 dogs and flew low into the field behind which was out-of-view. Jacob soon arrived with another birder and a thorough search of the area failed to reproduce the bird! It was only after checking the maps we realised that the bid was originally seen from the over car-park about a mile away at Neepcote, so the birds appearance here could well explain why the bird went missing today, maybe sheltering in the valley from the gusty weather?? Anyway, the bird was seen the following day by many observers, showing well at times, especially in the morning. I returned on the following evening as I was travelling up to London, but failed to connect before a stunning storm arrived from the south!

13th - West Sussex - Pulborough Brooks - A quite productive evening around the reserve again this evening, waders still featured on the North Brooks, with a Greenshank, 4 Green Sandpipers, 8 Little-ringed Plovers (mainly youngsters), a Redshank with its 3 growing chicks, at least 7 Mandarin chicks and the groggy looking drake Pintail still kicking around. Young broods of Garden Warbler, Blackcap and Treecreeper were seen and a Spotted Flycatcher, my first for the year was a nice find by the picnic area. Butterflies seen included good number of Peacock, with freshly emerged Painted Ladies around the visitor centre, Ringlet, Comma, Large Skipper, Meadow Brown, Purple Hairstreak, Large White, Red Admiral and Small Tortoishell, a single Broad-bodied Chaser was the only dragonfly seen, whilst a Hornet was by the Jupps View area.

9th - West Sussex - Highdown and Arundel - Visited Highdown Gardens for the first time today, hunting for butterflies to photograph mainly,  few were seen around the gardens, the highlight being a Green-veined White (below), and an Emperor Dragonfly was hunting around the main pond. Talking of firsts, I then moved on for an afternoon at Arundel WWT, nice and local. A pair of Bullfinch were seen around the site, a Lesser-black backed Gull was observed catching and eating an Mallard chick! A Common Buzzard flew overhead and 3 Common Terns were also seen, other than that it was rather quiet, a Black-tailed Skimmer was the only dragonfly seen. I left the site feeling rather disappointed, but with plenty of photo's of the plastic generation of wildfowl!

Green-veined White - Highdown Gardens - West Sussex

8th - West Sussex - Various sites - started the day at Selsey Bill, a juvenile Mediterranean Gull was offshore lingering with 20+ Black-headed Gulls before moving off west, the only other interest was a steady flow of Gannets moving east. Moving to Church Norton, 20+Sandwich Terns were in the harbour including at least 4 youngsters, whilst Little Terns fished in the harbour mouth, a single Common Sandpiper was found, but other than that all was fairly quiet, whilst at the Ferry Pool not a single wader was found. I feel this should be re-named the Sidlesham 'Duck' Pool!... Moving to an inland site, a female Honey Buzzard showed well, thermalling with 5 Common Buzzards before moving off, a Red Kite and Sparrowhawk were also seen. Butterflies were abundant with many freshly emerged Gatekeepers being my first ones of the year as was a single Silver-washed Fritillary. At least 3 Marbled Whites were also noted and photographed here. Moving further inland a pair of Egyptian Geese were with 5 young on a pond near Petworth, whilst a male Ruff was a welcome Sussex year tick at Pulborough on the North Brooks.

Red-legged Partridge - this individual could not see me, but I could see him!!

Silver-washed Fritillary - West Sussex - 8th July 2009

Marbled White - West Sussex - 8th July 2009

1st - West Sussex - Pulborough Brooks - After a very hot and sunny day at work, I headed back to Pulborough for the evening. More butterflies and dragonflies on offer, Purple Hairstreaks showing particuarly well tonight. Bullfinches were seen in 3 different areas tonight. I spent most of my time viewing the North Brooks from Jupp's View. There did not seem as many Green Sandpipers around as the night before with a maximum of 3 seen and none of the 3 Black-tailed Godwits were present. I found a wader feeding next to a Greenshank (one of at least 6 present this evening), which was smaller than the Greenshank, but bigger than a nearby Green Sandpiper, a Wood Sandpiper!! I watched this wader for around ten minutes, I was then joined by 4 other birders and they were keen to see a Green Sandpiper to which I told them I could better that! After a quick scan, I originally failed to locate the Wood Sandpiper for them!!! How typical, but whilst picking out a Green Sandpiper for their yearlist, I found the Wood Sandpiper again along the back bank! I counted 6 Little-ringed Plovers tonight and a pair of Redshank emerged with 3 chicks. Plenty of Lapwing and Black-headed Gulls around, with a single Common Gull also on the brooks.

June 2009

Painted Lady - this tatty individual was photographed at Pulborough on the 2nd

30th - West Sussex - Pulborough Brooks - Cloud cover arrived just shortly after arriving at the reserve, promptly putting butterflies and dragonflies to bed early! I concentrated on the birding, lots of young birds around which is a good sign, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer and Linnet's were all seen along the path leading down from the visitor centre. I checked out the first 2 hides, a lot of water has vanished in the current heatwave but was pleased to find 2 Green Sandpiper's here. I moved around to the hanger, finding a family of Green Woodpecker's with 3 youngters along the track as large numbers of Swallow's fed overhead. A Tawny Owl was heard calling, whilst out on the north brooks, a Snipe, 4 Greenshank, 2 Little-ringed Plover, 6+ Green Sandpiper's and 3 Black-tailed Godwit's were all seen along with a female Mandarin Duck and a groggy looking male Pintail.

29th - West Sussex - Highdown - A quick visit to this nearby viewpoint after work to continue practising with the camera and to check for any butterflies that maybe present. There were definatley more butterflies present on this visit, with Red Admirals, Comma, Large White's and Meadow Brown's all fairly abundant, a Painted Lady was hanging on, whilst I managed to photograph a Small Heath. I saw my first Marbled White of the year here aswell and a single Small Tortoiseshell was also seen. Birdwise, Skylark's were in full song as were several Yelllowhammer's and Linnet's. Good numbers of Swallow's and Swifts hunted overhead, whilst raptors were represented with a Common Buzzard, a male Kestrel and a Peregrine Falcon.

Small Heath - Highdown, West Sussex

28th - Oxon - Otmoor RSPB - Driving back from Darwen, I decided to dodge the heavy downpours and pop into Otmoor, a reserve I have only visited once before with the Surbiton Bird club some 5years ago! A Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap and Whitethroat were all singing in the car-park as we arrived. Along the main track, Linnet's, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting's and a Yellowhammer gave good views, a Black-tailed Skimmer dragonfly followed us down the path that led to the first screen. A Red Kite drifted over, whilst we observed hundreds of tiny frogs/toads covering the pathway, it was almost impossible not to tread on them there were that many! Horseflies were abundant here and was difficult to avoid being bitten! I arrived at the area the Marsh Warbler frequents, I have seen Marsh Warbler a couple of times in the UK before, but had felt ages since I saw my last one, so was glad to connect with this bird as it sang deep in the reeds, before flitting right, sitting on top of the reeds, giving excellent views as it sang, I decided to try a couple of pics, but in the moment of need, the camera focussed on the reeds, then the bird as it scuttled off into deep cover. the bird sang well, almost competing with the nearby Reed Warblers, but did go quiet/missing for lengthy periods! As I left the Marsh Warbler, a Barn Owl flew overhead carrying prey, a welcome daytime view, a Hobby was also out hunting showing well. Arriving back at the car-park, a Turtle Dove purred away and was showing well sat on top of a dead tree and another Red Kite was seen. A nice way to break up a long journey!

Barn Owl - Day flying carrying prey at Otmoor

27th - Lancashire - Entwistle Reservoir - was up in Darwen, Lancashire for the weekend visiting friends, who conveniently offered to go for a walk at a local reservoir! Unfortunatley for me, the birding was fairly limited, but this reservoir hosted a pair of Grey Wagtails and a lone Curlew circled overhead calling presumably from the nearby moors, as we left the car-park, I stopped the car and heard a Grasshopper Warbler reeling away, I'm sure this place gets some stuff in winter!

26th - En-route to Lancashire - We were visiting friends in Lancashire, so trotted up the M40 Friday afternoon and counted at least 30 Red Kites along the regular stretch, I do not recall seeing this many here before. Several Common Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk were also seen along this route. Leaving London at 2.30pm we finally arrived in Bolton at 9pm!!! Birmingham of all places was especially bad (no offence Seth!!) as this seemed to be the only place we passed through that lashed down with rain!!!

25th - West Sussex - Heyshott Common - A return visit, with pretty similar results as the week before (18th), except without Tawny Owls calling, 2 Great Danes strutting accross the heathland, and Nightjars that performed this time, including a brief wind-clapping display! En route a Barn Owl was seen flying out in front of the car before heading out into the adjacent field! A good little start to the trip!

23rd - West Sussex - Pulborough Brooks - butterflies and dragonflies! The reserve was quiet birdwise, so concentrated on grabbing some shots of any dragonflies and butterflies that were on offer. Three seperate Broad-bodied Chasers were found around the reserve, all photographed (see below.) Butterflies were out in force with the highlight being two seperate sets of Purple Hairstreaks flitting around in the tops of Oaks (more photo's to follow)

20th - Hampshire - Titchfield Haven - Red-necked Phalarope - No birding was planned today as after spending the night in London, I was due to attend a b-b-q in Worthing around 3pm. News broke of a Red-necked Phalarope at Titchfield Haven just as we were due to head south. All was going well heading southbound on the M3, until we hit Winchester, an incident with warnings of a 15 minute delay turned into an hour plus before we steadily got moving again! Entering the reserve, the bird was showing well but distantly in the far corner of the south scrape, giving good scope views. I decided to walk around to the Pumfrett Hide, where the bird was closer but the light and the birds distance ensured that any good photo's were out of the question! The bird performed well, occasionally being chased off by Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits (no wonder it was only present for one day!), often flying a short distance before continuing to feed. This was my fourth Red-necked Phalarope for Britain, with previous sightings in Norfolk (Titchwell) and 2 birds in Kent (Cliffe Pools and Oare Marshes). There were around 50 Black-tailed Godwits present along with 20+Avocets, with butterflies and dragonflies suprisingly thin on the ground. Before departing for our b-b-q I checked through the tern colony off of Hillhead, but only Common Terns were present with the odd Sandwich Tern.

