Friday 28th February: February Birding; Best of the Rest!

-

 After such a great and busy January, the pace of birding slowed down this month, with half term family commitments having an impact. Our major outings have been reported in separate posts, but across the month we have completed a number of local walks as I strive to achieve my goal of 10,000 steps per day, and we have gradually added to the year list off the back of these walks. 

On 2nd February, a walk along the river and up to Lancing Ring and Steepdown gave us just one Corn Bunting, a new tick but a disappointing tally. Presumably the numbers will be substantially higher as the season progresses.

A visit to Warnham on 5th February was very enjoyable. We searched in vain for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, but on the way home were pleased to spot a Little Owl perched on a distant wall.

On 9th February, I took a late walk in dreary conditions around the River Adur, and was thrilled to encounter a Sparrowhawk which dashed past me in the gloom, but alighted on a metal ledge beside the drainage canal near the pumping station. It posed for about a minute, its long yellow legs very noticeable in the fading light. Another new annual tick!

And on 14th February, it was off to the back of Steyning, walking towards No-Man’s Land where we encountered our first Yellowhammer of the year.


Little Owl




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...
Read more

Tuesday 25th March 2025: Bluethroat at Brooklands

-
Image
  I was sat at home when I became aware of a report of a Bluethroat  (white-spotted) at Brooklands Park in Lancing. Tim was in Brighton, so I decided to hot foot it along the beachside path to Brooklands, a walk of around three miles. Tim then messaged to say he was heading for the bus and keen to see the bird, so I said I'd meet him there. There was a crowd of around fifteen when I arrived, to news that the bird had only been seen by the finder and one other birder, but had not been seen since. Disappointing, but it was good to bump into many familiar faces and chat, as we waited hopefully for an appearance.  A Chiffchaff, Wren, Cetti's Warbler and pair of Dunoocks put in occasional appearances to set pulses racing, before enough of the bird was revealed to realise it was not what everyone was looking for. But eventually our patience was rewarded, when the bird suddenly appeared, moving furtively amongst the base of the reeds at the back of a small muddy pool. It fed her...
Read more

Friday 17th January 2025: Pagham Harbour

-
Image
We enjoyed a lovely day out at Pagham yesterday with Sue. We started with a circuit from the visitor centre, but the water levels were high at Ferry Pool and there was little of note. In the channel a few Redshank and Curlew were the best we could muster. We relocated to Halsey’s Farm and walked across the field to North Wall. There were plenty of Wigeon whistling noisily as we passed, and out in the harbour swathes of waders, creating a tremendous spectacle when they all took to the skies, a murmuration of Golden Plover swirling above flocks of Lapwing, and groups of Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit dropping in to the nearby fields. Lines of Brent geese headed further west, calling softly as they passed over.   Wigeon In the area we were thrilled to find a Long-eared Owl roosting, showing surprisingly well near the front of a bush. Long-eared Owl In White’s Creek we were treated to great views of a Spotted Redshank which wandered in very close, allowing us to note its key features. ...
Read more