Saturday 11th February 2023
A cracking bird trip with Paul and Gareth James today. We spent the morning at Fishbourne Creek, clocking up an impressive 50+ species, before relocating to West Dean Woods in the afternoon, where we ran up an equally impressive 30+ species.
Fishbourne Creek
- We got off to a flyer with great views of a greenshank and a spotted redshank in the same scope view.
- Not long after we saw a couple of red-breasted mergansers.
- A long way out were a female and a drake goldeneye.
- The wallpaper was supplied by the Brent geese which were everywhere and making a racket as they flew - akin to a moving train!
- A grey wagtail was a welcome addition to my 2023 list.
- The place was alive with birds as shown in Gareth's eBird printout.
West Dean Woods
The afternoon session was just as impressive with some notable sightings.
- Pride of place went to the 6+ hawfinches we saw on the way up to Monkton Farm
- I saw my first mistle thrushes of 2023 - in the canopy of distant trees.
- There were several red kites and ravens around in the skies above the hilltops.
- There was also an impressive showing of fieldfare and redwing.
This was our first outing for well over a year - let's hope the next one is much sooner as this is a really good birding group.
eBird checklist summary for: 11 Feb 2023
Number of Checklists: 2
Number of Taxa: 70
Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Fishbourne Creek
Date: 11 Feb 2023 at 08:32
(2): Westdean Woods
Date: 11 Feb 2023 at 11:56
600 Brent Goose (Dark-bellied) -- (1)
3 Mute Swan -- (1)
14 Common Shelduck -- (1)
200 Eurasian Wigeon -- (1)
3 Mallard -- (1)
4 Northern Pintail -- (1)
50 Eurasian Teal -- (1)
4 Common Goldeneye -- (1)
5 Red-breasted Merganser -- (1)
2 Common Pheasant -- (2)
5 Great Crested Grebe -- (1)
3 Feral Pigeon -- (1)
2 Stock Dove -- (1)
160 Common Woodpigeon -- (1),(2)
6 Collared Dove -- (1),(2)
33 Eurasian Coot -- (1)
60 Eurasian Oystercatcher -- (1)
15 Grey Plover -- (1)
150 Northern Lapwing -- (1)
1 Common Ringed Plover -- (1)
65 Eurasian Curlew -- (1)
150 Black-tailed Godwit -- (1)
1 Ruddy Turnstone -- (1)
110 Dunlin -- (1)
2 Spotted Redshank -- (1)
3 Common Greenshank -- (1)
30 Common Redshank -- (1)
150 Black-headed Gull -- (1)
282 Common Gull -- (1)
20 Herring Gull -- (1)
2 Lesser Black-backed Gull -- (1)
5 Great Black-backed Gull -- (1)
1 Great Cormorant -- (1)
1 Grey Heron -- (1)
5 Little Egret -- (1)
3 Red Kite -- (2)
3 Common Buzzard -- (2)
2 Great Spotted Woodpecker -- (2)
1 Eurasian Green Woodpecker -- (1)
2 Eurasian Jay -- (2)
6 Common Magpie -- (1),(2)
2 Eurasian Jackdaw -- (1)
43 Carrion Crow -- (1),(2)
4 Common Raven -- (2)
1 Coal Tit -- (2)
1 Marsh Tit -- (2)
6 Eurasian Blue Tit -- (1),(2)
6 Great Tit -- (1),(2)
1 Eurasian Skylark -- (2)
1 Cetti's Warbler -- (1)
1 Long-tailed Tit -- (1)
1 Goldcrest -- (2)
2 Eurasian Treecreeper -- (2)
3 Eurasian Wren -- (1),(2)
60 Common Starling -- (1),(2)
2 Mistle Thrush -- (2)
2 Song Thrush -- (1),(2)
150 Redwing -- (2)
9 Eurasian Blackbird -- (1),(2)
20 Fieldfare -- (2)
7 European Robin -- (1),(2)
6 Dunnock -- (1),(2)
10 House Sparrow -- (2)
1 Grey Wagtail -- (1)
1 Rock Pipit -- (1)
7 Common Chaffinch -- (1),(2)
7 Hawfinch -- (2)
6 European Greenfinch -- (1),(2)
7 European Goldfinch -- (1),(2)
1 Eurasian Siskin -- (2)
2023 species count = 124
