Monday 1st January 2024: New Year, New List!

-

 After weeks of poor weather and visiting family, it was a delight to be out birding again! We met with Sue M shortly before sunrise at Pulborough Brooks car park to kick off the New Year list, starting with the uninspiring Crow and Wood Pigeon. Along the Zigzags trail, things began to improve with a group of three Bullfinches, including a richly rufescent male and two muted females. A nice tick for the first day of the year. A Red Kite pivoted overhead, and was seen many times across the reserve throughout the morning. At Fattengates there was a good assortment of common passerines, predominantly tits, Robins and Dunnock. 

There was little to be seen along the track to Westmead hide, but just at the entrance a flock of fluffy Long-tailed Tits foraged in the bushes just feet away, resembling miniature balls of candy floss on a stick. Water levels on the brooks were high, attracting excellent numbers of wildfowl, including Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Mallard and many dapper Pintails bobbing and upending continuously. The only wader species seen was Lapwing, with flocks wheeling across the flooded terrain and birds resting up on the many ‘islands’ dotted about the watery landscape.

Continuing on our way, we encountered a smattering of Redwing and Fieldfares in the treetops and scrub, before stumbling upon another bevy of Bullfinches softly calling. We subsequently added Greenfinch and Goldfinch to our growing collection of species ticks. As we returned to the visitor centre a rattling call from the tree caught our attention, and we soon located a beautiful Mistle Thrush. We finished the morning with a tally of 42 species, nothing spectacular but an enjoyable morning.

We drove on to Southwick Canal, where we had failed a few weeks ago to locate the Great Northern Diver with John and Andy. This time luck was on our side, and I spotted the bird as soon as we arrived, just before it dived below the surface. Fortunately it soon reappeared, giving excellent close up views. There were a number of other local birders here, so it was good to catch up, and we soon realised there were actually two different birds within the canal area, briefly appearing together. 

Great Northern Diver

After lunch, and with less inclement weather approaching we took a  birding tour by car around several local sites, the highlight being three Red-breasted Mergansers chasing each other around the lagoon at Widewater.

Red-breasted Mergansers

We finished the day with over fifty species, so a reasonable tally to start the year list!!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Friday 5th January 2024: Pesky Parakeets

-
Image
 On our day out yesterday we had a fly past Parakeet, but I was not very satisfied with that as an annual sighting tick. With the feeders topped up, mum’s garden is a good bet for this species, much to her chagrin. So today we were thrilled, and mum dismayed, to spot no less than five birds on the feeders. Ring-necked Parakeets  Despite their bad press and dubious provenance, they are certainly attractive birds, especially the male with its rosy ring and contrasting black bib, and the orange-red bill and eye ring contrasting with the vibrant green plumage.  Less attractive is their screeching call as they descend on the feeders and announce their presence. Now, that’s a worthy tick!
Read more

Sunday 27th June: Roller in Suffolk

-
Image
 After daily reminders from Jenny that a Eurasian roller was still present in Suffolk I finally made the effort to go to see it and took advantage of the trip to visit several other local sites which were of interest to me.  My first stop was at the tiny village of Ampton where I normally find my annual tick for tree sparrow and this year was no exception as I saw one within 20 seconds of getting out of my car.  After watching it for a minute or so I quickly moved on to the next venue which was Lackford Lakes, a Suffolk wildlife trust reserve which had been reporting a juvenile glossy ibis for a few days.  I was told by someone in the car park exactly where it had been seen recently but he had not seen it that day when he had walked around earlier.  When I arrived at the hide 3 other birders were there but they had not seen it and so after 10 minutes I gave up waiting for it to show and moved on to try to see the roller. I had seen a number of birders along the A1101 as I drove past on
Read more

Wednesday 8th November 2023: Brazil Atlantic Rainforest 1

-
Image
 We arrived at Rio early in the morning following an overnight flight of 11 hours, and were soon en route to our accommodation at Itororo Lodge, set in the heart of the forest, close to Nova Friburgo. As we sped through Rio, a few distant egrets, Neotropical Cormorants and Magnificent Frigatebirds were seen, together with plenty of Black Vultures resting on lampposts close to the busy road. After around an hour of driving we stopped for coffee, noting Blue and White Swallows nesting under the eaves of the adjacent building, a Yellow-headed Caracara perched atop a tall tree together with a Kiskadee and a pair of stunning, bright Saffron Finches perched on the wires.  Our birding adventure had begun…! Brassy-breasted Tanagers We continued on to our base at the beautiful Itororo Lodge,  arriving mid-morning to tea and cake on the terrace, where a feast of birds met our eyes.  The feeding tables were arrayed with fruit, attracting beautiful tanagers with brilliant, rich colours and wonderf
Read more