Snow Bunting, Seaford, 16 Nov 2012

my best attempt to document this bird. sorry about the fairly shaky quality but, well,

that's what you get with handheld footage on a bridge camera! 

Now, I know you want some words, of course you do! So against all sensible reason and discourse, I will ignore the urge to spend my friday evening sleeping like I should do, and endeavour to write some, for our lovely readers! 

November's been a bit quiet for birding, especially round school. I got in early today to have a check of the railway land, but all I had to show for my efforts were a few Redwing and Siskin among the regulars (and even these are becoming regular enough now, though I still keep note of them). There were also a small movement of Black-headed Gulls following the Ouse north, probably heading from their roost off Newhaven to feed further north up the valley. While doing some filming for a Media project, I noted a probable calling Firecrest, two Mistle Thrush flew over College and there were quite a few Coal Tits around the trees outside Cliffe House (one of the buildings that comprises Sussex Downs College). I also got a text from Dad, saying something like "Snow Bunting Seaford Beach east of the Buckle!". 

I was home by about 3, and twenty minutes later we were down at the beach. There, was, how to put this, an even larger urge shown by the general populace to bring Black Labradors down to this particular space on the beach today! I try not to get too frustrated by dog-owners, being one myself, but when a slightly senile old dear insists on throwing an old milk carton for her ungainly Lab right where the Snow Bunting was last seen, one does have to swallow quite a few expletives that are fighting to escape one's breath!

Thnakfully, the old hag, and the rest of her dogging contingent (I'm sorry for being so rude, but I need to let out this passive-agressive frustration somehow!), politely effed off eventually, and it didn't take too long to see our target. My words will struggle to describe the sheer, contented adorability of a SNOW BUNTING, 

but they will have to suffice. The dinkiest of yellow beaks was plucking what little seeds could be found on this stretch of the beach, while the overall colour is chameleon-like in it's ability to mimic the colour of the surrounding pebbles! The chestnuty breast-band and ear coverts, darker brown mantle and reddish fringed greater coverts all play a part in giving a very finely tuned camouflage. The white flash on the median coverts does make picking it out a little bit easier, and though, like many Snow Bunting, it was reluctant to fly, it was quite happy to briefly scuttle accross the shingle, in a similar fashion to a Ringed Plover, another bird very well able to camouflage itself in this habitat. The Bunting also has an adorably cute little black eye that endears me to it a lot.

This bird was also incredibly confiding, showing down to a few feet, so if you're in the area it is well worth checking it out! it typically favours the stretch of beach to the east of the Buckle Caravan Park, and if there are no dog about seems very approachable!

I'll leave you with one final photo- just look at him, for pete's sake!!! :)

 SB: "I'm so adorable"
 LC: "yes, yes you are!"

no, I didn't see the Wheatear...

in fact today was decidedly dire. The train into Lewes held only one good bird, a Brent Goose at Newhaven... seen to come in off the sea and land in the crop fields between the Mill Creek and the village of Bishpopstone. At school, Jake had yesterday reported a YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER, which despite a fairly extensive search before Media I failed to relocate. On the railway land I saw three Chiffchaff, 13 Siskin (I now suspect this flock my settle down to winter here), a handful of Goldcrest and Coal Tit, and overflying Jay and, by far and away the highlight- a late GRASS SNAKE. This is by far the latest I've ever seen this species (though two years ago, I observed a Buzzard carrying a Snake species in it's talons on 27 October, didn't identify it to species however!) I thought all reptiles would be well into their hibernations by now, especially given how miserable it's been for most of the last month! Clearly, this snake felt like being an exception to the rule...

Having already gripped me off with a Yellow-brow within the ground of our school, Jake then proceded to find a CROSSBILL today! It flew into the trees on the raised mound outside Cliffe House at about 14:50; and, no surprise, by the time I got out of Biology at 15:10 it was long gone! It was another 'one-up' on me, and brings Jakes school-list one closer to mine!

In order to quantify that last statement, I should first explain our competition. When we found out we'd both be at the same college for a year, we devised a yearlist competition, basically who could see the most birds within the school year. The location was the college grounds and Lewes Railway Land, the LNR opposite our sixth form.

