Green-winged Teal at Pulborough Brooks.

 25th April 2025

RSPB Pulborough Brooks, Sussex

I made a late afternoon/early evening visit to twitch the Green-winged Teal that was recently seen at Pulborough Brooks from Nettley's Hide.  

• Thankfully, there were not too many Teal to sift through to find the defining vertical white stripe.  The bird was swimming rather than resting, making the ID even more routine. 

Courtesy of Paul Evans and X

There were plenty of sideshows - Nightingales and Cuckoo, for example.

• I was pleased to see a Ruff from Winpenny Hide.

A lovely evening on my own.

2025 species count = 154

New Species:

153  Green-winged Teal

154  Ruff

Cirl Bunting at Portslade, Sussex

Thursday 24th April 20025

near Mile Oak Farm, Portslade, Sussex

Last year, we were lucky to see a Cirl Bunting here in Sussex, the first for many years since they left the area.  It stayed for a long time, much to the delight of local birders. 

Today, a BirdGuides posting about a sighting in the same area came through, so Martin and I decided to visit after lunch.  

After an unsuccessful visit to the point where it had been seen this morning, we met up with a couple of birders at last year's original sighting site, a few hundred metres away.  They had seen the bird several times, in its favoured tree and were waiting for it to return.

• After a long wait, we heard the bird, slightly to the west of its favourite tree, and the visiting London birder soon sighted it, showing well in one of the trees.  Soon it was off again, flying down the valley, round the corner and out of sight.

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

• While we were waiting, I saw my first Whitethroat of 2025.

• There were several Yellowhammers and Linnets showing well during our stay.

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

It looks like this is the same bird as last year and probably means it never left the area.

A worthy visit to see a lovely bird!

2025 species count = 152

New Species:

151  Whitethroat

152  Cirl Bunting

Redstart at Old Lodge, Sussex

Good Friday, 18th April 2025

Old Lodge NR

09.00 to 13.00

Ashdown Bird Group

(17 members present)

Trip Report

This, the latest of our Friday morning outings, attracted the biggest following so far, most likely due to the fine sunny weather and the fact that it was Good Friday.  

Expectations were high for Redstart, Cuckoo, Woodlark, Willow Warbler, and Dartford Warbler, our target species.

Map

From the car park, we headed NW and followed the looped path in an anti-clockwise direction.

Redstart

Last year, we saw Redstarts at numerous places along the route.  Today, we had to work much harder to get a good sighting.  

• We had no luck on the eastern and northern edges of the reserve, and it was not until we reached the log pile at the southern edge that we got the sighting we craved.  

• When we arrived, several birders were already in place, so the chances of seeing the Redstart on the log pile were slender. It was spotted high in the canopy of an adjacent tree. It was flitting around, but finally, it reached an open area where our photographers could get a good shot of it - it was a cracking male!

Courtesy of Ian Hodgson

• Alison took this picture half an hour before the formal walk started!

Courtesy of Alison Playle

Cuckoo

Old Lodge is a favoured site for the Cuckoo - we see one here year after year.  

• One was present this morning, being heard regularly, but always from afar.  Try as we may, we were unable to get a sighting.  

• Alison broke away from the main group for a while and went in pursuit.  She managed a brief sighting before rejoining us at the log pile.  

• Ian went one better.  At the end of the walk, as everyone headed home, he returned to the site, eventually finding one in a Larch tree in the valley near the bridge. Look carefully at the image below and you will be able to see the cuckoo.  A valuable record shot Ian - well done!

Courtesy of Ian Hodgson

Woodlark

Finding or hearing the Woodlark was no problem. 

• One sang away in the sky above us as we entered the southern aspect of the loop. 

• A little way further along the path, it was even closer and within range of our cameras.

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

• Phil got an entirely different take on it!

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

Willow Warbler

Willow Warblers were the most ubiquitous bird on our target list and we heard and saw them regularly.

Dartford Warbler

This was the only bird on our wanted list that we failed to see or hear. They were undoubtedly present, but our luck was out.

Miscellaneous

·                           Bob Stokes took a picture of this lovely Whitethroat, before we started, as he walked towards the car park.

Courtesy of Bob Stokes

• Alison managed to photograph this stunning Siskin.

