21st -27th April

Us birders are a difficult lot to please and for most of last week the weather was just too nice.  Clear skies, warm temperatures and very light winds meant few grounded migrants and those seabirds moving up channel were generally a long way offshore. 

By way of an oddity a singing Corn Bunting on the coastal strip at Goring Gap on 21/4 was the first here since August 2021 and our local bird historian notes that there have been very few previous spring or summer records in this potential breeding habitat. 

Summer Arrivals

There was a notable arrival of Lesser Whitethroats this week with their rattling song being heard from deep within the blossoming hawthorn bushes competing with the more numerous scratchy song of Common Whitethroats. Birds were reported from Patching, Highdown, Cissbury, Worthing Golf Course and Lancing on several dates throughout the week.

Garden Warbler is another summer arrival usually associated with late April and bang on cue a newly arrived bird was in full song in tamerisks by Sea Lane Cafe on 25/4, with others also reported from Highdown.

A Hobby flying north over Adur Avenue on 26/4 was another obvious new arrival and this small falcon will soon be feasting on dragonflies and insects on the wetlands of the Arun and Adur. 

Swallows were a feature of seawatching through the week with birds seen daily flying low over the water to complete their long migration routes back to the UK with the biggest daily estimate bring 40+ birds arriving on Saturday 26/4.

By the weekend of 26-27/4 the first few Swifts were seen over Angmering and Highdown and hopefully they will be a feature in the coming weeks screeching over our rooftops.

Spring Migrants

Finally the first local Ring Ouzel was seen on Thursday 24/4 favouring the gorse and short grasses on the north side of Cissbury Ring. 

A female Black Redstart was seen in the cemetery below Lancing Ring on 25/4 and a female Pied Flycatcher was reported in the copse there on the same day (at least 11 days after it was last reported). 

Wheatears continued to trickle in with reports along the coast from several locations and notably two birds were watched flying in and landing briefly infront of the sea watchers at Marine Gardens on 23&25/4. 

Migrating Whimbrel are expected along the coast but six birds flying east along A27 at Angmering and two north over Highdown were taking a more unexpected route.  Finally a Common Sandpiper was seen at Brooklands on 23/4 where a Pintail on the lake was another unusual record.

Seawatching

Notable highlights on Wednesday 23rd April were a single Little Tern and two Eider seen heading west early morning from Marine Gardens. 

The promise of winds from a NE / SE vector raised expectations amongst local seawatchers resulting in good coverage between Goring Gap and Widewater from Thursday 24/4 but in general they proved to be disappointingly light.

The only Arctic Skua was a pale phase bird on 24/4 whilst a Great Skua was seen on 24/4 and 25/4 but may be the same bird hanging around offshore. 

Small numbers of Kittiwakes (max 14e) and Fulmars (max 3e) were seen most days, however tern movement was virtually non existent. Common Tern (3e) and Arctic Tern (1e) were only noted on 26th and the maximum daily Sandwich Tern count didn’t exceed 20 birds.

The best day for wader passage was Saturday 26th April with Bar-tailed Godwits c500e, Whimbrel c80e, Knot 9e and Sanderling 4e with many more distant flocks of probable godwits not counted. 

Three summer plumaged Black-throated Divers went east on 25/4 and the peak count of Common Scoter was 87e on 25/4. The only Brent Geese were 15e on 27/4 whilst four Canada Geese went west on 25/4.

The only upside of the flat glassy calm seas was a pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins watched feeding distantly for an hour offshore from Marine Gardens on Friday 25th April.

14th - 20th April

By the third week of April you would expect good numbers of returning summer visitors to be establishing breeding territories and passage waders should be moving up the channel. This was pretty much what we got, though the continued dry and sunny weather probably meant northern bound migrants continued over our airspace without stopping.

Brooklands

The old golf course on the western edge of Brooklands held a singing Nightingale on Tuesday 15/4, with three Willow Warblers and two Sedge Warblers also in full song.  A return visit on Thursday 17/4 revealed 7 Reed Warblers singing around the lake. 

The Black Swan remained present throughout.

