29th February 2020 - Widewater Lagoon

A quick stop on the way to Southwick produced five Red-breasted Merganser, three Mute Swan and two Little Grebe. On our way to football later in the day there was a Peregrine sat on Cockcroft Building at Brighton University. This was the only positive to take from the grimmest of afternoons at the American Express Community Stadium.

25th February 2020 - Goring Gap

A quick look at the gull roost on my way home from produced 16 Mediterranean Gull, c500 Common Gull, one 1w Great Black-backed Gull and a handful of Herring and Black-headed Gull.

23rd February 2020 - Adur Estuary

An afternoon stroll with Mum and Dad from the Toll Bridge to the footbridge and back produced 30 species. Highlights from the walk included a pair of Stonechat near one of the old pillboxes, five Reed Bunting, five Skylark and the overwintering Greenshank by the house boats. Also encountered were two Redshank and three Ringed Plover.

22nd February 2020 - Widewater Lagoon

A very quick stop on the way over to mum and dads produced four Red-breasted Merganser, two Little Grebe, three Mute Swan and two adult Herring Gull.

16th February 2020 - Staying local

I ventured in this morning in the Worthing Uber Patch after what had been a wild night weather wise with very strong winds and heavy rain. My first port of call was Widewater Lagoon where I found two drake Red-breasted Merganser, three Little Grebe, two Herring Gull and a Black-headed Gull whilst on the beach were two Turnstone. Next stop was again the exposed sand below the Harbour Club where I found 16 Herring Gull, 14 Great Black-backed Gull and an Oystercatcher.

With not much doing I headed back to Goring and called into the Gap where I spent half an hour and found a Lesser Black-backed Gull, three Herring Gull, three Common Gull, four Great Black-backed Gull, 17 Dunlin, eight Ringed Plover, two Pied Wagtail and 29 Skylark.

15th February 2020 - Staying local

A short trip out on the morning of Storm Dennis remained dry although was pretty windy with the worst of the weather arriving late afternoon/over the night.

My first point of call was the No Man's Land area where I found a Common Buzzard, two Yellowhammer, c20 Skylark, a Corn Bunting, seven Pied Wagtail, a Meadow Pipit, a Red-legged Partridge, three Blackbird and 528 Starling. My next stop was Upper Beeding Flood Relief not a site I have ever visited before and on the small pools of water here I found seven Mallard, three Canada Geese, a Greylag Goose and a Grey Heron. A Raven passed overhead and there was a male Kestrel sat on a nearby telegraph wire. 

I headed down to the coast and had a look at Widewater Lagoon where I found three Red-breasted Merganser (2 drakes and a female), two Mallard, two Little Grebe and four adult Herring Gull. Afterwards I drove down to the Harbour Club and had a look on the exposed sand at low tide and the only gulls of note I found here were two adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Last stop of the morning was Brooklands where I found seven Mute Swan, four Coot, six Moorhen, eight Teal, five Mallard, two Cormorant, a Grey Heron and a Stock Dove flew overhead. 

4th February 2020 - Iford Brooks

A trip out after work was rewarding with a Siberian Chiffchaff down the lane. It showed reasonably well but always remained quite low in a patch of brambles. The Brooks themselves were very quiet with just four Mute Swan and 41 Rook being noted on the meadows. The duck pond still held c200 Wigeon and two drake Shoveler. A Kestrel and Common Buzzard were noted overhead and a couple of Song Thrush were heard in song distantly as well as a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker. On my way back to the car a flock of c100 Starling headed south-west shortly followed by c200 Woodpigeon and seven Pied Wagtail headed North along with ten Linnet and a Grey Heron.

3rd February 2020 - Coalhouse Fort, Essex

A sunny but blustery visit to Coalhouse Fort today on a dropping tide proved to be rather quiet with a few nice bits in the mix. Wader numbers on the mudflats were not at their best but this is to be expected during low tide as the birds spread out across Mucking Flats as well as some birds using Mucking Bay up at the Thurrock Thameside Nature Park.

On my way to my first counting point I found a pair of Stonechat in the SSSI as well as 20 Linnet and three Meadow Pipit in the horse paddocks. There was also a single Redwing in the hedgerow bordering the paddock, a species which has been scarce here this winter. A bit further up the sea wall I came across my first Skylark of the day, both birds flying over head calling. The next field held 13 Moorhen as well as three more Skylark and nine Meadow Pipit. The ditch near my counting point held a singing Cetti's Warbler and three Reed Bunting. Out on the mudflats were c900 Dunlin, 99 Grey Plover, 32 Shelduck, 21 Curlew, three Common Gull and two Oystercatcher. The saltings held 50 Linnet but there was no sign of the Twite amongst them although they were probably hiding away somewhere. Also of note from here were two Canada Geese which flew down river and a flock of eight Cormorant. 

