WEIR WOOD RESERVOIR and the SUSSEX COAST 16th March

Report by Peter Knox

Six intrepid souls braved a wet, windy and cold day to head for Weir Wood reservoir. The reservoir has a hide at its western end, but the windows have no glass and the rain blew into the hide - this did not stop this brave band. We saw mainly common passerines and only a few ducks, there were some pairs of GREAT CRESTED GREBES displaying and at least one LITTLE GREBE. The highlights of this stop were a male MANDARIN DUCK and a Heronry with at least 22 nests. We progressed to the dam at the eastern end of the reservoir and were rewarded with close views of a GREY WAGTAIL and a singing GOLDCREST. We now turned our faces towards the Sussex coast and Seaford - stopping en route at Piddinghoe to try to locate a long staying Cattle Egret. We spent some time searching after seeing a group of Egrets flying up from the donkey field, the reported favourite spot of the Cattle Egret. Eventually after a careful scan the CATTLE EGRET was found along with several LITTLE EGRETS on the hillside on the opposite of the road.

Something flushed all of the Egrets and we had good views of the CATTLE EGRET in flight. Moving on towards Splash point at Seaford for lunch and a sea scan - we saw a couple of SHAGS fishing. After lunch a short walk to the cliffs gaves views of KITTIWAKES (possibly in excess of a hundred) also a ROCK PIPIT working its way along the cliff edge. The weather seemed to be getting worse so the brave band broke up and headed for home having seen a total of 49 species in spite of the weather.

RAINHAM MARSHES RSPB RESERVE 30th March

Report by Glen Maddison

Only 6 members disregarded the weather forecast and took a chance on the day turning out to be fine and dry - just what perceptive people they turned out to be! By the time the walk had begun, the wind had already started to subside and blue had replaced grey as the predominate colour of the sky. Our first stop and scan was at Averley Pools which produced a couple of REDSHANK, half a dozen SNIPE and a few LITTLE EGRETS. Good numbers of wildfowl were still present on the marsh including WIGEON, SHELDUCK, TEAL and GADWALL. Our route continued through the scrub and onto the boardwalk where we saw male BLACKCAP, singing CHIFFCHAFF and a very showy - singing loudly CETTI'S WARBLER. We took a break for tea in the first hide and added a pair of PINTAIL to our ever growing list Amongst the large flock of BLACK HEADED GULLS, sharp eyed members picked out a single COMMON GULL and a second summer LITTLE GULL. We continued on our way, ticking off REED BUNTING, SKYLARK and MEADOW PIPIT also had lovely views of a flock of GOLDEN PLOVER, some of which were already moulting into summer plumage. After lunch, sat in the Spring sunshine, a single SWALLOW was spotted flying rapidly across the Meanders, we got talking to a few birders from the LNHS. Indicating to them where we had seen a WHEATEAR, it came as a bit of a shock when one of them shouted 'Stone Curlew"! Much to our amazement, the guy was totally correct, a STONE CURLEW was hidden amongst the tussocks and cowpats! After we had phoned the information centre with the news, we stood back and admired the bird. At one time we saw a WATER PIPIT walking in front of the "star of the show"! Soon a "mini-twitch' was starting and we made way for the local birders to get a good view. On the return walk we added SPOTTED REDSHANK to the list and a last look at the mud-flats gave us single DUNLIN and CURLEW. A good trip with a total of 67 species seen and WATER RAIL heard only.

PAGHAM HARBOUR 20th April 2008

Report by Paul and Vivienne Tnegenza

Despite the weather forecast twenty four members were on the coach and three others came independently. The glorious hot sunny weather had members discarding layers. At the centre of the local nature reserve the buzz was about a LESSER YELLOW LEGS flown in from the USA. All available spaces were taken with scopes and people who saw it at the back of Ferry Pool.

There were other waders including REDSHANK, GREENSHANK, RUFF and LAPWING plus several species of duck. Also a WHEATEAR was spotted there. We calmed down and went to the fields over the dyke to find the usual passerines including good sightings of WHITETHROAT, BLACKCAP, YELLOW WAGTAIL and REEDBUNTING. Another treat was in store for us as we had excellent sightings of a SHORT-EARED OWL sitting in and also quartering a rough pasture. There were quite a lot of WHIMBREL on the marsh and one CUCKOO was seen near the centre.

From here we took the coach to the road leading to Church Norton. After a long trail down the road we had our picnics in the churchyard where there was an obliging female REDSTART on the hedge. The fields and farms added RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE, corvids, tits, finches and pigeons to our list plus a few HOUSE MARTIN and more SWALLOW. After lunch we spent time identifying the many waders. We found DUNLIN in various stages of changing to summer plumage, GREY PLOVER, SANDERLING, TURNSTONE plus BLACK-TAILED GODWIT and BAR-TAILED GODWIT. We noted four gull species but only one tern - SANDWICH TERN. A juvenile winter plumage GUILLEMOT was in shallow water very close to us so it was concluded that not all was well with it. The Severals Pools and nearby reedbed did not turn up new birds though one member got a BEARDED TIT. There were a couple of CETTI'S WARBLER in full song. Members split up into sub-parties to get back to the coach. One of these saw a SPARROWHAWK near the farms, another saw an OSPREY putting up everything on the harbour including a BRENT GOOSE flock. We had four raptors in total as we had already seen COMMON BUZZARD and KESTREL. The weather deteriorated at the end of the day with a heavy shower of rain just after we set off home in the coach, tired after an excellent day with 84 species. The records were added tetrad by tetrad to the BTO Atlas database.