A community website for Henfield's bird watchers
One seen in a conservatory gutter in the village on Wednesday (16th) – not their usual habitat! Nigel C thinks he disturbed it from his neighbour’s garden when he went out to do his early morning litter pick, and it rested for an hour or so nearby. On migration back to Africa (the Nightjar, not Nige).
Having initially thought there would only be half a dozen of us on the walk, the final number turned out to be 17! 16 of us met at the Downslink car park and we met up with Roger F by Lashmars. Thought it would take too long to get 17 of us over the stile on the intended route, so we trotted along the fishermen’s path to the river. We had seen a roe deer dashing along by a hedge along Stonepit Lane, and saw another by the river. Hazel gave us some background information on the monastery we could see from Stonepit Lane, and then some legends about Chanctonbury Ring.
Not too much to be seen along the river, though we heard a couple of Tawny Owls calling, but for the 2nd year in a row (and only the 3rd time ever since we started doing these walks) no Barn Owl appeared, even though we know there was a brood at Great Betley. A new (temporary?) stile had appeared near the weir , presumably to stop the cattle getting out of the field, but it was a bit wobbly. It hadn’t been there on Thursday. Also a surprise were two substantial metal kissing gates installed along the riverbank – permanent or temporary because of the cattle?
At Betley Bridge we stopped for a while and Roger’s bat detector picked up Common Pipistrelles, and Hazel told the group more about glowworms and the Perseid meteor shower. The sky was much cloudier than the forecast had suggested which looked like bad news for Perseids, but fingers crossed for glowworms. Heading south, we picked up the first one, shining brightly by the side of the track, then another 4, all on the west side, and all pretty impressive, shining bright green in the darkness.
The sky had cleared slightly when we arrived by the seat where there is a more open view, with some stars visible. A couple of smaller meteors were seen by some, then an extremely bright one shot across to the south, bringing gasps of astonishment from all except Frankie – she was slightly further ahead and her view was obscured by a large bush. There’s always next year, Frankie!
Took the usual “summer” route along the railway, then under the arch and through the fields. As we stood near the arch Dave spotted a Treecreeper – always good to see one of these! On the narrow path there was a lot of orange balsam, seems more prolific this year, and in the field near the railway line, lots of purple loosestrife. From the fields we could see some Herons and a Little Egret, and there was a family of House Sparrows. A little further on we heard something quite unusual for this walk – a Tawny Owl! Also got nice views of a singing male Linnet, and we heard Reed Buntings, Reed Warblers and Whitethroats, then a Greenfinch. In fact we heard Greenfinches at several points along the walk. A Kestrel was perched on one of the shooting blinds.
Back on the railway line we heard a group of Long-tailed Tits, and were delighted to see one of the Egret nests had three gangly youngsters in it! Poor photo, but they did look cute.
One of the other nests had at least one youngster and the third probably did too, but it was tucked a long way into the tree. Along the river, were several Skylarks, a singing Meadow Pipit (quite unusual here) and at the overflow pit a Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler singing at the same time, giving us a good opportunity to note the difference in songs.
A Moorhen called from Sam’s pond, and a lovely family group of Swallows were flying around as we went up the track past Leeches, then we finally added Robin to the day’s list when a juvenile was hopping around on the path in front of us. However, we did fail to get Mute Swan and Mallard!
Butterflies seen were Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Large, Small & Marbled Whites, Comma & Red Admiral, and there was also a Broad Bodied Chaser.
Frankie made it at last! On the 4th attempt to come on the Nightjar visit, she joined me, Ian, Mary, Sharon & Brody for the annual trip to Heyshott Common on the 21st. Really difficult driving into the low sun, but we made it and had a wander around for about ¾ hour, seeing Stonechats and hearing a Tree Pipit’s lovely descending call and a frustratingly close Yellowhammer which was singing but refusing to show itself. Brody noticed a large caterpillar on the path – Ian identified it as of an Emperor moth.