Courtesy of Alison Playle

• Phil joined in the act with this shot of a cracking Stonechat.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

• This lovely Wren caught Alison's eye.

Courtesy of Alison Playle

• This pair of Stock Doves also proved very photogenic. 

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

• Look carefully and you will recognise this Buzzard!

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

• Gem found this lovely Wood Sorrel

Courtesy of Ian Hodgson

• Alison drew our attention to this Small Bloody-nosed Beetle!

Courtesy of Alison Playle

This was another first-class outing with lots of good birding and some excellent company.  Well done everyone! 

Thanks to John and Martin for organising this event.

 

 

 

 

In total, we saw a very respectable 33 bird species, quite normal for the Ashdown Forest.

2025 species count = 150

New Species:

149  Redstart

150  Cuckoo

The Nightingales are back!

Saturday 12th April 2025

RSPB Pulborough Brooks, Sussex

East Grinstead RSPB Local Group

I could only stay for a couple of hours as I needed to get back home and get ready for the Brighton v Leicester game at the AMEX in the afternoon.  Despite this, I was able to see some great birds, including my first Nightingale of the year.  John Edwards' report is shown below in full.

Saturday 12^th April 2025

Pulborough Brooks

East Grinstead RSPB Local Group

(25+ members present)

 

Trip Report

 

The spring trip to Pulborough Brooks is always popular with members and for good reason given the sightings in previous years. This year was no exception with the glorious spring weather producing another splendid turnout. It was nice to see Dickie Bird out birding with us again. Kevin had the unenviable task of keeping such a large group in order and the phrase “herding cats” springs to mind. He rose to the challenge magnificently.

Inevitably, given the size of the group, we did morph into ad hoc sub groups, but we stayed connected throughout the morning and everyone got to see most of the birds on show.

Our “target” birds today were nightingale and white-tailed eagle. We hit the jackpot with one but missed out on the other. In all we saw or heard 62 species of bird; a very pleasing total but we didn’t see either a kestrel or kingfisher today.

Starting and finishing at the visitor centre, we processed in anti-clockwise route around the reserve taking in all the usual hides and viewing points.

After hopefully scanning the horizon from the view point by the visitor centre for white-tailed eagles (no joy), we made our way to the small meadow by the yurts where a nightingale could be heard singing from the depths of the bushes. It wasn’t visible though. We caught up with the rest of the group just past Fattengates, where two nightingales were in full song and showing well. We all had superb views of this enchanting songster. Not to be outdone they were joined by cetti’s warbler and newly-arrived whitethroat. Cetti’s warblers were to be seen and heard all round the reserve as were the also newly arrived blackcaps with their melodious warble. Two treecreepers were busy in the branches of a nearby oak tree too. A terrific start and one of our target birds seen already! The nightingales were probably the highlight of the trip for most as it is rare to get such good views.

Nightingale
Photo: Chris Harries

Treecreeper
Photo: Patrick Sullivan

Blackcap
Photo: Phil Aylen

 

On to Jupp’s view, where we added the usual wildfowl to the list (teal, shoveler, wigeon, gadwall, shelduck etc). Redshank were in evidence as were a good number of lapwing, looking spectacular in the sunshine. Those with scopes were able to pick out two little ringed plovers too – although we got a better view of them from Nettley’s Hide. A distant snipe was seen in flight briefly.

Redshank
Photo: Patrick Sullivan

Lapwing
Photo: Ian Hodgson

Little Ringed Plover
Photo: Phil Aylen

The scratchy song of a warbler was heard and on arrival at Nettley’s Hide we were greeted with excellent views of a lovely sedge warbler, flitting from branch to branch in front of us and showing well.

Sedge Warbler
Photo: Patrick Sullivan

After a quick stop at Hanger View where a barn swallow was seen briefly by some, we headed to Little Hanger Hide, but there was nothing new to be seen. It was the same birds but closer up at Winpenny Hide, except that on further examination, what at first glance looked like a redshank was in fact a ruff. Again there was nothing new on show at West Mead Hide, but it was good to take the opportunity to admire now familiar birds such as the avocet, at close quarters. 

On our amble back to the visitor centre through the meadows, we added stonechat and meadow pipit to our list.

