Now the weather finally feels like summer it’s time to recap on spring migration, with the peak arrival of summer visitors in April and early May heading for their breeding grounds in northern Britain and Scandinavia. Once again this key period coincided with a spell of cool settled weather with persistent northerly winds and clear skies meaning birds moved through quickly. Despite low numbers of grounded birds there was still a good variety of species noted, including some very good local records.
Flycatchers
A superb male Pied Flycatcher was an excellent find by Simon Cross on the afternoon of 6th April at Clapham Woods but unfortunately didn’t linger to be appreciated by other local birders. This can be a difficult species to catch up with locally at anytime and a striking black and white male makes it all the more special. In contrast Spotted Flycatcher is much more common especially in autumn but there are usually a few spring records as well. However the only report this year was from Goring Gap on the very late date of 21st May.
Whinchat
Early birds were found on Steep Down (x2 - 8/4) and Cissbury (16/4) followed by a bird on the beach at Marine Gardens (4/5). Three Spring records is disappointing though it is usually much more numerous in autumn.
Ring Ouzel
After a single bird at Mill Hill in March the only other Ring Ouzel reported was a brief roadside encounter on Titch Hill early on 6th April, whilst driving over the Steyning to Sompting Road.
Nightingale
Whilst this famous songster is relatively frequently encountered north of the Downs it is a notable record within the Worthing 10 km boundary. A minimum of two birds were reported this year with a singing bird near Black Ditch Angmering first heard on 20th April and still present on 25th April. A second bird was singing at the east side of Worthing Golf Course on 23rd April and it or another further up the same footpath on 6th May.
Cuckoo
Three brief records on the Worthing side of the Downs was noteworthy, with birds heard from Angmering (3/5), Sompting Brooks (4/5) and Goring (13/5).
Redstarts
The first Redstart of the Spring was a fine male discovered at Brooklands (1/4) with other males seen at Steep Down (6/4) and Cissbury (13 & 14/4).
Wheatear
Wheatear are perhaps the most obvious of our returning migrants, with the first records reported in small numbers from mid March. There was a big arrival along our coast in the first week of April with notable counts from Marine Gardens (8 - 1/4), Widewater (13 - 2/4), Ferring C.P. (12 - 6/4) and Highdown (10 - 6/4). There was further arrival between 18-20th April with daily sightings from Goring Gap and Marine Gardens (max count - 9) and then singles (30/4) and (8/5). Away from the coast sightings were few and far between with only a report of two birds at Lychpole Farm (18/4).
Whitethroats
Common Whitethroats arrived en masse from 9th April with 6+ around Cissbury and 5+ at Steyning Round Hill and territorially males were conspicuous throughout after this date. The first Lesser Whitethroats were present on Cissbury (13/4) and Mill Hill and Highdown (19/4) and by 23rd April there were at least four rattling males singing from various locations around Cissbury.
Warblers
Willow Warblers seemed to be moving through in reasonable numbers from early April and notable early Garden Warblers were recorded from Ferring Rife (14/4) and Sompting Brooks (17/4).
Our first Reed Warblers were reported back in suitable breeding territories at Brooklands (7/4), Black Ditch (13/4), River Adur (14/4), Sompting Brooks (17/4), and Ferring Rife (20/4), whilst migrant birds were seen away from breeding habitat on Cissbury (23/4), Lancing Ring (25/4) and Mill Hill (2/5, 4/5). Sedge Warblers were present at Black Ditch (8/4) and Brooklands (14/5), which surprisingly is rare at this location ( only 20 records since 1970).
Yellow Wagtail
There were no grounded reports of Yellow Wagtails in the Worthing area this Spring but birds were seen and heard flying in / off sea from Worthing Pier (9/4) and Marine Gardens (18/4, 22/4 & 23/4).
Hobby
The first Hobby of the year was seen over No Mans Land (9/4) with further sightings over Sompting (12/4) and Beeding Brooks (19/4 & 20/4) where two birds were seen hunting together. They were seen over East Preston (30/4) and flying in off the sea from Marine Gardens (30/4) and (9/5).
Swift
The first Swift was recorded over Long Furlong (19/4) and Cissbury (22/4) with birds also seen coming in over the sea from 21/4 onwards. Other April sightings came from Lancing (7 - 25/4) and Durrington Rec (3- 29/4) then from early May there were regularly reported around breeding sites.
Hirundines
After not being reported in March the first Sand Martins were finally seen from Marine Gardens and Angmering on 6th April preceded by the first House Martins at Black Ditch on 4th April. Swallows started arriving in good numbers from early April and birds seen battling the headwinds as they skimmed over the sea to reach the safety of the shore was a regular highlight of the April and May sea watching season, with a peak arrival of 30 birds.
