Birds, plants and more in Sussex and beyond

Back in the 1970s, when I started birding, grey geese seemed to me to be almost as 'rare as hen's teeth' in Sussex and it was quite possible to go a whole winter without seeing any. In 1973 for example only 30 White-fronted Geese were recorded in the whole county and there were no records at all of Bean or Pink-footed Geese. The hard winter of 1978/79 bucked the trend with totals in Sussex of at least 1580 White-fronts, 101 Bean (yet to be split into Tundra & Taiga) and 200 Pink-feet but I was a student in Plymouth at the time so completely missed out on this influx. Times change and, despite the trend towards milder winters, White-fronted Geese are now regular especially in the east of the county at Pett Level and Scotney. Tundra Bean Geese are also now near enough annual in small numbers but Pink-footed Geese remain surprisingly scarce in Sussex despite the vast numbers wintering only 200 miles away in Norfolk. Could it be that the huge numbers of feral Canada and Gre...

Having spent the morning over the border in Kent carrying out an uneventful and largely birdless wintering bird survey, I was keen to get home but, as we were passing Polegate Services, the chance to stop and have another look for the Hooded Crow seemed too good to miss. At first there was no sign but after about 10 minutes it flew in and landed in its favoured tree between McDonald's and the ambulance station. Perhaps it was hoping for a discarded Big Mac! In recent years there seems to have been a bit of an upsurge in Hooded Crow records in Sussex with 12 records this century. Where are they coming from - are they Scottish birds or could they be from Eastern Europe? 

Sunday 23rd January Being unwell on and off since mid December has left me feeling down in the dumps at times. A phone call from Gareth asking if I wanted to go birding and more specifically if I wanted to go and see the Hume's Leaf Warbler cheered me up no end, especially as the last Hume's I saw in the UK was the Belle Tout bird way back in December 2007. Gareth had seen the bird a few days before so knew exactly where to park on Eastbourne seafront. Within seconds of reaching its favoured area of Holm Oaks on King Edwards Parade, opposite Staveley Road we heard its distinctive Pied Wagtail-like call and had several brief views of it moving through the canopy but never pausing for more than a second or two at a time. Over the next hour or so it repeated the performance several times calling frequently though the views we had were never prolonged. Back in early December, Gareth had the good fortune to find a Shore Lark on the beach at Pevensey Bay. It has been present ever s...

Saturday 22nd January For the last few days it's been an effort to do anything but news of a drake Goosande r on the Adur by the cement works (comfortably within 5 miles of home) and a bit of persuasion from Bridget was enough to entice me out of the house for the afternoon. Despite the constant procession of cyclists and dog walkers along the river bank, it was still on the Adur by Dacre Gardens 'showing well' and a delight to see at such close range. Also of note were a wintering Common Sandpiper on the west bank of the river south of the cement works and a Peregrine on top of the cement works chimney. We then tried Steyning WTW where there were 2 Grey Wagtails and 2 Meadow Pipits with about 50 Pied Wagtails making the most of the insects being attracted to the sewage being poured from the rotating arms on to the stone filter beds. A complete absence of Chiffchaffs was a bit of a surprise however. Yesterday, the Long-tailed Duck was still on Southwick Canal in its u...

A very gentle walk along the Adur at Upper Beeding late afternoon was quite rewarding with a lovely  Barn Owl hunting east of the river at 16:10 and a flyover Egyptian Goose . Also 2 Little Egrets with the cows, single Redwing & Song Thrush , 35 Linnets and 3 Reed Buntings . Nice to be out birding again!

The Brown Booby found exhausted on Hove Beach on 2nd January took me back almost 34 years to one of the more improbable and memorable experiences of my birding lifetime. It's a tale that's been told before but hopefully people won't mind if I tell again, especially as it took place no more than a mile to the west of where the Booby was found.  On 30th March 1988 I was driving eastwards along the A259 and had stopped at the traffic lights by Hove Lagoon. Something caught my eye and to my utter amazement there in the gutter on the side of the road next to where I had stopped was what I recognised immediately as a male Little Bittern ! Once the traffic lights had changed, I drove on a bit, pulled up on the side of the road (there was less traffic then) and ran back, grabbing the bird before it could fall victim to a passing car. In the absence of anything to put it in, I sat it on the back seat of the car where it quickly adopted an erect alarm-posture. From Hove Lagoo...

