2nd January: Woods Mill to Henfield

 Having explored the coast yesterday, we headed inland today, in search of habitats new! We drove a short distance to Woods Mill nature reserve, where we parked and set out along the public footpath opposite the reserve towards Henfield levels. This is a great spot for Nightingales in summer, but today the shrub-lined path held an abundance of Blue tits and Great Tits, and on the return journey we also heard calling Bullfinch, but unfortunately did not manage to locate these. 

Crossing the muddy fields we encountered a Buzzard drifting slowly across, then a pair of glossy Ravens cronking noisily from the girders of a pylon before flying purposefully out of sight. A streaky Meadow Pipit alighted in the hedgerow and a Stonechat flitted continuously from reed to ground and back again. On reaching the Downslink cycle path we stood at a gate to scan the fields beyond, where the flooding began. On grassy strips between the flooding many Redwing and Fieldfare were feeding on the ground, plus a Couple of Song Thrush appeared. Several Pied Wagtails zigzagged and called as they flew overhead and landed in the damp grass. We continued along the track, serenaded by the calls of winter thrushes and  noting too that the regular tits and Robins were already beginning to sing, a hint of the future promise of Spring.  

We set up our scopes above Rye Farm floods and found good numbers of Greylag and Canada Geese, Teal, Wigeon and a single Shelduck and Shoveler. Several Mute Swan were on the flood and we observed a number of these fly overhead at several points on our walk, the noisy swish of their wings alerting us to their presence. Returning via the river, we found a small group of Reed Bunting, my first Goldfinch of the year and some more Stonechat on the fence line. As we returned across the fields a female Kestrel surveyed the landscape from a wire, swooping down to the field at one point but returning empty footed. Back along the footpath, we were delighted to spot a Mistle Thrush land in the tree and had good scope views. 

On reaching the reserve again, we scanned the trees and found a gorgeous Nuthatch foraging along the branches, whilst in the hide we added a Coal Tit to our growing list. At the pond we negotiated our way past a Swan that was preening on the path and determined not to move out the way, forcing us to divert round a tree and duck beneath its branches in order to pass. At the Reed bed we encountered a Cetti’s Warbler which gave brief views, but revealed its distinguishing features well.

We ended the day on 66 species for our annual list.

Fieldfare (photo by Sue Miles)

Redwing (Sue Miles)