Lyminster and Knepp Wildlands

I just managed to fit in my late BBS visit to the Lyminster square. Being so gusty, the conditions were far from ideal; birds included two Reed Buntings, 15 Swifts overhead, two House Martins, a Sparrowhawk and a Grey Heron.

As a birthday treat, in the afternoon I went to Knepp Wildlands with Ingrid, where we heard a Turtle Dove purring and caught a glimpse of another in flight. A Great Crested Grebe was accompanied by two young. Among the other birds noted were three Bullfinches, four Treecreepers, a Reed Bunting, a Lesser Whitethroat, a House Martin, two Reed Warblers, two Buzzards, a Grey Heron and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. A newly fledged Blackcap was begging by the side of one of the paths.

Great Crested Grebes at Knepp Wildlands

fledgling Blackcap at Knepp Wildlands

Knepp Estate, Hailsham and Rickney

After a bright and warm start to my and Darragh's visit to Knepp, the skies drew in and the temperature dropped. However, we did glimpse a couple of Purple Emperors, as well as a Brown Hairstreak and a few Purple Hairstreaks. Birds included a family of three Turtle Doves, a Kingfisher, a Red Kite, a Yellowhammer, two Mistle Thrushes, a Reed Warbler, a Grey Heron, two Great Crested Grebes and a scattering of Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Bullfinches and Treecreepers, etc.

juvenile Turtle Dove at Knepp Wildlands

Just when we were wondering how to spend the last few hours of the afternoon, news emerged of a Red-backed Shrike near Hailsham so I left Darragh to continue the quest for butterflies and shot off for East Sussex without much thought. Once on site, it became clear that I might well not in fact be on site... I realised that the directions were in fact extremely vague and the bird could theoretically have been at any point miles along Hurst Haven. I tried the Hailsham end, logging Cetti's Warbler, Reed Bunting, two House Martins, a Treecreeper, two Swallows and a Sparrowhawk, before deciding the bird was most probably actually seen at the opposite end of the haven. A 15-minute drive later, I only had half-an-hour to spare but checked what habitat I could, coming up with a Lesser Whitethroat, seven Swallows, a Reed Bunting and three Meadow Pipits but again no shrike.

Goring, Knepp and Belmont

I spent a couple of hours at the Gap this morning, the most notable observation being a Yellow Wagtail calling as it headed north - a rather late individual but incredibly my first of the year on the patch! A Curlew, three House Martins, three Swallows, five Swifts, five Common Scoters, four Shelducks, 55 Gannets, three Black-headed Gulls and two Sandwich Terns were also noted.

Later in the morning I met up with Linda M for a walk around the Knepp Estate. The humidity was a little draining and our birding ended up being a little half-arsed but we heard a couple of singing Cuckoos, a Red Kite flew over and 11 Buzzards were counted. A couple of Garden Warblers and Treecreepers were in song, as was a Reed Warbler in seemingly suboptimal habitat but I've no idea whether they breed here or this is another randomly placed late migrant. A Mistle Thrush and a nest-building pair of Great Crested Grebes were also logged.

Sitting in the pub garden next to my parents' in the evening, a Grey Heron flew over and six Swifts were milling around. It turns out that Phil W had the heron over his garden a couple of minutes earlier