Sussex Turtle Doves and Glossy Ibis (01-09 June)

Thursday 01 June. Brooklands with Megan and Cookie was very quiet, apart from 3 noisy Cetti's Warblers. 

Coot at Brooklands

this pair had 7 young, another nearby at least 3

Friday 02 June. Cookie and I walked from the Old Toll Bridge to Widewater and back across the Adur Ferry Bridge but saw very little, the highlight being a Sparrowhawk over Adur Rec.

Saturday 03 June. A better than usual visit to Mill Hill with Megan and Cookie where we saw 2 Swifts, Red Kite, Buzzard, Jay, Skylark, House Martin, 5 Whitethroats, Greenfinch, Linnet and 9 Goldfinches. We also heard 2 Lesser Whitethroats.

Sunday 04 June. Megan and I took Cookie to Steepdown seeing Buzzard, 14 Skylarks, Chiffchaff, 2 Whitethroats, a juvenile Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, 2 Linnets, 6 Goldfinches and 6 Corn Buntings.

Corn Bunting at Steepdown

Skylark at Steepdown

Monday 05 June. Nothing of note around the Adur in the morning, Frank Lambert then came down from Norfolk for a couple of days and we went to Pulborough in the evening. On the brooks we heard a Cuckoo and saw 6+ Swifts, 4 Avocets, 10 Lapwings, 2 Redshank, 4 Cattle Egrets, an introduced White Stork that had found its way there from Knepp, Hobby, 7 Mistle Thrushes, Nightingale, 2 Bullfinches and a Greenfinch. On the heath at dusk a churring Nightjar gave good views and a Tawny Owl didn't.

Tuesday 06 June. Frank and I took Cookie to Knepp where along the White Route we saw 3 Turtle Doves (and possibly heard a 4th), 2 Buzzards, Green Woodpecker and Jay and heard a Nightingale. In the evening Frank and I went to West Mill stream and Woods Mill seeing 3 more Turtle Doves (1 at West Mill, 2 at Woods Mill), Great Spotted Woodpecker and my first local Bullfinch, a male, this year. Six is the most Turtle Doves I've seen in a day since 7 at Rye Harbour in July 2003, although it is the first time I've visited Knepp and Woods/West Mill on the same day - they are the only places I've seen Turtle Doves in Sussex since flushing one at Beachy Head in October 2016.

Turtle Dove at Knepp

introduced White Stork at Knepp

there were 4 in this nest, so far only one wild-bred bird has returned to Knepp after wintering further south

Turtle Dove at Woods Mill, about to fly

Wednesday 07 June. It was great to see Frank again, we had a lot of catching up to do. After he left and Megan and I took Cookie to Mill Hill where we saw Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker (flying N), Skylark, 5 Whitethroats, 2 Mistle Thrushes (flying N), 2 Linnets and 6 Goldfinches. We also heard a Reed Warbler singing from a thick patch of scrub just west of the wood, Cetti's, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat. Great that West Ham United finally won a trophy, pity it was only on BT Sport although maybe too stressful to watch. Their first since 1980 and I didn't see that either despite being on BBC as I was flying out to Canada for two weeks. The pilot announced the result (a Trevor Brooking header against Arsenal) around the time we were crossing the Greenland icecap. 

Thursday 08 June. A quiet walk around the Adur with Megan and Cookie with 24 Great and 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls the highlight. In the evening 2 Swifts over our garden were hopefully late returning local breeders.

Friday 09 June. I took Cookie up to the Beeding Hill car park and we walked our usual triangle (Monarch's Way, up to Truleigh Hill and back around Room Bottom). We recorded 32 species including single Swift, Stock Dove and Lesser Black-backed Gull (flying N), 26 Skylarks, 2 Swallows, Meadow Pipit, 3 Chaffinches, Greenfinch and 6 Corn Buntings. An Adur Birding WhatsApp message from Matt Palmer to say he'd seen a crow flush a Glossy Ibis out of a ditch by the Beeding Brooks flood couldn't have come at a more convenient time as I was walking around the rim of Room Bottom towards the small Beeding Hill quarry. I'd seen the much reduced flood as I'd come over from Truleigh Hill but it was now behind Tottington Mount. I continued to Beeding Hill quarry and scanned from there although without a scope it was a hopeless task, or so I thought. Matt saw the ibis fly up out of the ditch onto the remaining flood. It was still almost impossible to see through binoculars but through my camera at maximum optical magnification and 2x digital I could make out the Glossy Ibis and just about take an identifiable image. Measuring the distance at home on an OS map I made it 2km.

Skylark at Beeding Hill

Corn Bunting south of Truleigh Hill

cropped image of Glossy Ibis on the remains of Beeding Brooks Flood

found by Matt Palmer and seen by me at 2km range

with 2 crows