18/06/2014 Who said there was a shortage of Turtle Doves?

Wednesday 18th June 2014
Knepp Estate
West Sussex

I took up an invite to join Paul on one of his early morning bird surveys at the Knepp Estate just off the A24 in West Sussex.  He was confident of showing me several Turtle Doves as he has had a bumper year with them at this site.  We got going just after 06.00 and it was not long before we could hear the characteristic "purring" of the target bird.

Over the next two hours we managed to see at least 7 Turtle Doves, flying overhead, resting on the tree branches and  a couple demonstrating very clearly their display flight pattern.  It is hard to believe that we have seen so many of this increasingly rare bird on a single site.

Paul thinks there are nine and possibly even more this year.


Wow!  What a good investment of a couple of hours.

Obviously we saw more than Turtle Doves and below is an impressive list of sightings, the pick of which was a Garden Warbler which showed well on a branch of a nearby tree.


Today's species list :
Garden Warbler
Mandarin
Blackcap
Buzzard
Green Woodpecker
Great-spotted Woodpecker
Wren
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush   (10)
Coot
Moorhen
Black-headed Gull
Swift
Swallow
House Martin
Willow Warbler
Whitethroat
Lesser Whitethroat (heard)
Skylark   (20)
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Carrion Crow
Cuckoo
Greenfinch
Bullfinch
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Pheasant
Goldfinch   (30)
Grey Heron
Pied Wagtail
Jay
Kestrel
Lapwing
Magpie
Mallard
Reed Warbler
Dunnock
Turtle Dove   (40)
Starling

Today's minimum species count = 41