A community website for Henfield's bird watchers
I managed to get lost on the drive to Ferring this morning. Stupidly followed a sign at a roundabout which said turn right for Ferring, then further on there was a sign directing us back the way we came – could have spent all morning driving back and forward along that stretch of the A259!
Debbie, Nige, Eddie Roger K, George & Vikki, me and Ezio were joined for the morning by Clive Hope and David Bettis from Ferring, who guided us along explaining how the habitat bordering the Rife had been improved for wildlife and birds, though the brisk north-easterly wind meant that most were keeping low. There was a good number of Chiffchaffs and Greenfinches singing, Long-tailed Tits hopping around a bush, Stock Doves showing off their iridescence in the fields, a Heron fishing at the side, and a Little Egret perched in some conifers, just where one was 2 (3?) years ago!
Clive spotted a Swallow fly over and a Sparrowhawk was soaring around in the sky. I was hoping for a look over the beach and sea, but the tide was way out when we arrived, though Nige said he’d seen some pipits and an Oystercatcher, and too far in when we got back after a very leisurely coffee & cake stop at the Ferring Country Centre.
Had got a bit bored with walking down the railway line to the heronry and having to retrace my steps, so this morning Ezio & I hopped onto the 100 bus, got off at Woods Mill and walked along the millstream and back home. Chiffchaff, Reed Buntings and Skylarks singing along the millstream, a Mute Swan was in the middle of the wet area (?nesting), a Grey Heron took off from there and a Raven cronked to the north. Met Julie & Julian with Charlie en route, and had to stop Ezio going back to Small Dole with them! Eight Herons busy at 4 nests, but the southern end of the brooks was pretty quiet. Didn’t have wellies so had to forgo the walk into the viewpoint field – still incredibly wet – and looked across from the wooden seat to find still nice amounts of Teal & Wigeon, 3 Shoveler, 2 pairs of Pintail and probably 50 Lapwing, though only a little bit of display, and another singing Reed Bunting in a bush on the edge of the field. Four Little Egrets moving around too. Stock Dove singing by the bridge, and Nuthatches, Green and Great Spotted Woddpeckers all heard.
Val Bentley, 7th March 2025
Angela T, Andy & Anne and Mary F joined Ezio and myself on a chilly but sunny morning. There were plenty of Blue Tits along the first section of the railway line, and we heard a couple of Greenfinches as well as some raucous Jackdaws. Looking over the fields I was sure there were Lapwings (and Angela said she had heard some as she walked up) but when we got to the first gate and I put the scope up I couldn’t find any! Though there were Teal & Wigeon aplenty, a few Pintail and just one Shoveler in view. Something put up ducks further south. Looked very red, so have put down as a Red Kite, but maybe it was a different bird that some saw nearer to Rye Farm showing black & white on the wings (mentioned it to Mike & Lesley later and they suggested Egyptian Goose?). A Reed Bunting briefly called. Down by the heronry was a pale-fronted Cormorant in the roost tree, lots of Greylag & Canada Geese, with 9 White-fronted Geese too. Proper geese these – from Russia! A Great White Egret flapped across.
Andy & Anne turned back at Stretham – it was already 11 o’clock! A bit chilly along the river, but we added Little Egret by the water, 7 Coots on the overflow pit, and we heard the piping of a Kingfisher along the river but didn’t see it. Angela must have eyes in the back of her head as she then picked up a Stonechat which was behind us!
As a slight diversion Angela noticed some fungus covering the trunk of a dead tree. iNaturalist said it was Turkey Tail.
39 species noted in excellent company!
Quite a little crowd of us this morning – Angela T, Mark T, Sharon J (& Bess), Suzy, Tony F, myself & Ezio, had a very pleasant walk all the way around “Area 9″. Along the railway line we were very luck to see 3 Goldcrests and 3 Treecreepers in close proximity, and out on the brooks were 2 Great White Egrets, a Little Egret, a Grey Heron, about 200 Lapwing, a few hundred each of Teal & Wigeon, tens of Shoveler & Pintail. Could only see a couple of Greylag Geese at first but soon there was a pretty deafening noise as skeins flew in one after the other, until there must have been a mixed flock of around 400 on the fields – as Angela noted, “it changed the soundscape” from the gentle whistling and calling of the ducks. Scanned the flock, but couldn’t locate any White-fronts. Probable Marsh Harrier to the south too, seen by Mark & Tony.
Further south and on the other side the Black Swan was still hanging about with a group of Mute Swans, and a dozen Egyptian Geese were grazing.
Along the riverbank we had a couple of Stonechats, a Meadow Pipit, Buzzard and a flying Red Kite. Pied Wagtail near New Inn and a pair of Mute Swans and a Moorhen were on Sam’s pond. Bess shot off across the field in pursuit of 3 foxes! Along the bridleway we saw 4 Roe deer in a field to the north.
We diverted back to the Rye Farm track, finding 3 Chiffchaffs, a Grey Wagtail and finally a Firecrest. Noticed first by Angela, who wasn’t 100% sure, but we put sound on and it came very close to see what was going on!
40 species, plus the Black Swan, including 4 we didn’t record on the Bird Race (Great White Egret, Meadow Pipit, Firecrest and Pheasant!). Probably me not concentrating, but I didn’t note down any finches.
Finally. thanks to all for having better eyes than me!
Val Bentley, 20th January 2025
Ezio and I were delighted to have Lesley’s company this morning – she’s so much better at spotting birds than I am!
