Beeding Brooks

29 July 2017

Very quiet as it is now the end of the breeding season.  A brief burst of Reed Warbler song, glimpses of Reed Buntings, but a very large 50+ flock of Goldfinches.  One of the unexpected benefits of the Envronment Agency being short of money is that they do not cut the grass on the riverbank.  There are lots of thistles - Goldfinch food! And other flowering plants.  Hencee lots of butterflies.  We saw Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown ?Common Blue and Tortoiseshell all along the bank.  

Flowers in the ditches included: Flowering Rush Botumus umbellatus, Great Willowherb Epilobium hirsutum, Water Mint Mentha aquatica, Gypsywort Lycopus europaeus, Meadow vetchling Lathyrus pratensis, while in the ditch there was lots of Frogbit Hydrochaeris morsus-ranae and some Yellow Water Lilies Nuphar lutea.

A family of Mute Swans were doing well with 5 young.  

Snow Bunting at East Head

22 January 2017

Snow Bunting

It was a bright, cold sunny Sunday and there were hundreds of people walking dogs on the beach at low tide, so our expectation of seeing any birds was very low, but there was a single and entirely unexpected Snow Bunting on the beach at the tip of the head.  It seemed quite unconcerned, skipping a short distance away when anyone came too close.  A male, I would have thought.  There was also a single Sanderling on the shoreline nearby.  Usually we see them here in larger numbers, but then, there are usually far fewer people about.

In the field next to the car park there were, as so often, a few Lapwing, and a Curlew, some Oystercatchers but also three Snipe.

There were three Oystercatchers on Snowshill running around together making a terrific racket.  Eventually one flew off leaving the other two running around together.   What was it all about? There was a typical collection of waders on the mud – Grey Plover, Dunlin, Oystercatcher, etc.

Driving back through Chichester we were surprised to see the River Lavant dry on a late January Day.

Nine trout in the Mill Stream, Snipe in Clays Field and much else

18 January 2017

We noted 23 species of birds on a brisk walk up the riverbank on a freezing cold day.  Despite the cold, we heard a Dunnock singing for the first time this year.  Meadow Pipits were out in numbers and there were a few winter thrushes about.  Nearly 50 Greylag flew north in small groups, presumably from the Beeding fishponds.

JW contacted me to report no less than 6 Goldcrest on Steyning Downland Scheme.  Two Buzzards were in a tree over the targets and there was a small flock of Fieldfares about.

19 January 2017

Teal were on the Lower Pond, and Green Woodpecker on the Rifle Range, but apart from that it was very quiet in the late afternoon.  However, we did see that the Dexters were all at the top of the north side of the Rifle Range where the sun was still shining.  The south side was in deep shade and still covered in frost.  No wonder the north side is being grazed down more than the south side.

On the way over we looked in the mill stream where it emerges by the Star Inn.  The water was clear and fast flowing (after recent rain) and we counted nine trout and what might well have been a redd.

On the way back we crossed Clays Field and were astonished to put up a pair of Snipe from the middle of the field.  We have not been around Clays Field for some time and were surprised by the amount of Reedmace (Bulrush) invading the pond.

Finally, on the corner we saw a single early violet.  I do not know what spp.

Siskins at Fitzlea and Barrows exposed on Lavington Common

There were at least three Buzzards circling about at various times during the walk.  On Lavington Common a possible Snipe took off - or was it a Woodcock?  A Green Woodpecker was very noisy.

A lot of trees have been cleared on Lavington Common and the southern half has had a brush cutter over it, exposing the barrows.  We were a bit surprised that there were four of them.  Are these the ones that Miss Keefe excavated?  (no, they were not.  Miss Keefe published an excavation of barrows on Iping Common, but P does remember her father meeting Miss K there to discuss them) It seems odd now that the Forestry Commision would have been allowed to plant trees all over them, or that they would even consider it a good idea.  Thank goodness attitudes have changed and the policy now is to expose the archaeology so that people can see it.

There were a few Snowdrops in flower on Graffham Common and at Fitzlea Pond we saw Siskins on the Alder trees in company with a flock of Goldfinches. No sign of the Gadwall that we saw there last year.

Two Short-eared and One Barn Owl on Bramber Brooks

A late afternoon walk across Bramber Brooks and there was a Barn Owl and two Short-eared Owls busy hunting, flying back and forth and clashing a little when they got too close - although no actual contact.  At one point the Barn Owl disturbed a bird among some rushes which flew straight up to a height of about 2 metres and dropped back down again.  Longish legs, big feet and a longish beak - Water Rail?  It was such a brief glimpse that I could not be sure.

I got a better view of a Sparrowhawk. It cruised towards me very low along the side of a hedge as I stood on the riverbank, diverted to cross the pond and then flipped over the river to disappear below the bank.  Good views also of a Kestrel, but a flock of small birds was more problematic.  At least three Reed Buntings, eight others were more difficult to identify with any certainty.  Altogether 25 species.