Cissbury

There was little reported from the Downs, with the only summer visitors being singing Whitethroats though resident breeding species were prominent. A singing Cetti’s Warbler along Lychpole Bottom on 16/4 was a strange record in this habitat so was presumably a migrant bird. 

A Lesser Whitethroat was seen along Monarch Way on Sunday 20 April which I believe is the first local record this Spring.

Lancing Ring

Having not been seen on Sunday 13/4 the female Pied Flycatcher was seen again on Monday 14/4, though it’s always possible it was a new arrival.

Ferring Area

Six Wheatears were present at Ferring Country Centre on Monday 14/4, with three more at Goring Gap and two at West Kingston Farm. A Yellow Wagtail flew over Goring Gap the same day.

Seawatching

Mediterranean Gulls were on the move this week with 40e on Monday 14/4 and 60e early on Friday 18/4.

Easter weekend saw a favourable easterly bias to the winds and good coverage between Goring Gap and Widewater resulting in good numbers of passage waders being recorded along with the first Arctic Skuas of the season.

Good Friday 18/4 -  the highlight of the morning were four Arctic Skuas, two dark and two pale phase birds, first reported from Selsey and then seen flying close to shore past Goring Gap, Marine Gardens and Hove.  All three species of diver were recorded past Marine Gardens with 3 Black-throated, 2 Red-throated and a single Great Northern. 90+ Sandwich Terns and 6 Common/Arctic Terns were noted along with Fulmar 2e, Common Scoter c80e and Brent Geese 19e. The only waders recorded between 06:30-10:00 were six Whimbrel.

Saturday 19/4 - Four more Arctic Skuas headed east with two distant birds together at 09:50. Waders were very much on the move today with decent counts from Ferring, Marine Gardens and Brougham Road, East Worthing, with the first Bar-tailed Godwits of the year. Combined totals between 06:00-11:00 are as follows :

Whimbrel 130e (biggest flock 30), Bar-tailed Godwits c280e (including several flocks c50 birds), Grey Plover 14e, Avocet 6e, Curlew 2e, Dunlin 3e, Ringed Plover 1e and Knot 7e (from Goring Gap).

Gannets were constantly heading east with 300+ and over 100 Sandwich Terns were also on the move. Smaller numbers of  Common / Arctic Terns were also noted with 10 Arctics past Marine Gardens and a further 12+ unidentified birds. 

Sunday 20/4 - Arctic Skuas continued to head east early morning with five birds including one pale phase and a Great Skua appeared from the murk about 08:50 and settled on the sea off Marine Gardens.

Bar-tailed Godwits 60e and Whimbrel 14e were counted with a further 30 birds being too distant to identify. Kittiwake 4e, Fulmar 3e, Common Terns 4e (close enough to be identified to species) and 80+ Sandwich Terns and 100+ Gannets headed east before mist and drizzle stopped play. 

An evening seawatch  from Goring Gap produced another Arctic Skua east and the first Manx Shearwater of the year. 

7th-13th April

Sea watchers were rewarded with the first signs of wader passage, whilst Hoopoe’s aside there was still plenty of birds arriving along the coast at both ends of the Worthing reporting area.  James Grundy’s Pied Flycatchers found at Lancing Ring on Saturday 12 April were the pick of the migrants, which is an excellent Spring record particularly as one was a smart black and white male.

                                               Pied Flycatchers Lancing Ring ( Richard Fairbank)

Seawatching

After a couple a Whimbrel were recorded past Marine Gardens and Goring Gap earlier in the week, south easterly winds on Saturday 12 April saw Whimbrels beginning to move up channel in numbers, with 85 recorded past Marine Gardens. A further 500 Brents and 80 Common Scoter headed east and other notable sightings included a Great Skua past Marine Gardens and 2 Little Terns past Ferring. 

That evening another Little Tern and a single Little Gull were seen at Goring Gap.

Ferring

Efforts to find a Hoopoe in the horse paddocks around Ferring Country Centre failed but did turn up a Wheatear on 8/4 with two present on 11/4, whilst six Sand Martins flew in off the sea on 7/4.

