Day 8 And home

A pre-dawn start with minibuses loaded and off back to Faro with just a brief comfort stop en route. Sadly, the poshly bagged picnic breakfast from the hotel was mostly binned.

I must have been bone tired because I've no recollection of the baggage drop, passport control and security!! After some confusion about which gate the flight was from we eventually boarded the Easyjet flight back to Gatwick which, like the in bound flight, was smooth, fault-free and slightly early.

It was nice to look out and see the coastline of home, Southampton Water, Hayling, Thorney and West Wittering below and, just a little later, a well-flooded Pulborough Brooks.

Apart from the usual hike back to baggage reclaim the journey through Gatwick was very swift. A shuttle bus was waiting so it was a reasonably quick trip back to the car.

Headed home via M23, Pulborough village and then the A29/A27 just like a normal day at PB.

Day 2 - Christmas Eve

 

Day 1 Gatwick to Faro, meet-up and first birds.

(All bird photos in this post and and up to Day 7 courtesy and copyright Neil McMahon).

Up early and onto the shuttle to north Terminal then through baggage drop with helpful Easyjet staff. Zipped through security and was sat down in Weatherspoons soon after 4am!! Used the app to order scrambled eggs on toast plus free-refill tea/coffee. By the time I'd finished it was filling up with the first drinkers of the day - beer at 4:30am!!

Then it was just the tedious delay in waiting for a departure gate at 06:25.

The boarding was efficient using front and rear steps and we were soon on our way.

Had a brief chat with one of last Xmases Naturetrekers who was heading to Portugal on a walking tour.

Journey to Faro flew past as I chatted to MG   - luckily we had an empty seat between his window and my aisle.

Landed slightly early but passport control was tedious (not just UK but all passengers).

Eventually got through and met up with other members of the group plus NM. We got to introduce ourselves whilst he and RM went to get the vans. 

Once loaded we visited our first birding site not far from the airport. First birds were Caspian Terns, Osprey, Spoonbills, some zip-through Waxbills and the first Zitting Cisticola. 

Lunch was a very pleasant affair at Mar y Sol restaurant; just a light prawn omelette for me plus some wine. 

Then on to Quinta do Lago where the birding was easy with Littie Bittern and Western Swamphen the best but lots of ducks, Chiffchaffs, White Wagtails and Crag Martin's plus the first of many Iberian Magpies and Sardinian Warblers.

Finally, off to Quinta do Marco hotel for check in, quick wash and an evening meal before retiring after a long day. 

My 'bird of the day' was Little Bittern.

And off to Portugal...Day 0

The journey to Gatwick was hindered greatly by a gentleman who clearly didn't understand the role petrol plays in the combustion engine as he had run out of fuel in a trade-plated Peugeot right on the Farlington traffic lights. A police car and cones were out and so by the time everyone had crawled by I'd already been on the road half an hour. I headed across country and was passing Pulborough after nearly 85 minutes of travelling and so popped in to use the facilities and have a pasty for a late lunch.

The rest of the journey into South Terminal Long Stay was uneventful apart from numerous middle-lane hoggers on the A24 pootling along at under 60mph!

The shuttle bus was ready to go once I'd unpacked and locked the car and its wasn't long into the terminal and the Bloc Hotel- check in was swift. 

Poor lighting, no tea and coffee making facilities, no chair and, my pet hate, a wet-room ensured I wont be staying there again!!

A coffee at Cafe Nero and later a M&S meal deal saw out the day.

WWT again

As yesterday was a fine looking day with plenty of sunshine and, for the most part, just light winds a few hours birding was called for and, feeling lazy, WWT was an easy choice. In the event of weather change or absence of birds it's a nice place to sit and catch up on a massive backlog of reading matter and coffee. 

As it was the weather played ball and there were even a few birds, enough to justify a Bird Track entry (see below).

The Goosander was still present earlier but no-one I spoke to had seen it so either well tucked in or out on the river.

The male Peregrine flew in and perched high up on the hanger and didn't move for about two hours; the female was harder to find being in the largest tree to break the skyline that they sometimes favour.

Different species from last week were Glossy Ibis (1), Cattle Egrets (c25), Lesser Redpoll(2), Sparrowhawk and heard only Water Rail.

