THOSE RAVENS AGAIN

27 March 2021 Back at Pett Pools this morning in a biting west wind, 7 degrees. Very quiet yet again, an Oystercatcher was roosting at the west end of the Roadside Pool and the Gull roost today was mostly Herring Gulls. A few Curlew were roosting/standing on one leg as were two Ruffs. Then a large dark bird shot across heading west just above the Gulls and over the Curlew and the 10 Redshank close by. Quite a panic and a few took to the air but it was not a bird of prey but a Raven. I managed a few belated shots as it passed low over the Red Pig Eatery and headed for Pett Level. One photo shows a full gullet, off to feed its young hopefully as I surmise at Cliff End. Ten minutes later another or the same Raven flew back in from the west along the Sea Wall and landed just east of the Cormorant Pool. A couple of Carrion Crows bombed it for a while until they got fed up. The Raven then hopped – not walked – about fifty metres to the east, flew over the ditch and started feeding on a dead fox/rabbit/hare – I am not sure which, though have been told it is probably a large dead mixi rabbit. Rather a gore fest procedure but soon enough meat was extracted and the Raven flew off west with a full beak-full, no doubt a good meal for its young, accompanied for a while by more Carrion Crows. Meanwhile one of the local Little Egrets was showing its skills presumably fishing for sticklebacks, a lot of effort for a small reward in comparison.

DISCOVERY CENTRE RHNR

24 March 2021 AP and I headed to the RHNR today. A couple of days ago the impressive new Discovery Centre on the RHNR was handed over from the Constructors to the Sussex Wildlife Trust SWT ( who will run it ) but due to Covid restrictions it is unlikely to be open to the public until mid May. The usual species were on Flat Beach, including Brents, Golden Plover, and Sandwich Terns with a lone Sanderling on one of the islands. At the Harbour Mouth near the triangle of short grass we bumped into JT who had earlier yet again flushed the Shorelark from there but bizarrely all we could find was a male Greenfinch, a female Reed Bunting and grazing Turnstones and Ringed Plovers. We now call JT the Shorelark Whisperer since he seems to be the only person who can conjure it up. A long walk west was uneventful until we encountered a ding dong between two pairs of Greylag Geese, no doubt over territory before the breeding season. At the Long Pit we found the Black-Necked Grebe again but way out in the middle ( apologies for a couple of grainy record shots ). A very white looking bird nearby was I thought the male Goldeneye which has been around but on looking at the photo later I had been fooled by a distant preening Great Crested Grebe, well it was half a mile away. Little else to report, no passage, no Wheatears again, just a calling Red-Legged Partridge near Ternery Pool, a displaying Little Ringed Plover on Harbour Pool West, and a flock of 120-150 Starlings on the brambles, no doubt off east any time soon, but iridescently resplendent in the sun. Not enough for a good murmuration but they did circle around as a flock a few times before dropping back in. Interestingly our two pairs of house Starlings spend the whole year with us, roosting under the eaves at the same holes they nest in.

CLIFF END AND PETT POOLS

23 March 2021 On Sunday the 21st I went down onto Cliff End beach to check out the Raven situation. As I arrived a party of 10 Brents went past east and on the tide-line were an adult and a 3rd winter Herring Gull for those who appreciate nice plumage comparisons. Whilst on the beach, of note, there was a steady passage east of small flocks of Chaffinches ( 400+ in total ). I could, however, not find the probable Raven’s nest though two Ravens were whizzing around, one giving territorial calls. I wondered if the four days of gales recently had damaged or destroyed the nest which might explain why I could not find it. Anyway I returned to the beach today the 23rd armed with a copy of the photo I originally took of the nest on the 7th March and of course matching the tree line I soon found it, still there, it was much further west in the Fairlight direction than I thought when I was looking on Sunday. Annoyingly the Ravens were not around today but this is the main lambing season around here so they could be otherwise occupied with afterbirths etc. The Fulmars were active as usual along the Cliffs and two of the usual Waders were on the tide-line. I then headed east along the beach to a quiet Pett Pools, no sign of the Whitefronts today but both GBBGulls and a pair of LBBGulls were by the Pools. A hoped for Wheatear along the sea wall was not to be found – where are they this year?, very late, although a Chiffchaff was singing in my garden in the morning.