Angmering

The area to the west of Angmering received plenty of coverage this week after Monday’s Hoopoe turning up. Black Redstart (7/4) and  a migrant Short-eared Owl (8/4) was another excellent local record. Black Ditch held a Green Sandpiper and up to six Wheatear on 12/4.

                                                         Short-eared Owl (Adam Huttly)

Kingston

Two Black Redstarts and a White Wagtail were found on 8/4 whilst a little further east two Wheatears were on the beach at West Worthing. 

Cissbury

The Downs slowly stirred into life this week with the scratchy song of  returning Whitethroats emanating from gorse and brambles on the Ring as well as two Wheatears (13/4) and at least four Whitethroats singing along Lychpole Bottom along with a singing Willow Warbler on 13/4. The freshly sown fields held three Grey Partridge and several Brown Hares.

Non avian highlights included a showy Stoat (11/4) and the first report of Grizzled Skipper (13/4).

Brooklands

The Black Swan was present on Brooklands throughout the week.

Lancing

Willow Warblers continued to using a Lancing garden as a refuelling stop with four singing birds on 11/4.

Patcham

The final mention of the review period was a throw back to winter with a Fieldfare on Sunday 13 April being  particularly noteworthy given their absence locally this winter ! 

Hoopoe’s Galore.

                                      Hoopoe in private garden, Rustington (Karen & Mike Galtry)

Early Spring 2025 has seen a huge influx of Hoopoe’s into the south west of Britain with almost 300 birds reported between 27th March and 3rd April. With so many birds in the country it was only a matter of time before they made it to Sussex. The only question was would we be graced with an obliging bird in the Worthing area.

The question was answered in part on Monday 7 April when Colin Jupp found our first Hoopoe of the year west of Angmering. The bird showed well for 10-15 minutes before flying off never to be seen again, much to the angst of other local birders, just before they arrived on the scene.  

This conspicuous exotic looking bird has a habit of turning up in back gardens when they arrive in Britain as overshooting migrants and are often reported by curious members of the public. This is exactly what happened on Friday when another Hoopoe was located by non birders happily feeding on their enclosed back lawn in Parklands Estate in Rustington. This bird was present in the area for most of the day but despite some large suitable patches of lawn in public areas, it spent most of it’s time hidden in private gardens and was only seen by a few lucky individuals.  

Further frustration for local birders came with two more garden Hoopoes  reported by non-birders with another photographed in a Lancing garden on Sunday 13 April and a second report from gardens near George V Avenue, Goring. 

Four birds in a week and none of them easily accessible reflects the frustration of our hobby and we can only hope a more obliging individual is found before the end of Spring. 

31st March - 6 April

 After the excitement of the Bluethroat things returned to normal in the first week of April, with a welcome spell of settled sunny weather, Blackthorn bursting into bloom and lighter evenings being the most obvious signs of Spring. Blocking northerly winds seemed to slow up arrival of Spring migrants although a trickle of hirundines were reported along the coast and singing Blackcaps arrived in numbers on the Downs.

Seawatching

Very quiet on the sea with no notable counts of Brents or wildfowl though Sandwich Terns continued to be seen daily with 50e on 4th April. An Avocet went east past Goring on Friday 4th April and two male Eiders were seen from Brougham Road the following day. The first Bottlenose Dolphins of the year were report from East Worthing on  Saturday 5th April.

Goring Gap

A Cattle Egret flew north on Wednesday 2nd April and 33 Oystercatchers and 47 Sanderling were counted on the beach on Friday 4th April. The only other migrants were a few Swallows and a singing Willow Warbler whilst a Sand Martin and four Yellow Wagtails flew north over Ferring on Saturday 5th April. 

A Wheatear was nearby at Sea Lane on Friday 4th April, which was the only report of the week.

Ferring Rife

Little Egret, Water Rail, Snipe and upto four singing Chiffchaffs were reported as well as two Peregrines on Friday 4th. 

Sompting

Two House Martins were back hawking over the village and a Swallow was also reported.

Lancing Ring

A fine male Redstart was seen on Sunday 5th April.

Brooklands

Things returned to normal with Cetti’s Warbler, Water Rail and a singing Willow Warbler reported during the week. 

