November 10th 2018

BROOKLANDS PARK : Star find and a good local rarity was found in the form of a Pallas's Warbler which was found early morning by Gareth and Paul James, the last time this species was recorded here was 19 years ago. The bird remained fairly elusive but gave itself up throughout the day, many Sussex birders made the journey to see this little gem. There was 2 Firecrest, c70 Goldcrest, 2 Redpoll and a Chiffchaff around too, so plenty of birds to search through. GJ/PJ/DKC/GDM/NB

The following account describes the finding of the Pallas's Warbler:

Early morning on 10th November after a wet and windy night, PJ and I did a circuit of Brooklands Park. In addition to the large number of Goldcrests and the Chiffchaff mentioned above, we had seen 8 Teal, 2 Little Egrets and a single Grey Wagtail on the lagoon. On the way back to our cars, PJ had a brief glimpse of a warbler with a prominent supercilium and 2 wing bars which he suspected to be a Yellow-browed Warbler. It showed briefly a couple more times and it soon became apparent much to our excitement that the supercilium and wing bars were in fact yellow and that we were looking at a Pallas's Warbler! I also caught a glimpse of its lemon-yellow rump as it flew from the isolated trees it had been in to the trees along the road to the water treatment works. Much to our relief, we soon relocated the bird and had good but fairly brief views of it flitting around in the trees above our head. 

At this point I put the news out on Twitter after which we promptly lost the bird. After a few minutes, the first local birders (BFF, BDJ and DS) arrived and started checking through the numerous Goldcrests that were in the same area. Following a worrying wait of about 30 minutes, BDJ refound the bird further along the road to the sewage works. It then performed well low down showing all the salient features including the crown stripe and rump. 

The bird was seen on and off for the rest of the day by a good number of local birders although it did go missing for long periods. My second Sussex Pallas's Warbler in six days but fortunately this one was a lot more obliging than the Beachy bird. GJ 

Pallas's Warbler - Brooklands Park - photos courtesy of Chris and Juliet Moore

November 9th 2018

GORING, GEORGE V AVENUE: A 90-minute seawatch this morning largely felt quiet but was rewarded firstly by a distant Little Gull moving east, then by a Red-necked Grebe heading in the same direction. Two Teal, two Common Scoters, nine Great Crested Grebes, three Red-throated Divers, a Mediterranean Gull, over 100 Gannets and a few Guillemots and Razorbills were offshore. A couple of Meadow Pipits flew up from the beach and a migrating flock of 20 Goldfinches flew east.

November 6th 2018

MARINE GARDENS/GORING GAP : A look at the sea from the Marine Gardens shelter in West Worthing between 1010 and 1050 this morning produced a mass of Gannets and gulls of six species feeding or moving through west. Highlight was an adult Little Gull close inshore plus c.50 Kittiwakes, one or two Meds and the commoner BH, Common and Herring. Also 3 close Razorbills on the sea. 
Gannet numbers totalled at least 45. Many more fishing off Goring and still Kittiwakes moving through there 45 mins later. CH

Later on a further 5 Little Gulls were seen lingering offshore (4ads and 1 x 1st winter) before eventually venturing west. A Great-northern Diver also flew west close inshore 10 Guillemots and 15 Razorbills were on the sea. 15 adult Mediterranean Gulls were on the roost field along with a 2nd and 1st winter bird. 200 plus Gannets offshore and Kittiwakes were still moving west well into the afternoon GDM

November 4th 2018

CISSBURY RING: Ringing this morning featured some nice catches, such as a Firecrest, two Bullfinches and several Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests. A Brambling, two Lesser Redpolls, two Reed Buntings, six Siskins, three Yellowhammers, 19 Greylags, a Little Egret, a Treecreeper, eight Pied Wagtails, five Redwings, two Meadow Pipits and four Skylarks were among the other birds noted during the visit. DKC/VB

1CY male Firecrest

1CY female Bullfinch

adult male Chaffinch

November 3rd 2018

GORING GAP: A brief visit mid-/late morning produced three Red-throated Divers, two Great Crested Grebes, three Dark-bellied Brent Geese, a Kittiwake, 26 Gannets, 16 Common Gulls, 30 Razorbills/Guillemots (mostly the former), three Mediterranean Gulls, 17 Skylarks, a Little Egret, two Grey Plovers, 20 Oystercatchers and uncounted Dunlin, Turnstone and Ringed Plover. DKC/PGo/GDM

November 2nd 2018

GORING GAP : A female Goosander flew west, 2 Rock Pipit,  3 Grey Plover, 6 Red-breasted Merganser, 12 Great-crested Grebe, 45 Sanderling, 75 Turnstone, 35 Gannet, male Stonechat GDM

November 1st 2018

GORING GAP : A quick morning visit, i concentrated mainly on the beach where 11 Grey Plovers were recorded, 27 Oystercatchers, 4 Little Egret, Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Turnstone were stretched along the shoreline. 2 Great-crested Grebes were on the sea whilst 7 Greater-black backed Gulls and a single Lesser-black backed Gull were on the roost fields NB