Steyning Downland Scheme Bird Survey

Twelve birders turned out today and we were able to cover all three areas.  The team that covered area 1 (Nightingale Lane and the Rifle Range) did best with 29 species including Water Rail, Bullfinch, Teal and Mistle Thrush.  I took a group up to Steyning Coombe and we had a quiet time of it, enlivened by the brief appearance of a Firecrest.  We heard two Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming.  The third group headed up to the top woodland area and as so often had a long walk for a modest reward, recording just 13 species including Goldcrest.  But, altogether it was a good start to the year.

Home

We have added a fat block to our garden bird feeding arrangements.  We only put this up when we have a spell of cold weather as it attracts squirrels.  I attach it to the top of a metal pole stuck upright in the lawn more than a squirrel’s jump away from the apple tree.  I then apply a coat of grease to it so that if they try to shin up it they slip down again without reaching the fat block.  I have to monitor this regularly to ensure that there is still enough grease to stop them.  So far so good and the block has attracted a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a flock of Long-tailed tits and a Goldcrest.

Pagham Harbour

Our arrival at Church Lane, Pagham was greeted by some very noisy House Sparrows and a couple of cooing Collared Doves.  There were quite a lot of blackbirds about too, mostly males.  The tide was right out and there was a thick frost and a perfectly blue sky.  The first birds we saw in the harbour were a couple of Black-tailed Godwits.  Down the west side there were Teal and Wigeon, about 100 Shelduck, a few Pintail, Dunlin, Redshank and Grey Plover.  A large flock of Brent Geese flew in at one point making a tremendous fuss and I put up a Snipe from the marsh edge.

Brent Geese in the western channel

Down on the lagoon there were Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, and, best of all a couple of Pochard, the numbers of which have been in decline in recent years, so it was nice to see them here.  A fox was among the reeds on the edge of the lagoon, curled up, tail wrapped around nose, fast asleep.

There was little on the beach.  About 25 Cormorants on the wreck offshore had to vacate while we watched as the tide come in and submerged their perch.  A single Great-crested Grebe rode the waves further out.  There were a few Oystercatchers and some Turnstones around and lots more - about 25 of the latter on the shingle of the harbour mouth lagoon.  They seemed oblivious to us just a few yards away as they lived up to their name, turning over the pebbles, making a continuous rattling noise.

The tide was running in rapidly now and we walked up to where the old hide used to be.  A male Goosander was being washed in on the flowing water while energetically preening.  Later he met up with a female, which might have been the reason for all of the preening activity.

On the way back we saw six Reed Buntings and the main interest on the North Wall were Black-tailed Godwits in the fields with a few Curlew and the afternoon rounded of nicely with a brief glimpse of a Kingfisher nipping over the top of a sluice.

Altogether we saw 40 species of birds.  A lovely day!

Steyning Downland Scheme Bird Surveys results for 2016

In 2016 we carried out one survey each month and accumulated 552 records of 66 species.  Since we began in 2012 we have accumulated 2900 records of 89 species.
The surveys are carried out on the second Sunday of each month, weather permitting, starting half an hour after sunrise.  We follow two or three set routes (depending on how many people turn up) and record all of the species we see.  Records are entered into Birdtrack.
Surveys focus on the Rifle Range and Steyning Combe areas.  This year we are considering additional surveys in the Pepperscoombe area, mainly in the breeding season.
If you would like to take part, check details on the Steyningdownland.org website.

Steyning Levels

31 December 2016

The fog lifted eventually and we set out after lunch to walk up the river bank.  As we crossed the field a crowd of seagulls were overhead mobbing a Buzzard which glided seemingly unconcerned until one gull got too close and it flipped over to show its talons.  The seagulls backed off and it continued over towards Beeding Church.  

I had a confusing few moments with some House Sparrows and a pair of Reed Buntings in winter plumage.  

As we walked up the river bank it became clear that all of the hedges had been stripped of berries and so we had little expectation of seeing any Fieldfares or Redwings, but there were two or three of the former and possibly one of the latter, but not the big flocks that we have been seeing recently.  There are fewer Blackbirds around too.  

Two chaps were trying to catch a Greylag goose in the river that appeared to be injured.  We have seen it a couple of times along one stretch of the river.  Able to walk and swim, but clearly not to fly.  We wished them luck and we did not see them or the goose on our return, so they may have been successful.  

On our way back we looked down on the Castle meadows and saw two Roe Deer and saw (and heard) a Green Woodpecker, my last bird of the year.

Chichester Harbour, East Head

Another clear, bright frosty day and East Head was very crowded with people and dogs.  The tide was up when we arrived, so no birds on the foreshore area as we walked around the head.  However, Turnstones were, as they so often do, making use of man-made structures at high tide by crowding onto the Spit Head buoy.  We could see 17, but there may have been more around the other side.  This buoy has a ledge running around it just wide enough for a Turnstone to perch comfortably; others in the vicinity didn't have one.  There were about 500 Brent Geese on the car park fields and some Lapwings, a few Oystercatchers and a single Curlew.  

