Success and failures chasing birds in Sussex (06-10 October)

Saturday 10 October. I drove Cookie up to the Beeding Hill car park and we meet David Buckingham above the small quarry. We walked to Truleigh Hill along the top of Room Bottom then cut down over the escarpment towards Edburton and rejoined the South Downs Way east of Truleigh Hill. We headed south and then took the monarch's Way back to the car park, DB continuing down to the Golding Barn Industrial Estate and his bike. It was my usual route in reverse with the added excursion down the escarpment. Cookie managed the distance very well despite being chased by a cow on one occasion but it was much quieter bird-wise than recent visits. I saw Buzzard, 2 Great Spotted and a Green Woodpecker, 7 Kestrels, a presumed juvenile male Peregrine, 7 Swallows, a House Martin, 30+ Sky Larks, 4 Chiffchaffs, 14 Stonechats, 3 Wheatears, 30 Meadow Pipits, 120 Linnets, 3 Siskins, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Peregrine at Truleigh Hill

part of a large Starling flock near Truleigh Hill

Wheatear near Truleigh Hill

Friday 09 October. I left home at 04:50 to be sure to be at Church Norton before first light. I knew it was a fools errand, feeling the chance of the Nighthawk having returned was about 5% but I wouldn't forgive myself if it did and I wasn't there. As expected it didn't show but it was good to catch up with a few other birders I knew amongst the 20ish present at dawn. I stayed in the area to midday seeing a Short-eared Owl, male Dartford Warbler, Kingfisher, colour-ringed Mediterranean Gull (3RHL, ringed as a chick at Total Antwerpen on 15 June 2014, seen at Oost-vlaanderen, Flanders on 13 May 2016, Antwerpen March-July 2018, Llanon, Ceredigion August 2018 and Antwerpen in June 2020)) and a Merlin (along the approach road as I was leaving). I've had many worse days at Pagham and they made my early start almost worthwhile although it would have been much more so had I not, along with almost everybody else, missed a Grey Phalarope that was seen briefly in the harbour. Things took a turn for the worse as I decided to try my luck at Thorney. It took an hour to get there due to an overturned lorry closing the westbound A27 and solid traffic all the way along the A259 from where I joined at Dell Quay to the Thorney turning. It was then an hours walk to Pilsey where an hour before high tide failed to produce the Kentish Plover or much else (3 Sanderlings, Whimbrel and Wheatear). A strengthening wind and being caught by a very heavy shower didn't help. An hour back to the car and eastbound traffic was little better. forty-five minutes later I'd only got as far as the Witterings roundabout and decided I might as well return to Pagham. With the morning's no show I rated the chance of the Nighthawk being seen at about 1% but there were a few others prepared to take a chance. It was not to be. What was probably another Short-eared Owl flew across the road as I was driving towards Sidlesham Ferry and thankfully the roads were quiet all the way home.

Dartford Warbler by the Severals

Thursday 08 October. A morning visit to the Adur with Cookie had us dodging showers with limited success. The strong SW wind had brought in decent numbers of gulls with about 1100 Herring Gulls roosting at low tide between the railway and Cuckoos Corner. They included a colour-ringed North Thames bird. There were 55 Great Black-backed Gulls, mostly opposite the airport, which included 2 Le Havre and a Norwegian bird. Few other gulls were seen and just 16 Lapwings and 15 Ringed Plovers. In the afternoon I visited Burton  Mill Pond to look for the Bittern. I arrived about 16:30 giving me a likely 2 hour wait until duck which I felt offered the best chance of seeing it. News of a Nighthawk seen flying into the wood at Church Norton broke too late for me to make it although it would have been a very different story for me and many other Sussex birders had it been identified correctly when first seen. Oh well. Until that point it had been a pleasant wait at Burton Mill Pond in good company. I'd seen male Mandarin, a Great Crested Grebe family, 3 Kingfishers, 2 Hobbies, a Hawfinch and 9 Siskins. The Purple Heron showed its head at about 18:30 and finally appeared on the edge of the reeds opposite at 18:40 before flying off low down the far channel. 

Great Black-backed Gull 50H on the Adur by the airport. A female hatched at Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Normandie in May 2010 and previously seen at Dives-sur-Mer, Calvados in July 2012, Cricqueville-en-Bessi, Calvados in October 2013 and Dawlish Warren, Devon in September 2014. Since then its only been reported from the Shoreham area, on the Adur in December 2015, a car park in July and the Adur in October 2017 and MacDonalds in February 2020 

Great Black-backed Gull 83P on the Adur by the airport. A male that was ringed as a chick at Le Havre in June 2014 and has been seen at Saint-Valéry-en-Caux, Seine-Maritime in May 2015, Fécamp, Seine-Maritime in May 2016, Newhaven in October 2017, Ouistreham, Calvados in May 2018, on the Adur in November 2018, Lower Cuckmere December 2019 and January 2020 and La Hourdel, Somme on 15 September 2020 

Great Black-backed Gull JJ289 on the Adur opposite Ricardos. It was ringed as a chick near Fjell, Hordaland, Norway in June 

North Thames Herring Gull R7LT on the Adur near Cuckoos Corner. It was ringed as an adult at Pitsea Tip in Essex in January 2015 and seen at Hove in June 2016 and on the Adur in May 2018 and December 2019 

juvenile Hobby at Burton Mill Pond

sunset at Burton Mill Pond, the Hobby was in the tall conifer left of centre

Wednesday 07 October. I took Cookie up to Beeding Hill and we walked our usual circuit seeing 6 Buzzards, 8 Kestrels, 20 Sky Larks, 16 Swallows, 2 House Martins, 6 Chiffchaffs, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Whinchat, 16 Stonechats (half were males), 8 Wheatears, Yellow Wagtail, 27 Meadow Pipit, 27 Goldfinches, 3 Corn Buntings and a Yellowhammer.

Stonechat along the Monarch's Way at Beeding Hill

Whinchat along the Monarch's Way

Wheatear along the Monarch's Way

another Wheatear along the Monarch's Way

Corn Bunting near Truleigh Hill

Tuesday 06 October. A walk around a breezy Mill Hill with Megan and Cookie was exceptionally quiet with single Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Swallow, 3 Chiffchaffs and 2 Blackcaps seen. Later I took Cookie to Buckingham Park for a tour of the sycamores and chestnut trees. Between showers we saw 2 Goldcrests and a Mistle Thrush.