19th February 2019 - Pagham Harbour, Westdean Woods and The Burgh

A day out with Connor and Eleanor from university proved to be very successful. We started the day at the North Wall at Pagham Harbour and despite the water level being very high due to the rising tide there was still plenty of birds to look at including 500+ Brent Geese and lots of Lapwing, Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew, Grey Plover and a few Black-tailed Godwits. Most interesting of the waders was this colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit which Eleanor has since got the details back for. The bird was ringed on 6th November 2018 at Welwick Saltmarsh which is on the north bank of the Humber estuary. It is the first time this bird has been re-sighted.

Colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit, Pagham Harbour, West Sussex

After the North Wall, walked walked out to the harbour mouth through the caravan park and found 3 Red-breasted Mergansers in the harbour along with several Pintail and a single Great Crested Grebe and 2 Little Grebes. Near the harbour mouth itself was a pair of Stonechat on the salt marsh along with a lone Little Egret. Upon arrival at the beach we were extremely lucky that the Hooded Crow was on view just c25m away we all enjoyed great views of the bird before it decided to fly inland over the caravan park. Along the tideline was several Mediterranean Gulls and roosting on the beach were several Turnstones and Oystercatchers.

Hooded Crow, Pagham Spit, West Sussex

Next stop was Westdean Woods where we hoped to see Hawfinches. Sadly we failed to find any despite walking the whole way up to Monkton Farm and back. However compensation for missing the Hawfinches was c15 Common Buzzards, c10 Red Kites, 2 Ravens and a single Sparrowhawk, Mistle Thrush and Red-legged Partridge.

We finished the day at The Burgh with expectations being quite high and we certainly weren't disappointed. On route we had a quick stop at Burpham but couldn't see any Bewick's Swans. A good start was had at The Burgh with a male Marsh Harrier being near enough the first bird we saw, which proved to be 1 of 4 we would see. But however, the clear highlight at The Burgh was a Short-eared Owl which showed extremely well for around 10-15mins on the deck near a maize strip until it was flushed by a passing quad bike. Once the owl had been flushed, around 10 minutes had passed and the ringtail Hen Harrier made its first appearance of the evening with a brief flyby over one of the nearby hedges. Shortly after we had a flock of 22 Fieldfare perch up in a hedgerow which made for a nice sight. On our way back to the car, Eleanor picked up the Hen Harrier again in flight over one of the fields and this time it gave more prolonged views quartering up and down a maize strip before disappearing over a hedgerow. Near the cottages we saw 3 Grey Partridge and a Barn Owl to round off an excellent day. 67 species in total for the day!

Short-eared Owl, The Burgh, West Sussex