Patch: Autumn Morning

A beautiful morning. An early walk yielded 23 species, plus a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Wren in the scrub on Willingdon Hill.

The leaves  of the Chestnut and Beech Trees in Further Plantation were in full autumnal colour, and that part of the wood was full of Goldcrests with a mobile group of Long-tailed Tits. Raven and Jay made it six species of corvid.

The woods leading up the scarp of Willingdon Hill.

There were two patch ticks in Mistle Thrush and Redwing. The former was feeding on the fruiting Berberis.

Great Tit in the bare Ash trees on the scarp edge.

There are still several plants in flower, the highlight being a Hardhead Thistle. I also saw a Wasp.

Flowering Hardhead Thistle.

Flowering marjoram.

On the top were Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Meadow Pipit  Skylark and the previously mentioned Redwing.

Another Great Tit, this one in Further Plantation.

Chaffinch in their sombre winter plumage.



Term 1 2016: Highlights

After a slow start Term 1 generated enough excitement to justify a top five.

#5 Black Swans, Sovereign Harbour 25/9.

I know these birds are only feral, but they looked marvellous on a bright sunny afternoon. They were later spotted on the Pevensey Levels.

#4 Ichneumon Wasp, Abbot's Wood 25/9.

I realised a lifetime ambition when I saw this wasp. I vividly remember reading about them as a child and marvelling at the amazing ovipositer.

#3 Roe Deer, Oakley Hampshire 14/10.

An amazingly close encounter with this deer. Initially sitting down it stood up to look at me before pronking off.

#2 Black Tern, West Rise Marsh 9/10.

Flying around the edge of the lake with a lazy looping flight. Only my second ever sighting of this species.

#1 Ring Ouzels, Seaford Head 9/10.

After the excitement of a patch tick for this species the day before, absolutely fantastic views of about a dozen Ring Ouzels in the scrub above Hope Gap.

An honourable mention needs to be given to a brief glimpse of my first ever British Wild Boar in Thetford Forest.

Term 1 2016: Birdlist

This term I have been extremely busy; I have spent more time on my patch and less time out at more productive sites. Consequently, for the first time in quite a while, my total for species seen of 72, is significantly less than in previous years (97 in 2015 and 88 in 2014).

Yarrellii Pied Wagtail at Sovereign Harbour.

Ironically this Autumn has probably been the most remarkable for rare migrants that I have been aware of. Nevertheless I have seen some lovely birds.

Black-headed Gull at Norwich.

Autumn being a time of transition, I have seen hirundines and warblers, but also my first Redwing and Wigeon of Winter.

Wigeon at West Rise Marsh.

The Black Swans were a highlight, though I accept that they can only be described as a feral species at best.

Black Swans at Sovereign Harbour.

A visit to Hampshire for a wedding meant I had great views of Red Kites. These charismatic birds are a rarity in Eastbourne, but very common there.

Red Kite at Oakley, Hampshire.

The Ring Ouzel invasion was a marvellous highlight, generating my second patch tick of the term, the first was a passage Wheatear. Another highlight was my second ever Black Tern, at West Rise Marsh.

Stonechat at Seaford Head.

There were 13 species I expected to see that eluded me, with Greylag Goose being the most surprising. On the plus side Bearded Tit and Tawny Owl were welcome surprises.

Goldcrest at Foxholes Brow, part of my patch.

The list:

Mute Swan

Black Swan

Canada Goose

Eurasian Wigeon

Mallard

Tufted Duck

Pheasant

Little Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

Grey Heron

Little Egret

Cormorant

Red Kite

Sparrowhawk

Common Buzzard

Kestrel

Merlin

Hobby

Moorhen

Coot

Northern Lapwing

Eurasian Curlew

Black-headed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Black tern

Stock Dove

Woodpigeon

Feral Pigeon

Collared Dove

Tawny Owl

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Magpie

Jay

Jackdaw

Rook

Carrion Crow

Raven

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Coal Tit

Bearded Tit

Swallow

House Martin

Common Chiffchaff

Willow Warbler

Blackcap

Common Whitethroat

Goldcrest

Wren

Starling

Ring Ouzel

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Redwing

Robin

European Stonechat

Northern Wheatear

Dunnock

House Sparrow

Yellow Wagtail

White Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Meadow Pipit

Rock Pipit

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Linnet

Reed Bunting

Roe Deer

I went looking for Grey Partridge in the fields West of Oakley in Hampshire. No luck, but this beautiful female Roe Deer more than compensated.

A couple of Red Kites flew over.

I had good views of Kestrel and Sparrowhawk, and I managed a brief glimpse of a very vocal Tawny Owl in a small wood. A beautiful still evening.



Seaford Head

A Sunday afternoon visit yielded Ravens, dozens of Chiffchaffs, Blackbirds, Chaffinch, Robin, Dunnock, Rock Pipit, Little Egret, the most Stonechats I have seen and Ring Ouzels. The sky was wonderful too.





West Rise Marsh: Black Tern and Bearded Tit

A wonderful sunny Sunday morning with light winds. Perfect weather for a not too muddy West Rise Marsh.

Black Tern

I immediately spotted a Black Tern, with its lazy looping flight. It was doing circuits around the edge of the lake, swooping down to feed repeatedly. It kept moving off, but returned regularly.

Wigeon 

Twenty plus Wigeon and forty or so Tufted Duck were on the Lake with Coot, Great Crested Grebe Lesser and Great Black-backed Gulls. A male Kestrel was mobbed by Carrion Crows. A lovely, if brief, view of a Bearded Tit was another highlight. Around the meadows and reeds were Linnets, Reed Bunting, Stonechats and Meadow Pipits.

Great Crested Grebe

Tufted Duck

Waterfowl on the lake

Wigeon

Slindon

A beautiful, though showery, day on Saturday at the Apple Fair, Slindon.

At some places around the estate some of the fantastic Beech woodland survives. Most was destroyed by the 1987 storm.

The pumpkin mosaic.

Part of the woodland covers a Paleolithic raised beach. Hard to believe, but an area of sloping land was a sea cliff about half a million years ago. It has been excavated and there was plenty of evidence found of hominid activity, in the form of worked flints. A quick search revealed several examples of scrapers, knives and two cores. These are the remains of a larger flint that has been repeatedly knapped to produce sharp slivers. Nothing really remarkable. Would love to find an arrow head or a hand axe one day.

A selection of our finds. The cores are in the bottom left-hand corner. The broken round flint in the top middle just looked nice.

Rosebay Willowherb seedheads.

Purple Toadflax.

Not too many birds about, but I did see several Buzzards, a group of House Martins, a Coal Tit and my first Redwing of the Autumn.

Most frustratingly, I briefly as I drove West I saw a pale Harrier from the A27, just before the Southwick tunnel. My snatched view was not enough to identify it, and I could find no record of a sighting in the area. One that got away.