11/05/2020 Lockdown summary

Monday 11 May  2020
Uckfield Area

Sue and I have stuck rigidly to the lockdown rules, going out only with the dogs in the area within walking distance of the house. Thankfully we have managed to get groceries through online delivery or occasionally click and collect so we haven't set foot inside a supermarket - yet! 

Used the car only 3 times, mainly to collect groceries.

My birding experiences have been regular but very restricted - obviously.

•  On my regular dog walking route we would always find the following birds:

carrion crow, jackdaw, starling, magpie

collared dove, woodpigeon

blackbird, song thrush

house sparrow, dunnock

robin, wren, blue tit, great tit, coal tit

 great spotted woodpecker, greenfinch, chaffinch, goldfinch

mallard, moorhen, grey heron

herring gull

• I get regular sightings (and soundings!) of green woodpecker in the fields nearby, especially early on in the lockdown.  They are more subdued currently but still present in good numbers.

• In the woods, less than 100 metres from my home, I occasionally come across nuthatch.  Early on it looked as if they might be nesting there but it has gone very quiet lately, suggesting that things didn't go well.

• I have had fleeting views of bullfinch and jay.

• I heard, then saw, my first blackcap of the year on 15 April as I was walking Odin (my male lurcher dog) over by Buxted Park.  Since then there has been a steady build up of this species as you would expect and now I hear them everywhere I go.

• 2 days later I heard, then saw, my first whitethroat of the year as I took Odin out through the woods into the fields towards the Old Laundry.  Since then I have made regular sightings but not as frequently as the blackcaps.

Our dogs, Odin and Bronwyn, came down with a bug and were confined to home for a few days, so I took the opportunity to walk further afield as part of my exercise routine.  During this time I met other walkers and in the ensuing conversations came to hear about local nightingale sites.  On 2 out of the 3 sites I was told about I did indeed find nightingales.   Unbelievably, there have been regular sightings for years - here, right on my doorstep!

• My first sighting was in the evening of 20 April on the southern end of the town on the path to Isfield.  The nightingale was singing away merrily and came within a few metres above me, totally unaware of my presence.  Unbelievably Sara rang me as I was watching the bird but it wasn't fazed by the call and carried on singing.   I was able to share the moment with Sara and Jen as they listened to the beautiful song.  On the way home I saw my only swallow so far this year as it flew low past me heading east.

• I went back on the morning of 23 April but could not see/hear the nightingale.  Thanks to the help of a fellow birder I did manage to see my first lesser whitethroats and garden warblers of 2020. 

• On 2 May and again on 9 May I heard then saw a nightingale at a second site, this time on the SSE side of town on a footpath down to Halland.

• The only other new addition to my year list was a cracking grey wagtail I saw at Tickerage Mill near Blackboys in the stream close to the house formerly owned by Vivien Leigh of "Gone with the Wind" (1939 blockbuster film) fame! 

With travel opening up a little on Wednesday, I am hoping to get back on my patch at the Ashdown Forest to catch up on some other migrants that I have not seen yet.