Looked as though there was some problem with one end of it, but it was moved to safety. We noticed someone had set up some recording equipment near where we planned to stand.
About 9.20 we stationed ourselves where I had heard a Nightjar churring on a branch very close by a couple of weeks ago, and after a hesitant start we started to hear some flight calls, then 3 or 4 were churring, and we got some pretty good views of some in flight. Two were quite close to us, and I think it was Sharon, Frankie and Brody who managed to see one sitting on top of a nearby bush. Of course, I just saw it fly off!
As we left soon after 10, we realised that the sound equipment was with David L, and hoped that our chatter didn’t spoil the recordings!
We took the route back to the A272 via the very narrow road, ignoring lots of road closed signs – it wasn’t – and winced on Ian’s behalf every time a moth splattered itself against the car!
Highlights of this month’s walk with Ian & Angela to Stretham and along the river to New Inn and back were a couple of calling Bullfinches at the start, lots of Skylarks, some Reed Buntings giving themselves away by singing but remaining invisible, juvenile Grey Herons, Little Egrets on 2 nests, a Lapwing in the overflow pit, and a female Marsh Harrier over the brooks, driven off by corvids before any successful photos could be taken! 45 bird species seen or heard, and Ian took some lovely photos of a Meadow Brown butterfly and Silver Y moth. The Lapwing pic shows that what looks like a black and white bird from a distance actually sports a whole palette of colours!
My second Bash walk of the weekend today, in “Area 9”. Extremely windy unfortunately, but we still managed to find 40 different species – including House Martin, Swift, Cetti’s Warbler and Kestrel which “Area 4” failed to provide! We didn’t find a Dunnock today, but of course one was singing nearby this afternoon. Whitethroats seem to be doing well, and we noted Speckled Wood butterfly and Common Blue Damselfly as well as Beautiful Demoiselles, which didn’t stay still long enough for a pic!
Eight of us were on Paul’s walk this morning – unfortunately Paul wasn’t one of them, as he was suffering from a poorly foot! So starting off were myself, Angela, Hazel, Mark & Hannah (with George the setter) Daniel and son Sam (age 10) – Sam’s Mum Sharon swapped with Daniel just over half way round.
Among the birds we saw from the car park was a Heron which surprisingly flew over very low – maybe after a garden fish pond? Not long after the guide hut a Nightingale was singing on the left – the only one we heard today. A bit further on and a Whitethroat treated us to a wonderful singing and flight display, and there was a quiet Yellowhammer lurking nearby. Heard a distant Cuckoo to the east, and that was probably the bird Mark saw fly across a field by Little Betley. Near the bridge a Reed Warbler was singing in a ditch to the east, and we saw a Red Kite. Along the first part of the riverbank Sam spotted a bird in a bare tree – it was the Cuckoo, so were able to get ‘scope views, as we were of a Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting on the northern bank. Just before the bend of the river we had amazing views of a Barn Owl hunting over the adjacent field, including a catch, when it dropped down into the long grass and after about a minute, came up with something round and dark in its talons.
Turning south, a very smart male Linnet looked stunning in the scope, and I spotted a distant Lapwing in a ploughed field. Then one rose up from just the other side of the river and was displaying beautifully, really close. We heard Green Woodpecker, Greenfinch and Moorhen, and a Mute Swan was sitting on a nest on the other bank. Finally saw a Buzzard as we neared New Inn Farm, and a Swallow flew over. There were a few more flying around Canons.
Along the bridleway there was a brief glimpse of a Jay in flight, and we finished with a “buy one get one free” set of wagtails as we got back to the village – a Pied Wagtail on the roof of Acacia Rentals, then a colourful Grey Wagtail at Grommetts.
Species total was 47. Which we managed without Nuthatch, Long-tailed Tit or Goldcrest. Though one of the latter was singing in our hedge and House Martins were chattering overhead as soon as I got home. Super walk, thanks to all for their company and spotting!
One singing in the NW corner of Oreham Common this afternoon. (VB)