Five week summary - highlight species

Jack Snipe

The 11 Acres bird  showed on three out of five visits, on the last occasion giving the best and most extended scope filling views. Probably my best views ever of this species. Plenty of photos on social media but this footage from Helen Hays the best see Here . With just a 35-100 lens this is the best I could do!!

Common Snipe

Good numbers on each visit to TH between 50 and 82 with 40 on island A alone on one date

Goshawk

This nice bucolic view over the North Brooks was full of the usual suspects 21/12.

But the appearance of this juvenile Goshawk caused a stir for both the thousands of ducks and waders but also all of us watching from the hanger. I'm  guessing a site tick for everyone there. Pictures courtesy of @stuartbirding and @ sussexwarblers.

Peregrine

Just one sighting in this period of a juvenile hunting Lapwing, unsuccessfully,  over North Brooks 21/12.

Marsh Harrier

A smart adult male over the Haven and a cream-crown perched up below Burpham whilst watching the two Bewick's Swan's.

Sparrowhawk

Three circling together at QECP were nice to see. Locally one bird was chased into a big evergreen tree by crows and and it or another slipped across the garden just before dusk the following day, either to roost or on the lookout for a late supper.

Slavonian Grebe

Just a distant singleton a couple of times and always beyond the chalets.

Great Crested Grebe

At Hill Head a large count of 94, binoculars only, was smashed the next day by AR with 149.

Eider

The Hill Head flock present on most occasions between here and Southampton Water with a maximum of 52. Some days in close and giving great views.

Bearded Tit

Ten to fifteen were in close to the path on one vist and on another two (male and female) were feeding in close to the right hand side of MSH giving great scope views.

Jackdaw

Two birds still present locally with the bolder and noisier of the two coming to seeds and nuts brought by people for ducks and squirrels.

Brent Goose

A slow start to use of the refuge soon saw daily counts between 400 and 750 with birds absent on only two occasions, presumably over low tide.

Brambling

One or two birds with Chaffinches and tits in bushes above the 'drinking pond' were followed by a very busy flock of 100+ in the upper woods, nicely blending in with the colour tones of fallen leaves. The carpark at Whiteways was curiously locked and so deterred  me from looking for the 40+ reported here by PH and others.

Redwing

200+ were in the lower park area and then again a few days later when even more were near the upper carpark, probably  500+ in total.

Fieldfare

Pretty much absent from my birding outings until a singleton with the above Redwings and 15 feeding in Upperton's Field whilst enjoying a mug of hot soup on the tea terrace on 21/12.

Chiffchaff and Siberian Chiffchaff

Locally, all the Chiffchaff were gone by the end of October but TH and WWT have had half a dozen on each visit until now. A ringed Siberian was calling and singing at times and showing well along Sally's Path. On the 21st Coldwaltham Water Works produced a Siberian amongst at least eight Commons and BFF's prompt messaging gave me the chance to pop in on the way home. 

Red Kite

A roadside casualty was on the hard shoulder of the A3 southbound carriageway (not far from last year's Barn Owl corpse) whilst two others circled overhead.

Velvet Scoter

Six off Hill Head were always distant (for me!)

Mammals limited to Common Seal,  Fallow Deer, a single Roe Deer, Red Fox and a nice Weasel at Titchfield which responded well to pishing.

Snow Buntings part two

A return to the Hayling Snow Buntings, now up to eight - and possibly the largest flock in Hampshire for fifty years or so - didn't go entirely to plan. Unlike the previous visit I started from the west  car park and walked west towards the area they were using last time. Trudging over the shingle, and with no birds other than a few Skylarks, three Stonechats and uncounted Greenfinches, became a little tiring. And worst of all no other birders. The sea was flat calm  and conditions were ideal for dozens of paddleboarders but nothing on the sea, not even gulls. The walk back across the shingle was dull but things perked up when I could see three or four hunched figures just a few yards from the car!! Yep, the Buntings were almost where I'd  started from, adjacent to the golf driving fence and foolishly on a public footpath and hence at the mercy of walkers and dog people. Only seven were here but as they flushed eastwards from the last disturbance picked up the eighth bird, spun around and headed back West across the shingle. Whilst loading the car a Red-throated Diver was pointed out but too far out to bother with.

The following day at TH was much sunnier, at least for the first couple of hours, and the sea was again flat calm. The Eider flock was just off the carpark and totalled 43 whilst a small group of Common Scoters, eleven in number, kept themselves to themselves. The Slavonian Grebe was again distant.