A walk through the SSSI back towards the fort produced a Green Woodpecker and a further three Skylark. The moat around the fort held three Coot, five Little Grebe and three Black-headed Gull. Next check of the mudflats was from the radar tower, where I found a roosting flock of 1650 Avocet, by far the highlight of the morning and not a species which is always present during low tide. Also noted from here were 118 Teal, 118 Black-headed Gull, 25 Shelduck, 13 Ringed Plover, six Curlew, four Redshank, four Mallard and two Common Gull. A walk back towards the car park produced another pair of Stonechat and five flyover Canada Geese presumably different birds to the ones earlier? The only birds of note around the car park were two Greenfinch. 

Paul H text me to say he had the two long-staying female-type Common Scoter on the river as well as 13 Bar-tailed Godwit just a bit further east from my area. 

2nd February 2020 - Combe Haven and West Rise Marsh

I headed over to Combe Haven with Mum and Dad this morning to look for the four overwintering Scaup. We parked at the entrance to the landfill site and walked around the perimeter fence following the extremely muddy footpath up onto the hill which overlooks the flooded fields where the birds are to be found. On our way up we encountered a male Kestrel and three Song Thrush. We started scanning for them but there was no immediate sign although we did find c50 Wigeon, 41 Teal and 34 Pintail with a supporting cast of 23 Lapwing, 21 Canada Geese and c20 Greylag Geese. We walked to the far side of the hill to scan the other side of the flooded fields where again there was no sign of them although here we found a male Marsh Harrier, 35 Redwing in a bordering hedgerow and a flyover Grey Heron. Starting to feel pretty despondent and wondering whether they had gone to the lake on the Northern side of the A2690 (where they have been seen once) we had a final scan of where we originally looked and again Dad and I couldn't pick up anything new other than two adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Mum had veered off track and ended up lower down near some bushes bordering the flooded fields and started waving at Dad and I. Mum had found a female Scaup which showed well but we all agreed it seemed strange it was by itself, a couple of Black-headed Gull were giving it a hard time constantly dive bombing it. Then just as we were leaving Dad spotted three ducks in flight which turned out to be the other three and they flew in and joined the single bird. We then enjoyed great prolonged views of this scarce winter visitor to Sussex. Much harder than we expected but a rewarding morning. On our way back to the car we added a Goldcrest and two Bullfinch.

A quick stop at a very windy West Rise Marsh on our way home produced flight views of a single Water Pipit. Also c30 Common Snipe and a Cetti's Warbler.

3 of the 4 Scaup, Combe Haven, East Sussex

1st February 2020 - Halstow Marshes, Kent and Ashdown Forest

I met up early morning with Dave Morrison and Paul Hawkins and we ventured out onto the North Kent marshes for what was to be my first ever visit to this remote and very windy location. First impressions of the area were very good with lots of nice habitat on offer. The general feel of the area reminded me of Pevensey Levels back home in Sussex. As we made our way down the track towards the starting point of our two transects we found a Corn Bunting, a Common Snipe and 25 Grey Heron whilst Dave and Paul who were ahead of me flushed a Woodlark off the track which we couldn't relocate. When we got out to near our starting points we found a Little Owl which was nice to see. Dave then split off from Paul and I and as we headed around the new bund we had 45 Golden Plover flyover as well as 20 Brent Geese east along the River Thames. First point of call was to count the waders in Egypt Bay where we found c2800 Dunlin, 75 Knot, 40 Grey Plover, 14 Curlew, seven Oystercatcher and a Redshank. Just as we had finished counting the waders, Dave gave us a call to say he had the long-staying Richard's Pipit but we couldn't go back to look for it as we were now mid-survey. We walked round to view St Mary's Marsh where we found little other than a few Greylag Geese. The new reservoir near the boarded up house held c750 Lapwing, c100 Greylag Geese and two Brent Geese as well as hundreds of Wigeon which were all spooked by a Peregrine which flew over causing mayhem. On our way back to Egypt Bay we found two Egyptian Geese, 12 Mute Swan, c250 Starling and a Kestrel. When we got back we spent some time looking for the Richard's Pipit but we could not find it, the conditions weren't ideal with the wind being very strong. A special thanks to Dave and Paul for having me along on this visit!

Lapwing, Halstow Marshes, Kent

After a very interesting morning in North Kent, I headed off to Ashdown Forest where I met Max in the Gills Lap car park to look for the Little Bunting which had been reported earlier in the week. There have been conflicting reports during the week of where the bird was actually seen but luckily Max met a Kent birder earlier in the week who had met the finder who told him exactly where to look. We headed off to the pony enclosure on the eastern side of the road and after big search the best we could come up were c25 Reed Bunting, 15 Linnet, two Woodlark, two Meadow Pipit, a pair of Stonechat and singles of Goldcrest, Dunnock and Coal Tit. During our stay a Common Buzzard and three Raven passed overhead whilst another birder in the car park reported a ringtail Hen Harrier which managed to elude us during our visit. 

Reed Bunting, Ashdown Forest, East Sussex