Stonechat
Photo: Phil Aylen

It was generally pretty quiet on the raptor front with just a couple of circling buzzards and a distant red kite on display. No sign of the white-tailed eagle, or the usual peregrine or even a kestrel. A small falcon was seen at the beginning of the trip at the viewpoint, but it moved at speed and was gone in a flash which made ID impossible.

After lunch, 16 members headed for the adjacent woodland in search of firecrest which we had seen here in previous years. Sadly, despite our best efforts, the firecrests refused to put in an appearance and the possible candidates we did see in the trees, turned out to be blue tits!

We did however see a large red damselfly (pyrrhosoma nymphula) in this area. Generally it is a bit early in the year for odonata, but this damselfly is one of the first to emerge each year, so our specimen would have been quite fresh.

Large Red Damselfly
Photo: Chris Harries

It was a great day for butterflies too. With the cuckoo flower now in bloom it was no surprise to see male and female orange tips fluttering all over the reserve. We also recorded brimstone, holly blue, peacock, comma, large white, green-veined white and speckled wood.

Speckled Wood
Photo: Paul Stillman

Female Orange Tip

Photo: Martin Williams

Thank you to our photographers for their excellent pics, with so many to choose from, it was quite a challenge deciding which ones to include in the report! If you have some pics that I have not included, don’t forget to send them to Chris for inclusion in the “April through a lens” blog on our website.

Another excellent day out with the nightingales being the clear highlight – many thanks Kevin!

 

John Edwards

 

Species List

Avocet	Meadow Pipit
Black-headed Gull	Mistle Thrush
Blackbird	Moorhen
Blackcap	Mute Swan
Blue Tit	Nightingale
Buzzard	Nuthatch
Canada Goose	Pheasant
Carrion Crow	Pied Wagtail
Cetti’s Warbler	Raven
Chaffinch	Red Kite
Chiffchaff	Redshank
Dunnock	Reed Bunting
Egyptian Goose	Robin
Gadwall	Rook
Goldfinch	Ruff
Great Spotted Woodpecker	Sedge Warbler
Great Tit	Shelduck
Greenfinch	Shoveler
Green Woodpecker	Skylark
Grey Heron	Snipe
Greylag Goose	Song Thrush
House Sparrow	Starling
Jackdaw	Stock Dove
Jay	Stonechat
Lapwing	Swallow
Lesser Black-backed Gull	Teal
Little Egret	Treecreeper
Little Ringed Plover	Whitethroat
Long-tailed Tit	Wigeon
Magpie	Woodpigeon
Mallard	Wren

Species Count: 62

2025 species count = 148

New Species:

148  Nightingale

First Swallow of 2025!

Friday 11th April 2025

Arlington Reservoir

While walking around the reservoir this afternoon, I saw at least six swallows skimming over the water in the southwest corner.

2025 species count = 147

New Species:

147  Swallow

Least Sandpiper at RSPB Medmerry, Sussex

Monday, 7th April 2025

RSPB Medmerry near Chichester, Sussex

Having missed yesterday's ABG outing to Birling Gap with a heavy cold, I travelled down to Chichester on my own to twitch the Least Sandpiper first reported at Medmerry on 2nd April.

• Thankfully, the bird had just flown in from the beach and showed well at the Stilt Pool, spending much time with three Dunlin.

Courtesy of Henry Wyn-Jones and BirdGuides

• There were also two Little Ringed Plovers and a Ringed Plover nearby.
• On the way back to the car, I could enjoy the yellowhammers, linnets, etc, that I had single-mindedly ignored on the way down to see the sandpiper.

 2025 species count = 146

New Species:

145  Least Sandpiper

146   Little Ringed Plover

Woodchat Shrike at Newhaven West Pier

 Friday, 4th April 2025

Newhaven West Pier, Sussex

As I was conducting my Woodlark Survey for the BTO on my patch at Ashdown Forest, word came through of a Woodchat Shrike on the coast at Newhaven.  Martin and I agreed to meet up later and travel down for the "twitch.  I added Willow Warbler to my 2025 list as a byproduct of the survey.

It turned out to be one of those easy twitches.  The viewing point was less than 10 metres from the car and the shrike was showing well on the fence at the bottom of the cliffs.

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

Courtesy of Martin Jeffree

A lovely bird!

2025 species count = 144

New Species:

143 Willow Warbler

144  Woodchat Shrike