Continued jip with knees, back etc made for a slow start to the new year with just one species on day 1, a Woodpigeon heard, without opening the doors or going out; a crap day weatherwise.
Monday the 2nd looked better so I did Blashford, Farlington and Warblington, getting to 80 species despite not starting til 10:00, spending over an hour in the car and wasting the last hour of the day with the Warblington Cattle Egrets, despite not 'needing' them after the Harbridge bird earlier. Time 4.5 hours approx. Best bird - Short-eared Owl
Tuesday the third saw the addition of 16 species at Titchfield in about 3 hours including the long staying Snow Bunting. Best bird - Firecrest.
Day four was Pulborough duty day and only produced four new birds, Peregrine being the best.
Day five was a social visit back to Pulborough where just one new bird, 101, Bewicks Swan with a group of five roosting on ice on the south brooks.
A Collared Dove in Petersfield on Friday whilst shopping and a Med Gull in a brief visit to the Oysterbeds mid afternoon in dismal grey conditions got to 103.
Bearing in mind visited sites, main misses so far are Black-necked Grebe, Lesser Redpoll , Great Black-backed Gull and Green Woodpecker.
Probably should have planned the 2nd properly, got out before first light and worked east to west to get a three figure score!!
