Monday 29th December 2025: Cuckmere Valley

-

 After a hectic week with family staying over Christmas, it was lovely to get out for a longer walk today, in a much loved and beautiful setting. We were lured across to the Cuckmere valley by the prospect of a Water Pipit near Litlington. Sadly, we failed to find this, with a number of Rock Pipits the best we could muster, but nevertheless we built up a reasonable tally of birds. 

Rock Pipit

A mix of Common, Herring and Black-headed Gulls were loafing on a flooded field, and at the river margins we found a Common Sandpiper, several Redshanks and on our way back, a Green Sandpiper which took to the air as we approached. A Kingfisher, apparently in hot pursuit of a Redshank was a lovely sight, and a mewing male Kestrel gave several decent views as it crossed the water.

Common Sandpiper

In the adjacent fields were many Canada Geese, but we soon enjoyed the spectacle of a large flock of Russian White-fronted Geese fly in to join them, with the diagnostic features of a white band around the bill and dark stripes across their bellies showing very clearly. Further along the valley, we found a loose line of Teal feeding along a ditch, and as we approached the Exceat road, there was a large flock of whistling Wigeon waddling about the field. A sprinkling of Grey Heron and Little Egret added to the mix of wetland species, making for a very enjoyable and calming day out.

Wigeon



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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