The ibis was day-roosting with Egrets and almost impossible to see whilst looking into the low winter sun but eventually did a nice anticlockwise circuit of the pond before alighting on an island.

Two Kingfishers were very noisy but didn't sit up on show like last week. 

Again, like last week, no chance of harriers etc with a 2pm departure - maybe one of the January late opening days will be an opportunity for them.

Chiffchaffs were obvious and noisy and I'm sure there were more onsite than I recorded.

Still plenty of wasp activity with a queen being relocated out of the restaurant by another visitor and others buzzing around the hides. A Common Darter was a surprise and, I'm certain, my latest ever.

https://app.bto.org/birdtrack/pubcon/shared?subId=SUB50963269

The view from Lapwing hide and the impressive success of the Sand Martin holes.

Health check

Thursday saw a brief walk at QECP after a finance 'check' at the bank and bookended by a coffee and a rainbow-inducing rain shower. Little on offer bar a flyover kite, a close but unseen Firecrest and a flyover Lesser Redpoll.

A visit to Chichester LCE saw a Sparrowhawk over Via Ravenna and a Kestrel on the way back into town. Nice to try out the new stabilised Swarovski scope. A good size but noticeably heavy (a kilo and a half - heavier than my old ATS!!). As with the ATC no chance of a stay-on case, no extendable hood and no-one present could confirm, or otherwise, whether the threaded barrel would take a filter although it was suggested one fitted might degrade the image - not sure about that though.

Locally, just six Shoveler and at least one Chiffchaff, the vegetation being too overgrown to look for Water Rail although no sounds as yet. Last year one was here from mid- November onwards so maybe there's one or more skulking away in there somewhere.

WWT

Wednesday's outing was curtailed before it started. A hundred yards from home and noise from the rear of the car turned out to be a puncture.

Call out to a local firm had the problem fixed (at a cost!) but too late to warrant setting out again despite the fine weather.

And so today if was off to WWT, arriving just on opening time. A coffee to get me going was the first order of the day, also giving time for the last few spots of rain to disappear.

There were no surprises bird-wise but a final birdtrack total of 61 species seemed fair return for so little effort. Notable absentees were Water Rail (seen by others; I did not even hear one), Raven, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Cattle Egret and Marsh Harrier. Not being able to stay late precluded the two, now regular, roosting Hen Harriers,  Barn Owl and vocal Tawny Owl/s, the latter three species recorded by others. With a bit more time 70 species would have been achievable - pretty good for 65 acres and what is in part at least a zoo.

Bird track link here:-

https://app.bto.org/birdtrack/pubcon/shared?subId=SUB50875909

Highlight of the day was meeting up with Tony and Jean for the first time in many years, probably well before COVID. They were with a friend who kindly drove them as Tony no longer does so being seventy-nine yesterday. A very obliging Kingfisher perched up on a usual tree to our delight as we chatted and was enjoyed by the restaurant customers. Several more fly-bys as the day went on and another brilliantly well lit view perched up to the left of Ramsar hide whilst sat on my own.

Farlington with SDOS

Today was a meet up with SDOS for the first time in a long while and it was nice to catch up with some 'old faces', namely SM, CH and TH plus a few people I know by name and several new people.

The weather wasn't quite as hoped for with a little unexpected drizzle and the tide was too high for optimum birding but a total of about 47-48 species were seen with a male Marsh Harrier the best, very obliging Stonechat, a nice murmuration of Dunlin and Grey Plover and a solitary Bar-tailed Godwit, my first for  a while.

One or two Rock Pipits included a Norwegian ringed bird which none of us realised was ringed until after the photo was downloaded!!

Details as follows:-

Green X9Z

Bird was ringed in 2020 as an adult, so at least 2 years old, at Maletangen, in Norway, about 1434km or 900miles as the pipit flies from Farlington Marshes. (See map).

Since 2020 the bird has been recorded most winters at Farlington, on dates between mid-October and early January and had already been reported to the Norway team in 1st and 5th November.

The reed bed looks terrible after the saltwater incursion so not really any chance of Bearded Tits. 

After leaving the group to enjoy lunch at the info centre a Raven flew over whilst packing up the car.

And needless to say the weather improved greatly as the walk came to an end!

