Window to Wildlife

 With the pandemic rules changing, like a bird stretching its wings and soaring into flight, we escaped from our local area to enjoy our first excursion to pastures further afield, with the company of good friends. And what a joyous day we had. Our destination was the Burgh, near Arundel, an area well know for raptors due to its extensive conservation strips around the field margins. The estate is also managed for shooting as well as agriculture and it is a good spot for partridges too. We arrived initially at a viewpoint near Burpham Church, where there had been reports of  Cattle Egrets. These were duly picked out through the scopes around the cattle herd, an annual tick but at some distance. However, as we watched I noted some large raptors in the distance which we quickly identified as two White-tailed Eagles. These have been reintroduced on the Isle of Wight by the Roy Dennis foundation and have been regularly seen in the area over the last couple of weeks. As we watched they soar

 Let’s be honest, ‘adventure’ is not really the word for lockdown birding! However, slowly but surely we have been adding the odd species here and there, and have managed to crack the 100 on our annual list, despite the absence of our usual January targets, such as Snow Bunting,  winter geese and Smew. Here are a few highlights: On my birthday we walked on the downs and were pleased to locate a distant Hen Harrier, as well as our first Corn Buntings.  We had very little snow in the recent cold snap,  but as we hoped, the weather did bring a few different birds into the locality and we managed to add Gadwall, Knot and Ruff all of which obligingly appeared on the river. The long staying Goosander also put in an appearance, my first sighting since December. At nearby Beeding Brooks we heard a Water Rail, and after waiting patiently we were rewarded with a brief appearance as it crossed from one side of the pool to the other. An uncommon but exciting arrival at Southwick was a lovely drake