After a very early start on Friday to do a breeding bird survey before work, we had a late start and an afternoon visit to Woods Mill yesterday.
The transect was more interesting for migrants than breeders, with a total of 11 Spotted Flycatchers seen (including the walks to and from home). Compared with my highest total of spring Spotties of 3 in May 2019, that’s remarkable. We had a couple of Whinchats and our first Swifts of the year too.
Woods Mill was rubbish: no Turtle Doves, hardly any Nightingale action and not much else, other than a mass of Beautiful Demoiselles. We saw a Cuckoo on the way, and also had a Banded Demoiselle, but it was a big disappointment. The walk back was going to end up in the dark, so we had some hopes for owls: we needed something to make 24 miles hauling a 2 stone rucksack worthwhile. It paid off: we had a Barn Owl hunting on Bramber Brooks before a stop off in The Castle in Bramber for a beer (purely to make sure it got dark enough, you understand: the beer was a necessary evil). On the way back we had two other species of owl (including Tawny chicks), and a couple of badgers. A good end to an average day.