Hen Harriers

The 24th of January 1982 was the date I saw my first Hen Harrier, a ringtail, drifting through the small clump of pines and quartering the hillside to the west of Camp Hill on Ashdown Forest. I still recall my excitement at the memory, now some 35 years in the past, and the species has been my favorite raptor ever since. The festive period has enabled me to get out and do my first WBS of the winter on my BBS transect so I managed to escape the pitfalls of sitting indoors or last minute shopping and instead, plodded around the patch on Christmas Eve. Happy days indeed, and made even more so, by seeing the ringtail Hen Harrier pictured left which had been reported earlier in the week, first quartering the flood between Lookers and Herstmonceux church and then over Horseeye where it consorted with the 2cym bird. Now, it may be difficult to believe given the picture left, but I did have this bird close on a couple of occasions and have put this photo in purely to emphasise the paleness of this birds outer tail feathers which make it very distinctive. In reality at close range the feathers can be seen to be extremely pale buff toned. I cannot recall seeing a bird with this striking a tail pattern. The 2cym bird has been regular on my forays recently including Christmas and Boxing day and on one occasion was watched mobbing a Kestrel, however Short-eared Owls have been tough to come by with only one present to my knowledge which I saw on the 17th and again on the 24th, on both days not until the light was fading fast.

The Black Guillemot has been performing well and entertaining birders and non-birders alike with its preening and diving activities in the clear Sovereign harbour water. Today (Boxing day) it was pottering around the inner harbour at lunchtime and there was a wp Guillemot (pictured below) just outside the lock gates.

Also in the inner harbour was the regular Common Seal, pictured below, which continues to attract shoppers with its curiosity.

Elsewhere locally Arlington reservoir has held some quality birds in the form of a 1st winter Great Northern Diver that I caught up with on the 21st, 22nd, and 24th, 3 Black-tailed Godwit that I eventually managed to see on the 22nd and 23rd, and a 1cy Glaucous Gull on the 21st that I failed to see, although I did manage to see an adult Yellow-legged Gull and adult Mediterranean Gull in the gull roost on the 23rd thanks to RJFs' diligence, and a wp ad Mediterranean Gull on the 21st and 22nd.

The levels are full of birds at the moment with at least 4 regular Marsh Harriers to sit alongside the Skydancers and Short Eared Owl, a Great White Egret on the 15th December near Lookers, many flocks of Lapwing, Fieldfare, and Redwing. If you visit please take care as the paths are getting sticky and deep but above all enjoy the spectacle.

WEBS and further afield

WEBS count on Sunday (10th) was, to put it politely, wild and windy as the angry skies over White Dyke farm, pictured above, testify. Not surprisingly birds were hard to come by with the highlights being sub adult male and female Marsh Harriers and one of the Peregrine, duck were limited to just 4 Mallard! Fortunately by the evening the weather had calmed down a bit and a session at Lookers resulted in a spell of grey ghost activity as the 2cym Hen Harrier came in to roost at 15.58 and had intermittent sorties until 16.15, a couple of times it chased off a young Kestrel, a behaviour I have not noted before from this or other birds on site. Nearby a Barn Owl was along the road just outside Downash.

A walk along the beach at Normans' Bay on the 9th was very quiet bar a couple of Song Thrush near the EA compound and a single Dark-bellied Brent east along the beach so I decided to pop over to Newhaven where a 1st w Great Northern Diver had been seen regularly in the harbour. I located the diver easily enough and watched it diving and roll preening, albeit somewhat distantly, before heading along the east pier to look for Purple Sandpipers. I quickly encountered the Turnstone pictured left, which posed nicely for a picture in the bright sunshine, and soon enough found 4-5 Purple Sandpipers feeding with a few more Turnstone on the piers' substructure. Purple Sandpiper picture below, as it is one of my favourite waders, along with a picture of a Shag also taken from the east pier. Stay safe.

Winter is coming

A distinct chill in the air this weekend and some quality local birds heralding the festive season, the best of which was the 1st winter Black Guillemot found by Richard Bown in Sovereign harbour, Eastbourne. No need to panic on this one since I had seen the way back when Brighton Marina bird but still a very rare bird in the county, and what a confiding bird it was. I first saw it in the outer harbour at first light and it flew several times to the harbour mouth before flying in to the inner harbour where it proceeded to fish and preen regularly, occassionally at very close range. Unfortunately I am cameraless at the moment so the left and below images are digiscoped. Also in the harbour was a Common Seal which put in a brief appearance and a drake Goosander flew over heading west.
Nearby at Normans' bay there was a Grey Seal (two Seal day in Sussex!) fishing offshore and quite a lot of birds on the sea - 6 Shelduck, 8 Wigeon, 25 Teal, 20+ Great Crested Grebe, several Red Throated Diver, and a couple of Gannet.
A return to Normans' Bay for another walk this morning (3rd) yielded another Sussex scarcity in the form of a Snow Bunting found feeding on the shingle ridge on the sea side of the caravan park. Al Redman had found one in the same area about 3-4 weeks previously which had not subsequently been seen and his comparison of the photos of both birds shows they are different individuals. Also a single Razorbill and RTD offshore along with the Grey Seal, and 30+ Greenfinch. A quick look at the marina yielded the Tystie and Common Seal again before an afternoon walk around Horse-eye with excellent views of the 2nd calendar year male Hen Harrier, the resident female Peregrine, and 3 Marsh Harriers rounding off an excellent weekend.