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Mad march hares boxing is one of the nature spectacles I have always wanted to see.  In the last few years there has been some activity, normally very limited, in the field on the Downs north of us in April and May.  It’s unpredictable and difficult to get near, even if you know they are around, so good photos are impossible.  This year I managed to phonescope them from our bedroom window.  Not the best video, but they’re fun!

Spring crawls on, and we’re adding things in small numbers.  A 32 mile walk through Amberley Wild Brooks and on to Pulborough Brooks had a glorious dawn, but no Grasshopper Warblers, who probably shivering under cover, followed by nice views of Garganey, Nightingale and Garden Warbler.  Butterflying on the way back was off the cards, as it was starting to rain, but we did find a Duke of Burgundy wondering where spring was.

Boxing hares: click on the picture to go to my video on OneDrive

Green-veined White

Peacock

Yellowhammer's tonsils

Wheatear

Woodchat Shrike

Dawn breaks over Rackham

Garden Warbler

Nightingale

Duke of Burgundy

Things are beginning to liven up, and it even stopped raining over Easter while we were in Yorkshire.  A trip up Swaledale and down Arkengarthdale was glorious, with Curlews singing everywhere, 3 Short-eared Owls, Snipe drumming and both Black and Red Grouse.

Back down south, the Slow Worm numbers are increasing and we had our first Grass Snake in the garden yesterday, and a Bee Fly is always a delight.

Short-eared Owl

Red Grouse

Snipe drumming

Bee Fly

Slow Worms

Grass Snake

Snake's Head Fritillary

It has been soggy of late, and a few long walks have meant there hasn’t been much photography of late.  There are signs of life, though, a few butterflies are turning up, and the birds are getting noisier in the garden.  One bird is putting a bit too much effort, though: a Cetti’s Warbler, Europe’s loudest songbird, has set up near us, and has started yelling at all times of the night, 0210 is his earliest so far.  It’s going to be a long spring!

Another sign of spring is the Slow Worms in the garden, and the Adders out in numbers on Cissbury Ring.  We found 12 on Sunday, including a black one.

Cetti's Warbler

Pied Shieldbug

A walk without the camera to find Green Sandpiper at Beeding Brooks was successful, and threw in Pintail, Great White Egret and Marsh Harrier to boot.  After a wet start, spent watching England’s woeful capitulation to India, it turned into a glorious warm day, and the sunset as we came back was beautiful.  The warmth was enough to encourage the Toads to move towards their mating ponds, and we found three on the paths on the way back home.  Fortunately, the phone camera was up to the job.

I’ll admit it, sometimes the commute from Worthing to Burgess Hill is a drag, particularly in winter.  The frustration is increased when there is a flock of Waxwings in the area, but you never see them.  Finally things worked out this week, when they were waiting in the car park for me on Wednesday morning (gloomy pictures though) and then in beautiful sunshine on Wednesday lunchtime.  Maybe the drive isn’t so bad.

Since our return from Oman, the weather hasn’t been our friend, with rain most weekends.  It’s been pretty dingy over Christmas too, but there is a silver lining.  It’s a Waxwing winter in the UK, and we have been looking impatiently at the sightings heading slowly southward towards Sussex.  Finally they have arrived, although they are out of walking range so far, other than one very elusive bird.  A twitch in the car found us waiting by a very busy roundabout in Crawley for them to come into their favourite berry tree.  They waited until the sun went in, but they didn’t disappoint.  These are our first UK Waxwings for nearly 7 years.  Hopefully they will continue to move south.

Redwing

Kestrel

Waxwing

I have finally waded through the pictures from Oman.  Here are a few more pictures, and there are many more on my OneDrive, on my Oman 2023 page.

Blackstart

Camel Tick

Another day another wadi

Sociable Plover

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Red-legged Golden Orb-web Spider

Arabian Chameleon

Arabian Eagle Owl

Jouanin's Petrel

Flesh-footed Shearwater

Lesser Noddy

Wilson's Petrel

Persian Shearwater

Desert Owl

The hunt for the Omani Owl turned into something of an epic, involving a post-midnight finish, followed by a 0130 start the following day.  We didn’t see it, but we did hear it.

After we left the plateau we had a long drive down to the coast for a night to see some waders, including about 1000 Crab Plovers.  Our efforts were hampered by taking an hour to remove two of our cars from the deep mud they had gone into.  This was followed by a very long drive into the desert, which is largely flat, barren, featureless sand and grit, but we did see some impressive dune systems.  A long day ended with us going out to a local oasis for some Nightjars, with amazing results.  We had ultra-close views of European and Egyptian Nightjars.

This morning a return to the same oasis found classic desert birds, such as Greater Hoopoe Lark and Cream-coloured Courser, both of which dash around on the ground like mad.

Lappet-faced Vulture

A view of the brief bit of sandy desert we crossed.

Eurasian Scops Owl

European Nightar

Egyptian Nightjar

The Dromedaries come to the oasis for their morning drink.

Greater Hoopoe Lark

Cream-coloured Courser

Our trip to Oman has proven to be an exercise in sleep deprivation, with very early starts for travel to Oman and also hunting for the Omani Owl.

Yesterday had a boat trip to see some Sooty Falcons, fantastic birds, and a look around some cultivated fields that were rich in birds, particularly Bee-eaters and Rollers.

Today was a very early start to go into “Wadi Mac” hunting for the Omani Owl.  We had no luck with that, but did get Pallid Scops Owl and a good few other cracking birds that specialise in the habitat.  A stunning place to be half asleep.  This afternoon we drove into the mountains, ready for tonight’s visit to another wadi in search of the owl.

Sooty Falcon

Juvenile Sooty Falcon

Sooty Gull

Pied Wheatear

Plain Tiger

Indian Roller

Arabian Green Bee-eater

Arabian Babblers

Pallid Scops Owl

Wadi Mac

Breakfast in the field

Streaked Scrub Warbler

Red-tailed wheatear

Plain Leaf Warbler

The second Wadi looks good…

… but the security is very attentive.

We went to Finland in 2014 to see the northern lights and spent a week looking at thick cloud.  Since then it has become an obsession for Karen, staring at the sky every time the Aurora Watch app suggests there might be some activity.  (The facts that we’re in the south of England, and it’s cloudy seem not to deter her).    At 0251 on Monday morning in Flamborough, we finally managed the combination of latitude, solar activity and starry sky.  Obviously I had all the wrong cameras with me, so all we managed were some rubbishy shots on our phones, but they’re still way more impressive than you can see with the naked eye.  You could definitely see columnar structure and colour wash, just not the detail and saturation the camera manages.

Elsewhere on our trip up north, there were two lifers.  We twitched the Brown Booby on the Tees: it left the close perch just before we arrived, but at least it hung around for us.   A few days’ seawatching at Flamborough proved productive, with four species of Shearwater, including Cory’s, a UK lifer, and four species of Skua.  It’s a good job that the seawatching was good – there was nothing at all on land.

Brown Booby

Aurora at last!

Dive, dive, dive!

Razorbill feeding just below the surface

Bottlenose Dolphins

The marked dolphin is known as Runny Paint