WWT Arundel

On Sunday I spent a few hours at WWT Arundel.

Arriving at 10:15 it was cold but surprisingly sunny for once! As we walked out there were about 150 Crows circling above the cliffs behind me. (I think they were dive-bombing a Peregrine Falcon). We first walked around the reedbed loop boardwalk where I saw nothing until towards the end. A bird caught my eye in the trees, looking through my binoculars it was my first Redpoll of the year! Next we went into the Sand Martin Hide; there was a single Widgeon as well as a Grey Heron, 1 Pheasant across the lake and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. As we were about to leave about 30 Lapwing acrobatically flew over.

As we walked to the last two hides I saw a Cormorant sunbathing over where the boat rides were. I think it is a Juvenile as it had a whitish front.

Cormorant
 In the last hide there were over 20 Teal, 10 Gadwall and a few Shoveler.

Male Shoveler (Sorry for the bad quality, it was quite far away!)
Surprisingly a Male Kingfisher perched for 10 minutes on a twig to the left of me. It dived but was unsuccessful and came up with no fish.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half Term Birding and More...

Image
After almost a week back at school, I have finally got round to writing a blog post on what I got up to in the holidays!

One of the days, after hearing that a Great Grey Shrike was showing well at the Old Airstrip at Ashdown Forest I persuaded my mum to take me (and my dog) there. We arrived quite late, at about 10 o'clock. Surprisingly it was still quite misty and as we walked down the path the view was blocked by it.

 After asking a few people where a 'muddy pond' was I finally found it. There were a few birders there, armed with their scopes and cameras, which helped me locate the bird. It was perched on a tree quite a distance away, but with my Opticron scope I got great views. It would perch on a branch or bush for a minute and then dive down and behind the trees, presumably to catch its prey. Once I saw it mob a Wren!

Great Grey Shrikes are also know as Butcher Birds because, unusually, they keep their prey in a makeshift larder. 



Happy with the views I had we walked …
Read more

First ringing session this year and my first goldeneye!

Image
The weekend before last I went up to Cissbury Ring for my first ringing session of the year. It was very foggy and you couldn't see into the fields that surround the main path!


Walking up the path I managed to see a glimpse of a Yellowhammer which was surprising as I normally just hear them singing. It was quite a quiet morning however catching a Redwing was a surprise as it was only the second for the site this Winter. Also 2 Long-tailed Tits were nice to see up close in the hand.


Overall we caught 18 birds, consisting of 15 new birds (un-ringed birds) and 3 retraps (ringed birds). Moving on to this weekend, I went for a walk at the Old Lodge Nature Reserve in Ashdown Forest. It was a lovely walk and I saw 4 Stonechat, a Kestrel, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Redpoll.


After seeing the sighting on social media on the way back I stopped off at Weirwood Reservoir to see the drake Goldeneye that had been seen there. With help from a fellow birder I managed to see the Goldeneye, a lifer fo…
Read more

Definitely a Waxwing Winter!

Image
Yesterday morning, after a rather quick change of plan we headed to an industrial estate in East Grinstead to hopefully see my first Waxwings, a slight change from Pulborough Brooks which we were heading to!

It had been the first time for quite a few years, that I can remember anyway, that a substantial flock had been reported in Sussex so I couldn't miss this opportunity. We arrived and straight away I saw the flock of around 31 which were all perched on a single tree. Their distinctive tufted head silhouetted against the harsh light.

I grabbed my camera and binoculars and went to meet up with the other birders who were stood watching these beautiful birds. The Waxwings then all flew down onto a small rosehip as they gorged on the ruby red berries. Unfortunately the light wasn't great so I didn't get many good pictures.


They then flew onto a large oak tree and were flying down out of view, presumably feasting on some more berries. 
Waxwings are a brightly coloured bird, s…
Read more