October almost done

A pretty fallow period for some weeks with just a Black-throated Diver off Hill Head, one of the adult eagles in its usual tree at Pulborough and numbers of audible but mostly unseen Siskins and Redpolls, with a dozen or so of the latter feeding in trees along the zig-zag at Pulborough. Also three different Marsh Harriers (male, female and juvenile) at PB but no winter thrushes yet.

An audible only Crossbill was at Stansted as I was exiting the car.

Yesterday was a brief non-birding visit to the sea front with the above views. Massive numbers of walkers on the prom, mostly with pooches in tow - all the same breed and part of Schnauzerfest as above - that one was definitely new for me!!

Today, after Chichester, a few minutes at Warblington produced six Cattle and one Little Egret, a hovering Kestrel and two westbound Crossbills. A few minutes later at the Farlington  carpark a Marsh Harrier was quartering over the marsh but high tide precluded anything else.

Some nice, fine Autumn weather

Yesterday, a visit to TH started with a group of Eider, fourteen strong, from the 'seawatch bench' with a couple of noisy Sandwich Terns calling from the beach.

IC told me of the trapped and ringed Yellow-browed Bunting at Abbotsbury; doesn't seem as if it was seen again - not that twitching ANYTHING out of county is on the cards.

Meonshore was full of local photographers commenting on the much reduced water levels and struggling to get pictures of the two Little Stints, two Grey Plovers, two Common Sandpipers, single Curlew Sandpiper and three Glossy Ibises. Snipe, hunkered down, numbered about ten, mostly on the usual island.

Although distant, it was nice to see two Hobbies hunting well to the north against a background of high and distant hirundines which typically disappeared as they dispersed higher.

A lone Reed Warbler flew in front of the hide and later a single Water Rail was on the muddy margins of the river at low water.

And finally a Clouded Yellow barrelled southwards.

Today, locally just White spp butterflies, Speckled Woods, Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers with the first local Cetti's Warbler for some time calling from the scrub adjacent to the bus-stop.

Mostly sparse!!

Today, a brief visit to Chichester, where despite very nice conditions, little insect activity in the gardens. A Large White on Verbena bonariensis and a very fresh Small Copper, presumably third gen, below plus a Green Shieldbug in the wildlife garden which, after small scale re-landscaping, seems to hold less insects!!

Just a few inbound and invisible calling Meadow Pipits and Grey Wagtail over rooftops. A couple of days ago a single Raven was at home gronking away from the top of the conifer.

In the Community Orchard just calling Chiffchaff.

Yesterday was an early start for an 07:30 meet up with CP at GWH and the last moth session of the year. Probably not worth getting out of bed for, being sunny but cold although less windy than overnight. A tatty Scarce Bordered Straw was new but the Barred Sallows uptaking moisture from the moss on the picnic table were nice to watch as were very fresh specimens of L-album Wainscot and Angle Shades. An ichneumon, later identified as Eutanyacra crispatoria, was the only notable by- catch. A few pictures below. Back home by 09:20

Saturday morning at home had a typically small moth catch (30/18) but a second Golden Twin-spot made it worthwhile and, unsurprisingly, Lunar Underwing and Clancy's Rustic were NfY. Probably only one or two more sessions in the next couple of weeks assuming still, dry and moonless nights.

Pictures to follow.

Wednesday 10th

Monday saw a short visit to Chi for a lunch with M and P.  The cathedral's insect patch had a nice looking plant for both ground cover and late-season pollinator interest, namely Ceratostigma plumbaginoides and Mark provided some further plant suggestions.

Tuesday, after chores and a coffee in the QECP cafe, saw me checking out the 'butterfly slope' where a nice male Redstart, presumably 1cy, showed well but briefly before being chased off by a Robin. 'Tacking' nearby alerted to two male Blackcaps, although I'm sure more would be present. Calling Bullfinches (2), Goldcrests (3) and Firecrest(1) also. Curiously no Chiffchaffs seen or heard. Just two Common Darters along the tarmac and no odonota on the pond.

Wednesday, after shopping and in windy and showery weather, saw nil from the castle and seafront but nice to see the Bistort, popular with a variety of hoverflies, other diptera and bees back in the summer, was keeping lots of Common Wasps busy even in poor weather.

