Window to Wildlife

 Tim and I were leading an Sdos walk at Hope Gap Seaford, which coincidentally was the location if a ‘mega’  species, a White-crowned Sparrow, normally found in America and not the UK. This bird is not to be confused with the White-throated Sparrow, another American vagrant which we twitched with Andy last year. I confess I hadn’t realised this was a new bird, or I may have dragged Tim over a lot sooner, with it having been reported several days ago. The site was very busy with birders from as far afield as Cornwall. Sue managed a photo before we arrived, but with a party of seven in tow and a swarm of photographers we had to settle for short but decent views of the bird. As you can see, I was rather chuffed with this lifetime tick! White-crowned Sparrow Leaving the twitch Aside from this rarity, we had an enjoyable walk with a good mix of species seen. The outing is planned to coincide with Spring migration and we were serenaded throughout by scritchy scratchy Whitethroats which were

 Our 20th anniversary today, and what better way to celebrate than with a birdwatching trip! It’s a long while since we visited Blackdown, but with rumours of a Great Grey Shrike off we went. This heathland habitat does not have a great diversity of species, but Tim had good views of a Dartford Warbler and I had a decent Siskin perched in a tree, which unfortunately disappeared before Tim arrived on the scene. We heard calling Woodlarks but frustratingly were unable to locate these. We searched a long time for the Great Grey Shrike without success, despite it being reported while we were on site, but the Heath covers quite a large area. In the end we gave up and walked up a lane to arrive at a different part of the Heath. And lo and behold, there perched on top of a bush was the elusive shrike! We watched for a few minutes and I could see it had a lizard in its mouth before it dropped down out of sight just as I got my scope on it. However, Tim was keen for a photo, so after patiently

 We had set today aside for packing and getting ready for our trip to Morocco tomorrow, but a report of a Little Ringed Plover at Widewater proved too difficult to resist. Due to time constraints we drove across, then walked along the path beside the beach huts to reach the mud and shingle area where any waders are generally found. It took us a while to locate the bird, and in fact we had completed an initial sweep without success and were on our way back when we spotted it right at the water’s edge. This species is not easily seen within the local area as we lack suitable habitat, so it was very satisfying to have this visitor pause at the lagoon.  In the end our quick visit became somewhat extended as we met a number of SDOS colleagues with the same idea and we ended up chatting to each one. Richard managed to spot a Firecrest in the Ivy and Chiffchaff were also here, both good birds for the site, but with empty suitcases beckoning we felt unable to linger any longer. Nevertheless it