Shoreham, Burgh & West Dean Woods (07-08 January 2012)

Saturday 7 January.  A day birding with Frank Lambert started at Shoreham Harbour where we hoped the Iceland Gull might be showing.  Unfortunately it wasn't although 4 Purple Sandpipers and a Rock Pipit were seen.   Amongst the gulls on the beach Normandy Greater Black-backed Gull 70E was present along with two CR Herring Gulls - A6WS (my first sighting of a local bird) and an unread North Thames bird that was flushed onto the sea by a dog.  After about an hour and a half we relocated to Widewater where the Snow Buntings were giving excellent views and the Black Redstart was seen.  While there John King heard that the Iceland Gull had appeared by the harbour but by the time we returned it had gone.  An hour later when it hadn't reappeared Frank and I decided to cut our losses and head to the Burgh.  A good move as the Iceland wasn't seen again.  The Rough-legged Buzzard gave distant perched views while a male Hen Harrier gave a brief, close flypast, and over 30 Grey Partridges were seen.  I also saw distant Red Kite and Short-eared Owl.

Greater black-backed Gull 70E, hatched at La Poterie-Cap-d’Antifer, Seine-Maritime, Normandie on 31/05/09. Spending its third winter in the Shoreham area, it was seen at Etretat, Seine-Maritime on 21/11/11

the irresistable Snow Buntings at Widewater



distant Rough-legged Buzzard, The Burgh, 7 January


Sunday 8 January.  Rather than potentially waste more time on the elusive Iceland Gull John King and I decided to spend the morning at West Dean Woods.  After a quick look around Stapelash Farm we slowly walked up the track to Monkton Farm and spent most of our time scanning distant tree-tops from the clearing there.  This proved productive with single Hawfinch, male Crossbill and Brambling.  Also recorded were Red Kite, Little Owl, Firecrest, 5 Marsh Tits, 3 Siskins and 5 Redpoll.  We left at lunchtime and called in at the Burgh for an hour and a half.  The Rough-legged Buzzard was on view for most of this time, initially perched at a similar range to the previous day then flying/hovering over the far hillside.  Much more satisfying views although half the distance would have been nicer.  Also seen were several Buzzards, 5 Grey and a Red-legged Partridge, 40 Sky Larks, 15 Yellowhammers and 10 Corn Buntings.

Rough-legged Buzzard, The Burgh, 8 January, viewed from Peppering triangle - a similar distance to yesterday but the light seemed better today

Grey Partdige and friend at the Burgh

Shoreham, Burpham & Beeding (01-02 January 2012)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sunday 1 January was the sort of day one normally wouldn't bother venturing out if it hadn't been 1st January.  JK and I started at Widewater where the Snow Buntings were showing well.  A short seawatch produced an unidentified diver, 8 Gannets, 33 Brent Geese and 5 Shelduck.  We moved on to Ferring where an adult Med Gull was roosting in the fields at Goring Gap, 25 Sanderlings were being chased by dogs on the beach and 2 snipe were flushed from the Rife.  We headed up to Burpham and saw 9 adult Bewick's Swans from the cricket pitch.  With no great expectations we went on to Peppering triangle and scanned the Burgh area for half an hour seeing 2 Buzzards, 9 Grey Partridges, 60 Corn Buntings and 20 Yellowhammers before the rain became more and more persistent and we called it a day. 

Snow Bunting at Widewater, its closeness didn't make up for the atrocious light


Monday 2 January.  The first sunny day for a while tempted me to revisit the Snow Buntings in the hope of obtaining some photos in good light.  I cycled down - only the second time I'd been on the bike since coming off.  The Snow Buntings were not on view and those there suggested that they'd not been seen.  I didn't linger and after seeing a Black Redstart on the next beach headed back to the Adur were a Mediterranean Gull and colour-ringed Herring (JH7T) and Greater Black-back (02K) were digiscoped and a Kingfisher was seen.  Two Short-eared and a Barn Owl were seen on Beeding Brooks, the latter giving disappointly brief views after dusk.  As the light faded flock of Jackdaws totalling at least 2000 flew E calling, presumably to roost.  also seen was a male Stonechat, 60 fieldfares and 15 Redwings.

Red-breasted Mergansers on Widewater

North Thames Herring Gull JH7T on the Adur

Normandie Greater Black-backed Gull 02K on the Adur

Mediterranean Gull on the Adur

Short-eared Owl at Beeding Brooks

2011 Highlights - abroad

Arabian Bustard on the drive to Awash National Park, Ethiopia in February.  One of the birds I most hoped to see on the trip.  It did not disappoint and we went on to see another six.

Spot-breasted Plovers on the Sanetti Plateau, Ethiopia.  A fine endemic restricted to the higher plains.

Ruspoli's Turaco near Negele, Ethiopia.  My top target and bird of the trip.  We saw them twice including a pair (of which this is one) that gave excellent views early one morning.

Somali Wheatear near Bogol Mayo, Ethiopia.  Well worth the effort of getting to the site near the Somali border and sleeping on the 'porch' of the village 'hall'.

Stresemann's Bush Crow near Yabello, southern Ethiopia.  In the event we didn't need to go as far south as Mega.  Something of a disappointment as I'd hoped to write Stresemann's Bush Crow, a mega at Mega in my notebook.

Somali Courser near Yabello, southern Ethiopia.  Brilliant birds.

Mikado Pheasant at Anmashan, Taiwan in April.  One of the most sought after endemics, we saw just this fine male.

Malaysian night Heron, active during the day at Huisin, Taiwan

Fairy Pitta at Huben, Taiwan on 3 May.  They were 10 days late arriving and this was the first bird to be seen at Huben this year. Having missed the species in China in May 2010 by being just too early (they were late arriving then too) we added a contingency day to the end of the trip.  Just as well we did as we saw the pitta on our last morning.