Luckily, at Eleven Acres the Jack Snipe was 'staked out by MF and others and just as well as it was well-hidden and asleep. It did eventually come out and showed well in the scope before being intimidated by a Moorhen and slipping away out of sight. The next day, in better conditions, MF managed to get some digiscoped video posted on Twitter.

Migration

Migration from merchant ships. Here

Falkland  seawatch trektellen counts. Here 

Batumi raptors trektellen counts. Here

Taddousac passerines Ebird entry. Here

British Birds account of large fall from 1965 Here

Up close and personal

 

(Above - Red-throated Diver, Snow Bunting x3, Starling)

After a few chores, and with little desire to go further, a nice walk along the Hayling shore in search of recently reported Snow Buntings seemed to fit in nicely with other plans. A birder leaving the site told me they were still there and to locate them by looking for the 'tog on the beach. A pleasant stroll in gloriously flat and mild conditions honestly meant the day would have been a success even without birds!! First up was this nice, brilliantly lit RTD on a super flat sea. A little later a mass of Greenfinches, probably upward of 75 were disturbed from the weedy outcrops, flying up into the nearest bush - the largest flock of this much-decimated species in a long time. They sat up looking superb with the sun behind me. A few Meadow Pipits were in the same area but mostly flying further before dropping down into longer grass.

Strolling a little further and a couple of SBs were obvious in the first sandy hollow running parallel to the high-tide strand line.  Two more were silhouetted on this ridge about 150 yards further along. They quickly flew straight towards me calling and landed with the first two before morphing into five birds!! Not sure where no. 5 popped up from. No other birders present and the previously mentioned 'tog was nowhere to be seen. Luckily, walkers and dog people all followed the path adjacent to the 'tree-line' or trod the firm  sandy beach exposed  by the tide, all of which meant the SBs were left undisturbed.

In the same area were good numbers of Skylarks and whilst not as immune to human presence as the buntings still provided some of the best views I can remember in years; absolutely pin-sharp, point-blank and frame-filling aided by the 12x50s, so good when a scope is too much.

Back at the harbour entrance a nice flock of 120+ Sanderlings, flushed off the beach, looked as if they were off to Eastney for a quieter time.

And in the cafe over a welcome coffee this Starling was one of many calling, twittering, whistling and croaking individuals looking for a hand-out.

Finally, on the drive out, 125 or so Oystercatchers were roosting over the tide on a small raised piece of ground with loads of Brent and a couple of egrets.

No rarities but probably the best few hours since the start of Covid.

NB

Snow Buntings are still a treat and five is the most I've  ever seen in the south with larger flocks only seen in Norfolk. A quick looked through notes showed an 18:17 advantage to Sussex over Hampshire in terms of days recorded with the total number of UK days just under fifty and the largest flock of about 100 at Snettisham over 50(!!) years ago.In most years the SBs tend to quietly go about their business picking seeds and other matter but yesterday's five were super-active chasing insects and fly-catching, something  I don't remember seeing. See third photo above. And as usual, if you stood still, they would run up within a few yards, go around carry on feeding.  Maybe return with the bigger camera/lens for second-helpings some when during the week.

A Curiosity of Jackdaws, a conundrum of Jackdaws...

 ....well actually it's a clattering of Jackdaws!! Who knew?

But anyway ..... 

Some facts and myths here

On the 29th of last month a Jackdaw was noisily  poking about a small patch of grass sandwiched between a gazillion feral doves, the bottle bank and the public loos.  It suddenly made me think how few Jackdaws I'd seen locally so, back at base, I checked my notes (virtually all available notes, i.e. those not lost over the years, now computerised) and found the following.

1) Not a single record in this approximately 18-20 hectare plot since moving here in 1966!!

2) Not a single record for Hampshire nor Sussex over the same time period with the exception of 'January Big days' where every species was recorded - all of these were this century.

3) Just recorded as a 'padder' species in European trips to Spain (4), Estonia, La Brenne, Sweden, Bulgaria, Lesbos, Hungary and Greece.

Digging further showed an almost  identical pattern for Rook and Crow and Magpie, although the latter two are numerous and have always been so in this 'patch'. Jay gets slightly better cover in terms of records but still on only 40 out of 5200+ entries and again biased towards 'big days' or site 'padders'.  Being historically rarer Raven gets much better treatment and I would suspect every sighting would have been logged, certainly in UK terms.

I think the above proves nothing other than I'm  a useless note-taker🤐

Anyway, back to Jack pictured below who is still present up to today, very noisy, very approachable and seems to think he's a pigeon. When not around the pond he's been exploring nearby roofs. Soon after it's arrival local Hants birders recorded 4500+ moving over a few days at a variety of sites with the largest group being 950,  so maybe a few are going to stop off and explore new sites like this one. Interesting to see if can attract others and  clutter up someone's chimney next spring!!