Thursday 13th January Another estate in NE Sussex we have surveyed over the last two winters has consistently produced Woodlarks . Today was no exception with a flock of 20 in the field where they are always to be found. Last winter the maximum count (in February) was 27 so it will be interesting to see if we can beat it next month. Also seen in the same general area were 7 Stock Doves , 15 Skylarks , 17 Meadow Pipits , 180 Chaffinches , 15 Linnets , 2 Yellowhammers & a Reed Bunting demonstrating nicely the value of weedy winter stubbles for our declining farmland birds. By early evening I was feeling distinctly rough with a raging temperature (39.5C) necessitating a visit to A&E at Worthing Hospital where I was diagnosed with what the doctor described as a 'nasty kidney infection'. Several hours later, having been treated with i/v antibiotics and painkillers, I was allowed home with instructions to rest and drink plenty of fluids so no birding for me for the next fe...

Thursday 9th January Our first ecological survey of 2022 on a private estate near Hartfield. A glorious winter's day with cloudless skies, a ground frost and the mercury registering a chilly 2C. A final tally of 35 species, all of which you would expect to see in the High Weald, including Greylag Goose (4), Canada Goose  (5), Egyptian Goose (2 pairs), Mallard (4), Stock Dove (2), Moorhen (1), Coot (1), Buzzard (1), Great Spotted Woodpecker (2), Green Woodpecker (2), Kestrel (1), Coal Tit (3), Marsh Tit (2), Long-tailed Tit (4), Nuthatch (6), Treecreeper (1), Mistle Thrush (1), Song Thrush (1 singing), Redwing (65) and Siskin (6).  

Having gone AWOL for three days, the Long-tailed Duck was again reported on Southwick Canal yesterday afternoon and seen by Bridget first thing this morning west of the Barrett Steel warehouse. Other birders who looked later were unable to find it but by the time I got down there this afternoon it had been relocated about 500m east in the bay by Local Fuels and viewable through the railings from Basin Road North. This is the first Long-tailed Duck that I can recall that has stuck around locally since 2007/08 when one spent the winter on Hove Lagoon. Also seen was a Peregrine that flew by heading towards the power station as I was chatting to Dave Sadler.

Moderating the Sussex Ornithological Society's sightings board is usually fairly predictable but every once in a while a posting in the sightings queue makes you sit up and take notice. When I turned on my computer at 6:30 this morning, there was just one sighting in the queue waiting to be moderated but almost unbelievably it was of a Brown Booby seen on 2nd January on Hove Beach by Clodagh Bannerman. For a moment I was sceptical, surely it had to be a juvenile Gannet, but on looking at the photo attached to the posting, there was an image of what looked for all the world like a Brown Booby. This was bird I'd seen long ago in both Australia and Venezuela but to be doubly sure and not end up with egg on my face, I googled Brown Booby and had a look at a few images on line just to convince myself it really was one, before putting the news out to the local birding community.  Clodagh's report above mentioned that she believed the bird had been taken into care but...

Every year, the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) holds its New Year Plant Hunt, its aim being to record plant species in bloom during the first four days of January. 1,811 people took part in the 2021 Hunt and recorded 710 species in bloom  https://bsbi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/BSBI-New-Year-Plant-Hunt-2021-FINAL.pdf I have always had an interest in plants and in June 2019 I achieved Level 4 of the BSBI's Field Identification Skills Certificate which basically means my plant ID skills are good but not outstanding, with plenty of room for improvement. In the last couple of years, I have endeavoured to devote more time to plants including participating in my first New Year Plant Hunt in 2021. With it being exceptionally mild in late December (the warmest New Year's Eve since records began) I was keen to take part for a second time and see if we could beat the 20 species we recorded around Southwick (where we live) in 2021. Unfortunately the weather ...

For many birder's, the 1st of January means only one thing - year listing! However, my approach to New Year's Day has usually been fairly low key with perhaps a local birding walk to blow off the cobwebs from the festivities the night before and then (assuming Brighton have a home game) football in the afternoon. Southwick Canal is one of those places that nine times out of ten turns up nothing but has had the occasional good bird (Eider, Great Northern Diver, Glaucous & Iceland Gulls, Little Auk, Slavonian Grebe etc). Since 23rd November, it has played host to a showy female  Long-tailed Duck  nearly always to be found in the same spot just west of the Barrett Steel warehouse. There have been plenty of occasions when long-staying birds present on New Year's Eve have disappeared overnight (the Aldburgh Ivory Gull in 1999 being one) but I had high hopes that the Long-tailed Duck would still be there today and thus a useful addition to my local (5 miles from home) year ...