Beachy Bluethroat (25 October 2015)

Sunday 25th.  Ten hours at Beachy in very pleasant conditions and mostly with the usual suspects but birds were thin on the ground.  A Bluethroat at Shooters Bottom was an excellent find for Bob and Keith, fortunately it was later refound nearby by Neil.  I also saw Golden Plover (my first of the year), 30 Stock Doves, 2 Short-eared Owls, Black Redstart, Wheatear, Ring Ouzel, Fieldfare, 3 Dartford Warblers, 3 Chiffchaffs, 2 Goldcrests, 3 Brambling and 30 Redpolls.

Bluethroat at Shooters Bottom.  In focus but looking away ...

looking the right way but blurred - not helped by my running up when Neil refound it and kindly called us over

Black Redstart by Belle Tout Lighthouse

Small Copper, one of several butterflies still on the wing

Saturday 24th.  Megan and I visited Pulborough.  The Pectoral Sandpiper was giving distant views (as one expects at Pulborough) from Hale's viewpoint.  We also saw a Green Sandpiper and 40 Fieldfares while Highland cattle roaming free in the woodland nearby added some interest along with a couple of deer and some fungi past their best.  A late afternoon low tide visit to the Adur for more digiscoping practice produced a new colour-ringed Great Black-backed Gull, assumed to be from Guernsey.

Pectoral Sandpiper just visible, with some imagination, at the rear right of the pool.

Great Black-backed Gull 6AA9

Lesser Black-backed Gull on the Adur

gulls on the Adur

this one caught my eye

quite a striking bird, it had me scratching my head ...

is it a Caspian as this image might suggest

or Yellow-legged as it appears to lack a paler inner primary window?

or a hybrid?  Comments welcome

Thursday 22nd.  Megan and I walked around Cissbury which was rather quiet.  We could not find any Ring Ouzels although two Mistle Thrushes, perhaps those seen on our previous visit, were nice.  Otherwise Blackcap and Yellowhammer were best.  A low tide visit to try some digiscoping with my new compact camera was equally quiet with another sighting of North Thames Herring Gull UU7T and a Curlew notable.

Mistle Thrushes at Cissbury

Herring Gull digiscoped on our roof

North Thames Herring Gull UU7T on the Adur

previously seen on the Adur in June, ringed as a first-winter at Rainham in December 2011.

Little Egret

Memorial ribbons on the Old Toll Bridge

Sunday 18th.  Megan and I visited Sheffield Park, perhaps not the best idea on a Sunday as despite arriving only ten minutes after it opened the car park was almost full!  Superb autumn colours, interesting fungi and Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Jay made for an enjoyable visit.