Hopefully, tomorrow will see a morning at TH.

And summer is over ... just like that!!

The last few days of August have seen a return to more typical autumn weather with heavy rain last night and more forecast for the days ahead according to the forecast.

August has been mostly birdless, although at Arundel the breeding Cattle Egrets and Little Egrets, semi-resident Great White Egrets, Marsh Harrier and Peregrine families plus the Sand Martin colony have provided some entertainment.

Titchfield has been lacking anything of note and Farlington produced a few new-for-years (Osprey, Yellow Wagtail, Whinchat and Clouded Yellows) on an RSPB walk with Paul but distant or fleeting views only.

Pulborough again was birdless on Wednesday (26th) with extensive work on the south Brooks and little water on the north Brooks and just a single Green Sandpiper on the limited mud. About 200+ Swallows and ten or more House Martin's were the only other recorded birds. A nice female Adder (shown to a couple of visitors) was easily the highlight of the day - and quite possibly my last Adder of the year.

The previous visit here on the 12th had a distant Wood Sandpiper and one of the adult eagles crossed the A29 in front of me south of the river.

Moths have been thin on the ground with a 'kicked-up' Vestal (possibly  a lifer) on Hayling on the way to the paddocks - with a long chat to KC whilst failing to find the Pied Flycatcher.

At home the best moths have been:-

Swallow Prominent, Maiden's Blush, Large Thorn, Ringed Chinamark, Acleris variegana, Lyonetia clarkella, Portland Ribbon Wave, Palpita vitrealis, Clay Triple-lines, Acrobasis tumidana and a Copper Underwing spp.

Sadly, I was up too late for the August moth session at GWH and they had a decent catch too! Hopefully there's one final session this year, next month.

A brief walk around the top half of Iping on the 22nd with KM, after a nice fry-up brunch at Aylings, produced little until a Hornet Robberfly carrying a Sarcophaga spp popped up. Pretty chuffed to see this, only my second of this declining species with the last one being almost exactly eighteen years ago! Shame I made a dog's breakfast of getting a photo.

Second half of July

Local

All three Reed Warblers stopped singing two weeks ago so presumably all departed and no obvious sign of successful breeding. Young, unfledged Moorhens are still surviving.

On a couple of days single Swallows increased to five, ten and more, twittering away and hunting at ground level but no sound of Swifts here in the last week. 

On the 29th a very noisy female Tufted Duck with three tiny young was 'alarming' to a fox with its head under the wire just feet away - the dopey Mallards all swam nearer for a closer look!!

One or two calling Willow Warblers were hiding in thick scrub.

The Essex Skippers are all 'done and dusted' leaving just a few very tatty Meadow Browns, a few whites and still plenty of Gatekeepers- it seems to have been a good year for them. Singles of Small Copper, Holly Blue and this Painted Lady, below.

Three species of Grasshopper within a few yards namely, Lesser Marsh, Field and Meadow.

The only dragonfly left to appear here is Migrant Hawker which I'm sure will pop up in the next week or two. The small pond has Southern Hawker and a few paired, ovipositing Common Darters. One or two blue damselflies here might be Common rather than Azure based on last year but I'll need to take bins or a bigger camera lens to check.

Astata Boops appeared on the pond's fence and more recently both Volucella inanis and Volucella zonaria are to be seen on Hemp Agrimony and Eristalinus sepulchralis has been on umbellifers on a couple of occasions. 

The Ragwort, splendidly covered in a variety of inverts two weeks ago, has now gone to seed and 'butterfly alley' is feeling empty until next spring. A few soldier beetles and Eriothrix rufomaculata are all that's left. Unlike elsewhere, where umbellifers are very numerous and productive there's little left here with any nectar value.

Moth trapping has been slow and either TOO hot or not worth doing with overnight wind and rain but Toadlax Brocade and a new micro, Duponchelia fovealis plus a few Jersey Tigers make it worthwhile.

Chichester Community Orchard

The first Common Damselfly and Volucella inanis of the year.

Titchfield Haven

Flight only views of Norfolk Hawker was the only notable sighting from the reserve.

