ADUR ESTUARY: About midday, HT on the Adur Estuary, discernible roosting waders were - 46 Redshank and single Greenshank, Grey Plover, Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit (all pictured) and there were 16 Teal on the water and two Grey Heron and a Little Egret prowling through the vegetation. At the harbour mouth still two Sandwich Tern (SOS).
CISSBURY RING: I was lucky, in a couple of hours at a damp & gloomy Cissbury this
morning, to come across a large party of thrushes feeding on the ground
near the large sycamore between the 2 fenced yews, comprising 18 Mistle Thrushes, 10+ Song Thrushes, several Blackbirds and 4 RING OUZELS
(including a lovely adult male with full white gorget and silvery
wings). I suspect they hadn't been disturbed as dog walkers virtually
absent presumably due to the damp weather. My cautious approach
eventually sent them all into the surrounding bushes, and for the rest
of the morning, the ouzels remained largely elusive with, only heard
calls, and a handful of further sporadic brief sightings (this despite
much careful fieldcraft, i.e. lurking in, around and behind bushes!).
The Mistle Thrushes and Song Thrushes
remained very evident all morning - I suspect there were at least 20+ of
both species present. Also pretty sure I heard a couple of Redwings though didn't see them. A single Swallow looked a bit forlorn in the damp and gloom! (SOS).
Spent 3hrs this morning at a soggy and gloomy Cissbury Ring from first light, and it turned out to be quite productive.
Main
focus was on thrushes, and I spent most of the first hour just scanning
the bigger Yew tree, which had plenty of birds feeding.... Most
numerous species were probably Song Thrush, followed by Blackbirds, but also a couple of Redwings and a Mistle Thrush, and quite a few RING OUZEL sightings. Difficult to be sure, but I reckon at least 4 different birds - 2 adults and 2 1st winter.
Don't
know if there'd been a bit of an arrival, but at least another 3 Ouzels
on the steep slopes to the S of the ring, and a further 2 among the
berry bushes to the NE. Poor photo of one bird... but I reckon any pic
of an Ouzel is a bit of an achievement!
Good supporting cast too: family parties of Stonechat and Nuthatch, Treecreeper, 2 Yellowhammers, Bullfinch, Green and GS Woodpecker, and a Raven cronking overhead.
Still a few lingering migrants, with numerous Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap, and a couple of small parties of Swallows.
Did a brief walk around a couple of the nearby footpaths and added a couple of decent groups of Linnets and ca.15 Skylarks.
FERRING/GORING GAP: With the wind backing to the east after early rain I went to Ferring Block for 3/4 hour this morning (0940 to 1025) and counted: Swallow 25E, Goldfinch 250 E, Meadow Pipit 20 E, Linnet 40 E. There was a Stonechat and a Chiffchaff on the wall of the white flats at the end of Patterson's Walk and later a Wheatear, a Ringed Plover, a Sanderling and five Turnstones on the beach at the Gap (CH)
