14/11/2019 Serin at Cedar Farm, Ticehurst, East Sussex

Thursday 14 November 2019
Cedar Farm, Ticehurst, East Sussex

Another afternoon jaunt, this time north east to Ticehurst on the Sussex - Kent border to see a Serin at Cedar Farm.  The weather was awful with lots of rain but thankfully there was a break around 3pm and I was able to do the twitch.

• Thanks to the very helpful owner, Malcolm Phillips, I was soon appraised of the favourite place of the serin and although it was not showing at the time it did put in an appearance about 15 minutes later. 




courtesy of Lee Evans and Twitter

• It was feeding on the ground some 15 metres away and remained in this close position until the next heavy shower came before disappearing again.  




courtesy of Malcolm Freeman and Twitter




• It's a juvenile, male, bird which the owner first noticed on Tuesday before posting the sighting  on RBA and Birdguides.  Surprisingly, I was only the 6th person to respond.

•  Serins have been recorded annually in the UK in small numbers since the 1960s and have bred sporadically since the 1970s (Devon, Dorset, Sussex, East Anglia and the Jersey) but no more than one or two pairs a year.
• Records of serin have almost entirely been from southern and eastern England, but they have never been present in large numbers.

 

 

• Most recorded sightings of serin are in April and May, although it has been recorded in the UK in all months.
• It breeds across southern and central Europe and north Africa. Southern and Atlantic coast populations are largely resident, but the northern breeders migrate further south in Europe for the winter.

 

 

Another good sighting and well worth the short, but tricky, car journey.