Before I left home I heard a Song Thrush singing just along the way – first I’ve heard for months – and as we walked south we heard another two singing, a couple of Mistle Thrushes having some sort of altercation, then a bit later one of these was singing too. A Water Rail and Cetti’s Warbler were heard near the 2nd railway bridge, and when we scrambled up the bank for a better look across the fields, Lesley noticed a Marsh Harrier setting up the gulls to the south. Luckily it then flew much nearer and was between Rye Farm and us, causing consternation to the ducks, which included Mallard, Wigeon & Teal at this section. Further down were more Wigeon, a few Pintail and Shoveler. Then we saw a pair of Little Grebes, and another slightly larger one, which was a good match for a Black-necked. Of course it disappeared into the reeds before even a record shot could be obtained! A Stonechat was perched nearby. Further south were hundreds of Canada Geese (400?), about 40 Greylag, 10 Egyptian, and possibly 600 Black-headed Gulls. About 30 Lapwing too. Lesley then noticed a smaller raptor, a Sparrowhawk being pestered by a crow.
We turned at Stretham and headed fairly swiftly back. Great walk!
Seven members (me + Maggie, Tony, Hilary, Sharon & Brody and Celia) plus guest Richard headed off to Heyshott Common yesterday. It was a lovely still evening, and we had a short walk before the 9.30 etc (estimated time of churring). In that time we had seen a Yellowhammer singing on top of a tree, had brief snatches of Woodlark and Tree Pipit and listened to a Dartford Warbler singing for at least 10 minutes. Good views of a Roe Deer in the evening light too.
Bang on time the objects of the outing started churring, and we all managed to get at least two views of a female in flight – whether two females or one female twice we couldn’t be sure.
First encounter with this special place and magical birds for some of the group, and the first in their natural habitat for Richard, who had only previously seen one resting in his conservatory gutter last August!
However the highlight for me was the roding Woodcock, the first I’ve seen there in the past few years.
Forecast wasn’t too good for the morning and we had one early heavy shower, but only one brief later one, so got away with Angela’s brolly only putting in two appearances!
Hannah, Angela and Dan accompanied Ezio and me around the whole patch this morning – the first time for months we’ve been able to include the section past Frogshole Cottage. We started by Braziers with a delightful flock of Long-tailed Tits flitting from tree to tree and collected most of the expected species along the Downslink, but few seen, most just heard. A Cuckoo was calling from the Rye Farm area, and a Cormorant was sitting by one of the wet patches. In the viewpoint field we heard singing Reed Warbler, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat. Cetti’s Warbler and a fairly feeble Reed Bunting. We saw Lapwings in the field from the concrete bridge, and as we stood watching the heronry half a dozen Swifts screamed overhead. A Chaffinch sang near Stretham and Angela picked up the quiet song of a Goldcrest. Along the riverbank were Goldfinches and many Linnets, and a Kestrel was flying to the east. South of Buckwish Farm there were two Coots in the water, and – the surprise of the day – a Redshank. Had almost given up on Buzzard when one appeared as we headed up the Rye Fam track.
We got 46 species (not 43 as I thought, had missed Great Spot, Dunnock and Goldcrest off my list):
| Long-tailed Tit
Robin Swift Jackdaw Blackbird Blackcap Wren Blue Tit Wood Pigeon Greenfinch |
Mallard
Chiffchaff Cuckoo Cormorant Mute Swan Whitethroat Carrion Crow Song Thrush G S Woodpecker Lesser Whitethroat |
Cetti’s Warbler
Little Egret Herring Gull Canada Goose Greylag Goose Grey Heron Swallow Reed Bunting Reed Warbler Great Tit |
Feral Pigeon
Lapwing Moorhen Rook Skylark Chaffinch House Sparrow Goldcrest Goldfinch Pheasant |
Kestrel
Linnet Coot Redshank Buzzard Dunnock |
We expected but didn’t get – Green Woodpecker, Stock Dove and, rather unbelievably, Magpie. When I got home and heard some noisy Starlings, I realised we hadn’t seen any of these either! It’s quite unusual to see a Redshank here in May, so very pleased with that.
Val Bentley et al, 27th May 2024
Angela and I were able to welcome new member Rikki on the walk this morning – a very dull morning, which made it tricky to see any colour at all on the birds high up in the trees, and the wildfowl were a bit monochrome too!
All the usual stuff along the first part of the walk, plenty of Robins & Wrens, and a couple of Song Thrushes. Nice to hear 2 Chaffinches in song along the embankment, and further down a Chiffchaff singing. Wildfowl on the floods was fairly distant, but we found Pintail, Coot, Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon, with a pair of Little Grebes too. Hear a Reed Bunting, but couldn’t find it. Angela had noticed 7 (?) Little Egrets near the heronry on her way up; only one there when we arrived, though we found more later. A group of 4 rather bored looking Herons were in one of the fields. Beyond the heronry were some geese, a handful of Canadas with 11 smart White-fronted (new species for Rikki).
Pretty quiet along the river until a large flock of birds came across and landed in Wyckham Wood, all Wood Pigeons – maybe 500? In floods on the Henfield side of the river were a group of 4 Gadwall, and we heard a Cetti’s. Just west of New Inn were some Black-headed Gulls, and another gull making an odd call – turned out to be a Med Gull in flight! A Pied Wag flew over, and a single Fieldfare called as we walked along the bridleway. On the diversion down towards Buckwish Farm there was a cacophony in the trees – some Goldfinches, and a largish group of Redwings were the culprits, and there was the occasional Redwing song heard!
The Rye Farm pools produced one Chiffchaff and the pair of Grey Wags, but no Water Rail today.
46 species seen or heard, and a rather oddly placed toilet in the grounds of the house at the top of the Rye Farm track.