Red-necked Phalarope - best I could manage in poor light and distance of this striking male bird

In harmony (for now!!!) Nice size comparison

18th - West Sussex - Heyshott - On an overcast and mild evening, I decided to chance my luck and tried this site for Nightjars and Woodcock as I saw both species here last summer. I arrived a little early for these and was greeted by a singing Yellowhammer. I had this site to myself and enjoyed watching a summer-plumaged male Stonechat in full song whilst a Tree Pipit sang away in the background. Several Willow Warblers were still in song, and then I heard the first Nightjar of the evening churring at 8.50pm, followed by my first sighting of the year of Woodcock at 9.05pm. I headed back towards the car park as this was a good vantage point, several more Wooodcok were seen and heard. The Nightjar churring intensified as the light fell and was not long before I glimpsed a view of a male bird wing-clapping...I was in my element here, then all of a sudden a white van pulled into the car park, the owner opening the back door releasing 2 Great Danes off the lead to head out onto the heathland!! This basically killed any Nightjar activity, so my peace and enjoyment was spoilt...oh well, I will have to return another evening!

16th - West Sussex - Climping - another evening visit to play with the camera and get a bit of birding in. Good to see lots of young birds around including Linnets, Meadow Pipits, House Sparrows and Goldfinches all seemed to have fledged good numbers. As the tide subsided 2 Little Egrets were around the pier area, at least 3 Common Terns were seen offshore today along with more Sandwich Terns (no oranged-billed sp unfortunately!)

Little Egret - 1 of 2 birds at the West Pier this evening

Common Tern - 1 of 3 birds present fishing by the pier, was rather pleased with this flight shot!

15th - West Sussex - Climping - Another fine evening, my main aim of this visit was to photograph Sanderling. I have not visited the site for a while so was unsure if many would be around (if any), but 5 birds were found and they performed for the camera!!

Sanderling - 2 of the 5 birds present on the west beach at Climping

Whilst photographing these, several Sandwich Terns fished nearby. A single Brent Goose flying by west, was probably the least expected sighting of this evening! At least 3 Ringed Plovers were seen on the beach area.

14th June - West Sussex - Various sites - A very hot day with a slight breeze took us onto another inland sussex site, here there were plenty of butterflies on view and raptors galore, with at least 1 Honey Buzzard seen displaying, other birds included a Red Kite, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Hobby and many Common Buzzards. Painted Ladies were still in evidence, with several washed-out individuals

Brushing up on my butterfly i.d skills, please correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is a female Large Skipper??

9th June - West Sussex - Common Swifts were numerous today from my workplace, a good 100 birds fed for most of the day just behind Brooklands Park. Also in the evening, at least 20 House Martins were collecting mud near a building site close to where I live. I recall seeing a maximum of 10 birds locally all of last summer, so this was rather encouraging, considering a few members on the Sussex website have been reporting a noteable absence of House Martins this year.

7th June - Surrey - Frensham and Thursley Commons - Spent the afternoon strolling around the two sites, sadly with not a sight or sound of a Dartford Warbler, but 3 Hobbies performed paticuarly well from the boardwalk at Thursley, hunting continuously and came rather close just as the camera battery suddenly died!! Typical! Most of the expected species were seen around both sites, but dragonflies were not out in force today. Good numbers of Common Swifts were at both sites and I think this is the first time I have visited Thursley and noted the absence of Little Grebes from the Moat Pond!

3rd June - Dungeness - Kent - News broke in the afternoon of a pratincole species present at Denge Marsh at Dungeness. It was soon confirmed as an Oriental Pratincole. Finishing work at five, I darted east and was on site just after 7pm, after a mad dash and a even crazier one down Denge Marsh Lane, where I was told that the bird was on view from the reserve! It was here I bumped into Seth and Glen who had travelled down from London. Parking in the RSPB car-park we headed off to Denge Marsh and were soon scoping the Oriental Pratincole on the deck. The views were fairly restricted as you could only view from the 5-bar gate and at an angle, the only position I could put the scope in ensured I had good views albeit peering through my scope whilst on tip-toes! I eventually nipped in at the front and had clear views with the comfort of my feet firmly on the ground, the bird did not do too much except half-heartedly spinning its head around and snapping it's beak attempting to catch an insect. By now, more birders were arriving so we duly made way so the newcomers could view, a good bird, just a shame we did not see it perform in flight. A couple of Hobbies performed over Denge Marsh and with time moving on, we headed back to the cars and off to our respective homes. Good to see Glen back on board as well! Once accepted, this will be Britain's 6th record, apparently the bird was first seen at Otmoor RSPB on the 25th May, presumably the same bird at Pagham's Breach Pool.

Nightingale - I was fortunate to photograph this singing individual at Pulborough

2nd June - West Sussex - Pulborough - Spent the evening at the reserve after a hot and fine day. Nightingales were on form this evening, at least 3 individuals singing near the Nettley's Hide/picnic area, with one individual showing very well for a while allowing the above photo! The usual bits and bobs were noted and just a single bedraggled Painted Lady which was also photographed which was slightly suprising considering the numbers last week. 4 Little Egrets and 4 Ringed Plover were on the North Brooks.

May 2009

Apologies for lack of updates and photo's, currently back and forth to Denmark on work commitments...all will be updated in due course!!

Banded Demoiselle - several of these were performing for the camera at Lee Valley

25th-29th May - Denmark - Another frustrating week working with little time to get out-in-the-field! Although I didn't miss out on the Painted Lady Butterfly influx as on the 29th, butterflies were continuously heading north throughout the afternoon, two occassions I needed my bins but did not have them to hand, spotting a eagle sp fly over the nearby field to where I work and a probable Rough-legged Buzzard in a roadside field that was hunting, although I did find a pair of nesting Tree Sparrow's nearby!

23rd May - Essex - Lee Valley Country Park - Having being stuck on the M25 for nearly 3hours trying to re-visit this destination, we finally parked up and had a good walk around, finding Nightingale, Garden Warbler and hearing the Savi's Warbler sing but not reveal itself! Several Cuckoo's were around the reserve and I counted 42 Common Terns out on the rafts provided! Blackcaps were everywhere, a pleasant place to visit!

16th May - Kent - Stodmarsh and Grove Ferry - Returned from Denmark and was rather pleased that the Black-winged Pratincole was still present...another world lifer for me and also my fifth UK tick for the month so far!! so I headed over and got some fairly good views of this beauty..a Wood Sandpiper was also added to the year-list as well as the expected supporting cast (report to be added soon.)

Common Tern - Snapped in flight at Stodmarsh, why couldn't the Black-winged Pratincole do this??

Common Swift - best I could manage at Stodmarsh...frustrating to photograph!!

10th-15th May - Denmark - Another work trip with limited birding time, although a singing Lesser Whitethroat outside my Esbjerg hotel kept me going! News broke on the day of my travel, of a Black-winged Pratincole at Reculver in Kent....will it stay???

Grey Squirrel - feeding well at a local RSPB feeding station.....

9th May - Suffolk - Lakenheath and surrounding areas - Headed over to this now famous spot for Golden Orioles, managed to see and hear two, whilst good number of Stone Curlew were at a nearby site...a Grasshopper Warbler and a male Whinchat in full summer plumage were also highlights!

8th May - Surrey - Devil's Punchbowl - Had a quick visit hoping to find singing Wood Warblers, but found a small party of Common Crossbill instead, a couple of Tree Pipits and a singing male Common Redstart were nice, but expected sightings

5th May - West Sussex - Chantry Hill - 3 Dotterels seen up on the South Downs on my way home from work!! (to be continued)

3rd May - Essex and Kent - Various sites - Having spent the previous day watching some footie at Stamford Bridge, I had finally got the chance to catch up with a couple of UK lifers. I headed off early to Lee Valley Country Park, to see the Savi's Warbler that had been present for a couple of days. Parking up at Fishers Green I soon located the post 24 as mentioned on RBA and was soon listening to the Savi's singing, giving brief glimpses in a nearby sallow. The bird continued to sing on and off but remained fairly elusive throughout!! In the afternoon I headed off in the other direction to try and finally have a crack at Dungeness's Crested Lark. Several cars were parked up on the road at the same location as last years Dark-eyed Junco twitch. Leaving the car, groups of birders were spread out, then the bird was called and seen in flight, flying a short distance before landing out-of-sight. The group of birders present were determined to get closer/on-the-deck views and the bird was continuously flushed time and again offering flight views!! I tried to get excited with seeing this bird, but when you have seen them abroad, it was difficult...this bird kept the game interesting as refused to reveal itself easily, giving the briefest views on the deck after it had flown over the road...before taking off and flying directly over my head!! (to be continued)

Birders twitching Dungeness's Crested Lark..I can spot Bernie in there!!

1st May - Dorset - Portland - Having arrived back from Denmark the day before, it was soon apparent that I had missed out on some 'good' birds, especially in the south. I finished work at 1pm and had a decision to make!! Do I head to 'Dunge', to try for the Crested Lark, or do I head to Portland for the 1st summer male Collared Flycatcher that had been frequenting a Southwell garden for a couple of days?? I had seen both species abroad before, but decided to head for the Collared Flycatcher as they tend to not hang around, whereas the Crested Lark was more likely to stay...what a decision this turned out to be!! It was taking me ages to head down to Portland, but whilst en-route, news of a probable Eastern Bonelli's Warbler at Portland came through!!! My foot pushed down on the accelerator a little harder!! The route to Portland was very slow and finally reached there just after 4pm. I decided to head for the Eastern Bonelli's Warbler first at 'The Hump' at Southwell, an area I know well from my previous jaunts on Portland over the years. There was already quite a gathering huddled under a sycamore tree at the edge of 'The Hump' and looking up, I was soon watching a UK lifer...the bird was really active and was occasionally seen hovering whilst feeding, calling in the process. There were several 'pale' Willow Warblers that were fooling a couple of observers. There was an obvious white dot painted on one of the trees branches which easily acted as a marker to put people onto the bird. I decided to make the short journey to see the bird I had originally travelled to see. It kind of felt weird standing on Sweet Hill Lane staring into someones back garden!! It just didn't feel right. There were several birders gathered but the bird had not shown for the last hour!! Mixed emotions had set-in as it crossed my mind that I may be about to dip the Collared Fly but bumped into an Eastern Bonelli's!! As I waited, I was approached by an old birding friend, Ruth, who was down with her new birding group for the weekend...what a weekend to pick!! The Collared Flycatcher eventually showed in a small Sycamore (another one) tree at the back of the garden, giving superb views as it performed. This had to be right up there with my birding highlights especially in the UK, both these UK lifers had to be less thn a mile apart from each other! I had completley 'jammed' into the Bonelli's Warbler as it was not seen the following day, the Collared Flycatcher remained just one more day before departing...at least the residents along Sweethill Lane will get some peace at last!! A Little Tern flew over the car as I drove over Ferrybridge and headed to London a happy chappy!!

