17/11/2019 East Grinsteas RSPB Outing to Fishbourne Creek (am) and The Burgh (pm)

Sunday 17 November 2019
East Grinstead RSPB Local Group

"Make hay while the sun shines"

That was our mantra as we took advantage of a break in the recent awful weather to venture down to West Sussex to enjoy a good day's birding.  13 members met up near the Crown & Anchor pub at Dell Quay to spend the morning looking for birds on Fishbourne Creek before relocating to higher grounds at The Burgh for the afternoon session.

Fishbourne Creek
 



We managed to see a creditable 48 species as we wandered down the creek following the waders as the tide came in.  The highlights are listed below:-

• We were greeted by a sparrowhawk flying overhead as we assembled at the car parking area.
• There were at least 4 spotted redshanks around.
• It was lovely to see 2 kingfishers.  Both were initially flying around.  They then settled on the moored boats, providing us with excellent scope views.
•  4 yellowhammers added to the glamour of the occasion.
• Other birds included grey plover, golden plover, dunlin, ringed plover, lapwing, redshank, oystercatcher, black-tailed godwit, teal, wigeon etc.

The Burgh
 

We managed to push the species count up to 63 with the birds we saw in the afternoon session.  The highlights are listed below:-

• Bird of the day was the fabulous ring-tailed hen harrier that we saw several times during our visit.
• Red kites are staples here and we saw several including a stunning bird that came close to our party.
• There were buzzards and kestrels around too.
• There were not many partridges showing but we did eventually see 3 grey and one red-legged.
• Passerines seen included lots of linnets, goldfinches, fieldfares and long-tailed tits as well as at least 1 goldcrest.

A smashing trip - just the job for our group after the very limited birding opportunities of late.