Birds, plants and more in Sussex and beyond

Wednesday 27th April With overcast skies and a brisk NE breeze and cancellation of my planned breeding bird survey in Cambridgeshire, I convinced myself that Seaford Head would be awash with incoming migrants but my optimism soon evaporated with nothing more on my walk round than a couple of singing Willow Warblers and a Swallow . I then tried the Cuckmere where there 4 smart Bar-tailed Godwits on pools on the west side of the river near the beach, 7 Dunlin along the river itself and 6 Whimbrel in the salt marsh 200m south of the Cuckmere Inn. Apart from the waders, it was quiet, with just a feral Barnacle Goose for my efforts and the usual resident  Fulmars , Stonechats and Rock Pipits on Seaford Head. I then tried Splash Point where there was nothing moving and all the Kittiwakes I saw were resting on the sea rather than on the cliff face. All I could think was that either egg laying had yet to commence or that the birds had been disturbed in some way, by Peregrines perhaps? J

Monday 25th April News of an adult Purple Heron found earlier in the day   prompted a late afternoon detour   to Charleston Reedbed in the Cuckmere Valley on the way to do a Nightingale survey near Horam. Purple Herons do have a habit of being elusive and hiding themselves away for hours on end only to emerge at dusk but this one was quite the opposite, posing nicely on the bank of a drainage ditch just to the north of the reedbed. Gradually it became more and more hidden before it got disturbed a couple of times by cows in the field and flew further north. By the time Gareth arrived, all that could be seen was its head and bill though fortunately for him it proved more cooperative after we'd left. We then stopped at the Long Man of Wilmington from where there had been reports of up to 12  Ring Ouzels  earlier in the day. This is the second year running that Ring Ouzels have been recorded at the Long Man in spring, suggesting that it may be a regular stopping off point on their mig

Saturday 23rd April 2022 seems to be a bumper year for Early Spider Orchid with reports on social media of thousands of spikes on the Purbeck Coast in Dorset. Today we made our annual pilgrimage to Castle Hill NNR, near Brighton, one of the few Sussex sites for this species, where we were treated to the fabulous sight of hundreds of plants in the short downland turf on the west facing slope in the valley bottom. I was also hoping to find Early Gentian , another rare Sussex plant known from only a handful of locations, but despite a lengthy search we drew a blank. In the blustery conditions, birds were at a premium though a Yellow Wagtail and a  Swallow passed overhead and at least 3 Lesser Whitethroats were heard singing. Also seen were a Kestrel , 2 Stock Doves , 5 Yellowhammers , a Corn Bunting and my first Wall Brown of the year. We then went to Mill Hill, sheltered from the north-easterly blast, where several Dingy Skippers  at the bottom of the slope were new for the year, a L

Thursday 31 st  March    Having not been abroad for over two years, there was a sense of anticipation as Gareth and I set off for Gatwick in the early hours of the morning. With the car left in the safe hands of Purple Parking and the usual airport formalities dispensed with, we were ready for take-off at 06:10 (25 minutes later than scheduled) for the 4-hour Easyjet flight to Fuerteventura for which wearing a face mask was mandatory. The all-important QR codes on our phones confirming that we were triple-vaccinated ensured that the arrivals process at the other end was very straightforward and in no time at all we were outside the arrivals hall and ready to pick up our hire car from Top Car – a Toyota C-HR hybrid automatic. Having acquainted myself with the controls of the car and remembered that I needed to drive on the right, we set off for Caleta del Fuste, a short 5km drive down the coast, seeing a  Plain Swift  on the way. We had a special reason for going there in that it had be

Sunday 10th April A Willow Warbler singing in Phoenix Way first thing moved on quickly and wasn't seen/heard again. My first Speckled Wood of the year in the garden. In the afternoon we paid a first visit to the EPIC Project at Sompting Brooks where we saw Grey Heron , Little Egret , a pair of Kestrels and several Skylarks . It will be interesting to see how this Heritage Lottery funded project develops over the next few years. A couple of roadside stops in the Adur Valley north of Lancing College to see Purple Toothwort and then a Little Owl . Saturday 9th April Two visits to Chichester Gravel Pits with Bridget & Gareth produced an eclectic mix of birds made up of 22  Pochard on East Trout Lake,  a  Black Swan , 2  Egyptian Geese  and the drake  Red-crested Pochard  on Ivy Lake (the latter later on Runcton Lake but again without its partner), the long staying 2nd winter  Bonaparte’s Gull  on West Trout Lake early afternoon (albeit distantly), 10  Swallows  (my first of th