Crowborough 16/12/2016

Another first for Crowborough flew over today in the form of a Raven. I was just doing some gardening in my back garden, as it was a very nice day, for December at around 1200 hrs and a large black bird flew north over the garden, pausing for a moment to chase off a Carrion Crow. At first, I thought that it was a Carrion Crow seeing off a Jackdaw, but the size of the larger bird was quite incredible for a Carrion Crow. I snatched up my camera, and took the quick record shot of the bird in flight. It was a rubbish photo, but since the bird then disappeared, never to be seen again, I was glad that I had taken it. I examined the photo (the one below is very heavily cropped) carefully, to see if I could spot any markings or shapes which would help with ID. The wings looked normal enough for Carrion Crow, as did most of the rest of the body, but the tail was the clincher. In the photo, the tail is distinctly diamond shaped, the one reliable way of telling Carrion Crow/Rook and Raven apart.

Crowborough 21/11/2016

A walk this morning around the town produced numerous Black-headed Gulls, now back from their breeding grounds, and one or two Herring Gulls, lingering on. Both appeared to be juveniles, the adults having already made tracks towards the coast. Amongst the gull flocks on the Beacon Academy and Sir Henry Fermor school's playing fields, I picked out at least five Common Gulls, not in immaculate breeding plumage, but in the duller winter plumage, with darker spots on the head. Of course the Black-headed Gulls only had one spot on the back of the head, as the brown hoods of the breeding season had long worn away.

Crowborough 03/10/2016

Well! A first for the Crowborough bird list this morning - three Mute Swans flew over the Beeches Estate on the east side of the town at approximately 1006 hrs this morning. Mute Swans have not, to my knowledge, been recorded in/over Crowborough at all,  certainly not after 1978. Also, another important sighting was the second flock of Canada Geese seen in/over Crowborough since the same date. The only other sighting was from another garden on Pilmer Road, near the Crowborough Cross.

Crowborough 23/09/2016

Not a lot around in Crowborough at the moment, very quiet on the birding front. Yet, I have been watching my local Blue Tits, who appear to have successfully raised a large brood of chicks, numbering at least seven. These are now growing up, and do not look so yellow as they did earlier in the season. At the local allotments, the Meadow Pipit is becoming a regular, as are a pair of Linnet, and several Goldfinches. Also, in the old farm buildings close by there are Swallows nesting.

Bough Beech Reservoir 23/08/2016

A friend told me of Bough Beech Reservoir, and thus today I directed my steps accordingly. Now, let me add here that I am still not that experienced in birding, and my weak spot is certainly waders. Therefore, my sightings from this site are solely what other birders told me about, or showed me. I visited the Visitor Centre first, and then went into the hide. From this, I saw a family of Reed Warblers in the scrub just along the bank of the pond from the hide. Moving on, I drove the car round, and parked on the causeway. This is by far the best spot to bird from. There were, as usual, several birders there, and these pointed out to me a couple of waders, including Greenshank and Common Sandpiper. I did not have a very good look at these, as my binoculars are quite poor, but apart from those, there was not an awful lot around the place.

Crowborough 27/07/2016

I have not posted for a while, so I thought I would give you an update. I have had a very quiet month, birding wise, with just plenty of baby birds to enliven things a bit. We have had about three juvenile House Sparrows around, and the same number of baby Blue Tits. Other than that, the Greenfinches have been busy feeding their young, and I have seen them more regularly than usual. Raptors seem to have been more numerous of late, and we have had up to four Buzzards over, and twice a male Sparrowhawk dashed through the garden. Swifts are the other bird - we have had a massive flock of about 20 of them flying over, all screaming.

Holywell, Eastbourne, East Sussex 11/06/2016

It was another glorious day, and I was down on the beach swimming in the sea. A new bird for me came in the form of a Great Black-backed Gull, and then, as I was drying off, a large white bird flew along the seashore. It was at least the size of a Grey Heron, but it was pure white, and it had a yellow bill. I did not think much of this at first, but it was an odd time of year to see an egret with a yellow bill, I later discovered. But upon reaching home, I looked up all the egrets, and there was but one that fitted: Great White Egret.

