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.

Crowborough 16/12/2015

A short walk down the main footpath between the Beacon Academy Sixth Form College and the Sir Henry Fermor school gave some good birds. The best of these were a group of five Common Gulls on the playing fields, feeding amongst Black-headed Gulls and Starlings, the latter of which were numerous, counting up to twenty plus more that came down while I was watching. Common Gulls are quite rare around Crowborough, so it was nice to see so many.

Gosport, Portsmouth 21/11/2015

I was visiting the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and I had crossed the harbour by boat for the museums on that side. Birds were at a minimum, although a lack of telescope or other optics may have been the sole cause. Still, there were a rather nice pair of Curlew showing quite close to the shore from the bridge, and plenty of the usual Black-headed and Herring Gulls.