Monday 20th April 2026: Bus pass Birding at Beeding and Bramber Brooks

-

 With Tim occupied doing the wetland bird survey on the Adur, I took myself off to Beeding Brooks, using my bus pass for the first time!

I had a great time, looking for summer migrants associated with this wetland habitat. As I walked to the wetland a singing male Blackcap perched in an overhead tree, and I paused to enjoy his cheerful song. The reed lined ditches were full of noisy warblers, with three Reed Warblers chuntering their monotonous song in a small area. They were incredibly hard to find, staying low around the reed bases, but I just managed a few fleeting glimpses. Cetti’s Warblers exploded into song from a number of scrubby bushes, and although typically secretive, I did manage to spot one briefly as it flew across the track. Only one Sedge Warbler was found, a cheerier and more ‘buzzy’ song than the Reed Warbler, but with some perseverance I enjoyed an excellent view. 

Blackcap

Moving onto the meadows,  a Kestrel was hunting and a pair of Skylarks soared skywards, singing joyously, my spirits soaring with them. A melodious Song Thrush sang loudly and beautifully. A scratchy Common Whitethroat, softly calling Reed Bunting and jaunty Linnet added to the soundscape. I was delighted to see my first Swift of the year pass overhead.

But the highlight of the walk was a single Hobby perched atop a small tree, which I enjoyed for some time, before it took off and flew low across the damp, marshy grassland and disappeared from view. Wonderful!

Departing Beeding Brooks, I took the path across the river to nearby Bramber Brooks, my first visit this year. The landscape is largely recovered from the works done last year, and it was good to find a Little Egret and a Great White Egret making use of the new pools and scrapes. 

By now it was late afternoon, so I took the riverside path back to Shoreham, finding a single Common Sandpiper and a group of swooping Swallows close to the cement works to round off an excellent afternoon walk.

Hobby

(Photos are illustrative taken on previous walks)

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

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

Wednesday 11th March: Sdos outing to Warnham

-
Image
  We led an excellent SDOS trip to Warnham today, managing not just a lovely selection of birds, but that real rarity of late, sunshine!!! Fourteen members on the minibus were joined by nine members who had made their own way by car, so we split into 2 groups in order to accommodate everyone in the hides and make things more manageable.  On the millpond there were plenty of Tufted Duck, a few Teal, and Great Crested Grebe in stunning breeding plumage. Some bathing gulls, mostly Herring Gull, were in front of the hide, but also a couple of dark Lesser Black-backed Gulls that revealed their yellow legs as they rose above the water. Lesser Black-backed Gull (Andrew Farquharson) Bird of the day must have been the Siskin - they were everywhere around the feeders at both Bullfinch and Woodpecker hides, and their constant gentle twittering song filled the air as we walked along the path. The feeders also attracted plenty of Blue and Great Tits, but sadly nothing rarer. Goldfinches, ...
Read more