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It’s been a while since my SLR has been out and rather longer since I downloaded some photos from it.  Today was a glorious day, so a walk up to Cissbury Ring was a chance to take some pictures.  It’s been a good autumn for Dartford Warblers on the coast, and the Ring had at least one, which actually cooperated.  Ironically, Dartford Warbler was the first decent bird we had in the first lockdown, too.  A flyby Hen Harrier was a nice treat too.   There are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks too.

Mistle Thrush

Clouded Yellow

Fieldfare

Chiffchaff

Dartford Warblers

The plan for Karen’s birthday was to have a couple of nights in a shepherd’s hut in the New Forest and have a good long walk with a pub lunch in the middle. That’s exactly what we did. Unfortunately Storm Barbara wasn’t part of the plan, which meant that the first six miles of the walk were done in grey conditions and a fairly heavy rain. The remaining twelve miles were in absolutely torrential rain, with the tracks running like rivers. When, late on, we came to a wide and fairly deep stream, without the advertised footbridge it wasn’t really a hardship to wade across: it didn’t make us wetter, but it did clean some of the mud off.

Needless to say, the wildlife and photographic opportunities were somewhat limited.

Walking has been a bit patchy of late, with less light and worse weather limiting opportunities.  A couple of good days this weekend meant we could get out.  On Friday evening we had a walk to our favourite  restaurant, and 4.5 miles back in the dark after a superb meal (and perhaps some drink).  On Saturday I decided I would walk to Burton Mill Pond in the hope of seeing the Purple Heron.  We’d missed it on Friday afternoon, and it’s at the end of my range (particularly in my current state of fitness) so I was expecting, and half-hoping, to fail again and drive back home with Karen.  After a bit of a wait, it showed itself briefly, meaning I was going to have to walk back.  A short look around the woods failed to find the Yellow-browed Warbler, but did give views of Crossbill and Redpoll.  About five hours later,  I finally dragged myself in, having walked 37 miles.

Today I was rather creaky and so we weren’t going to do too much, but I was dragged out of bed by a report of a Radde’s Warbler at Seaford.  That’s a world lifer for me, and a bird I’ve been after for years, so we were out pretty quick.  It took a while, but eventually we got nice views of this skulker, and then we went over to Beachy head for the much more cooperative Lapland Bunting that was incredibly confiding.

The Radde’s Warbler finally shows itself

The Seven Sisters

Lapland Bunting

It’s always a treat to see a Spitfire.

There haven’t been any Black Grouse in Sussex for over a century, but we got nice views up in Yorkshire

We’re up in Harrogate at the moment, helping clear the house ahead of a move. In our spare time we have managed a couple of trips over to Flamborough, with mixed results, some nice migrants on Monday, and a bit of a poor day today, rescued by a fantastic Hoopoe that was cleaning the gutters in a housing estate in Collingham.

Bird migration is easing off a bit, but a bit of warm weather and low winds has made it worth putting the moth trap out.  The catch hasn’t been spectacular, but 36 Boxworm on 13th is quite a lot and Plumed Fan-foot is new for the house list, as is Golden Twin-spot, a stunning moth.

Tree-lichen Beauty

Maple Prominent

Iron Prominent

Tufted Button

Boxworm

Boxworm

Plumed Fan-foot

Golden Twin-spot

A return to Thorney Island today, for the Pallid Harrier that has been hanging around for a while.  Of course we arrived just after it had left, so we had a lengthy wait, but eventually it returned and showed nicely if distantly.  This picture doesn’t do it justice, it’s a beautifully marked bird.

The local birding seems to have fallen into a Groundhog Day of Spotted Flycatchers, Wheatears, Whinchats and Redstarts, along with my customary failure to see the Tree Pipits and Crossbills that other local birders see regularly.  This week we actually got into the car to go birding, after work on Wednesday to find some Dotterels at Ditchling Beacon, poor pictures in dreadful light, alas, and on Saturday over to Pagham Harbour, to see a Red-backed Shrike and on to Thorney Island to catch up with Osprey.  Today returned to type on Cissbury Ring, with the only variation  being a lack of Whinchat and our first Sedge Warbler of the autumn.

Dotterel

Spotted Flycatcher

Red-backed Shrike

Wheatear

A 12 mile walk yesterday over the Downs had no rarities, but a remarkable number of more common migrants, including 26 Redstarts, 20 Spotted Flycatchers, 10 Wheatears a few Yellow Wagtails and 28 Whinchats.  A flock of over 30 Corn Buntings enjoying an evening drink was an indication that autumn is upon us.  We had a really weird looking Chiffchaff, which looked even weirder in real life than it does in the photo.  It’s been a quiet bank holiday at home, with only a few migrants, but the Reed Warbler inspecting the pond was a real treat, only our second ever in the garden.

Adonis Blue

Redstart at home

Reed Warbler, only our second in the garden

Whinchat

Red Kite

Wheatear

Yellow Wagtail

Chiffchaff?

Not rare, but a bit unusual, this week, when a young pheasant flopped into our hedge in mid-afternoon and sat around for half an hour.  They’re plentiful around us, but I’m not sure we’ve ever had one actually in the garden before.

On Thursday I learnt that there was a Pied Flycatcher on a track up to Cissbury Ring and I set off after work in the hope, but not expectation, that it would have hung around for the entire day.  Fortunately it had, giving brief but good views, and even some photos in failing light.

Pheasant

Pied Flycatcher

Things are definitely picking up now, a long, hot walk on Sunday had a total of seven Spotted Flycatchers, our first of the autumn, at least seven Wheatears, three Whinchats and a Green Sandpiper.

Spotted Flycatcher

Wheatear

Whinchat