Sweethill Lane at Southwell Portland...beseiged with Collared Flycatcher seekers!

APRIL 2009

Chiffchaff - Pulborough - spring is slowly kicking in!!

26th - 30th - Denmark - Had to spend five days visiting Denmark through work, so birding very limited !! Hooded Crows were everywhere, Lesser Whitethroats and Yellowhammers noticeably common, 6 Buzzards were also seen thermalling near our hotel at Legoland. 'Nordic' Jackdaws were also nice to see....missing out on some goodies in the UK though!!!

Beddington Gull - Over the last couple of days (21st,22nd) this mystery gull has been found at Beddington sewage farm. Below are some photo's taken by Garry Messenbird...a very interesting bird that has caused a fair bit of interest, the general consensus is heading towards a Glaucous/Herring Gull hybrid...but various discussions and pictures are on the following links....I'm not a gull expert, so will leave it to the so-called's!!

Mystery hybrid gull?? What do you reckon this is??? answers on a beer mat please!!

22nd - West Sussex - Climping - Had a quick look around this evening, pretty quiet on the passerine front, but upto 12 Wheatears dotted around mainly in the ploughed fields, including a couple of good contenders for the 'Greenland' race. Also recorded my highest count of Sanderling at this site with a minimum of 88 along the tideline, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits also dropped in, before being moved off by dogs!! A single summer-plumaged Dunlin was on the beach whilst 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls and 2 Sandwich Terns were offshore. Elsewhere 2 Grey Partridge were in the horse paddock, 5 Swallows were hunting over the north fields and several Common Whitethroat singing.

21st - West Sussex - Pagham Harbour - Breech Pool - I received a text from Ads whilst at work informing me of a Pectoral Sandpiper that had been found at Pagham. I decided to head over for it as I do not recall seeing a spring bird?? I picked up Garry en route and Jake was on his way. We arrived on site in good time and was soon watching the bird feeding on the far muddy bank next to some reeds. Was seen feeding alongside a summer-plumaged Dunlin and a Snipe at one stage, whilst several Black-tailed Godwits had a pop at it!! The bird had been found early this morning by a local patch-watcher but news wasn't released until the afternoon...good job it was not a major bird!! Several Reed Warblers and a couple of Sedge Warblers sang from  around the pool, whilst 70 Black-tailed Godwits 6+ Whimbrel and a Greenshank were also noted. A good local bird!

Pectoral Sandpiper - Pagham Harbour - Breech Pool (photo by Garry Messenbird)

20th - West Sussex - Climping - Having spent the weekend away, I duly missed out on a Dotterel that had been found early Saturday morning at Climping (typical), but decided to pop down tonight anyhow! Singing Reed Warblers had moved in since my last visit, whilst several Blackcaps were in full song. Several common migrants were dotted around, including Willow Warbler, Chiffchaffs, Lesser and Common Whitethroat. 4 Mediterranean Gulls were in the gull roost offshore (3 adults and a 2nd summer) several Wheatear were still present whilst offshore on a short sea-watch I saw my first Climping Great Skua which flew east before landing on the sea and a Fulmar fairly close-in, again a site tick for me!!3 Little Egrets roosted at the back of the golf course, a worthwhile visit!

17th-19th - Dorset - Weymouth/Portland area - Trip report to follow

16th - West Sussex - Pulborough Brooks - Nightingales heard singing plus a nice Little Stint on the North Brooks (report to follow)

Willow Warbler - This bird gave brief bursts of Chiff Chaff song also at Pulborough!

15th - West Sussex - Worthing sea-watch - Spent a couple of hours sea-watching off of Marine Gardens from 17.30...was fairly productive, with the following seen : 3 Manx Shearwaters east at 19.05, 1 dark phase Arctic Skua east, 2 Little Terns east, 1 Red-throated Diver east, 1 Fulmar west, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers offshore, 30+ Common Terns and continuous trickles of Sandwich Terns close inshore. 13 Whimbrel also moved through east. All this in a moderate easterly and with the company of 'Richard' the local dosser, I am fairly confident he was sussing me out as I was using one of his shelters!!

14th - West Sussex - Climping - Checked out the area around the golf course this evening, a few migrants have moved in since my last visit on Good Friday. A Sedge Warbler was singing away, next to a male Reed Bunting, all was looking promising as a Common Whitethroat also did it's display flight, before a large group of French students stomped through noisily prompting everything to shut-up and disappear...shame the same couldn't happen to them!!! A Lesser Whitethroat was less disturbed further along the track, and another Reed Bunting was seen. 3 Swallows were flying around in a nearby field, several more Common Whitethroats were around as well as Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcaps. An adult Mediterranean Gull was seen at the beach along with 8 Sandwich Terns and a single Gannet offshore. 

12th - Middlesex - Staines reservoirs - Managed to visit this site today for a couple of hours, I have never seen it so calm here with next to no wind and the water was flat!! For those that know the site, the flies were everywhere along the causeway making it difficult to breath for fear of adding them to my lunch!! The birding was pretty good as well with 2 Arctic Terns seen fairly well, then finding at least five Little Gulls, all adults and in stunning summer plumage, took a while to find these amongst the hundreds of feeding Black-headed Gulls, no hirundines though, which I found suprising...I think this was my first visit to this site for a couple of years!

11th - West Sussex and Hampshire - Dipping Alpine Swift, but White-throated Spadge saves the day!! Travelled with The Gibster to see the White-throated Sparrow in Hampshire, whilst just missing out on Alpine Swift at Pulborough, first Yellow Wagtails of the year tho (full report on Seth's Stuff.)

10th - West Sussex - Climping - attempted to head out early am with my uncle but the weather deterioted and we got as far as Arundel before calling it quits and headed home. I did manage to pop down to Climping at midday, but the rain persisted making birding difficult although did see my first Whitethroat of the year. Blackcaps were also numerous, out-numbering Chiffchaffs..time to call it quits today!!

8th - West Sussex - Climping - Nothing much on offer in this brief visit as had football to get home for! 28 Sanderling along the tideline was a good count, Grey Partridges were heard from the horse paddock

6th - West Sussex - Climping - Popped down after work, I was soon rewarded with an Osprey that arrived low in-off the sea and headed duly north, these birds seem to be finding me this spring!! Otherwise it was pretty quiet, 2 Grey Partridges showed well, an adult Mediterannean Gull was on the sea with the roosting Black-headed Gulls and Sandwich Terns trickled east. A couple of singing Skylarks were dotted around. Good numbers of waders feeding on the beach, with many Turnstone, 20+Sanderling, Ringed Plover and a Grey Plover.

3rd - West Sussex - Selsey Peninsula - With overcast, cold and murky conditions I decided to spend the afternoon in the Pagham area hunting for any new arrivals. I checked out Ivy Lake first and soon found the adult Little Gull that had been present for over a week now. A mixed flock of 50+ hirundines including some House Martins and Swallows with Sand Martins being the majority. Nothing of note at the Ferry Pool, but there had been an obvious fall at Church Norton with large numbers of Chiffchaffs around with the odd few Willow Warblers and Blackcaps seen. A Swallow passed overhead, 2 Siskins fed high up in the birch trees and a male Wheatear was on the beach. In the harbour 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 9 Brent Geese and a Whimbrel were present, whilst offshore at Selsey a total of 16 Brent Geese moved east and 6 Sandwich Terns were at The Bill, my first ones of the year!

2nd - West Sussex - Pulborough - Again the sun was out, with less breeze today, produced my first House Martin of the year over Brooklands Park at luchtime. A Chiffchaff has taken up residence here now, singing for the last few days now. Spurred on by this, I headed to Pulborough after work and more importantly, after the visitor centre/coffee shop had closed meaning I had the place to myself...very rare indeed! I took the walk from the visitor centre down to Netleys Hide and back, which produced my first singing Blackcaps of the year as well as my first Willow Warblers. A Peregrine was perched nicely on a nearby tree as I looked out from the hanger and Chiffchaffs seemed to be everywhere. A Yellowhammer was singing along the main access track and a single Swallow passed overhead. A pleasant couple of hours...not long till the Nightingales arrive!!

1st - West Sussex - Climping - The sun was out, but a cold strong north-easterly made birding difficult this evening at Climping, presumably the same 3 Wheatears had moved into the horse paddock and a Swallow headed eastwards strongly. Offshore, there were a few more Red-breasted Mergansers around with at least 6 counted tonight, lots of gulls on the move eastwards as well, mainly Black-headed and Common. A single Gannet passed through and 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls headed west. 4 Grey Partridge were seen this evening, 2 still on the beach and another 2 near the horse paddock...little else really apart from cold legs!!

March 2009

Estonia Trip Report Finally Here....find out how we got on!!!!

Vootkakk - as the Estonian's call this bird!!!

Check out this video...... certainly one way to celebrate a new tick......

