Birds, plants and more in Sussex and beyond

Sunday 20th February The drake Merganser again by the lockgates at the western end of Southwick Canal this morning together with a 2cy Shag hugging the far bank where the ships are moored. No sign of the Long-tailed Duck (despite Bridget having seen it yesterday), just the Great Crested Grebe from Friday by the Local Fuels depot and 4 Greenfinches . Seemingly nothing passing at sea. Friday 18th February With Storm Eunice having passed through earlier and the winds having eased a bit, we ventured down to Southwick Canal in the afternoon where a smart drake Red-breasted Merganser and a Great Crested Grebe were both new in. No sign however of the Long-tailed Duck. Wednesday 16th February Having been given the thumbs up by Worthing hospital on Monday and told that I wouldn't need to return for another 3 months, we decided to celebrate our wedding anniversary with an afternoon visit to Arundel WWT. Despite the blustery conditions we saw some good birds including prolonged views of a

Hardly earth shattering but this morning there was a female Blackcap on the fat ball feeder in our Southwick garden, a bird I see less than annually here in the winter months.

February is not normally the best month for rarities so I thought there was a good chance that I wouldn't miss anything in the 2-3 weeks recovery time following a minor op I was scheduled to have early in the month. Needless to say things didn't quite pan out like that with a phone call from Gareth at 4 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon (my first day post op) to say that there was an American Robin (a first for Sussex) in gardens at Hill Road in Eastbourne, not really the news I wanted to hear. With not enough daylight remaining to get over there before dusk, Bridget was up at the crack of dawn the following morning ready to go but, having been told by the surgeon to rest and feeling as if I'd just been kicked by a horse, I couldn't summon up the energy to go with her. Just after first light the inevitable tweet came through to say that the bird was still there followed by updates and photos on Twitter throughout the day confirming its continued presence.  I had previou

Tuesday 2nd February Any hope that we might beat the 20 Woodlarks recorded during our wintering bird survey near Hartfield on 18th January were soon dashed when it became apparent that there had been a clear out of farmland birds since our last visit with totals of just 5 Skylarks , 40 Chaffinches , 6 Linnets and 2 Yellowhammers in the same area as before. Of Woodlarks there was no sign at first but we eventually found a single bird in full song atop a large oak tree in the same field where the flock had been a couple of weeks ago, surely one of the finest songs of any British bird. With the recent settled weather, perhaps the Woodlarks have made an early return to the nearby heathlands of Ashdown Forest where they breed? Other signs of spring on this beautiful sunny morning included Buzzards displaying, Great Spotted Woodpecker  drumming and Skylark , Song Thrush and Chaffinch in song. Also see were a pair of Tufted Duck on a small farm pond, a pair of Mandarins , probably 3 di

Monday 31st January An early finish to a wintering bird survey in west Kent gave us enough time to fit in a quick visit to Dungeness before heading back to Sussex. Our first stop was at the fishing boats where we were assured by birder who was just leaving that things were quiet. Very little was passing (just a couple of Gannets and a Kittiwake in the half hour or so we were there) but on the very rough sea there were large numbers of Cormorants and Guillemots (but no Razorbills) and at least 20 Red-throated Divers not to mention a Grey Seal that surfaced close inshore.  At Cook's Pool we didn't have to wait long before the two Glossy Ibises  that have been around since October flew past and landed on a small pool near the reserve entrance. Although the birds were only a few metres away from the car, my attempts at photography were scuppered  by too many reeds in the way, hence the poor image below. Back in the day, Glossy Ibis was a very rare bird in the UK necessitating