6th January 2019 - Knepp Estate and Tilgate Park

Today was the next instalment of my wintering bird surveys at Knepp for my dissertation.

Across the 15 hedges I surveyed it felt quiet compared with other surveys with significantly lower number of winter thrushes. Highlights of my walk around the estate included a single Raven, 6 Bullfinch and a fly-over Green Sandpiper. Not really a highlight but may be of interest to some, were 6 White Storks in the campsite field looking most out of place. A huge thank you to Mum as well for helping me out!

An interesting sign at Knepp

After Knepp, Mum and I decided to go on an adventure to Tilgate Park in Crawley to look for the drake Ferruginous Duck which had been on the Silt Lake the day before. We arrived after 30 minutes or so and were graced with large amounts of people out with families for the day. We looked at the park map and located the Silt Lake, upon arrival at the lake the Ferruginous Duck was visible within about two minutes. The bird gave great views and was a real pleasure to watch. 

Drake Ferruginous Duck - Tilgate Park, Silt Lake, Crawley

It turns out this Ferruginous Duck has a yellow ring on its right leg reading (C1) and also a metal ring on its left leg ending in (52). This bird was traced back to the German re-introduction scheme and is the same bird which spent the winter of 2017 at Dinton Pastures in Berkshire. 

Other birds seen at Tilgate Park included a flock of c10 Common Crossbill which flew over and also c50 Siskin which showed nicely at the top of some trees in the heathland area. Birds around Tilgate Lake included 3 Egyptian Geese, 3 Pochards and other common waterbirds.