IN SEARCH OF THE BNG

21 March 2021 That is the search for the BNG not the BFG not wishing to confuse Roald Dahl fans. News during the last week was of a Black-Necked Grebe or two at the RHNR. So yesterday I popped over in the morning to try and see one or both. Starting at the Long Pit on the Reserve the usual Pochard and Tufted Ducks were around and a male Goldeneye was out in the middle ( worst head-on photo ever ). But I quickly found the BNGrebe, which was often diving and I did manage a couple of shots until annoyingly a Great Crested Grebe surfaced close to it and freaked it out. It the scuttled across the water and headed far out into the middle. The rather poor shots in dodgy light that I did get suggested a bird near to summer plumage whereas JT had a good photo a few days earlier of probably another bird at the North end of Castle Water only in half moult towards summer plumage. Both birds have again been seen today, Sunday. On my excursion later yesterday I did not find the second bird at Castle Water but it allowed me a few photos of assorted Corvids, a male pied wagtail on Camber Castle and an odd washed out pale head looking Meadow Pipit on one of the fences that CD had seen a little earlier near the Castle. Probably my worst photo shoot trip so far but you can’t win all the time. For Spoonbill fans it has still been reported around on the Reserve during the last few days although AP and I did not see it ourselves last Wednesday.

UP-ENDING GEESE

19 March 2021 I know Mute Swans do it and certain Ducks do it but I can’t remember seeing Geese do it. Pett Pools were less cold today with the wind swinging round to the east and Pete Rouse PR and I discussed the slow spring migration season whilst scanning the Pools. For those who do not know, the Windmill and associated building on the Hill behind the Cormorant Pool is a Recording Studio once owned ( maybe still is? ) by Paul McCartney. Migration today still only consisted of one Meadow Pipit, four Pied Wagtails and a few Chaffinches going east. Next week should bring westerly winds, thankfully. A defecating Black-headed Gull flew past but most of the interest was in the Geese, five species today including two fly around Egyptians. A party of ten Greater White-Fronted Geese dropped onto the back of the Main Pool and seven of them drifted over to the south east corner into an inlet already occupied by Canadas, Greylags, and a lone Barnacle Goose that has been around for a couple of weeks. This is the closest I have been to the Whitefronts this winter, surely they will be gone soon, but they surprised me by up-ending in the shallows, new behaviour for me. The Manky Duck group was being fed soon after with all four Mankys present. A Pied Wagtail on the Sea Wall was possibly a White Wagtail but the back did not really seem pale enough so maybe just a female Pied.

THE SPOON IS AWOL

17 March 2021 On yet another bitter morning AP and I headed over to the RHNR to check on the location of the Spoonbill and in passing to see if there was still another at Pett Pools. We could not find one at either site although one was seen at the RHNR yesterday and is probably there somewhere, just AWOL today. So it looks more than likely that there was only ever one which had paid a brief visit to Pett Pools the other day before returning to the RHNR. Meanwhile at the RHNR the GBBGull pair were again guarding their nesting spot on the Martello Tower with a Mistle Thrush nearby. On Flat Beach there was only a small Golden Plover flock but some are now showing signs of summer plumage. About 25 Sandwich Terns were with the roosting Oystercatchers on the Ternery Pool. Over at Harbour Pool West displaying Black Headed Gulls and Ringed Plover were in evidence as well as a lone female Little Ringed Plover. No other spring migrants were seen but a few Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails and Chaffinches moved through. All in all still very quiet but not surprising with the north wind blowing.

THE SPOON IS BACK

15 March 2021 Yes, it really is back. Last October and November there was a long staying 1st winter Spoonbill at Pett Pools which eventually moved onto the RHNR and which has been there ever since. Today however, thanks to another heads-up from JT who saw it earlier this morning, it appears to have returned to Pett Pools. I thought that I ought to go down to check it out in a cold north wind. On arriving I could find no sign of it at the Roadside Pool. A fly past Little Egret showed off the bone structure in its nearside wing, strange I did not know that my camera had an X-ray function. Yesterday’s Whitefront Geese were again behind the Pool and as it was getting towards high tide there was a good sized Gull roost, again mostly immature Herring Gulls. Over at the back of the Cormorant Pool I did find a very distant white blob on one leg, a typical Spoonbill sleeping position, so I assumed that this was the Spoonbill. Not expecting any better views I headed back to the Roadside Pool. On the way some Wigeon were close enough to the main road for some photos and by the Main Pool entrance were the expected Duck Ensemble waiting to be fed. This time I had to rattle the gate to wake them up but four Manky Ducks including the two white ones were with the other Mallards. As I suspected yesterday one is enormous, definitely a Manky Mallard Cross on steroids. To my surprise as I reached the western end of the Roadside Pool the Spoonbill appeared in flight and dropped behind some reeds. From a different angle I could see that it was actually feeding in a narrow channel quite happily. It will be interesting to see how long it stays this time. The last two photos are of the three adult Spoonbills which recently visited the RHNR Salt Pool briefly with the 1st winter bird showing behind them. Barry Yates thought that they might have kidnapped the 1st winter bird and taken it off to Norfolk or the Netherlands, but apparently not, it is now at Pett Pools.

