We had a walk to Shoreham Harbour yesterday and back over the Downs, in the hope of adding some birds to the on-foot year list.  While we got the hoped-for Purple Sandpiper at the harbour mouth and Greenshank on the Adur, the wind was too strong and the “reliable” Black Redstart and Rock Pipit were sheltering out of sight somewhere.  Still, it was a very pleasant walk and the wind made for some nice seascapes.

Hampshire

A day out in Hampshire today, starting at Hayling Island for some Black-necked Grebes, moving on to Weston for the Long-tailed Duck (we didn’t even need to get out of the car for it, but it was asking to be photographed) and then on to Blashford Lakes.  A mixed bag there, with failure on a Yellow-browed Warbler, but nice views of Water Rail and a Bittern flew past.  Finally we went down to the New Forest for a brief and incredibly distant view of a Great Grey Shrike.

Let it snow

Rather a pitiful amount of snow this week.  It’s a sign of the times that this much snow counts as exciting down here.

It wasn’t a great snowman, even before its head fell off, but I think the fox’s final judgement on it was harsh… (paraphrasing from a Bob Rivers Twisted Christmas song)

He’s ginger and his tail is bushy,
And the snowman’s backside is mushy.
He couldn’t resist, oh no:
Yellow snow, yellow snow, yellow snow!

Snow of a different sort today, with a return to the Snow Bunting at Goring Gap, this time on foot.  What a difference a bit of sunshine makes.

 

Put the Bunting up…

A frustrating morning, where we wasted an hour looking where Birdguides said a Snow Bunting was, instead of the location we would have gone had we not known “better”.  Fortunately it was waiting for us when we finally got there and was as approachable as this species normally is.

The Purple Sandpipers at Shoreham Harbour gave us the slip again, but the Black Redstart is always worth a look.  Finally we went over to Ashdown Forest, where Common Crossbills cooperated.

First twitch of the year

Off to Newhaven today to see the Hume’s Warbler that has apparently been around since last year.  Eventually we got a decent, but not stellar view.  Then on to Shoreham Harbour for another failed attempt to find Purple Sandpiper.  Rock Pipits and Guillemot showed well, though.  Brooklands gave us our first Sanderlings of the year.  Finally we went to Beeding Brooks for a go at the very photogenic Short-eared Owls.  A view of a distant bird lasting maybe a couple of seconds was not what we were hoping for.

Nothing to worry about

It was time for a long overdue clean of the bird feeders today, so I sat and scrubbed on the doorstep on the patio.  I wasn’t that surprised that the Long-tailed tits still made regular visits to the remaining feeders, only about 4 m away, as they are just plain cheeky.  I was a bit more surprised when a Magpie came down.  My status as irrelevant was confirmed when a Fox appeared at the end of the garden, gave me a look and then walked across the lawn in front of me and went through the hedge.

 

January Jaunts

The year has started birdily.  A day out, but not a bird race, on the 1st got us 97 species, although nothing to photograph apart from a Robin who was just not quite brave enough to take food from me.  On Saturday we caught up with the superb Black Redstart at Shoreham, again in rubbish light, and on Sunday we had a jaunt to Rye Harbour and Dungeness.  Dunge was rubbish, but Rye was good, the start birds were three Twite.  We only saw them well almost at dusk, hence the rubbish picture.  Today’s star bird was a Sparrowhawk: it’s taken 123 species to get one.

All that and a badger from the back window on Saturday night makes it a good start to the year.

Happy New Year

A last post for 2018, continuing from the previous one, with a photo of one of the local Herdwicks that finally stood near a camera in vaguely acceptable light.  On a gloomy day, photographing anything smaller than a sheep was pretty much impossible.

Our last moth trap of the year on Boxing Day caught only one moth, but it was a new one for us: a Mottled Umber.

Some corner of a foreign field…

… that is the north of England.

After 25 years down south my influence is obviously starting to work.  On my Friday afternoon walk on the South Downs behind the house I’ve been encountering sheep that are a long way from home.  As well as a small flock of Herdwicks that should be in Cumbria, there’s also a large flock of Swaledales that make the Downs look a bit more like the Yorkshire Dales

Alas, the full Yorkshire influence isn’t quite there, as the Swaledales have flown south for winter from Penrith in Cumbria: the wrong side of the Pennines, which is probably why they’re too soft to cope with winter up there.

Happy Christmas to both of my regular visitors…

Back to normal

We haven’t done much birding of late, and that we have done has had very few photographable birds.

Finally here are a few: a nice Goldcrest in the garden, and a few nice birds from a long walk around West Dean Woods on Tuesday.  Why are Ravens always strongly backlit?