Three week summary - Local birds

Well it's pushing a month since the last post due to a number of factors. Obviously continuing Covid and personal health issues affect outings but the early part of the month saw fuel shortages compounding things especially with a virtually empty tank. Once sorted the car was out of MOT for over a week. With that in mind it's mostly been local walks and pretty little wildlife. 

So just a few things of note:- 

Jackdaw... See next post

Jay... One to three birds on many days usually flying with acorn-stuffed beaks 

Grey Wagtail... One or two birds on many days but frequently heard-only. Two together on pond edge twice.

Pied Wagtail... Becoming more regular with up to 20 using the refuge field

Kestrel... A male hunting along 'Butterfly alley' on one date, a female on another and both together briefly on a third day. A second male was seen distantly dive-bombing a Buzzard.

Buzzard...Two birds on the refuge field were harrased into the taller trees whilst a third bird flew in from the north.

Sparrowhawk... Regular for the first couple of weeks;  typically one of male, female or youngster but two birds circling together on one date.

Chiffchaff...  A handful of birds on most dates but have dwindled away since mid-month to a singleton today (27th). One inspecting flower pots in the garden was the first in the garden for ages.

Cetti's... Singles twice, once heard only.

Kingfisher... The star bird, my first here and with no other GoB records. Seen by a member of the public, seemingly absent on the next day but present and calling frequently on day 3 before departing east over Squirrel Wood, presumably with no intention of returning!! 

Grey Heron... One and sometimes two present. One watched eyeing up the smallest terrapin on a bough just below it but it escaped into the water as the heron pounced.

Little Egret... One present day roosting/resting on many days usually on the same branch.

Shoveler... Built up from two to a dozen before all disappearing. Today saw two birds reappear.

A couple of trips to TH and one to Pulborough and WWT (on the same date) produced little other than singles of Hobby on two consecutive dates and a couple of Marsh Harriers the best being an adult at TH. Finally another Kingfisher, this time at Heath Pond, my second there and only the fourth on GoB although I guess locals, fishermen and other pond users probably seem them now and then and they go unrecorded.

Just enough juice..

 

Plenty of hovers on one sunlit but sheltered patch of Ivy were the only interesting  thing on the east side whilst the Ivy Bees were out in force at the top of the beachfront steps, these 10 below being just a small part of the many hundreds.

 Nice light from behind ensured the waders etc on south scrape looked 'crisp' and included one Ruff and five Snipe. Two Water Rails, one adult and one juvenile (above) showed well although the latter was just too quick and mostly hidden by teasels for the camera to focus. All the birds were flushed by one and then two Buzzards, both smart, light birds that looked like this years youngsters and at least one Raven went west whilst a Grey Wagtail joined up with two Pieds also on the exposed mud. A minor highlight was the first Reed Warbler for ages feeding at the base of the reeds and showing very well; shame it wasn't  something rarer.

This Redshank seemed particularly keen on chasing off rivals.

And finally this Sericomyia silentis was one of a few next to plenty of other hovers including several each of Volucella zonaria and Xylota segnis.

Local, PB and TH

 

Locally, the above Migrant Hawker and Tipula spp taken with phone camera whilst a Fox was sat out in the dog-walk field having a good scratch before bolting into cover as the first dog walkers appeared after the rain shower. Tufted Duck up to 25 and first two returning Shoveler of the autumn, both females. 

Wednesday at Pulborough, the Pec Sand was conveniently refound  by AB just as we arrived, in company of two Dunlins and a ringed plover spp. A particularly attractive 'blonde' Buzzard was one of several attracted to disturbance caused by tractor activity. 

The session was bookended by Hobby, the first, over an early coffee, very, very high over the tea terrace chasing a Buzzard and the other much lower and directly overhead just prior to leaving.

Today, Thursday, at TH much reduced wader activity but several Yellow Wagtails,  two Wheatears and a single Whinchat while Stonechats were up to 8+. One of the Marsh Harriers was out by the owl boxes and a nice juvenile Water Rail was first this year. Still no (obvious) Ivy Bees.

Continuing wader theme, but no passerines again

 Yesterday was as still offshore as it was the previous day and with no reports  of Amy's  White Winged Tern it seemed fruitless without a tripod to try to locate anything. The east side was very quiet barring the usual autumn gathering of Canada Geese on the river, about 300+ birds. A slow but steady trickle of Swallows probably came to 200 ish with the odd Sand Martins thrown in. Little insect interest.

