Around Shoreham and a visit to the Arun Valley (19-24 December)

Thursday 24 December. The day started badly with my camera slipping off a chair in the dark and the telephoto lens mount breaking as it landed on the carpet 18 inches below. I thought it really bad luck but discover it is not unknown for Panasonic zooms to do this when attached to the camera body as mine was, perhaps too much strength in the metal was sacrificed to reduce weight? At least it should be repairable. I drove the the Black Rabbit at Arundel and saw 2 vocal Tawny Owls quite well and a fly-over Woodcock badly before/at first light. One then two superb Barn Owls appeared soon after and gave excellent views. Next stop Burpham Sewage Works where a male Marsh Harrier and a Red Kite flew over Burpham SF while I looking at the Chiffchaffs - colybitta 4 tristis 0. My South Downs Farmland Bird survey was rather quiet, the cold northerly wind wasn't ideal but it was dry and with Sussex imminently going into tier 4 it might be my only chance to do it. Seven Grey Partridges, 61 Fieldfares and 17 Redwings were the highlights but the only Red Kite seen was back at the car after I had finished - the first blank I can remember during a survey there. Another visit to Burpham SF produced presumably the same four Common Chiffchaffs. I then drove to Fairmile Bottom and hiked up to Sherwood Rough where I saw 8 Hawfinches and 9 Greenfinches. The former were good, if a bit distant, and appeared to fly into a roost tree at 14:05. I left soon after and drove to Arundel WWT for a look around prior to dusk but was thwarted as I arrived to find it had closed an hour earlier. I'd booked my entry the previous evening and the confirmatory email failed to mention this. Happy Christmas everyone. 

Barn Owl from the Black Rabbit - inadvertently digiscoping at 1/8th second

as above with unsteady hands

distant Hawfinch at Sherwood Rough

two pieces of low-strength metal that used to keep the lens firmly attached to the camera

Wednesday 23 December. I took Cookie to Cuckoos Corner and we walked up the Adur to Dacre Gardens and back. It was very muddy but we missed the heaviest showers. We saw 6 Redshank, 100+ Common Gulls, 7 Grey Herons, single Buzzard, Kingfisher and Redwing, 3 pairs of Stonechats, a heard only Grey and 24 Pied Wagtails and 29 Meadow Pipits.

Stonechat near Cuckoos Corner

Stonechat near Coombes

Tuesday 22 December. I went to Widewater and seawatched from 08:05-08:50 seeing just a single Common Scoter and 9 unidentified geese flying east. Another Common Scoter was off-shore and a few Turnstones on the beach. The pair of Mute Swans and their youngster were on the lagoon along with a male Red-breasted Merganser, 5 Little Grebes and 2 Kingfishers. There were 45 Ringed Plover and 196 Dunlins roosting on the beach at Eastern Sands, a bit of a surprise as the tide was quite low. Walking back along the beach small groups of feeding Turnstone took the days total to 31. Shoreham Fort was birdless as was Harbour Way. I then spent a couple of hours on the Adur, between the railway and Cuckoos Corner. I saw 62 Lapwings, 3 Grey Plover, 11 Redshank, 300+ Common Gulls (3 had metal rings but disappointingly none wore colour rings), an adult Mediterranean Gull, 500 Herring Gulls (including 2 seen on the Adur previously with North Thames colour-rings) and another Kingfisher.

male Red-breasted Merganser at Widewater

Kingfisher at Widewater

Dunlin on the beach at Widewater

and Ringed Plover

Kingfisher near the Old Toll Bridge

'hooded' adult Common Gull on the Adur

heavily marked third-winter Herring Gull on the Adur

Herring Gull G2JT on the Adur. My 6th sighting on the Adur, it was first ringed at Pitsey in 2014 as a first-year and has also been seen at Beddingham and the Thames Barrier.

Herring Gull X6NT on the Adur. Also my 6th sighting on the Adur, it was first ringed at Pitsey in 2015 as a second-year and has also been seen at Beddingham.

second-winter Lesser black-backed Gull on the Adur

Mediterranean Gull on the Adur

Monday 21 December. I took Cookie to the Adur and in the rain we walked up to Cuckoos Corner. There were few gulls in evidence, a combination of a bait digger and a not very low tide not helping. We saw 9 Dunlin and 7 Redshank and spent the rest of the day drying out. 

Sunday 20 December. Megan and I took Cookie to Brooklands where we saw 7 Teal, a first-winter Yellow-legged Gull, Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers and a Goldcrest.

Coot at Brooklands

Moorhen at Brooklands

Teal at Brooklands

first-winter Yellow-legged Gull at Brooklands

Saturday 19 December. I took Cookie to the Adur for low tide and we walked up to Cuckoos Corner looking at gulls. I saw 250 Black-headed, 2 Mediterranean, 400 Common, 20 Great Black-backed, 400 Herring and a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a single Grey Plover. They included Norwegian and probably German colour-ringed Great Black-backs and a North Thames Herring. During an afternoon trip into town I took Cookie to Town Quay where we saw a Curlew while Megan was in a shop.

Common Gull A9TJ

it appears to have been ringed in Germany

Common Gull JE113

it was ringed as an adult in Klepp, Rogaland Norway in June 2018 but has not been reported since

a North Thames ringed Herring Gull, history awaited

adult Mediterranean Gull on the Adur