31st - West Sussex - Lunchtime Osprey and Climping - Nice, calm sunny day, so decided to nip out for some lunch..it wasn't long until I heard a commotion amongst the gulls...they were mobbing something!! An Osprey, excellent!! The bird circled overhead about mid-height, circling and drifting off north-east towards the South Downs, all seen just a stone's throw from Brooklands Park!! I have seen Honey Buzzard and Merlin all in this same area in the past year, so obviously some kind of migration route for raptors...a nice lunchtime treat! After work I needed to get out...Climping was my destination! It was a little quiet, 2 Teal were on the sea (cannot recall seeing Teal here before!), 2 Red-breasted Mergansers were also fairly close-in along with 284 Black-headed Gulls, with very few full adult birds in with them. 3 Mediterranean Gulls were seen (2adults, 1 1st summer) and 2 Grey Partridges were unusually on the beach. Other birds of note included 3 Wheatears and 26 Turnstones and a Reed Bunting....and thankfully, not too may dog walkers!!!

24th - West Sussex - Chichester GP's - Tried for an adult Little Gull that Garry had seen earlier in the day, but arriving on site with little daylight left. It was soon obvious that any feeding gulls had moved on, a singing Chiffchaff and Cetti's Warbler was my only reward. Waste of time!

21st - West Sussex - Pagham Area - Started the morning at the Ferry Pool, a male Wheatear was at the back of the pool my first of the year!! Scanning through the gulls revealed 4 Mediterranean Gulls, whilst another 9 dropped in with Black-headed Gulls, all adults except a 1st summer and a 2nd summer. A couple of the adults were displaying, whilst a Cetti's Warbler sang nearby. At Church Norton the main interest was on the sea, with 8+ Slavonian Grebes seen along with a Red-necked Grebe, Long-tailed Duck and several Common Scoter. A Great-northern Diver was fairly distant, whereas a fairly close Red-throated Diver looked rather oiled, taking off and flying into the harbour itself. A couple of Bar-tailed Godwits (my first since New Year's Day) were on the beach with a mixed flock of waders containing a couple of Knot. 4 Common Buzzards were thermalling and several Chiffchaffs were in song. Moving inland the drake Scaup showed well at Drayton, 2 Little-ringed Plovers were on the next pit (next to the garden centre) with a Green Sandpiper also present here. Butterflies were on the wing with Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White and Comma all seen.

Adder - one of several seen at Pulborough

20th - West Sussex - Pulborough Brooks - Pleasant spring sunshine with a slight cool breeze took me to Pulborough for an afternoon visit. The car park was pretty full, 2 coaches also present,  I started to wonder if I had made the right choice!! A Siskin was in full song in the car park and as I grabbed my stuff from the boot, a Redpoll flew over calling...good start!! Large groups of school kids were departing the site as I entered...I could have timed this just right! Several Chiffchaffs were singing and scanning the fields a group of Pied Wagtails in a cattle field contained at least 2 White Wagtails including a stunning male. A single Little-ringed Plover was seen from the Winpenny Hide along with 2 Dunlin. Most of the interest was on the North Brooks. Scanning through the ducks I eventually found the drake Garganey that had been reported, putting several birders onto it. Whilst here a Swallow hawked around the brook then 2 Sand Martins drifted over. A Peregrine passed overhead, causing panic amongst the large number of Wigeon still present, 9 Black-tailed Godwits contained a couple of individuals in near-full summer plumage. I manged to see my first Adders of the year, curled up in the sun along the path to the Little Hanger. Walking back to the visitor centre a pair of Bullfinch flew out in front of me, a interesting Chiffchaff was seen in trees along this path, tristis looking, pale face, strong supercillium, black legs and very pale looking, the bird did not call and was camera shy...an interesting bird to finish the day with...also the only Chiffchaff I saw on site today that was not singing!!

17th, 18th, 19th - West Sussex - Spent the last 3 evenings searching for any new-comers in the last hour of daylight at Widewater and Climping...Turnstones and Little Egrets were seen on each day, the wintering Black Redstart was still at Widewater (this bird does not like my camera)!

Black-headed Gull - stunning in summer plumage!

16th March - West Sussex - Pulborough Brooks - popped into Pulborough Brooks on my way home from Stansted and found 3 Little-ringed Plovers from the Winpenny Hide. A Ruff and a Bewick's Swan were all Sussex yearticks for me.

11th - 16th March *****ESTONIA******

Trip report to follow!!! Fantastic trip with many lifers seen .....forget Poland, this is the place to go if you wanna see Woodpeckers and Owls....oh yeah there were 300+ Steller's Eiders too!!! With help from our excellent guide Mati Kose (mati.kose@gmail.com) we managed to connect with all our target species including Ural and Pygmy Owls, Grey-headed, Middle-spotted, White-backed, Black and Three-toed Woodpeckers, Nutcrackers, Hazel Hen and Parrot Crossbills We also had the unexpected chance to twitch a 'dream' bird on our last day....pictures below with more to follow! I can retire a happy birder!! 

Hawk Owl - Estonia (photo's by Nick Bond.) This bird was found the day before and was seen on our route back to Tallinn, a great way to end the trip, especially when you only see 2 other birders there!!!

7th - March - West Sussex - A calm morning see us head to an inland site nice and early and soon heard a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker calling from the roadside, struggling to locate it, although calling fairly close-by! Several searches proved fruitless of this elusive bird, a couple of Marsh Tits were nearby as well as a Nuthatch visiting a nest hole, calling constantly. The Lesser-spotted Woodpecker called again, but again eluded us! We popped into the Hawfinch site and saw a couple of birds reasonably well, as I was about to leave, a birder approached me claiming he had not seen Hawfinch before....within a few minutes a bird flew in and sat nicely at eye-level....you couldn't have asked for better views for your Hawfinch lifer...shame the light did not bring any photographic results! A quick look at Church Norton produced a female Long-tailed Duck and several Slavonian Grebes..home in time to see Chelsea cruise into the FA cup semi-final! Good stuff keeping local!

6th March - West Sussex - Pagham Harbour and Drayton Pits - Spent the afternoon spending a bit of time birding the Church Norton area and scanning the sea. I heard a Spotted Redshank calling near the horse field pool but failed to locate it. The sea was rather calm, but with the tide out, everything was too far out although 4 Common Scoter and a Slavonian Grebe were seen amongst Great-crested Grebes. A Chiffchaff calling could be an early migrant and a sign of spring, there were more Knot around in the harbour. Checking the pits at Drayton, I eventually saw the Scaup that had been reported here, good numbers of Pochard also on the lake, 2 Ruddy Duck were also noteworthy. 

1st March - Surrey - Thursley Common - Spent the whole day at Thursley, yes that is right! From 8.30am til dark we were on site, which has got to be a site record for me! (to be continued...)

Sorry for the lack of updates/photographs and reports....all will be updated in due course with our Estonian adventure report!

February 2009

Highlights include 2 Rough-legged Buzzards, Hooded Crow and Short-eared Owls on Sheppey, Kent

White-wingers with Iceland and Glaucous Gulls in West Sussex and Hampshire

Waxwings locally 3miles from home! Local Mealy Redpolls, Red-breasted Goose and Black Brant

Glaucous Gull - Adult bird at Southsea Castle (N.Bond)

February 27th - West Sussex - Another afternoons birding locally. I made the short journey after work to Beeding Hill, just north of Shoreham, my first visit here and fantastic scenery. 3 Corn Buntings were flushed from a roadside hedge as I took the narrow track up, even more sensational was an Argos delivery lorry trying to navigate its way around looking totally lost. I found the area where 3 Tree Sparrows have been wintering, a good little area with feeders up, attracting plenty of Yellowhammers, Chaffinches and a singing Corn Bunting, no Tree Sparrows though, although I quite enjoyed a Raven displaying overhead with 2 pairs of Kestrel up at the same time. A Rat (rather large) was feeding on scraps under one of the feeders, seemed the type of place that would attract a scarcer bunting sp. I saw a Long-eared Owl up on The Downs and was enjoying good views until a cyclist bounded past shouting 'hello mate' causing the owl to disperse into the thicker vegetation....cheers 'mate'!! There was a good 200c Common Gulls up in the fields, the best number I can recall seeing in one area and Yellowhammers were around and in song. All good local stuff!

February 22nd - West Sussex - Stuck local again today, visited a few inland sites doing some general birding. With the cooler conditions, activity was rather quieter than yesterday. At Amberley a Peregrine was seen over Rackham, 75 Redwings were seen moving east and 6 Fieldfare were in a nearby field. Marsh Tit, Treecreeper and Nuthatch were all vocal and a large flock of 30c Siskins were seen. We went to a unnamed site where we were lucky to see at least 3 Hawfinches which showed well on and off. The 10 Waxwings were seen at Goring again. With the berry crop almost gone I am not sure how long these birds will stay (they are fairly mobile anyhow), but this afternoon they left the berry tree alone and put on a fantastic flycatching display, flying out of the higher trees at all angles, these birds were obviously adding variety to their berry diet!

February 21st - Hampshire and West Sussex - Decided to head to Farlington Marshes first thing to see the roosting Long-eared Owl there, which was showing well not too far from the carpark. Only 4 other birders were present whilst we were there, we decided to look around the reserve with highlights being a female Merlin, several Pintail in the channel, Black-tailed Godwits dotted around, several Bearded Tits showing well and a singing Cetti's Warbler. Heading back into West Sussex, we had our first Red Admirals of the year as well as Brimstone. We also found 2 Firecrests, 2 Willow Tits, 2 Red Kites and plenty of Common Buzzards displaying, a Woodlark was heard in full song. We finished the day off watching the Waxwings at Goring, with 10 birds present in the pleasant sunshine, good day with signs of spring approaching!