2011 Highlights - home

Snow Buntings at Widewater in late December, for me the most enjoyable local birds this year

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 Greater Black-backs continue to provide the most interest amongst  colour-ringed gulls on the Adur with several sightings of Norwegian birds and these two from Normandy seen on 6 November

My best colour-ringed sighting was this Rock Pipit from Norway, seen at Margate on 13 November

The Sabine's Gull at Newhaven in September was perhaps my favourite bird in Sussex in 2011.  I saw it after work on 20th, on my second attempt

The Pallid Harrier at the Burgh in September would probably have pipped the Sabine's Gull if it had been more photogenic.  I saw it twice, the first views on 18th so distant the 'boa' couldn't be seen making me think it was probably a Montagu's.  No such problems when I returned on 22nd but it still wasn't as close as I would have wished. My only new bird seen in Sussex in 2011.



It was a reasonable year for Ring Ouzels Beachy, this one photographed at Birling on 30 October.  One of the biggest disappointmets of the year was that I missed all the better birds at Beachy, too many were mid week. 



Outside of Sussex I saw three new birds for Britain.  The White-throated Robin in Hartlepool was the first.  I saw it on 10 June, the last of its five days stay.  A piece of very good fortune that I felt I spent much of the rest of the year paying for ...



The Sandhill Crane near Loch of Strathbeg on 24 September was excellent and my second new British bird of the year.  A stronger nerve might have saved an overnight drive as it appeared in Suffolk two weeks later although that ploy failed for the previous two, on Shetland and Orkney, and it didn't seem worth taking that chance.



This superb first-winter Caspian Gull at Dungeness on 29 December was all I imagined the species should be and was well worth the wait for one I could confidently count as a new bird.

Not a new bird, yet, but the 'Eastern' Black Redstart at Margate on 13 November was one of the autumn's highlights.


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Biggest disappointment of the year was not going to Shetland for the Siberian Rubythroat. 'It is better to burn out than to fade away' but I didn't take heed of Neil Young's words.  This one was at Rudong, China on 17 May 2010.

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Shoreham and Arundel (30-31 December 2011)

Friday 30 December.  A morning low tide isn't the best for the Adur and so it proved with few gulls in evidence and just 3 Grey Plover, a Curlew and a Rock Pipit.  A text from DC that he'd seen a Great White Egret flying west past Birling was a convenient excuse to head to Widewater.  No sign of the egret although arriving 65 minutes after the sighting may just have been too late if it had continued west?  Once at Widewater it would have been criminal not to have had another look at the Snow Buntings and although the light wasn't special it was hard to resist taking a few more photos. 

Snow Buntings still gracing Widewater

Saturday 31 December.  Visited Arundel WWT with Megan seeing a Snipe, 5 Bullfinches and a Reed Bunting.  The collection included some Lesser White-fronted Geese and other favourites that either brought back happy memories or reinforced positions on my 'wants' list.

Lesser White-fronted Goose, single wing a bit of a giveaway

Bronze-winged Duck, one of South America's finest

Blue Duck, 15 years since I saw these in New Zealand

Harlequin, a nice reminder of our honeymoon in Iceland in 1989

Scaly-sided Mergansers, still high on my wanted list ...

Pheasant at Arundel

Dungeness Caspian Gull (29 December 2011)

Having had no success with Caspian Gulls in Sussex I decided to try for the first-winter that has set up residence on the beach at Dungeness. I met Martin Casemore on site and was guided straight to the bird - brilliant! It fully lived up to my expectations being very distinctive and giving very good views I felt a new bird deserved. It was mainly sitting down in the strong wind which is perhaps why it allowed such close approach, but it did stretch it wings an stand up a couple of times before flying around and landing on the shingle for a few minutes before heading back towards the lighthouse. We then left and checked the ARC pit and Hanson Hide seeing 2 Great White Egrets, the leucistic Grey Heron, 3 Smew, 8 Goldeneye, a Marsh Harrier and 15+ Tree Sparrows. The Long-tailed Duck couldn't be found and the reserve was apparently very quiet so we returned to the beach where the Glaucous Gull had appeared and two colour-ringed Herring Gulls were seen but not well enough to read although one was certainly a North Thames bird. It was great to see Martin and even better to be guided around Dungeness by him but I reluctantly left to give myself time to check Scotney and Pett. The former was quiet with most of the Greylags asleep, my excuse for not finding the pink-billed bird. About 60 Barnacle Geese and the Emperor hybrids looked particularly plastic. At Pett a Bar-headed Goose was associating with a flock of Canadas, 4 Pink-feet and 9 White-fronts were rather distantly on their own and an adult and possible second-winter Scandinavian Herring Gull were with the high tide gull flock. A brilliant day that really made me wonder why I bothered looking for gulls in Sussex at places where good views are almost impossible! No more, until the next time ...

Caspian Gull at Dungeness, as I'd always imagined one would look and a very welcome but long overdue British/World tick - 513/6254 or thereabouts

white underwing, tail pattern and dark secondary bar just about visible

I'm very sure I've not overlooked one as distinctive as this before, at least not in daylight!  The long thin legs show to good effect too.

tail showing well

reluctant to move in the strong wind

only subtle differences from other gulls but when put together a very distinctive 'package'

too close to fit it all in

brilliant

Great White Egret from the Hanson Hide

Glaucous Gull on the beach at Dungeness, now in its second winter

its got legs too

back in Sussex (Pett Level) so views rapidly deteriorate, centre-left gull identified as argentatus Herring Gull due to noticably darker mantle (even to one who is grey-shade challenged), extensive white tip to p10, dull bill and large size.

even worse views of Pink-feet (back) and White-fronts from the sea wall at Pett Level