Two Green Sandpipers, one Common and two returning Turnstones were the best of the waders but singles of Arctic and Roseate Tern were too elusive for those of us on site.

Pulborough

A virtually blank visit, mostly a catch-up with PW, but also handicapped by no water on the south brooks and disturbance on the north brooks; passerines now almost totally silent. Roe Deer the only thing in my notes.

Iping Common

Late breakfast plus a couple of purchases at Aylings prior to a short walk out along the top path. Four singing Yellowhammers, two perched up nicely, were the only birds and not a single Silver-studded Blue.

The scrub around the carpark produced the most insects with Nyctia halterata the best.

Too hot and dry.... for me!

Local stuff.

First Essex Skippers, Black-tailed Skimmer and Common Darter of the year plus this beetle confirmed as Paropisterna selmani (Tasmanian Eucalyptus Beetle).

GWH Plant Fair  (14th June)

Little on offer today, just this Cheilosia illustrata and a few Common Spotted and Pyramidal Orchids.

Iping Common (13th June)

Thyridanthrax fenestratus. Plenty of these in company of Ammophila sand wasps - possibly pubescens

A bee casualty of Cerceris rybiensis and one of many (hundreds) Silver-studded Blues, predominantly males.

Nice to hear Tree Pipits, Woodlarks, Yellowhammers and Dartford Warblers with great views of one male of the latter which came in close and perched up. A single Spotted Flycatcher was my best bird of the morning; sad how they've declined so far.

Lunch at Aylings and back out for another hour on the common where it was now too hot to enjoy. Distant kites, buzzards and Swallows were it on the 'aerialist' front.

Local bugs

 

(Chichester BPGx3, Eristalinus sepulchralis, Heteromyza spp, maybe commixta or rotundicornis, Treble Lines, Oligia app, Hydropsyche spp, Cantharis rustica, Nematoda nitidula, Closterotomus trivialis, Epistrophe diaphana)

Long awaited tick

Up early(ish) to check the moth trap and a decent amount of noisy Med Gulls overhead enjoying invisible inverts.

A few moths were on the fence and I popped off a few pictures before dealing with the electrics. Having hoped for this day for some years I was really chuffed to find the first moth on the top-most eggbox was a pristine Striped Hawkmoth!! Not just a first for the garden or trap but a full blown lifer!! This more than made up for a small amount of the usual suspects. Much later in the day, having been out and about, I doubled checked my camera before clearing the card only to find the first picture of the day was another lifer, albeit the far less spectacular and commoner Buttoned Snout.

Social media has had plenty of Striped Hawkmoth pictures in recent days but the rural farwest or Portland Bill seems a much better bet than a strip of concrete in urban Portsmouth.

Took advantage of the last day on my GWH membership and was pleased to bump into CP who showed me some really nice photos of recent moths there including Shears, a species I've never seen.

A stroll around the grounds in very fine weather wasn't exactly heaving with bugs but at least provided some new-for-years; Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Chrysotoxum cautum, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Yellow Shell, Painted Lady and lots of White Helleborine.

Birds were typically thin with just a few Swifts, displaying Buzzards and two, heard-only Firecrests. 

P.S. A Rusty Dot Pearl in the trap was another potential immigrant.

Post-chore walk

All three Reed Warblers still singing strongly but invisible since they arrived. The swans have managed to keep their last cygnet.... so far.

A Swallow zipped over- I'm guessing if it's a local breeder then it must be on the golf course, allotments or stables.

A soaring Sparrowhawk was the first for a while but no clues as where it might be nesting.

Unphotographed inverts included Broad-bodied Chaser and what was probably a Black-tailed Skimmer, Nettle-tap Moth, yet more Fairy-ring Longhorns, Salticus scenicus and a few hovers.

Below Broad Centurion, Amblyteles armatorius, Swollen-thighed Beetle, spiderlings, Osmia caerulescens, Lackey Moth caterpillars and Megachile spp.

Just random local stuff

The weather has deteriorated over the past few days and today, Tuesday, looks to be a write-off.  The WSBW get-together at Farlington was wisely cancelled. 

Just a few localminverts below.

(Xysticus spp spider, Harlequin Ladybird, Pseudovadonia livida, Holly Blue, Eumerus spp, Macrophya rufipes, Waved Umber)