February 14th - Kent - Isle of Sheppey - Met up with Seth in Chessington and headed off to Sheppey for the day. The weather was perfect, calm, clear and sunny albeit a bit cold! The birding today was top drawer, 2 Rough-legged Buzzards were seen an adult and a juvenile, the juvenile showed well in flight, circling high before gliding off in the Elmley direction. The adult was sat on a post, rather inactive but the white tail band was observed as it preened. A large flock of White-fronted Geese flew onto the fleet mixed in with Greylags, a few Brents and a single Tundra Bean Goose was with them. We moved onto Harty Church and walking down the track I managed to find the Hooded Crow that had been resident there this winter. Reed Buntings were also numerous here, so some time was spent checking through them as a Corn Bunting burst into song, a Chiffchaff then called behind us showing well briefly, a total of 4 Corn Buntings were eventually seen here. At the raptor viewpoint, c25 Ruff were seen to the north and Seth found a Merlin perched on a post. Moving onto Shellness, we got some grub, which kept the local Black-headed Gull population happy. On the beach here was a large mixed flock of waders consisting of Turnstone, Sanderling, Knot and Dunlin, whilst offshore there were large numbers of Great-crested Grebes and Red-throated Divers (I counted 255!!) Adam had finally arrived and we met him back on Harty Marshes and observed the Rough-legged Buzzards again, this time with both of them in flight. Another Merlin was seen and a Short-eared Owl showed superbly in the winter sunshine. With left Ads to go off and hunt for the Hooded Crow, whilst we headed to Elmley. Been a good few years since I had been here, adding another Short-eared Owl plus a single Little Owl in the oak trees near the toilet block. A Peregrine headed over the car as we left the reserve along the access track! A good day indeed, Sheppey produced the goods yet again!

February 13th - West Sussex - More Waxwings and the return of the Red-breasted Goose - Finally caught up with the Goring Waxwings after work today, enabling good photo opportunities. I took these from the other side of the road, unlike a couple of others who wondered why the birds were not coming down to feed as they stood directly under their food source!! These birds were fairly active using a nearby house's guttering to drink from also. I decided to move on as had plenty of time to head to Wittering to see the returning Red-breasted Goose that had been re-found yesterday, looking good in the winter sunshine, been offered a lift to Devon tomorrow for the Yank Herring Gull, but spending the day in Kent with The Gibster instead...hopefully finding our own birds!!

February 11th - Was light enough this morning to check for the Goring Waxwings that had been found the evening before, I pass this location en route to work, but had no luck in the ten minutes I had allowed, the birds were seen again a little later, a small berry tree in a church carpark has drawn these birds in...the Red-breasted Goose has reappeared at West Wittering after overwintering in the Keyhaven/Pennington Marshes area...although remaining cold, the weather is ideal for photography at the mo....

February 8th - West Sussex - Various sites - A freezing morning with yet more frost led to sunshine and hardly any wind down in Pagham Harbour, the tide was in and there wasn't anything unusual, a couple of Goldeneye were seen, whilst on the sea a Red-throated Diver passed west, 30c Slavonian Grebes on the sea, Mediterranean Gulls were also kicking around. Moving onto Fishbourne Creek at least 1 Water Pipit was seen and heard, 9 Goldeneye were in the channel, whilst a Spotted Redshank and Whimbrel were highlights here. Moving inland we spent some time at Burton Mill Pond as I fancied looking for Mealy Redpolls that had been reported. Unsure of their exact location, Jake kindly passed on directions and we soon found the correct area with a flock of finches feeding in the cattle field. Searching through, we saw at least 2 individuals, one a smart male bird, there were also numerous Brambling and Chaffinch with the flock. Good little spot, a Crossbill flew overhead and landed in the Larch trees above. By now the nice weather gave way to cloud and rain, 2 egrets flew into the cattle field, unfortunately they were not Cattle Egrets but Little!

February 7th - Hampshire - Various sites - The forecast was good today, so I wanted to try and photograph the 2 Glaucous Gulls that were at Southsea Castle. For once, Tom Tom confused me and I missed the turn-off, so decided to keeping going further west and try for the Scaup that have been at Titchfield Haven. The sea was flat-calm, was rather disappointing though, with only 4 Great-crested Grebes and a small flock of Wigeon for our efforts. Looking from the bridge near the visitor centre, the two drake Scaup showed well, with Pochard and Tufted Duck. We moved onto Hook with Warsash, a reserve I have never visited before. We saw the Long-tailed Duck on the main channel, as we were watching this a Common Seal popped up, checking us out before moving on. We then headed to Southsea, from the Castle, we scanned the sea and soon picked up a Great-northern Diver and a Red-necked Grebe. Purple Sandpipers were on the rocks and some hapless soul slipped and fell trying to get a closer picture. The adult Glaucous Gull was on show but there was no sign of the 2nd winter individual. The Glaucous Gull looked slightly oiled and fairly tatty, eventually flying from the sea and onto the beach near the pier, where I managed to get some shots. The birds on offer here today drew in a fair number of birders. We stopped off at Thorney Island on the way back home, one of the main fields contained 100+ Fieldfares, several Redwings thrown in and 10 Black-tailed Godwits

Glaucous Gull - the adult bird at Southsea

Long-tailed Duck - seen well at Hook with Warsash

Whilst watching the Long-tailed Duck, this Seal appeared!

February 6th - West Sussex - Southwick - The juvenile Iceland Gull was seen again today, I popped down after work as the morning rain had dispersed. I checked out Hove Lagoon first, plenty of gulls, but no Iceland, so moved onto the basin road. No sign of any other birders and no news via the pager, was the bird still here?? I pulled up  into the first main car-park and scanned the beach westward, there it was, feeding on the tideline with Herring Gulls. The bird was fairly mobile today and took off and ended up on one of the main groynes and promptly fell asleep. The bird then went for a feed on the beach, before heading onto the next groyne. The bird was noticeably paler this week as was showing signs of moulting into 1st summer plumage. As I drove home, a Peregrine flew over the road heading towards the power station. 

February 1st - West Sussex - Southwick and Widewater - The Iceland Gull and Black Redstart seen today.(report to follow)

January 2009

***Glaucous-winged Gull*** in Cleveland

A first for Sussex - a fantastic drake King Eider at Pett Levels

Night Heron at West Hythe in Kent

Penduline Tit, Cattle Egret, 2 Surf Scoters, Cirl Buntings etc all seen on a daytrip to Devon

Waxwings, Ring-necked Duck, Ring-billed Gull, Black Brant, Red-breasted Goose, Great-grey Shrike and Hawfinch in Hampshire

Black-tailed Godwits - Fighting it out at Church Norton

31st - West Sussex - Fishbourne and Pagham - The Gibster told me to stay in, shut the curtains and go nowhere this weekend..he did not want me going out as he did not want me to beat his best January yearlist total of 165 species! Today was my nephew's 3rd birthday so had to stay local, which I am always happy to do, I went to Fishbourne Creek, which is still a fairly unfamiliar site to me. I started off on the north side, taking the path out through a massive reedbed to view the creek. The tide was low so there were plenty of birds scattered around, viewing was difficult as had the wind and sun in my face. A Greenshank flew in from the south and a little later a Spotted Redshank was heard calling, I soon located it feeding in one of the smaller channels. I decided to head back to the car whacking the heater on full as the wind had frozen me! I parked at the church, walked through the churchyard and headed out to the other side of the creek. The sun was now behind me and there were plenty more sheltered spots, had a good walk northbound, the numbers of birds here is quite amazing, there were two small flocks of Black-tailed Godwits, probably totalling around 100 birds, another Spotted Redshank was found, then a Whimbrel calling put me onto it, showing fairly well. Wigeon were everywhere, at least 5 Goldeneye were in the channel, on the rising tide I found a Little Stint with 3 Dunlin on the near shore. Birds were being moved around by the rising water, a party of 60c Brents flew in and landed on the creek, scanning through, a Black Brant was with them, presumably the same bird that has been in Pagham Harbour, but I was pleased with my find and phoned it through to RBA. The only bird of note in the churchyard was a male Bullfinch. I popped into Church Norton and Selsey Bill, a Mediterranean Gull was then only bird noteworthy in pretty un-birdable conditions. I had to get back anyhow for a certain person's 3rd birthday, checking out Drayton gravel pits on the way home where a Green Sandpiper was seen, over 100 Lapwings were also seen at this site...I finished the month on 169 species for the year!

30th - West Sussex - Southwick and River Adur - Finished work at 1pm and decided to try for the Iceland Gull that had been found a couple of days ago at Southwick, the same site hosted a Glaucous Gull last winter. Garry was already there and said that he had not seen it yet, so I decided to drop into Shoreham Fort and checked there, bumped into Owen there who pointed out 3 Purple Sandpipers on the east arm, little else was around. Owen had already seen the Iceland Gull, but further east from the Carats Cafe (where Garry was looking!) I received a call from Garry, he was watching the bird, so I quickly drove around and connected with my first Sussex Iceland Gull! I managed some shots (below), the bird was fairly active, moving along the tideline, looking for food, occassionally flying over the rocks and onto the next beach. I decided to move inland and venture to a new site to me, the River Adur at Shoreham. There had been reports of over-wintering Common Sandpipers here. I parked up at Boltoph's Bridge and headed southbound, lots of suitable areas, but no Common Sands!! I began to wonder if I was in the right place as Jake had mentioned he was flushing quite a few recently. I walked south for nearly 2 miles, finding a dead Little Egret, then a small wader flew low over the river, landing on the far mudbank, finally, a Common Sandpiper! There weren't many birds around, but the area looked good for stuff, especially at migration periods. A Grey Wagtail, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel were also seen here. I went to listen for owls at night, hearing 2 Tawny Owls near the Arundel WWT, a Little Owl was heard near the Bailiffs Court Hotel at Climping.

Iceland Gull - Taken in poor light at Southwick...doesn't like getting it's feet wet!! (N.Bond)

29th - West Sussex - Swanbourne Park - Managed to find 2 Firecrests here with a large crest flock...must have been a pre-roost gathering as they seemed to be everywhere, also had a male Peregrine over and 2 Common Buzzards, a dozen Mandarin were on the lake.