Lavington Common, West Sussex 28/05/2016

A beautiful day with some excellent birds. It was very hot, and most birds were probably snoozing, but I got some reasonably decent birds. The walk began with a Blackbird serenading me from the car park, and as I crossed the heath, a Mistle Thrush bounded away. Suddenly, a thin and scratchy song burst through the air, and I scanned the tops of the heather for the singer. As the binoculars came into focus, I found a small, long-tailed bird sitting atop a gorse. My binoculars were a rubbish cheap pair that I had bought from a supermarket, so I could not see that much, but I realised that it was no ordinary warbler that I had ever seen before. A quick look through the bird book confirmed my thoughts of Dartford Warbler, and sure enough, as I got closer it was that species. Still on the heath, a large flock of Goldfinches rose into the air, all twittering like mad, before settling and giving good views not a hundred yards down the path. Also, another song was trickling above my head, and this time I had more trouble locating the singer. I was quite certain from the song that it was a Skylark, but, try as I might, I could not locate it. All of a sudden, a bird dropped out of the sky, and landed on the path. Sure enough, it was a Skylark. The day ended well, with Swifts screaming over my back garden, and my year list was on 84.

Conwy RSPB 26/04/2016

A trip to Conwy today brought about some great additions to my year list, especially thanks to another birder who pointed out several birds, and helped to ID others. As I crossed the road bridge, I got stuck in a traffic jam, so I looked out over the estuary. There, literally just under the bridge, were a pair of black and white birds. At first, I thought they were Oystercatchers, but then I noticed the upturned beaks (they were that close), and a later look in my bird book confirmed that they were Avocets. Apart from that, actually on the reserve were some quite exciting birds, such as a pair of Goldeneye busily fishing in front of one of the hides. Also, there were loads of Shelduck, and on the far side of the water I made out birds that I thought were Gannets. Of course, they wouldn't have been, and the other birder in the hide kindly pointed out that although the birds were in a posture similar to that of a perching Gannet, they were in fact Little Egrets. Also, along the trails were numerous Wheatear, which I was constantly flushing up from the short-cropped grass.

Holiday, Nr Shrewsbury 19/04/2016

Some more firsts for me came just after we had arrived at friends on holiday. I was birding in their back garden, and I added four warblers to my list. The first was a Chiffchaff. The bird was singing loudly from the top of a fir tree at the bottom of their garden. Then, as I was trying to get closer to that, another bird burst into song from a thicket to my right. The bird popped out and revealed itself for a minute, and I clearly saw that it was a Garden Warbler, before it disappeared, never to be relocated. Next day, I saw a pair of Blackcap in some local woods, and with them, or rather above them, a Willow Warbler, singing full belt, as usual.

Green Lane, Crowborough 11/03/2016

I was just going for a quick walk along Green Lane, through the wooded area. Birds that I recognised included Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, and a Pheasant that I flushed from a clearing. Then, I heard a bird call that excited me. At home, I had been listening to my bird call CD's, and I had heard this very call. I was frantically trying to rack my brain as to what it was. As I was thinking thus, a pair of birds flew across the road into the trees on the other side. I followed them, taking a little more care about crossing over, and then I looked up into the trees. There was a fabulous male Bullfinch, my first ever. The male was then joined by a drabber female, and I watched them for some time, until they flew off again. I was really excited by it, as the birds were great. A male Bullfinch really is quite stunning!

Chailey Common 11/02/2016

Today was quite bright and sunny, but there were not many birds on the common to talk about. Despite the hot weather, parts of the area were very boggy, with one large area at least being deep and inconspicuous. But, as a beginning birder, I could not identify anything other than a Robin, Blackbird, and two other birds which I later identified as Stonechat, and flyover Linnet, although I was not sure about the latter. The Stonechat was a male, with black head and peachy coloured chest. The Linnet was identified on the strength of a flight call only, but I am pretty certain that it was the species mentioned.

Crowborough, 02/01/2016

Today I had a new bird for my garden, approximately ten Long-tailed Tits. I am doing a year list this year, so we will see how I get on. We have now seen twenty-four different species of bird in our garden now, and hopefully more will follow. We have probably had Long-tailed Tits in our garden before now, but  I have only recently started birding, and am not very good yet.