The west side was better with Wood Sandpiper (good but not as close as the Blashford bird three years ago), two Ruff, Green Sandpiper etc. After leaving a Little Stint popped out for others. On leaving all these gulls and more went nuts - where's  the Osprey?? - but just a Sparrowhawk cruising overhead.

 

Today , after some gardening  disturbing cricket/hoppers, moths and hovers, none of which wanted to settle for ID,  a post coffee walk at the park saw lots of Red Admirals and a Comma on the small patch of buddleia. A few Brimstones were about including this one on Wild Basil and at the pond and on various fencelines were good numbers of Common Darters, some ovipositing; strangely no Migrant Hawkers.  Bird life was minimal with just heard only Bullfinch, Siskin and Coal Tit plus a couple of Song Thrushes. 

Too hot for much else.

Y

And this Small Dusty Wave was on the conservatory window.

O

Return to PB

 

Yesterday, a visit to Pulborough, the first in 304 days and where, needless to say in response to Covid, many changes. Habitat-wise the work at Westmead to keep the area wet and attractive to waders has paid dividends with Ruff (5), Greenshank (2), Green Sandpiper (2) and a single Snipe and with a distant cream-crown Marsh Harrier plus a couple of Kestrels and a male Stonechat. On the North Brooks a lack of telescope prevented grilling the wildfowl and ensured the Yellow Wagtails feeding around the cattle remained unseen.

A number of Buzzards, one being mobbed by a Sparrowhawk were joined by two super-fast Hobbies plucking dragonflies out of the air and a probable Peregrine which vanished too quickly. A few Black'wits were the only identifiable waders with just 6.5x Papillos to hand. Other earlier (and sharper!) birders had Wheatear, Whinchat, Redstart and both  flycatchers. A Tree Pipit called overhead during lunch and a second male Stonechat was on view.

A trio of Red Admirals (above) - out of a dozen or more commuting between this fence and nearby Buddleia and joined by a single Painted Lady.

Today, back to a short local walk in what seems to be normal weather - yet again grey and overcast and not conducive to finding insects. Three Mallard ducklings are still surviving, 'piping' along after  mum. Precious few hovers with just this female Dasisyrphus albiostratus of note.

Two reserve outings

 Yesterday saw the first visit to WWT since last year but sadly the weather was grey and completely overcast, virtually no wildfowl present and many areas overgrown. A few invisible warblers called from scrub and reeds and a handful of hirundines were high overhead. One Little Grebe was in close to the restaurant  and another was in front of scrape hide. Kingfisher calls around the site produced one briefly perched up on the boat trail. Generally, very poor for insects. Typically crappy traffic at Chichester on the return!!

Today, a much better day weather-wise,  was earmarked for gardening but proved to be too nice for such mundane work so off to TH. Here, seventy or more Turnstones were in the harbour at low tide but the masses of noisy terns from the last visit were absent with only single figures seen  - were they all at sea fishing or just departed? Other waders on the east side were seven Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper. A circling Sparrowhawk attracted the attention of twenty or so Swallows and martins before it headed back low and fast past the hide. Generally pretty poor for migrants although given the flurry of Pied Flycatchers elsewhere it wasn't surprising to see one reported from the west side. 

A decent variety of hovers (20), a couple of Early Bees and two Jersey Tigers, one feeding on Hemp Agrimony. And finally Southern and Migrant Hawkers plus Common Darters.

(Jersey Tiger, Vapourer Moth caterpillar, Southern Hawker, Melangyna comp/lab)

Tree down

 

Thursday at QECP  these two mating Tenthredo thompsoni,  Scaeva  selenitica (only the second with the first being here two years ago) and the common harvestman Phalangium opilio - look at those massive chelicerae!! Good fry-up and coffee on the first outing for four months(!!) but little else of note in pretty grey, but dry conditions.

At home the tree was getting out of hand and causing issues so was removed and stump ground leaving a nice big hole into which to put a tall bird feeder although I suspect House Sparrows and vermin may be the only takers - time will tell.

Friday, another charmless grey August day but thankfully windless, saw a first visit to TH since 2/11/20, non-birding, but with many Common Terns (over 600 counted in the roost by other birders) and 40+ Turnstones, doing just that,  with four on the roadside beach and the rest roosting beyond the yacht  club. Today would have been a better day to visit  with Osprey, Black Tern and Sabines Gull reported.

