My World Of Wildlife

Starting off at Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve, we walked to the Ferry Pool hide, which had a single Black-Tailed Godwit and a couple of juvenile Shelduck. We then decided to drive to the Church Norton car park. Looking over the mudflats there were quite a number of Oystercatcher, Dunlin and also a few more Black-Tailed Godwit. Walking to the severals, an area of scrub that is parallel to the sea, a female Sparrowhawk flew towards me, gliding as it went past. The previous weekend there had been a Wryneck showing well there, but other than a female Blackbird and around 3 buzzards circling there wasn't much else. Record shot of a Sparrowhawk Walking back towards the mudflats, I spotted a small group of Grey Plover, some still in breeding plumage. There were also some Ringed Plover, Redshank and some more Dunlin. Record shot of a Grey Plover in breeding plumage I then walked around the mudflats, getting closer views of the Grey Plover and Ringed Plover. 4 Wheatear we...

Yesterday morning I was up early again to do some ringing at Knepp Estate. After walking down to the site, to the sound of calling Tawny Owls, we set the nets up, 3 in fact. One was ideal for Linnets and hopefully one or two Swallows as part of the net was in an open field and there were already some feeding high in the sky. After the nets were set up we did the first net round. I extracted (took out the net) Whitethroat, Blue Tit, Chiffchaff and Blackcap.  Once I had ringed the birds, suddenly the sky was full of House Martins and Swallow. Hoping a few would go in the net, we quickly changed the tape. And they certainly did! Swarming around the net, we waited in anticipation as some of them perched on the top net shelf. After 5 minutes we did another net round and it was my job to extract all of the birds in that net. It was full of Swallow and House Martin as well as a Blackbird and Chiffchaff. Finally after extracting them all I headed back, my arm heavy with bird bags. ...

Yesterday I went bird ringing at Cissbury Ring in Findon, West Sussex. I was quite interested to see what we were going to catch as I haven't been ringing at Cissbury for over a month. And I wasn't disappointed! Getting there at 6:45, the nets were put up and there were already a lot of birds that had been caught. The first bird that I ringed was a Sedge Warbler, a ringing tick for me which was not bad start to the morning! Sedge Warbler Throughout the morning I extracted my first Bullfinch which was a juvenile. I also a ringed a lot of Willow Warbler which were passing through the ringing site, as well as a lots of Blackcap. Other birds that I ringed were Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and Long-Tailed Tit. Juvenile Bullfinch Towards the end of the session, the penultimate net round, the other two ringers where checking one half of the nets whilst my trainer and I checked the the other half. After checking them, one of the ringers came over to us saying they needed a ...

On Sunday I spent a couple of hours at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve as my mum and I were staying in Rye for a few days. It was quite hot and there were a lot of people walking around so we spent most of the time in 2 of the hides. In the first an Oystercatcher came really close to the hide enabling me to get some photos. Oystercatcher I also finally managed to see Yellow Wagtail , a lifer for me. A small group of them were flying around, calling and then landing right in front of me. There were also Pied Wagtail . Adult Yellow Wagtail Juvenile Yellow Wagtail Starling, including a lot of juvenile were feeding on the ground behind the lake and there was also a Little Egret. Hidden amongst the reeds and islands was a Whimbrel and I also spotted a juvenile Sandwich Tern. As we walked down to the beach a Dunlin flew past, calling, and 4 Sandwich tern flew past behind me, heading out to sea, a nice end to a short visit to Rye Harbour.       ...

Once again on Sunday I visited Knepp Estate to do some bird ringing. After a 25 minute drive we arrived there at 5:00. Once we had looked at some possible net rides we set the nets up, 3 in total with 1 on the edge of the reedbed. Overall we caught around 50 birds. I ringed quite a number of Whitethroat as well as young Great Tits, Chiffchaff , Willow Warbler, Blue Tit and Long-Tailed Tit. The highlight for me was extracting and ringing a Reed Warbler for the first time. Even though we had a hopes up for something different such as a Reed Bunting, surprisingly even though it was perfect conditions for the net next to the reedbed it only caught 2 wrens! Another excitement, whilst walking to the nets, was seeing and hearing my very first Turtle Dove! Although I didn't get any photos of it I got a good view through my binoculars as it sat on a branch of a dead tree (Thanks to Penny Green for helping me spot it!!) Reed warbler Reed Warbler fault bars

On Sunday morning I woke up at 3:45 to arrive at Knepp estate (one of the largest re-wilding projects in Lowland Europe) at 5:00 for a ringing session. I was really looking forward to it as I had never been to Knepp Estate before.  After meeting with some of the ringing 'team' we started to put the nets up. Whilst doing so I heard the squawk of a Tawny Owl in the distance. 2 Great Crested Grebe where on the pond (Hammer Pond) next to us along with there chicks. A Cormorant also kept flying over. Overall I ringed quite a few Chiffchaff as well as a Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Garden Warbler and 2 juvenile Blackbirds. It was also nice to practise my extracting (getting the birds out of the mist nets) because of the variety and amount of birds. Whilst extracting, James (@My_Wild_Life) spotted a Purple Emperor, my first in fact. The extremely camouflaged underwing of a Purple Emperor  One of my highlights from the session was a Juvenile Green Woodpecker which ...

From Wednesday 20th to Friday 22nd July I went on a school trip with 15 others to Blackland Farm in East Grinstead. The trip involved camping there and taking part in 8 activities that included abseiling and kayaking which I really enjoyed. I was surprised to see a quite good list of birds whist there. On the camping field House Martins were swooping around, sometimes in between our tents! Pied Wagtails were also bobbing along with some juveniles mixed in. My favourite part was kayaking, whilst on the water I saw a Kingfisher whizz past in the distance and a Great Crested Grebe. Apart from that my other favourite part was the night hike. We set off at around 9:15 and didn't get back until nearly 11! Whilst we were walking we heard Tawny Owls screeching and I spotted a Sparrowhawk hunting over the tops of the trees. The species that I saw (or remember!) were Blackbird, Woodpigeon, House Martin, Pied Wagtail, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Robin, Kingfisher, Tawny Owl and Great C...