I stormed into an early lead in September- wrapping up some regular migrants like Common Sandpiper, Yellow Wagtail, Garden Warbler and Reed Warbler to give me quite a fair lead! two Shoveler on 1 Oct  and some vis-migging Skylarks on 9 October extended my lead, but recently Jake has pulled back! Sparrowhawk and Kestrel were two of his 'grip-backs' and should be easy ones, but with the Yellow-browed and Crossbill he has, in the last few days, made it a much narrower lead! Currently I have seen 59 species to Jake's 56! we'll keep you updated on the competition over the coming months...

meanwhile, I'm just praying that Wheatear is still there on Saturday!! 

bits and bobs

Not much the last three days, as school has largely dicated the pace. Yesterday morning was poor in a morning on Lewes Railway Land, though Redwing and Skylark were new patch birds (57 and 58 respectively), and 13 Siskin, a Mistle Thrush and a few Goldcrest were scattered about, as well as two more Siskin and a handful of Meadow Pipits heading over. Splash Point the morning beforehand was dreadful beyond belief- a Common Scoter was the sum of 20 minutes before I gave up and headed home!

However, today was at least notable for some good numbers in the sunny conditions! A flock of 200+ Woodpigeon headed over Seaford, along with a few Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Goldfinch and Siskin. , there were about 400 Goldfinch in the fields around Tide Mills and a flock of 150+ heading south over Piddinghoe Pond, where about 500 Swallows and House Martins were gathered. Remarkably, another HOBBY flew over Newhaven from the train, eight days after I'd seen one previously here. Lewes was full of Goldcrests, and a few Skylarks were still piling overhead late morning, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Large White and Migrant Hawker were also all out on the wing. Not a lot, but more than I would hope for on the days largely dominated by school!

Real Birders are out No Matter the Weather!

An early start to school, and I was a free man today by 12:00! Lewes Railway Land beckoned me first. The afternoon's are never brilliant around here, but at least the weather was still nice, for the hour or so I was here! 

Birdwise- a small amount of vismig, with 7 Swallow, 4 Siskin, and singles of Meadow Pipit and House Martin heading south. there were still quite a lot of Robins (I'd guess 25), and 12 Chiffchaff. Plus 2 Treecreeper, a Jay, and a Kingfisher around the heart of reeds. Patch bird no.55 was heard only, 2 PEREGRINE calling distantly over the cliffs. I also saw the remarkable spectacle of a Speckled Wood flying into a spider's web, getting trapped and devoured, and then rolled up into a neat, silk-wrapped parcel. I chose the wrong day not to bring a camera! As I sat for 30 minutes waiting for the train, an estimated 300 hirundines passed over Lewes Station in a constant stream, seeming to consist primarily of Swallows.

On the way home I called into Newhaven, trying to relocate a Wryneck reported yesterday on RBA. I failed in this assignment, but there were a few good birds in the area;

• a SHAG was offshore, fishing to the east of the pier about 100 metres o/s. My first in Sussex since 1 September 2011 surprisingly!
• a small flock of waders flew down to bathe in the puddles immediately south of the industrial land, about 100 metres NE of Newhaven East Pier. They consisted of 17 Ringed Plover, 6 Dunlin and 2 Turnstone. Turnstone is a fairly unusual bird for Tide Mills in my experience, bizarrely I have only seen them here three times previously!
• 2 Wheatear. One at Tide Mills showed a bright supercilium, long primary projection and uppright, dick's pipit like stance, typical of GREENLAND WHEATEAR (oenanthe oenanthe leucorrhoea), while one, perched on the viewing screen at the Ouse Estuary Project, looked a much more typical 'british' Wheatear. 
• 1 YELLOW WAGTAIL, my latest ever and first ever record for October! it called three times as it headed over

However, whether it was worth the soul-chilling south-westerlies and the dismal rain is another matter! The highlight of the day was probably the GREENLAND WHEATEAR, great birds that still feel like a bit of a rarity, depsite being pretty regular. Slightly commoner stuff included 30 Lapwing and 20 Curlew, a handful of Gibbugs (Great Black-backed Gulls), my first Common Gull for a few weeks in Sussex, and a handful of Chiffchaff. The tide on Mill Creek was sadly too high for the Pectoral/Buff-breasted Sandpiper that hasn't arrived yet...

Wet, bad light and terrible winds. Must be time for birding!

I decide to get to college an hour early to get some much needed birding done as I had not been out for a while, I chose today (02/10/12) to go brilliant choice (not). The weather was bloomin awful, the birds where hiding the only thing that kept me mildly happy was the massive flock of 24 magpie, if 1 is for sorrow and 2 is for joy what on earth is 24? Eventually the sun came out and the birds started to move around a bit more nothing special though just a small tit flock which comprised of, well tits. Oh and a Robin. However I noticed a bird of prey coming towards me I was delighted to watch a peregrine flying towards me and over me before disappearing behind some trees, only to return a few minutes later from the same directions it came from. Besides that terribly exciting moment the only other birds where; 1 kingfisher, 3 grey wagtails, 1 buzzard and a couple of ravens. All in all not terribly exciting but this is my first post on here. Ill try harder when the weather is nicer.