A local walk today only produced a fresh juvenile Sparrowhawk, presumably the offspring of adult birds seen this year. It popped out of the willows and  flew very low and slow just inches off the water - maybe it's too young to realise fish aren't  on the menu!!

Zonaria 3 - Inanis 1

Which reminds me of this from Alas Smith and Jones:-

Football Results

The geese seem to have departed as quick as they arrived but yesterday's four Mallard Ducklings were still all present and correct. Overhead one or more Swifts were still screaming albeit invisible to me, a Great Spot was calling and three Swallows were coursing LOW over the newly mown field. Maybe a handful of Willow/Chiffs but no other migrants. Butterflies limited to Holly Blue, Speckled Wood x4 and a Comma; not a single brown or white today.

Three species of Volucella today as in the title but including a very fresh pellucens (and a horrible admission that it was a year tick!).

Noises from the reed patch which attracted the mixed flock a few days ago was from something rather larger - a Fox in broad daylight snuggling down in the sun on a raised patch of vegetation. Sadly the camera battery had died and I had no spares.

Westbourne came out to restart the car successfully - let's hope it doesn't go flat again overnight prior to tomorrow's hospital visit. Just need an excuse now to 'roadtest' the new Blue Badge.

Marbles

 Pleasant weather, ideal for a local walk, sadly produced little. Ten Canada Geese had arrived since  yesterday with the lone Barnacle and its white 'farmyard' friend.

Sky watching produced zero so maybe yesterday's single Swift might prove to be the last of the summer. Butterfly-wise Browns have now vanished as quickly as Skippers did two weeks ago. Today's  Red Admiral, Holly Blue, Comma and Speckled Woods (×3) were at least all pristine. On the hover front 'Batman' was the commonest and most obvious with their territorial nature, especially on Hemp Agrimony whilst a single female V.zonaria was on Meadowsweet not a plant I normally associate with any insects!

Just one adult winter plumage Med Gull in the roost field and elsewhere a few typically silent Phylloscs dashing between patches of cover.

The juvenile Great Black-backed Gull was still present.

The local Herring Gulls seem to be constantly calling but never alerting to passing raptors sadly.

SC visit again

 

Yesterday, locally, despite good weather saw only a dozen butterflies of five species with three summer generation Holly Blue the best. The small patch of Hemp Agrimony (just a couple of feet square) in the sunshine was popular with hovers - Eristalis, Sphaerophoria, Helophilus and this V. zonaria, with a couple more of the latter on bramble elsewhere.

A small mixed tit flock around the pond (Blue, Great, Long-tailed) was augmented with a handful of Phylloscs which all seemed to be Chiffchaffs, some scruffy adults and some very fresh individuals, presumably 1cys. Great Spotted Woodpeckers were audible both sides of the field with them or others near the tennis courts and over the pond heading off westward.

Today, after a hospital blood test, a visit to SC for lunch (and very nice too!!) where lots more butterflies (thirty of ten species) included three fresh Common Blues and this Painted Lady. No time to check but at least four male Phasia hemiptera on one plant.

Just audible Nuthatches, Greenfinches and Green Woodpecker.

 

Weather worsens and butterflies 'fall off a cliff'

 The weather has been uniformly rubbish both spring and summer and no obvious signs of improvement for the last half of the school summer break. Last week the skippers along 'Butterfly Alley ' fell off a cliff going to zero virtually overnight.  Just a few whites and browns left. And the local warblers have all gone quiet with this year's young presumably having headed south already. 

With the local swan's having vanished/died, despite being almost adult size, the locals contacted the council and the remaining two were removed.  Click here for more swan info.

A Sparrowhawk was up being hassled by noisy crows and magpies but seemed to shake them off as it was circling high over the pond 20 minutes later. The gull loaf today was just 50 odd moulting BHGs.

Below Eriothrix rufomaculata, Eristalis arbustorum and Ptychoptera contaminata

Lunch, brunch and two outings

 

(Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Common Blue, Gymnosoma rotundatum, Rutpela maculata, Phasia hemiptera)

First outing away from base to SC for lunch with family saw a few insects, all above, plus a few other bits and pieces. A Red Kite over the access road, a calling Nuthatch, a few Phylloscs, some twittering Swallows overhead but otherwise quiet.

Today's second outing was to QECP (no camera)  where still virtually no birds despite nice weather but 10 species of butterfly (at least) the best being Dark Green Fritiliaries and Chalkhill Blues. Plenty of hawkers, all appearing  to be Migrant, and a single Slow Worm in the usual spot. The open areas near the fenceline were too overgrown for Adders. Plenty of insects on umbellifers but not enough time to check them out.