This week's twitches

Thursday 25th January 2024

Weir Wood Reservoir, Sussex

I made a late afternoon visit to Weir Wood Reservoir......

•  ...... which resulted in good views of 3 goosanders - a male and 2 females.

Courtesy of Alastair Gray and X

Friday 26th January 2024

Dungeness, Kent

The prospect of seeing a great northern diver and a black-throated diver proved too much for me so I made the long trip to the Kent coastline.

• The great northern diver was showing well from Dennis' hide but there was no sign of the black-throated diver.  

Black-throated Diver - courtesy of Plodding Birder and X

• However, a return visit a couple of hours later was more successful.
• On the way into the reserve I saw a flock of barnacle geese at the rear of Boulderwall Farm.
• On the sea there were lots of auks but the only ones I could ID positively were a couple of close guillemots.
• A quick visit to the ARC gave me a good sighting of a great white egret - my first of 2024.

Saturday 27th January 2024

Warnham Nature Reserve, Horsham, Sussex

• I saw a cracking pair of bullfinches from the Woodpecker Hide - a male and a female were feeding less than 10 metres from me.
• I was 5 minutes away from seeing a couple of brambling from the screen hide but alas they didn't return.

Sunday 28th January 2024

Brooklands Lake, Snodland, Kent

Another afternoon twitch, this time into north Kent by the M20.

• The drake scaup was showing well as it moved around with the tufted ducks.

Both pictures courtesy of Glenn Honey and Twitter (X)

2024 species count=105

Quite a variety of birds already - and it's only January!

West Rise Marsh with the Sussex Ornithological Society

West Rise Marsh

Saturday 20th January 2024

This was my first trip out with the SOS for some time.  There was an incredible turnout of 32 members.

My highlights included:

• A first yellow-legged gull sighting of 2024.  It was relatively easy to pick out the gull on the frozen lake!
• I also saw my first gadwall, pochard and sparrowhawk of 2024.
• Best of all was the sighting of 2 bearded tits in the reed bed in the channel that runs south of the path by the pagoda.

2024 species count=97

One more for the year list

Friday 19th January 2024

Uckfield Area

I managed to ID my first coal tit of 2024 today while walking my dog Odin

2024 species count=92

Birding in West Sussex with Martin and Alastair

Thursday 18th January 2024

We decided to visit West Sussex today.

Burpham

• We twitched the Bewick swans that have been around for some weeks now. All in all we saw 8 in the Arun valley from the high ground near the church.
• A bonus for us was the 2, probably 3, cattle egrets in the field adjacent to our approach road.
• A quick visit to the triangle gave us a single grey partridge showing its head above the vegetation in the nearby field.

Fishbourne Creek

Next stop was Dell Quay near Chichester where we were on the lookout for coastal birds.

• We soon spotted a female red-breasted merganser in the creek.
• An obliging greenshank was a welcome addition.
• The grey wagtail was in its usual position.
• It was surprisingly difficult to find the goldeneye but we did so at the last moments of our trip when 2 females appeared.

A good trip.

2024 species count=91

2 more for my year list

Wednesday 17th January 2024

Uckfield Area

While walking my dog Odin today I managed to see my first jay and greenfinch of the year.

2024 species count=84

Elmley NNR with the Ashdown Bird Group

14th January 2024

Elmley NNR, Isle of Sheppey, Kent

I spent a delightful day at Elmley NNR on the Isle of Sheppey with the Ashdown Bird Group.  We managed to see 3 of the UK's 5 owl species as part of a total of over 60 species.

• Highlight of the day was a superb sighting of a long-eared owl right at the start of our visit.  We needed the help of one of the reserves volunteer's, Fiona and her thermal imaging camera, to locate the bird.  Once found we were able to get our binoculars and telescopes on it.  Martin's picture below is exactly how we saw it - how good is that?

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

We saw 2 other owls later on in the day and as dusk approached the activity from them increased enormously.

• First to show was a barn owl initially very briefly late morning as it moved along the edges of a field.  At dusk we got prolonged views of this lovely bird as it enjoyed the conditions.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

Short-eared owls dominated the scene - we must have seen at least 3 today. 

• The first one appeared mid-afternoon as it swept across the marshes heading for the River Swale.

Courtesy of Alison Playle

• The best show came at dusk, as you would expect.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

There were plenty of coastal birds around the shores of the River Swale and on the marshes.

• We had the usual suspects - avocets, dunlin, redshank, oystercatcher, grey plover, black-tailed godwits, curlew etc.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen:  black-tailed godwits in flight

• We had our fair share of ducks including teal, wigeon, tufted duck, shelduck, shoveler and a fabulous pintail.
• I saw my first ruff as we entered the reserve and moved through the marshes towards the visitor centre. 
• We had several marsh harriers but no hen harriers today.  
• Of course we had several kestrels, a buzzard and a couple of ravens.

There were several passerines of interest including:

• included a goldfinch.

Courtesy of Alison Playle

• A rock pipit

Courtesy of Alison Playle

• a fieldfare

Courtesy of Alison Playle

• Little grebes, Cetti's warblers, reed buntings and my first pied wagtail of the year.
• I missed out on the bearded tits that showed briefly.

There was something for everyone today - another great trip!

2024 species count=82

Getting started on my 2024 list

1.   Uckfield Area

I take my dog Odin out walking twice a day, every day and in doing so I have managed to start my 2024 list with a good number of everyday species.  The highlight of these has got to be the waxwings.