25th - East Sussex - Newhaven and Windmill Hill - Having spent the night in London and the weather forecast poor, I had literally written off any birding today. As I drove down the A23, it suddenly dawned on me that I should try for Newhaven's 2nd winter Glaucous Gull that had been found the day before. Having been to Newhaven before, I knew exactly where to go! Upon arrival, there were several birders parked up and the bird was seen flying around by the cliff-face. I had been told that the bird had been seen on the deck and was quite approachable. I decided to nip up the road and purchase a loaf of bread, when I returned two other birders were there looking but claimed they had no sign. A quick scan revealed no Glaucous, so I started to throw bread out braving the now deterioting conditions, causing a stir amongst the gulls...still no Glaucous!! By now my uncle had arrived as I text him to let him know the Glaucous was still here (still adamant he is not yearlisting!) With that the bird reappeared flying in from up-river hitting the deck and tucking into my bread!! The bird remained for the next 30 minutes or so, occassionally flying around and drinking from the puddles before settling on a wooden post sitting out the rain!

Glaucous Gull - £1.29 well spent on bread !! (N.Bond)

 Waxwing - one of the 16 birds to brave the Sussex rain!    

24th - Surrey/London - Various sites - Planned on going to the Isles of Sheppey today, but as I was visiting friends in London, I kept it local and went to one site where I managed good views of at least 3 Long-eared Owls. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was seen at Beddington, which also contained large numbers of Gadwall and Shoveler, 70+Lapwings were noted and Tree Sparrows were regular at the feeders. I spent the afternoon in Bushy Park, where making the most of the good light, exprimented more with the camera and added Egyptian Goose onto the yearlist....Ring-necked Parakeets were everywhere with this one below prospecting a nest hole! Still no sign of the Tawny Owls in their usual winter home.

Ring-necked Parakeet - yes, the sun does shine in London sometimes!!!

23rd - West Sussex - Widewater and Chantry Hill - Checked out Widewater again today, with a strong westerly, I didn't hold out too much hope of seeing anything good! A quick glance offshore and there seemed to be less gulls than last week, so a quick check through didn't muster anything noteworthy, whilst on the lagoon, 2 pairs of Red-breasted Mergansers were sheltering. Walking west, a Meadow Pipit appeared along with a male Stonechat, then the female/1st winter Black Redstart flew up and landed on a post, before flying off to the rocky groyne. The male Stonechat was joined by a female, enabling photo opportunities. I experimented with a few settings on the camera and was pleased with the results (see below). A Kingfisher, 2 Redshank and 2 Ringed Plover were all on the lagoon.

Male and female Stonechat - much happier with these shots!

Leaving Widewater and heading up through Shoreham, there was a traffic jam...at first I assumed it was roadworks, then suddenly realising that traffic had ground to a halt by the culprits below!

The taxi driver was not amused! - There was quite a queue in the opposite direction!!

I had heard a report of a small flock of Bramlings at Chantry Hill, a site I have not been to before, not too difficult to find, the windy country lane ginds to a halt and you end up somewhere in the South Downs! There were several small finch flocks present, mainly Chaffinch, but at least 10 Brambling were picked out amongst them, but variety included good numbers of Yellowhammer, whilst a couple of Corn Buntings were also seen. Fieldfare were also flushed by a dog, around 30 birds with a couple of Redwing thrown in. The wind was bitterly cold up here so didn't hang around and whilst packing my stuff away, 4 Skylarks flew overhead...a site worth visiting!

22nd - West Sussex - Work (Worthing) - Having gone 17 days into the year not seeing a Jay, I saw one today at work of all places!! 

18th - Devon - Various sites - A phonecall from 'The Gibster' on Saturday night decided on a day trip to Devon with some quality birds on offer. The weather looked favourable despite the torrential wind and rain that night, we did our usual early start, picking Garry up and meeting Seth in Southampton at 5am, we headed for Paignton, Devon in good time, it was still pretty dark when we arrived at the leisure centre car park, so we got some supplies and petrol, before heading out to the ponds at Clennon Valley. They had had a lot of rain here, with the fields waterlogged, the pathway ran straight through the football pitches, where the paths then became rather muddy. At this point we bumped into a local birder with his son, between us we quickly located the male Penduline Tit feeding in the far reed bed. This bird showed really well and offered my best views of Penduline Tit, I tried to catch a couple of record shots in the struggling light, no other birders here and had the bird to ourselves! It was at this site I saw my first Dusky Warbler a couple of years ago, seeing a Penduline Tit at Slapton Ley that same day! We all had wet, cold feet by now (not me, mate. I was wearing proper boots remember, lol - The Gibster!), we drove the short distance to Broadsands, a site the local chap with his son told us about. He explained that the car-park here was good for Cirl Buntings, with the local county recorder reguarly feeding them grain, he said we had a good chance of seeing some, also advising to check out offshore for grebes, divers etc. Arriving at Broadsands we were soon watching Cirl Buntings with a mixed flock of finches, Dunnocks, Robins and Reed Buntings and were soon open to the elements as a heavy shower passed over, forcing us to take shelter under the car-parks blue skip (this would have made a good photo)!we saw at least 4 birds, including 2 males, been a good couple of years since I have seen Cirl's and my first ones away from Prawle Point. We did as advised and checked out the bay, Fulmars, Shags were around the cliff edges, the sea was rather calm so Red-throated Divers were picked out along with Black-necked Grebe, a lone Great-northern Diver added to the variety, we all agreed this was a good place! Back at the car we were greeted by the Devon county recorder, who was very helpful, again, just like the local birder, very forthcoming with what's around locally, ensuring that we made the most of our visit. He pointed to the headland and suggested we took a look off of there, we negotiated the slippery paths, mud ski-ing in places! We scanned out into the ocean, Velvet Scoter were found as were Common, then Garry picked out a Red-necked Grebe that was fairly distant, a welcome year-tick. Garry had his stringing hat on today, trying to turn anything that swam into a Black-throated Diver but me and The Gibster were having none of it. We then hit Dawlish Warren, again looking out to sea, this time aiming to see a female Surf Scoter. We spent a lot of time here locating Scoters fairly distant from where we were based, eventually moving down towards the lifeguard station, closer views, after much discussion, a female Scoter that associated with a drake Velvet Scoter proved to be the Surf Scoter we were looking for, certainly brushing up on our Scoter identification skills! We dropped into Powderham and soon connected with a Cattle Egret, shortly realising it was a mile away from the 2 birds that had been reported there, a nice little diversion, all starting with me seeing a road sign, 'I'm sure there was Cattle Egret reported there'!, pulled over the car, found the pager message, The Gibster directed us via his Devon map and bingo! As it was on our way home we dropped into Seaton/Beer and found the 1st winter drake Surf Scoter a lot easier, originally seen rather distantly, the bird drifted towards us giving closer views. We dropped into Weymouth on the way home as we had a little daylight left, checked for the Hooded Merganser at Radipole with little success in dim light...the day had beaten us, birding from first light til last..we had a good day, some good birds and birding and the weather held off for us, I went back to work Monday a happy man!

Penduline Tit - Clennon Valley - Taken in poor light, cracking bird

Cirl Bunting - nice little feeding site found for these!

17th - West Sussex - Various sites - Rain overnight, left clear winter sunshine as I headed out locally. I started off at Coldwaltham sewage works, a site I visited last winter for a Siberian Chiffchaff. The hedgerows were full of birds, Goldcrests were numerous, a large party of Long-tailed Tits moved through, I counted at least 6 Chiffchaffs, catching the emerging insects, good to see so many small birds surviving the cold snap! Checking through them, there was an obvious pale bird, certainly not cold enough for a tristis,  but an interesting bird none the less. Moving around to the works, there were few birds around, probably due to the sprinklers not working, 3 Meadow Pipits were grouped with 7 Pied Wagtails dropping occassionally into the beds and out of view. Not many birds were dropping in, then suddenly a Kestrel appeared above the filter bed, flushing the birds that were out of view, a Water Pipit sat up on the concrete ledge as the Kestrel moved on, a Meadow Pipit tried chasing the Water Pipit off, before heading back down on the beds and out of view again. A female Grey Wagtail also appeared and as I left the site a male Bullfinch was a welcome site. I popped into Lavington Common, very quiet here, plenty of Goldcrests in the car-park and a pair of Stonechat seen on the plantation. En-route to West Dean, a Jay was seen, my first for the year...'at last' I thought! I went on to see 3 individuals throughout the day! I didn't spend as much time at West Dean as I would have liked, there was a Pheasant shoot going on, flankers all over the place! I visited Fishborne for the first time, parking at Dell Quay, good site this with plenty of Brent Geese, Wigeon, good numbers of waders with Black-tailed Godwits and Little Egrets present, a pair of Goldeneye in the channel being the best birds here. I finished up at Church Norton where many of the expected species were seen, not many birders around today. 2 female Goldeneyes were in the harbour and several Mediterranean Gulls were seen. Offshore, there was a stiff south-westerly breeze, Red-throated Divers were moving west in good numbers and a couple were on the sea, I then picked out another 3 divers pretty close together, drifting west, I zoomed in and proved to be Black-throated Divers, birds of the day! A couple of Kittiwakes moved through, although there were numerous Great-crested Grebes offshore today, I could not find any Slavonian Grebes. The drake King Eider was re-found in East Sussex today, showing well, close inshore. I was happy with my local stuff!

Chiffchaff - at least 6 birds at Coldwaltham today - 'which one shall I eat next'??

16th - West Sussex - Widewater and the South Downs - Popped in after work (1pm), the female Black Redstart was seen perched on top of the car park toilet block as I pulled in to the car park, plenty of dog walkers about so no doubt had been moved on from its regular spot! A few Great Crested Grebes were on the sea, a few Razorbills were moving west, with a few dotted around on the sea, 2 Gannets also headed west as did a lone Red-throated Diver. Six Red-breasted Mergansers flew close-in from the west, prospected the lagoon, before continuing east, 62 Ringed Plover, 50+ Turnstone, 2 Sanderling and a single Dunlin were taking shelter on the beach. A Little Egret was on the lagoon. Had a quick look up on the south downs, but with weather deterioting, I gave up and headed home.