Addendum However Catherine Emmitt says that “…..and back at RHNR at 3:45pm this same afternoon, unless it’s a second one. In the Pool behind Harbour Barns ” so the jury is still out. I last saw mine at Pett Pools at 11.03am and it is only 3 miles to the Barn Pools as the Crow ( Spoonbill ) flies into the RHNR so it could be the same bird or there are two, time will tell.

DURING AND AFTER THE GALES

14 March 2021 Four days of gales were followed by relative calm today. The first photos show the angry sea with just the odd gull, a winter plumage Common Gull and 1st winter Herring Gull, batting their way west into the wind. A group of Brent Geese did drop onto the Roadside Pool on the Level to join the Coots and Wigeon. Otherwise it was too windy to hold even the binoculars steady never mind a camera. Today was much calmer, but you would think that four days of gales might have brought something onto the Level but no, just the usual suspects, apart from the two usual White Ducks and a very large Manky Mallard type duck, unfortunately no Mallard close by for comparisons. Google Manky Ducks, they really do exist. Numbers generally of the over-wintering birds are dropping, Curlew down to 60, Redshank down to 5, Wigeon down to 60 odd and Lapwing, Ruff, and Golden Plover absent all together. Greater White–Fronted Geese 12 were still around. There was a rather agitated Carrion Crow displaying on one of the groynes apparently to itself because I could not see another one around – photo into the sun hence the silhouette. The main difference this morning was the thousand plus Gulls, mostly Herring on the shore and on the moorlog no doubt after the crustaceans, starfish etc. that had been washed up with the storms. As the tide came in the Gulls either moved out onto the sea or landed on the Main Pool to drink and preen before returning to the sea. The flock which left the Main Pool later appeared to have very few adult Herring Gulls amongst them, mostly immatures.

PETE AT THE POOLS

08 March 2021 Nice to see Pete Rouse on the sea wall again, his first trip out since last December. He is the local expert on Pett Pools, having visited regularly for 40+++ years. Near flat calm today but atrocious light and most birds were too far away so just regard the photos today as record shots only. It was two hours after high tide and the roosting bank on the far side of the Roadside Pool was practically deserted, weird. Fortunately there were a few other things going on. Five Sandwich Terns flew past towards Rye Harbour, but I was so excited I forgot to get a record shot. Two Bearded Tits were flitting about in the reeds. Out on the pastures a Raven was pulling away on a bloody carcass of something or other with an attentive Buzzard waiting its turn nearby. Grey Plover, Turnstones, and Dunlin were awaiting the appearance of sand and moorlog. I have never seen a Grey Plover on top of a breakwater post before. On the sea there were still 50+ Great Crested Grebes and a few Red-Throated Divers ( photo of one and a photo of what I usually get, either just diving or gone under already ). There was some distant display activity by the local pair of Marsh Harriers over one of the reed beds and a flock of 12 Greater White-fronted Geese was doing a flypast at one point. Pete had also seen 8 Velvet Scoter but they were two miles out by the time I got there. I will get a good view one day.

MANIC RAVEN BEHAVIOUR

07 March 2021 Raven activity over my house at Cliff End, Pett Level seems to have increased during the last two weeks. Today, twice, Buzzards overhead were swiftly dealt with by a Raven flying in rapidly from the west after being alerted by my house Herring Gulls. I could hear the down-stroke whoosh of the Ravens’ wings as it bolided into position for an attack. It occurred to me that such behaviour might mean a nest nearby. Normally they nest somewhere much further west along the cliffs in the Hastings Country Park, maybe two pairs. So I headed on down to the beach at low tide. Sure enough there was a very noisy Raven patrolling the tree line to the west above the cliffs. Strangely one of the pairs of Fulmars was occupying a ledge with a large stick nest structure new this year but typical of a deserted Raven’s nest, some of the other Fulmars were hanging on to very precarious sloping ledges. I only counted 8 pairs, there seems to be a lack of suitable nesting sites this year after all the cliff falls. Back to the Raven, it glided towards what looks like an old crow’s nest in the trees above the cliffs, a close up shows another Raven head facing to the right on the nest with one wing up, ready to leave. Both birds then flew a short distance and took up lookout positions on two straggly bits of a nearby tree before gliding off. So it looks good for a Raven’s nest but I will have to confirm it in the coming days and weeks. Other photos are of a Curlew and Oystercatchers on the tide-line, just because…..