I have also visited a number of venues in the area and these are detailed below.

2.  Cuckmere Haven

I made 2 trips to Cuckmere Haven.  

• On New Year's Day,  I spent the afternoon on the eastern side of the river looking for the long-tailed duck that has been around for a while.  I was unsuccessful.
• On 11th January I spent the late morning session with Martin looking for the long-billed dowitcher which has been around for almost 3 months now.  This time we were spectacularly successful as we were able to get really good close up views of the bird as it foraged away in the mud.  We were indebted to Simon Linington for the heads up on this one.

Both pictures courtesy of Martin Jeffree.

3.  Isle of Sheppey with the East Grinstead RSPB Local Group  6th January.

The highlights of this outing are shown below:

• A male hen harrier, seen from the raptor viewing point at Capel Fleet in the afternoon.

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

• At least 2 short-eared owls were also present and seen for most of the afternoon.

Courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

• Also seen were corn buntings, a peregrine, kestrels, 2 white-fronted geese, several marsh harriers and many basic shore birds.

Overall this is not a bad start to the new birding year!

My complete records are shown below.

2024 species count=74

Waxwings now seen from my kitchen window!

1st January 2024

Mallard Drive, Uckfield, Sussex

I was all ready to go down to Maresfield to see the waxwings when I looked out of my kitchen window to see a flock of 20+ waxwings perched in the canopy of the tall trees.  

I was gobsmacked!  

They stayed for about 30 minutes before flying away.  A couple of days later, whilst walking the dog, I noticed a large flock just down from my house, this time feeding on the berries.  They obviously hadn't left so I put the alert out on social media and the rest is, as they say, history.  

The waxwings stayed for 8 days before moving a couple of hundred metres away to the junction of Eastbourne Road and New Road.  As of today (12/01/2024) they are still there and showing well at times.

Numbers have exceeded the 100 mark.

A happy Waxwing New Year to everybody!

Waxwings now in Maresfield!

31st December 2023

Maresfield near Uckfield, Sussex

The waxwings are getting closer - now in the next village, just a 10 minute drive from here.  Martin had always targeted a local orange-berried Rowan tree near his home as a potential site for Waxwings and sure enough, on New Year's Eve the birds arrived.  They stayed for about 3 days, stripping the bush of its berries before moving on.

What a way to finish the year!

 2023 species count = 204

RSPB Rainham Marshes, Essex

 

Friday 29^th December 2023

RSPB Rainham Marshes

Ashdown Bird Group

(5 members present)

John Edwards suggested this outing to compensate for the cancelled trip to Wallasea Island on 12^th December.  With 3 hides, Rainham provided more shelter from the elements.  The choice of date also gave us the chance to get some much needed exercise during the festive break.

It was overcast with some sunny spells but the rain eventually arrived - thankfully after we had completed our visit.  We took the clockwise route from the Visitor Centre, calling in at Purfleet hide, Shooting Butts hide and Ken Barrett hide on the way. 

 

Altogether we spotted 54 bird species, nothing particularly rare but all very welcome. 

 

Water birds were most abundant, of course, on this reserve.

• The most handsome birds on show were the pintail ducks.  They looked majestic as they moved through the water.  Altogether there were well over 30 present.

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

·         At this time of year all the common water birds would be expected to be in superb plumage and that was the case.  

• The teal, wigeon and gadwall looked especially good.

 

• We caught a superb flight view of 8 black-tailed godwits. 
• At least 3 snipe were tucked in the vegetation at the water’s edge.

 

• Raptors were there too.  Marsh Harriers always catch the eye and there were at least 3 showing well today.

• Alison was quick off the mark and caught an image of the sparrowhawk as it swooped in and out of view.

 

•  Several kestrels and a buzzard were also seen.

 

 

The highlight for me came from the winter thrushes.

• Initially we saw lots of redwings flying towards the trees near the Visitor Centre.

• As we moved round the reserve we saw more and more fieldfares, in flight and perched, in the trees along the footpaths.

 

Everyone agreed it was a good trip and well worth the effort.

 

 

 

Thanks Alison for all the lovely pictures – they were much appreciated.

Bob Hastings

 

Species list:

Name:	count		Name:	count
Black-headed Gull	1		Little Grebe	28
Black-tailed Godwit	2		Long-tailed Tit	29
Blackbird	3		Magpie	30
Blue Tit	4		Mallard	31
Buzzard	5		Marsh Harrier	32
Canada Goose	6		Meadow Pipit	33
Carrion Crow	7		Moorhen	34
Cetti's Warbler	8		Mute Swan	35
Chaffinch	9		Pheasant	36
Collared Dove	10		Pied Wagtail	37
Common Gull	11		Pintail	38
Coot	12		Pochard	39
Cormorant	13		Raven	40
Curlew	14		Redwing	41
Dunnock	15		Reed Bunting	42
Fieldfare	16		Robin	43
Gadwall	17		Shelduck	44
Goldfinch	18		Shoveler	45
Great Black-backed Gull	19		Snipe	46
Great Tit	20		Song Thrush	47
Grey Heron	21		Sparrowhawk	48
Greylag Goose	22		Starling	49
Herring Gull	23		Stonechat	50
House Sparrow	24		Teal	51
Jay	25		Tufted Duck	52
Kestrel	26		Wigeon	53
Lapwing	27		Woodpigeon	54

Species count = 54