Birders at Pett Levels - watching the King Eider on the day it was found

11th - West and East Sussex - Pagham and Pett Levels - Kept to birding locally in Sussex today. Picked Garry up at 7.30am aiming to be at Pagham for first light. Our first stop was at Ivy lake, which was mainly iced over, there was a flock of geese out on the ice, which included 3 Tundra Bean Geese and 2 White-fronted Geese. There were quite a few cars present here, so we headed off to Church Norton to move ahead of the crowds. Arriving at Church norton, there was only one other car present in the car park. The tide was out in the harbour, a single Avocet was feeding with some Black-tailed Godwits. We concentrated on the sea, which was rather choppy. A couple of Slavonian Grebes were picked out, there were quite a few Great-crested Grebes. Several Kittiwakes were on the move west, Gannets were thin on the ground, several Common Scoters were on the sea with at least one Velvet Scoter in with them. There were at least 100 Mediterranean Gulls in the harbour mouth. Walking back to the car park, we watched a Black-tailed Godwit trying to drown his mate(picture above), a stunning male Merlin was watched for a good half hour as it ate its prey(see below). Whilst Garry was watching this, I found the wintering Whimbrel. By now the sun was out, so the plan was to head to Bursledon again to photograph Waxwings. Then within minutes came 2 phone calls that would change that plan, I had got as far as the Selsey roundabout, when Ian Barnard rang me, to inform me of a report of a drake King Eider at Pett Levels, he was heading for it and before putting the phone down, I had spun around on the roundabout and headed east-bound. I tried ringing Ads, no answer, so a voicemail was left, we decided to chance it anyhow. Then a second phonecall came, my sister waters had broken and was heading up-to Worthing hospital, she is expecting twins!! I kept going, Ads returning my call as I was well past Worthing, he was gonna wait on news. If this report was to be true, it would be the first record for Sussex. We had reached as far as Hastings, when the pager message read 'King Eider till 11.30am then drifted out-to-sea'!! This did not sound good, I said to Garry that there was a chance that the bird would return. We finally arrived at Pett, with Hastings, as expected, holding us up(bloody place)! There was a few birders there, Ian showed us a picture on his phone, confirming that there was indeed a King Eider in Sussex waters! We started scanning the sea's, a few Red-throated Divers, Common and Velvet Scoters were amongst the masses of Great-crested Grebes.  A fellow birder received a call, the bird had been re-located, everyone took off, we, not knowing where the bird was showing from just followed, we spun round and followed the cars and headed up towards the Winchelsea end, before the leading car realised, it was indeed heading in the wrong direction, it was like a scene from Wacky races, the sunday traffic held up as the Sussex bird rally took place, we needed to be right down the other end!! Clambering out of the car I set up my scope and looking straight out, the drake King Eider was glimpsed as it showed riding the waves. The bird then dived as was mobbed by a gull. The challenge then, was trying to get both Garry's onto the bird, I had my uncle Garry to the left of me, Gary Bagnell to my right...I made the mistake of saying 'it's in my scope Garry if you want a quick look'! with that both Garry's launched towards my scope as I realised that I had spoken to both! They both eventually got onto the bird, which proved a little tricky as the gull continued to mob it whenever it re-surfaced. Now that it had been re-found and news released on the networks, more people started to arrive, whereas the casual Sunday strollers were wondering what the hell all the fuss was about. The bird drifted well right, so we walked further down the beach where the bird had drifted in slightly closer. The gamble had paid off, a bit of a Sussex twitch. Cheers to Ian for the phonecall...on the way home, I received another phonecall, my sister had given birth to twins!! A good day all-round!

Merlin - Church Norton - feasting on a small wader!!

10th - Hampshire - Various sites - after my first week back at work, I was itching to get-out and have a good days birding...so I spent Friday evening planning my day, using tom tom and my pager to work out a plan....for variety and good birds, Hampshire was the place to be!! I left home at 7am, another heavy frost covering the car! Heading inland, thick fog was encountered and tom tom got us slightly lost looking for Passfield road and tried taking me up some dirt track!! 'good start'! Finally finding the site, I managed to somehow squeeze the motor in the last parking space. A birder I recognised from Sussex informed me that the bird was present, showing well, so I headed to the pond and  3 other birders were present, hitting me with the news that the Ring-necked Duck had disappeared behind a large island and was currently out of view. A group of Siskin containing a Redpoll kept me entertained before the Ring-necked Duck emerged on the far left hand side of the island with 3 Tufted Ducks. The bird was sticking tight to the islands edge and was generally elusive. I headed off south to my next destination at Gosport and Walpole park to try for the adult Ring-billed Gull, I had the feeling I was going to have to work hard for the birds today as upon arrival the lake was un-suprisingly frozen over...a couple of folk were feeing bread to a small number of Black-headed Gull's, so I grabbed the scope and headed to Haslar Creek. Here plenty of gull's were loafing around on the water, scanning through, these mainly consisted of Black-headed Gulls with a dozen or so Common Gulls, an adult Mediterranean Gull was amongst them, but no sign of the Ring-billed Gull, then I noticed a gull asleep that looked good...I remained fixed on this bird until all of a sudden it woke up, flew a short distance and had a little look around, before going back asleep, allowing me enough time to identify it as the Ring-billed Gull! A couple of Red-breasted Mergansers were in the creek, 15 Turnstones and 26 Brent Geese were also seen. I stopped off briefly at the HMS Sultan playing fields, the goose flock was present today, the frozen ground conveniently preventing any football being played here today, the Black Brant was easilly seen with the Brent Geese, several Lapwing and 9 Golden Plover were nice finds here. Within 30 minutes I was at Bursledon, Waxwing hunting! there had been a group of 20+present the last couple of days, but there had been no news so far this morning...pulling into Cunningham Gardens, there were plenty of berry bushes...but no Waxwing's!! I saw two birders, one with a camera..they informed me that the Waxwings were feeding down the road, so I quickly headed there and heard the birds calling before I saw them. I counted 32 birds, with most sitting up in a tall tree, the rest were feeding on, what looked like frozen berries, next to someone's house. There were quite a few birders here (so why no news?) and these birds offered some good photo opportunities, I wonder if these were the birds that were seen recently in Gosport.  A quick scamper around Blashford, produced very little, mainly due to every lake being totally frozen over, so I did not waste much time searching for the Great-white Egret. The Red-breasted Goose was tricky to pin-down at Keyhaven, Rba had earlier reported that the bird was with Brent Geese off of Idle Lane. Checking on the map, this didn't really help as Idle lane stretches for a few miles! I decided to check at Vidle Van Farm, the birders present had no sign here, so I took it upon myself to check out the Idle Lane area. I parked up off of Lower Pennington Lane, not really knowing what to expect. I allowed myself an hour and headed west. The lane took me through some gravel works and overlooked the tip site here, a Raven flew past, then I flushed up a Snipe. I kept on walking, until I managed to locate a flock of geese, mainly containing Canada and Greylags, but there were a few Brents tucked in. There was then a couple of gun-shot sounds, flushing a lot of birds into the sky, including a large group of Brents from the west, the birds flew towards me as I scanned through them, looking to settle in the field next to me, I soon noticed a smaller goose, and there it was, the Red-breasted Goose!! The flock just would not settle, I took my eyes off of the Red-breasted Goose as a small raptor flashed past, it was a female Merlin chasing a Starling, it looked as if the Starling had out-smarted the falcon and survived! The geese were still flying around, before deciding to head out towards the sea and out of view! Walking back to the car, a female Bullfinch was a nice find, another Snipe was flushed, the temperature was dropping sharply now! I drove round to the farm again, stopping to see and photograph Kestrel, Stonechat and Fieldfares (my first of the year) en-route. There was a flock of Brents present at the farm now, more were coming in aswell so gave it 15minutes here in the hope that the Red-Breasted Goose would join them, but unfortunatley it didn't arrive and a photo opportunity was lost. I was battling time now, I took a gamble and navigated my way to Blackwater, the final site of the day. The light was fading, birders were leaving, although informing me that Hawfinches were around! Entering the gate, I had a Blackwater first! I had the place to myself! Within minutes I was watching Hawfinch's coming into roost, small groups of 4 and 6 were seen, probably gaining my best views here as, probably due to the cold weather, the birds were showing lower in the trees. I was soon joined by another birder, who had spoken to at Keyhaven. We continued to enjoy the birds arriving, there was at least 20birds seen, when suddenly the other birder chirped 'I have got a Shrike', he was looking through his scope at the far end of the arboretum, 'on top of the tallest pine' he advised, I was straight onto it, and a Great-grey Shrike was another first for me at Blackwater, an unexpected find, although there are at least 5 birds wintering in the New Forest at the moment. The Shrike didn't hang around, flying towards the wooded area, presumably to roost, a good way to end an exciting day, as I mentioned earlier, connecting with the birds wasn't easy today...am I yearlisting this year??  

Waxwing - Bursledon - these birds caused plenty of interest

9th - West Sussex - Pulborough and the South Downs - Had to pop into Pulborough briefly after a mornings work, a really heavy frost leaving everything frozen on the reserve...the birds were suffering. A Dunnock was all huddled and looking on it's last legs under one of the feeders, whilst in the centre, a report of a Mute Swan trapped in the ice on the North Brooks! I walked to the West Mead Hide where 2 Water Rails were showing well, but not well enough to get photos as they were constantly on the move! The feeders were alive with birds, a couple of Bullfinch, several Marsh Tits and a Nuthatch were the highlights here and I headed off to one of my favourite site on the South Downs.

'I told you I didn't eat too much over Christmas'!

Driving along the access track the hedgerows were alive with birds, several Redwings and numerous Song Thrushes were seen. A party of 12 Grey Partridge flew across the road, landing in the next field, a single Lapwing stood out in the ice. Leaving the car, I walked the tracks through to 'The Burgh', large parties of Chaffinches (no Brambling) were seen, soon finding Reed Buntings in with them, then Yellowhammers, at least 10 birds present here, then 4 Corn Buntings appeared, good numbers fed on the track, I checked through for anything unusual. I then heard the cronking call of a Raven, scanning the horizon, 2 birds flew towards me being mobbed by a Carrion Crow in the process. The light was drawing in as the freezing fog moved in...another cold one ahead!

Lapwing - Gather it's feet were cold!!

