28th January 2019 - Knepp Estate, Southern Block

I arrived at Knepp at 07:30 and was greeted by a Peregrine flying over the car which made for a nice start. It was a glorious winters morning with the sun shining and a hard frost. Shortly after the Peregrine, I discovered a flock of 10 Lapwing (only the second time I have seen this species at Knepp) which were happily feeding on the bare earth exposed by the pigs which have heavily rooted the fields around the estate. A further 6 Lapwing were seen in flight later in the morning. As well as the Lapwing there was also a large presence of wintering thrushes in the same field with c50 Fieldfare and c50 Redwing.

Heavily rooted field by Tamworth Pigs at Knepp

On the hammer pond there was 13 Gadwall, 6 Mallard, 3 Wigeon, 2 Teal, 2 Shoveler and a single Tufted Duck. The estate was alive with birds and other notable sightings of my walk included 12 Bullfinches, 4 Common Buzzards, 3 Green Woodpeckers, 2 Jays and singles of Meadow Pipit, Sparrowhawk and Stonechat as well as a free-flying White Stork from the re-introduction programme near the visitor centre. 

On my way home to Worthing there was a single Kestrel over Long Furlong and I quickly called into Goring Gap where the 1st-winter female Snow Bunting was still showing extremely well c150m east of the orange boat along the coastal path. 

Dodgy iPhone picture of 1w female Snow Bunting