Brooklands delivers again

Bluethroat - Brooklands Lake

 

                                                                          Nick Bond

Brooklands Park is a small oasis of green along our largely urban seafront and can act as a magnet for migrants with its small lake, stream, sewage works and wooded areas. It can be an attractive resting area for newly arrived summer visitors with an outside chance of an early rarity such as a Hoopoe, or something rarer such as the famous Great Spotted Cuckoo, which took up residence for nearly a week in early April 2005. More realistically it will be Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Willow Warblers or perhaps a Pied or Spotted Flycatcher later in the Spring, however you never know what’s lurking in the reeds or sallows along the stream. 

On the morning of Tuesday 25th March Dave Sadler found a 2cy female Bluethroat in a muddy reed fringed area along the lake, which has been a regular spot for Water Rail in recent weeks. Naturally this was a very popular bird and it remained on site until dusk on Wednesday 26th March. Most local birders managed to catch up with the Bluethroat on day one and it’s visit attracted the great and good from across Sussex and Beyond. Although typically elusive with patience most visitors went away delighted with their views. It wasn’t seen on Thursday 27th March presumably having continued it’s migration overnight.

Also reported from Brooklands this week were two Firecrests by the sewage works, two flyover Ring-necked Parakeets and the usual vocal Water Rail and Cetti’s Warbler.

                                                             Bluethroat crowd ( Nick Bond)

23rd-30th March

Expectation levels begin to rise by the last week of March along the south coast, with the imminent arrival of common Spring migrants, departing winter visitors and continuing seabird passage. There is always the chance of an early surprise and this week certainly delivered.

The warmer weather also produced the first reports of Hummingbird Hawkmoth in an East Worthing garden and Dotted Beeflies were reported from Cissbury.

Seawatching

It was something of a struggle for birders watching the sea this week with poor visibility hampering their efforts for much of the week. However Brents continued to trickle through in small numbers with 150e (23rd), 93e (26th) and 43e (30th).  A few Wigeon were also noted with 20e and 30e on 23rd and 28th respectively. 

After early reports of 20+ birds heading east from Selsey on Sunday 23rd, four Little Gulls were picked up from Marine Gardens amongst Black-headed Gulls and another was seen there the following day (R Ives). This can be a tricky species to catch up with in some years, so this is a good early local record.

A single Velvet Scoter amongst a flock of nine Common Scoter on Sunday 30th past East Worthing was another welcome addition to the year’s seabird list.

Summer Arrivals

A very early male Redstart was found on Sompting Brooks on Thursday 28th, which mirrors a similar early record of a female at the same location last year.

A Swallow flying low over Cissbury on Saturday 29th March could be the first locally reported bird of the year, unless anyone has an earlier sighting. On the 30th another was seen flying over a Sompting garden whilst three Sand Martins were seen flying in off sea.

Single Wheatears were reported from Marine Gardens (24th), Goring Gap (25th and 28th) and two birds near the pier (30th), those that have yet to record this classic Spring migrant will surely have more opportunities in early April. 

There was a clear arrival of singing Willow Warblers with birds  heard from Ferring Country Centre (27th), three birds at Ferring Rife (28th) and four birds together on the edge of Sompting (29th) and one still present along  Ferring Rife (30th).

Two White Wagtails, a migrant continental form of our resident Pied Wagtail, were present in horse paddocks along Ferring Rife on 28th with another bird briefly on 30th. Meadow Pipits were also on the move with 72 heading north over Worthing beach on Sunday 30th. 

Wintering Departures.

Perhaps the most interesting news of the week was the nocturnal movements of Redwing heard calling over Ferring and East Worthing on Thursday 27th March. Given the paucity of local records this winter they must have been moving from further west or continental birds. Three grounded Redwing and two Fieldfare were seen at Ferring Rife on Saturday 29th March.

Another good local sighting was a Short-eared Owl seen heading inland over South Street on Friday 28th, which was presumably a bird migrating from the continent back to its upland breeding territory (R Ives).

Three Jack Snipe along Ferring Rife (26th) were clear passage birds as none had overwintered at this site. 

Roll on April.