Redwing - one of many that were present

4th - Kent - Dungeness and West Hythe - Having a slight lie in, I eventually forced myself out into the coldness and decided to head to Kent in the hope of a quality winters day birding. The conditions were good, nice hard frost and icy conditions, my windscreen froze as I tried cleaning with screenwash...not fun whilst driving at the national speed limit up the A23!! I popped into Folkestone, there was no immediate sign of any Waxwings, the berry trees I had seen them on previously had been stripped, although I managed to locate a whole bank of berries behind Sainsbury's. Other birders were also around looking, there had been none seen since 8am! I went to West Hythe (again!) I know my way there and back now, the Night Heron was on view, but was hugely inactive, it just sat peering into a shallow pool waiting to pounce. A Kingfisher was more productive, catching 3 fish close by! My next destination was Lade, the pits were almost frozen over, but birds were concentrated on the unfrozen stretches. There were quite a few Goldeneye present, I located the female Scaup that had been reported here but could not find the Long-tailed Duck. I was joined by two other birders who were also from West Sussex, eventually putting them both onto the female Scaup/ A drake Smew flew over inspecting the pits before heading back off towards the Dungeness area, then a male Marsh Harrier patrolled the area behind. Back for a bit of car-watching now and from the layby at the ARCs, more Goldeneye were seen along with a redhead Smew and two redhead Goosanders were my first of the year as were a couple of Ruddy Duck. Moving up to Denge Marsh, the swan flock had increased with around 60 Bewick's Swans now present, several more youngsters were now involved, the single Whooper Swan was also still around. I decided to go goose chasing at Walland Marsh, I was fighting time now as I headed north from Lydd Church. I soon noticed a large group of geese in a nearby field, turning the car around and hastily scanning I was soon disappointed, with what looked like a large group of Greylags, but no, a White-Fronted Goose appeared into view, then another, then another one...there were quite a few here. I grabbed my scope and had a proper look, there were at least 60 White-fronts here, 10 Barnacle Geese were amongst them, then a goose appeared with orange legs...Bean Goose!! closer inspection revealed 4 of these birds, all of the Tundra race. Another birder pulled up in his car, obviously curious what I was watching, he grunted when I said I was checking through the geese, then leapt out the car when I mentioned there were Tundra Bean Geese present! Bloody yearlisters!! I guessed I had roughly an hour's worth of light left. The RSPB reseve was next, by now the temperature had dropped even further. I only walked as far as the Christmas Dell Hide catching views of a drake Red-crested Pochard en-route. The Christmas Dell Hide was full of expectant Bittern watchers (there had been at least 5 seen around the reserve today), a drake Smew had dropped in, but was rather flighty and a Black-necked Grebe was seen. A Kingfisher dashed across the New Excavations on my walk back. With the light now fading, I hit the road with the heating on full pelt, the journey home was via one of my favourite places....Hastings....oh joy!!!

Night Heron - Stayed virtually statuesque, almost appearing headless from where I was standing!

Kingfisher - At least this bird was actually did something!

Goosander - a couple of birds seen on the ARC Pit

3rd - Cleveland - Cowpen Marshes - ******Glaucous-winged Gull****** With the news breaking yesterday of a confirmed adult Glaucous-winged Gull, Seth managed to get the day off, which was great as really did not want to leave it until the Sunday as the bird was favouring a landfill site.....Anyway, we met up at the Monkey Puzzle at 4am (bar closed!) jumped into The Gibstermobile and headed for the M1 and Cleveland. Garry was already putting the mockers on the chances of us seeing this bird (he had already seen one in the UK so could relax), I remained fairly calm and confident that the bird would be found! I brought my friend Tom Tom along, before realising that I did not bring along her life-line, so she promptly died as we were not far away from Cowpen, having to resort to good old fashioned map reading! Heading into Cowpen, we soon noticed parked up cars everywhere, a sure sign of a twich. We were soon scanning the ploughed fields, with no sign of the bird, there were conflicting reports of brief sigting etc...then we were off...there was a mass exodus and birders were running in the direction of the landfill site...at first I wasn't sure what was happening, but just ran anyway guessing the bird had been found. False alarm...Glaucous Gull was called, oh well at least the legs warmed up a little! More gulls were arriving from all directions, we decided to stay put and continued to scan the ploughed field and surrounding area, there were several 'Scandinavian' Herring Gulls, another birder received a call saying the bird was flying in our direction...again no luck...by now there was another gathering at the landfill site...surrounding birders moved off down there out of curiosity...again we stayed put! Wise move Widerscoper's...a car pulled up and a local accent belted out 'the bird's showing well down the road' he yelled out instructions and, as we were just feet from the car...we were off and The Gibster was not stopping for anyone...I felt quite embarassed as I tried not to laugh at all the birders fleeing back up the hill to their motors to join the race! Within minutes we were out of the car again and clapping our eyes on our first Glaucous-winged Gull, just as I got it in my scope the birds flushed, but luckily the Glaucous-winged Gull remained and offered good scope views....more people started to arrive...many understandably out of breath and panic stricken....I last saw the bird drop out of view down a creek...it was time to depart as 26+Pink-footed Geese made their way onto our yearlist. We hit Hartlepool Bay, set my scope up, we were quickly joined by several other passing birders, a Red-throated Diver was on offer as well as a couple of Ringed Plover (yeartick for Seth...oh no...forgot...you didn't see them mate)!! We tried for some Waxwings which were reported in the Quayside Business Park, we had no luck in this busy area ticking of Victoria Park..home of the mighty Hartlepool Utd Football Club...I mentioned that they were possibly playing at home due to the amount of people around (I later heard that they were at home and pulled of one of the major upsets of the FA Cup 3rd round by beating Stoke 2-0), so a good day in Hartlepool all round. We headed back, nothing major to distract us on the route back, a quick refreshment in the Monkey Puzzle was had before we parted with Seth and headed off home to Sussex...a quality bird and an excellent twitch...this sure is one crazy hobby!!! Cheers to The Gibster for his rally driving and to Garry for taking us back to the 80s.......again!!

2nd - London and Essex - Beddington and Rainham Marshes - After having an enjoyable local day's birding yesterday, I headed up to Beddington with Garry, the day got off to a good start, with having reached the site, Garry realised he had left his access keys at home!! We were forced to view from the outside fence finding an adult Yellow-legged Gull and Tree Sparrows were numerous, before Johnny turned up and saved the morning's birding by letting us into the site. The lake was still iced up and there were certainly less gulls around today. The 1st winter Iceland Gull (picture here) was soon picked up, posing and preening on the ice, then Garry picked out an adult Caspian Gull, also posing nicely. We nipped over to Rainham, with Howard looking rather depressed at the entrance, having to deal with the general public knowing full well there was a decent bird elsewhere in the country to be seen! We tried and did not see the 2 Penduline Tits that had been showing well the day before, the reserve was full of people, no spaces left in the car park etc, so all seems to be a success. We did spy two Ruff that dropped in at the new scrapes near the visitor centre. It was now bitterly cold, with no further sign of the Penduline Tits (the area was well covered). I also spent some times at the feeders near the visitor centre checking through the finches in the hope of seeing the Serin that is occassionally seen...again with no luck!!

1st - West Sussex - Various sites - Left my house at 7.30am (year-listing again!!) Leaving the house my first bird of the year was a Carrion Crow, followed by Robin and Blackbird in song. Picked up Garry and headed to Arundel and Swanbourne Lake. Many common birds were seen here, Coal Tit, Treecreeper and Nuthatch were welcome sightings, and peeking through the fence at Arundel, Barrow's Goldeneye, Red-breasted Goose, Black-necked Swan, Ring-necked Duck and Bufflehead were all seen (how many people have these on their yearlist, huh?) and done the rounds in West Sussex. Highlights today included a Purple Sandpiper, 2 Bitterns, 4 Velvet Scoter, a Great-northern Diver, Dartford Warbler, 6 + Slavonian Grebes, a Red Kite and a Hen Harrier. A respectable total of 100 species were seen (compared with 81 seen New Year's Day last year) at several sites, with our route comprising of Arundel (Swanbourne Lake-Pagham Lagoon-Breech Pool-Ferry Pool-Selsey-Bill-West Dean Woods-Ambersham Common-Burton Mill Pond. Many birders out and about doing the same, even 'The Pirate' was out and about today, recording a grand total of 6!!

August saw the Widerscope crew re-unite, combining a visit to check up on The Pirate and a weekend of pelagics...It all started with me ringing around and rounding up a crew sometime, one freezing November night last year as early booking was essential. It started off with a booking for 5 and quickly dwindled down to 3 of us, myself, Danny and Seth. A cheque was sent off to Bob Flood, all that was left for us was to wait. Seth has done pelagic's before, but not for several years (apart from a Scilly pelagic last August and a highly successful Sula Sgeir Albatross pelagic, plus a coupla RIB rides out past Porthgwarra...other than that, none to speak of !!! - The Gibster) , Danny is currently based on Scilly and manged to cram in several last year, for me, this was a totally new experience and one I was really looking forward to. Nearer the time, Danny arranged accommodation and the Scillonian crossing for us...see how it all panned out by clicking here!!!

If you fancy taking part in next years pelagic's book early and full details are here

Lesser-grey Shrike - nr Wareham - Dorset - Photo by : Gary Thoburn

Spent 11 days out here from 30th April til 11th May, had some cracking birding, but not as much as I would have liked! Full report click on the Masked Shrike photo below

Masked Shrike - Cape Grecko - Cyprus April 2005 (G Messenbird)

Just added this trip report by Andrew Pearson, with photo's by Garry Messenbird......Click on the Green Bee-Eater photo to take you there!!

Had my first proper stay on these islands, travelling with Seth and meeting Danny over here...click here for my trip report

Siskin - hundreds of these were on the islands during our stay

I have delved through some old photo's.......and am currently re-living good times here....take a look!

That's right.....it is a f 'n mission....but not to McDonalds on the M3....my other website covers a lot of the earlier years....including many photo's.....the days before the Widercope revoloution.....with a few demanding and dependable passengers along the way!....

Welcome to Nicksmission

BACK TO THE TOP                                              WIDERSCOPE HOME