Lyminster, Pease Pottage and Abinger Hammer

My second English Winter Bird Survey visit to my Lyminster square was so enjoyable. It was a fine winter's morning and I recorded 47 species. When I got to the muddy cattle field at Broomhurst Farm, I was pleased to see the Cattle Egret was still there with a Little Egret but moving slightly further north, I was surprised to find an additional seven Cattle Egrets feeding in a meadow! At one point all eight birds joined up. It is tempting to speculate that these may be some of the birds that were based a Sidlesham earlier in the month. A roosting Little Owl, two Marsh Harriers and two Stonechats were new sightings for the square for me, and other notables included two Treecreepers, a Reed Bunting, two Meadow Pipits, 70 Redwings, a Mistle Thrush, three Skylarks, 50 Wigeon and two Red-legged Partridges.

Cattle Egrets at Lyminster

Little Owl at Lyminster

Marsh Harriers at Lyminster

I squeezed in a couple of hours in the Cowdray Forest at Pease Pottage on the way up to Sutton for a brief visit to the family. A singing Crossbill was very audible in a stand of conifers but couldn't be seen and the odd redpoll and Siskin was glimpsed, but I couldn't locate any sizeable flock like during my last visit. A Bullfinch, 10 Redwings, 20 Fieldfares, two Mistle Thrushes, a Treecreeper, two Nuthatches and three Marsh Tits were among the other birds logged.

For something entirely different, I caught up with Josh Burch for a bit of river dipping in Abinger Hammer for the last hour of light. We fished out some interesting stuff for a quick look, including a River Lamprey, two Bullheads, a Three-spined Stickleback and a juvenile Rainbow Trout. Two Grey Wagtails, a Nuthatch, a Coal Tit and a fly-over Mute Swan were logged while we caught our feet wet.

Goring Gap, Pease Pottage and Burton Mill Pond

Goring Gap continued to accommodate our popular 2CY female Snow Bunting. Offshore were 320 Great Crested Grebes but only 20 Red-breasted Mergansers. Many of the grebes were feeding very close inshore on the ebbing tide, perhaps enjoying morsels washed off the beach. Further out, a pair displayed. Five Dark-bellied Brent Geese (seemingly the first spring migrants of the year) and a  Curlew flew east, two Wigeon went west and other birds offshore included two Kittiwakes, seven Red-throated Divers, three Gannets and a small handful of Razorbills. 19 Oystercatchers and three Ringed Plovers - the latter particularly sporasic among the waders this year - were among the usual suspects on the beach, along with two adult Mediterranean Gulls. A Goldcrest called from gardens near The Plantation.

The woods off Parish Lane in Pease Pottage kept me occupied for a few hours up to lunchtime as I grilled a flock consisting of around 50 Lesser Redpolls and 20 Siskins. I'd quickly teased out a smart Mealy Redpoll but getting a fitting record shot required a great deal of patience. Three Marsh Tits, two Bullfinches, a Grey Heron and a couple of Treecreepers and Nuthatches were also present while I stopped the car at a nearby field to enjoy a mix of 128 Fieldfares, seven Mistle Thrushes, 66 Redwings and four Song Thrushes.

Mealy Redpoll at Pease Pottage

Fieldfares at Pease Pottage

I spent the rest of the day's light at Burton Mill Pond, failing again to find a Bittern but logging a Kingfisher, 56 Cormorants and 20 Pied Wagtails to roost, a Little Egret, two Grey Herons, a Water Rail, nine Pochards, four Teal and a Tawny Owl. Six Little Grebes demonstrated snorkling behaviour and produced some lovely, almost diver-like, whinnying calls as dusk fell, that I'm not sure I've heard many timed before.

Little Grebes at Burton Mill Pond

Beddington Farmlands, Crawley, etc, 3rd March 2017

Yesterday at Canons was pretty quiet, with nothing of consequence to mention here. This morning was spent looking through the gulls at Beddington from the hide with Christian C, Magnus A, Josh J, Dave S and Peter A. This produced both the juvenile Iceland Gull and the juvenile Glaucous Gull, a first-winter Caspian Gull and at least five Yellow-legged Gulls. In the afternoon, Mag and I headed to Broadfield, Crawley, to check out the 2cy Rose-coloured Starling, which we located after half-an-hour or so of looking dodgy as we roamed the streets. It even burst into a bit of song. We called in at Pease Pottage where we stumbled upon a singing Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, as well as three Marsh Tits. We were both delighted with the woodpecker, I was beginning to wonder whether I'd see one this year! Hopefully I'll come across one on the patch before the early spring is out.

juvenile Glaucous Gull at Beddington

juvenile Iceland Gull at Beddington

adult Yellow-legged Gull at Beddington

first-winter Yellow-legged Gull at Beddington

a rather odd/extreme first-winter Yellow-legged Gull at Beddington which took us aback for a little while

first-winter Caspian Gull at Beddington

2cy male Rose-coloured Starling at Broadfield, Crawley

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at Pease Pottage

Marsh Tit at Pease Pottage