Sussex Ornithological Society Firecrest Survey Crowborough 27/06/2018

This morning I completed my final visit to TQ52## for the Firecrest survey.  The sun was shining brightly, even penetrating the dense canopy. Of all of my visits, this was the one on which I hoped to see if any young had been raised. For the first half an hour of my walk, I only noted three Goldcrest territories, and one Firecrest, which I determined to investigate further later on. I walked into the compartment that had held the most last time I visited. Walking quite deep in, I found a small family group of Firecrests, with at least two young amongst them. On the other side of the path there was another territory, and this I discovered had four young Firecrests, as well as the two parents. The rest of the hour was rather an anti-climax, but I found at least two more young, out of the nest. This means that this square has got at least three Firecrest territories, which have so far brought up at least eight young this year so far!

Eastbourne 16/06/2018

Not a lot to report, I watched the sea from 1000 until 1300. Absolutely no movement except for 2 Manx Shearwaters well out on the sea. Also, a group of Gannets were fishing, also very well offshore. Apart from these, only the normal Herring Gulls, as well as a few Black-headed Gulls.

Broadwater Warren RSPB 11&12/06/2018

Last night, I spent two hours with the RSPB surveying Nightjars and Woodcocks. We started out from the car park at around quarter to nine, and I patrolled the stretch of path between the small pond and the first crossroads on the path from the car park to the Decoy Pond. At first, it was very quiet, except for a Herring Gull that flew over, followed by a Grey Heron which went in to roost in the woods nearby. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling loudly from the car park direction, and a male Whitethroat was preening itself on a silver birch sapling close by. Only once it became reasonably dark did the Nightjars start churring, and after that they started up from all directions, some churring for long periods of time. Whilst checking the next compartment, at least two Pipistrelle Bats appeared from nowhere, flying so close to me, and almost hitting me. Returning to the main path again, a dark shadow of a bird suddenly flew up from the heather close by the track. It then disappeared into the gloom, but minutes later, presumably the same bird circled round the trees directly above me, before landing on a branch well out of sight, and starting to churr very loudly. I walked closer, in order to attempt to see the bird, and accidentally flushed it. Whereupon, it flew across to a tree with a bare branch exposed, and perched there, in full view, and churred for a short period. Sure enough, that was the best Nightjar I have ever seen, despite doing the same survey last year. I almost wished that I had brought my camera, but it probably would have been too dark. Other surveyors were not so fortunate, either not seeing one, or not seeing or hearing one. I did not have any Woodcock on the area I was surveying, but several other people did either see one or hear one.
Today, I went for a walk around the reserve. Highlights included a Spotted Flycatcher by the Decoy Pond, and a pair of Turtle Doves at Park Corner.

Crowborough 09/06/2018

A walk around Crowborough this morning gave all the usual suspects, including good numbers of Starlings, over half of which seemed to be juveniles. On one house's roof I saw a Pied Wagtail, possibly of the race alba, White Wagtail, with very grey plumage on the mantle, rump, and wings. The Rose-coloured Starling influx does not seem to have hit Crowborough yet, if it does, but this year seems to be the best chance of seeing one locally. I did check all the Starlings I saw, but alas to no avail. Other than these, there are now good numbers of Swifts screaming all over the town, despite very low numbers in May. This is apparently due to storms over France and Spain which held the birds up. Yesterday, I saw what looked very much like a Spotted Flycatcher in my garden. The bird itself was a silhouette, but the behaviour was convincing. It was sitting on the top of one of my trees, and flycatching. The bird was silent, but there were no pronounced colours. The Jackdaw pictured below was one of many on the rooftops around town.

Holiday 30/05 - 04/06/2018

Another visit to Shropshire was good. The birds were all in full song, and thus quite easy to find, or at least locate. I saw 49 different species of birds from the Wednesday of last week to Monday this week. My friend's cottage is in the countryside, and therefore there were several handsome male Yellowhammers, singing from the tops of the trees along the road. There was plenty of excellent habitat for this species, with thick hawthorn hedges lining many roads and fields in the area, and trees dotted about the landscape for the males to sing from.
Another nice bird was the Skylark, which seemed to sing from the minute the sun rose above the horizon to the moment when it sunk beneath the western sky. This species also appeared to be nesting, and there were at least two pair in the nearby vicinity.
Warblers abounded. Whitethroats delivered their rather scratchy songs from dense thickets, before displaying to a hidden female, whilst Garden Warblers, sang from the depths of the scrub, not revealing themselves at all, and Blackcaps sand from the more prominent perches. Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers were also heard, although more distantly in woodland not more than a mile or two away.
The best bird overall was a singing Quail, which was only possibly seen very distantly, but was distinctly heard singing almost every day I was there.