Subbuteo and Shovelers

The journey to school

Being observant on the train paid some fine dividends today. I generally don't see much, but having found Cattle Egret and Black Redstart along this train line before, I generally keep my eyes open just in case! and today it worked out, with a HOBBY over Newhaven Incinerator(hence the rather clever title!), powering on through the awful, awful conditions. My previous latest record was 25 Sep (2010, at Abbot's Wood), and it's always a great feeling to see one of the 'summer' migrants in October!

Also around, there were 40+ Redshank on Mill Creek at Newhaven Tide Mills, and a few Great Black-backed Gulls  (gibbugs for short), looking imperious as always around Newhaven Marina.


Patch Dedication...

is what I call it when you still find an hour to grill your patch despite the dismal rain! And it seemed these difficult flying conditions did ground a few migrants. 30 Robin, 25 Blackbird and 15 Chiffchaff made up the bulk, and 5 Goldcrest, 2 Blackcap and 2 Siskin added a little bit more quality. The true number of migrant Blackbird, Robin and Goldcrest is of course clouded over by resident birds, but considering the inflation in numbers (especially for the former two), I feel safe in saying that a fair number of the birds were continental migrants. To put it in context, the number of Robins was  over twice the number of resident Blue Tits I counted today (14), and both species were almost literally calling/singing out of every bush! The Siskin were a highlight today, being seen a few times among a roving flock of birds that included Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Blackcaps, Chifchaffs, Chaffinches and Goldfinches! It's also the second time I've seen grounded migrant Siskin here, having found three among a Goldfinch flock on September 17th.  

thought it's not taken today, it's a picture. and it's kinda relevant...  

Other birds today included 5 Meadow Pipits and 3 Swallows SW. A far cry from the thousands of birds moving over at the weekend, but in conditions like this I didn't expect much of a vismig! Altogether more surprising, though, were 2 SHOVELER, also heading SW low overhead. These were an altogether not too bad 54th bird species I've seen on the patch since 10 September! In fact, when you consider it's an inland site with no wetlands, bar an embanked river and a few ditches, I'm rather happy with that total! other patch regulars today included 8 Magpie, a Green Woodpecker and 3 Treecreeper. And after an hour on the patch, with clothes and feel sodden, I went to school and sat watching the rain, in some odd way wishing I could be back out in it admiring my birds.

Lewes Railway Land- 27 Sep '12

Welcome to the first real posting on this blog! I thought I'd begin with the last time I did some birding in Sussex, namely yesterday!

With sixth from finishing at 3.20 yesterday, I took advantage and took a walk around the Railway land with Jake Gearty. It being the afternoon there wasn't a lot about. However the resident tit flocks included Coal (new patch bird for Jake) and plenty Long-tailed, along with an estimate of 5+ Chiffchaff and 10+ Blackcap. A few of the latter gave great views, but most were heard only or briefly fly-catching out of bushes and disappearing back into them. We also got two brief, but intriguing fly-by's from a fairly large, brown warbler with pale-looking flanks. Maybe a Blackcap, but something about it made me think Garden Warbler or Reed Warbler. It was certainly too big for a phyllosc, but not quite big enough to string it into a Barred! One that'll get away I guess.

However, an altogether more frustrating on-that-got-away was a Thrush that flew out of a bush alongside the river, giving us only the briefest glimpse of what looked like the scaly wings of a RING OUZEL. Jake thought he saw the bird one more time, but I didn't. We did, however, see a lot of Blackbirds in the same area, and based on our view you couldn't quite rule out a blackbird caught in the light. I never heard any 'chacking' calls distinctive to the species either, but I am sure one will turn up here eventually this autumn!

One of two new birds for this patch was however, a Thrush. Jake picked up a Mistle Thrush calling, and we quickly got semi-decent views (OK they were crap, but still identifiable!) as it powered overhead, towards the railway line. The other new bird patch was slightly more underwhelming. It's a bit embarrassing that in three weeks of checking this place, this was the first Swallow I'd seen flying over! They took my 'school terms yearlist' up to 53 species though still eight ahea of Jake! 

It's also the time of year some of our commoner birds may start coming in from further afield. I've already mentioned an increase in Blackbird numbers, and I got some prolonged views of a Robin that seemed to be showing characteristics of a continental bird, but I'll need to read up on that a bit before I try and claim any with confidence!