View across to East Head from the Causeway

After hot soup for lunch we headed up towards Ella Nore as the tide was falling.  As we approached Snowshill there was a huge disturbance as a hot-air balloon took off from the car park.  Brent Geese, Teal and Wigeon flocks and other birds, including at least one Snipe, hurtled about in all directions.  Eventually calm returned and flocks of Dunlin, Grey Plover and a single Bar-tailed Godwit settled to feeding on the mud.  From the vicinity of Ella Nore we saw a single Great-Crested Grebe and a flock of nine Red-breasted Mergansers - three male and six redheads - out in the harbour.  On the way back a single Little Egret, apparently undisturbed by people passing just above on the causeway, demonstrated his fishing skills in the stream feeding out of Snowshill. 

  

The tide is out!

Bramber Brooks

24 December 2016

Beeding Brooks

A pair of Stonechats were flitting quickly from one bank of the river to the other and perching on dead thistles and a wren shot across our path.  Apart from them, there was little in view until we spotted a large flock (30+) of Fieldfares in a hedgerow together with a small flock 4+ linnets.  A flock of about 50 Starlings flew -over heading southeast - possibly on their way to the great murmuration at Brighton. In the horse-grazed pastures there were over 20 Redwings the largest flock we have seen this winter.

Garden Visitors

An elusive female blackcap spent a long time in the honeysuckle on the old apple trees in the garden.  The first time we have seen one in the garden this winter.  A Coal tit spent a long time in the tree making repeat visits to the bird feeder.  We have had fleeting visits before, but this was the first time one had stayed for any length of time.

Frog Spawn and Wild Daffodils

We have seen frog spawn in ponds and streams at Wakehurst Place, Ashurst woods and near Pallingham.
This is Common Frog, Rana temporaria.










Other signs of spring include wild daffodils in the woods at Harwoods Green.

Hazel Catkins

Another sign of spring!  

Waltham Park Woods

Here are two views of Waltham Park Woods from last December. One shows the dense area of Birch looking very attractive in the pale winter light and the other shows the clearance of a large area of dense conifer plantation.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the cleared area this year.  The conifer plantation was very dense, with no understory (apart from fungi).  It had clearly been ready for harvesting for some time, but it came as a surprise to find that it had just been cut and the aftermath was being burned off.  It had been such a feature of an occasional winter walk that we felt rather disorientated to find that it had disappeared.

Spoonbils at Pagham

We saw this pair of Spoonbills in Bremere Rife in the northeastern corner of Pagham Harbour.  The intrusion by the rather stroppy-looking Little Egret was quite unexpected.  It strode up as if intending to see them off and the decided that it had bitten off more than it could chew and flew away.  Apparently there were three Spoonbills in and around the area at the time.  One of these had rings and it was thought that they had come from Belgium.  This was our second sighting of Spoonbills ever in Britain.  The first time was last year at Church Norton where we saw just one.  

Lichens on Ash trees

Ash die-back or Chalara (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) could wipe out a large proportion of one of the commonest and most characteristic trees in the British landscape.  If the Ash trees disappear then so will a lot of the species that depend on them, especially lichens and bryophytes.  There are several efforts going on to survey the lichens and bryophytes to find out what may be lost and where. There are a lot of Ash trees in the woodland parts of the Steyning Downland Sheme and I thought I would have a go at finding out which lichens they support.  I am not an expert on lichens and I am using this is a this is an exercise to improve my identification skills.  So far I have found and identified the following:

Lepraria incana, Candellaria reflexa, Hypotrachyna revoluta,  on tree trunks and Xanthoria parietina  and Physcia adscendens on twigs.  They are all very common and none are confined to Ash trees.

Lepraria incana can occur in very large patches on tree trunks  

Xanthoria parietina (yellow) and Physcia adscendens are common on twigs

Red Admiral on the wing in February

This is a Red Admiral butterfly we saw on Ambersham Common last weekend.  A lovely sunny day can bring them out even as early as this.  We also saw a pair of Dartford Warblers and some Goldcrests.

Kittiwakes at Splash Point

There were a few Kittiwakes, both on the cliff-face nest sites and circling around, when we arrived at about 11:00am, but many more had turned up when we passed by again at about 14:00.  They were all over the cliffs and circling excitedly in front of it and there was a flock of about 50 birds on the sea.  I guess there were at least 150 birds in the area, and possibly many more.  This seems very early.  They are normally expected in mid March, so this is about a month early.  Large flocks are reported along the coast in January and February in some years, but I cannot find a record of a lot of birds on the breeding area at this time.   The video gives you an impression of the noise and excitement of this first arrival, even if you cannot see the individual birds.