Out and About

Yesterday we walked up the riverbank to view the floods and saw a lot of Fieldfares and Redwings in the hedgerows.  There seem to be few berries in the hedges and as the ground is flooded it is not clear what they are finding to feed on around here.  Pied Wagtails, on the other hand were finding the conditions to their liking at the edge of the floods.

The Red-breasted Mergansers were still at Widewater today.  They were still feeding very busily, but one of the males was finding time to display to one of the females who did not seem to be too interested.  Apparently this winter displaying is quite normal and they do it so that they do not waste any time on it when they return to their breeding grounds.  There were a dozen Little Grebes again, and a Little Egret looking cool and elegant while trying to catch some lunch.

The beach defences seem to have held up well to the battering they have had over the last few weeks, but a lot of shingle has shifted and the Environment Agency is busy pushing it back up again.

Early Bird Survey

We have just taken part in the BTO Early Bird Survey.  This involves recording the birds that arrive on your bird feeders at first light - which species and at what times.  It got light here at 08:00 and first up were two bluetits, then a Dunnock at 08:05 and then another Bluetit and a male Chaffinch at 08:14.  We stopped at 08:30 and had just had return visits from those species.  There was a Robin singing in the dark at 07:15, but that did not count in the survey.  We had to record cloud cover: 100%, and maximum and minimum temperature overnight: 11C, dropping to 9C.  They were also interested in the location of streetlights.  You can still take part in this up to 12th January.  Go to http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/about/background/projects/early-bird-survey for details.

Adur Levels

This is not a lake! 

From the Black Sewer outfall to Wyckham  Dale Farm and beyond was one continuous sheet of water, broken only by the high hedges.  It probably extended as far as Stretham Manor, although I did not walk up as far as that. It was windy, so the Cormorants were not roosting at the top of the electricity pylons, but they could not roost on the higher patches of ground as they usually do either because all was underwater, so they were occupying the lower rungs of the pylons.  There were about 60 of them.  These fields flood most winters, but I have never seen it like this.  The water in places was up to within a foot of the tops of the gate posts.  On the east side of the river there was no flooding and the suckler herd of Sussex Red cattle were grazing in the fields and so was a flock of about 100 Greylag geese.  It was late afternoon and flocks of gulls were heading south towards the sea and large flocks of starlings were heading southeast, presumably to roost (were they heading for the Brighton piers?)  I saw five flocks of up to 200 birds in each and several smaller ones, so about 1000 birds.
While I was watching the Greylag flock, a Kestrel which had been hovering nearby, flew past and landed on a fence post a few yards away and remained there for a couple of minutes.  It is not often that a Kestrel behaves in this confiding way and this is the second time I have had an encounter of this sort along the riverbank.  Perhaps this bird has become used to people using this path and has lost its reserve.  However it had been hunting over the riverbank, which got me thinking about the field voles that inhabit the now flooded fields.  Have some of them migrated to the riverbank to avoid drowning creating a feeding opportunity for the Kestrel too good to allow it to be interrupted by a human, or was the Kestrel facing a food shortage because the field voles had drowned and its usual hunting grounds were under water?

Red-breasted Mergansers

Yesterday as I cycled past Widewater there were six Red-Breasted Mergansers at the eastern end.  They often turn up here in the winter, but I do not think I have ever seen as many as six at a time before.  There were two adult males and four 'redheads' and they were all very busy feeding.  They were bobbing up and down at an almost frenetic rate.  The water is shallow, so even if they are they were feeding at the bottom they were not having to go very far and so they were diving and surfacing very quickly.  They seem to be successful, coming to the surface with something in their bills quite often.  I could not make out what it was at the distance, but worms(?) about 5cm long seemed to be quite common.  Presumably the recent stormy weather had driven them here.  

Also busily feeding were at least 15 Little Grebes.  They were not maintaining the pace that the Mergansers had set, but they were active enough to make it difficult for me to be confident of my count.  Apart from that there were the usual little flock of feral ducks that have inhabited the lagoon for years and if there were any other birds, they were keeping down out of the wind.  Except the seagulls who seem to be enjoying the wind and surf blowing in.  Waves were high enough to push some shingle over the wooden wall on to the path.  It will be interesting to see what has happened to the sea defences when the wind is down and tide is out.

Pagham Beach closed after sea defences breached

I have just seen a report on the BBC website of a breach in sea defences near the spot that I wrote about in my blog of 30 December 2013.  See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-25611938 for more details.

Corn Buntings on Steyning Round Hill

The call of a Corn Buntings is one of the things we tend to associate with warm summer days and so hearing them on the Downs on a cold winters day reminds us that summer will return - eventually.  We had driven up to Steyning Round Hill to walk along to Chanctonbury and take advantage of a bright, clear, cold morning before the weather returned to wet and windy.  There were at least four of them, plump and heavy-billed in comparison to the Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings they were associating with.  The Reed Buntings caused me the usual head-scratching.  They were female/immature birds and so lacked the distinctive black and white markings of the adult summer male and they seem so out of context.  They should be down on the Brooks - not up here on the ploughed fields!

Where the path down towards Findon splits off the South Downs Way there is a strip of woodland.  Two Buzzards were perched in Hawthorn trees on the edge.  The darker of the two sat still, while the paler one, restless, flew up and down along the edge of the field, returning to perch near its mate several times.  Later, on our return, we saw a Buzzard, possibly the darker of the two, being mobbed by crows nearby.

Nearing Chanctonbury a Peregrine flew over, circled  around us and then headed south.  Then there was a Kestrel hanging quite motionless on the updraft from Well Bottom.  For long periods it hardly seemed to need to flick a feather to remain motionless and hold its station.  No other bird has that skill.

Now that all the leaves are down it is possible to see the full extent of the growth of new trees planted to replace those blown down by the Great Storm of 1987.  There is a way to go yet, but they are making progress.

Birling Gap Cliff Fall

I have just noticed news reports of a cliff fall at Birling Gap (see post of 21 November 2013).  Apparently, about it has a depth of about 3m, but there is no indication of the length of the fallen section.  We have had heavy rainfall over the last three weeks with stormy conditions and high tides so it is not clear the extent to which the decline in beach shingle will have had on effect in causing this.  I will try to post before and after photos when we have been for a visit - which might not be for a few weeks.  There has also been a spectacular fall at Rock-a-Nore near Hastings with a video posted on the BBC website.