Bird Survey
This morning we met at 8:00 a.m. at the Bowling Green to carry out a bird survey on the Steyning Downland Scheme. Five of the regulars, including me, turned up and we split into two groups. Pete and I set off up the track to cross the rifle range and head up into the woods, round the top and back down again. We got off to a good start as the first thing we saw as we turned into the rifle range was a buzzard. It had probably been feeding in the grassland at the end by the butts and took off unhurriedly and slowly headed into the woods. Do buzzards never do anything in a hurry? It was a promising start, but a false promise. By the end, we had a total of only 11 species, by far the smallest number I can recall since we started.
When we started this project back in spring 2012, we thought we might log as many as fifty species of birds. This morning when we set out the total was already 76, far more than we had ever imagined. This includes some birds that we would never have expected to see: Bittern and Water Rail are hard to see anywhere; Little Egret, Snipe and Shoveller seem unlikely in this patch of downland with its spring and small, tree-enclosed ponds. One obvious bird missing from our list when we set out this morning was Redwing and the others saw one on their way round their patch, bringing the total up to 77. Amazing.
So although Pete and I had a rather disappointing time this morning, it will not put us off. And I sure that this patch will continue to yield surprises in the future. Even if you do not see any spectacular or exciting birds, this is still a great place to be early in the morning.
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