Sunday 1 April 2018

Goring/Ferring Rife

Ian J came down for a visit. Spring's still holding back and migration was in little evidence but it was a refreshing jaunt nonetheless, made all the more fun by Ingrid coming out and laying an Easter egg hunt for us! A Peregrine over the sea and a Firecrest in the Plantation were the highlights, along with a hint of early morning movement with fly-over Grey Wagtail and Linnet followed by two Grey Herons. On the sea were 65 Great Crested Grebes and 27 Red-breasted Mergansers, while a Shelduck, 24 Brent Geese, two Common Scoters, two Sandwich Terns and eight Gannets were pretty much the sum of the movers. Wader numbers are much diminished now and on the beach at low tide were 53 Sanderlings, seven Oystercatchers, 35 Turnstones, a Dunlin and three Grey Plovers. Two Meadow Pipits and two Skylarks were logged.

At the Rife we added a Buzzard, another Grey Heron, a Snipe, four Mediterranean Gulls, a Chiffchaff, a Green Woodpecker, four Skylarks, two Jackdaws and 10 distant Rooks.