24 April 2022 Back to Scotney Gravel Pits today with AP for the first time in two months. To mix things up we did the circuit clockwise instead of anti-clockwise which meant we passed the New Diggings at the beginning and not the end. A Little Ringed Plover was heard and later seen and a Green Sandpiper was feeding in one of the Diggings Pools. Nearby on a ploughed field were three Whimbrel, well camouflaged. Further on we saw a pair of Marsh Harriers over the usual Reedbed and Avocets are back on the Pit where they normally breed. We then came across our hoped for Yellow Wagtails, about 10 in total, 2 Corn Buntings, and 6 Tree Sparrows, mostly out near Red House, all as expected. We saw 59 species overall and on the return leg came across two feeding flocks of 60 migrant Whimbrel and 40 Bar-tailed Godwits on the grass on the east side of the Main Pit, as well as a lone Brent Goose and another Green Sandpiper. Two each of Swallows and Sand Martins were also seen and the two islands were as last year occupied by either Herring Gulls with a few LesserBbGulls nearby and by Cormorants along with one pair of GreaterBbGulls. A few faded Peacock Butterflies were seen as well as many smart Small Coppers.
22 April 2022 At the RHNR this time of the year, passage waders are expected. So I decided to do a full circuit, going in all the five hides and into two of them twice, so seven in all. It was low tide so Flat Beach was relatively quiet but on one of the Salt Marsh gulleys was a group consisting of Bar-tailed Godwits with a Sanderling and nearby a bathing Whimbrel. Yesterday nearly 2500 Bar-tails headed east past Dungeness so it was to be expected that some would drop into Rye Bay to feed and rest, likewise for the Whimbrel, it is just that time of year. Avocets are more likely just to be the breeding birds which like to roost on one leg. Fortunately I decided to continue back round to the Salt Pool where I found another very approachable group of nine Bar-tails in their summer plumage finery. A Greenshank was also calling. Soon after a small flock of another eight Whimbrel and two Ruffs landed nearby again giving good views of some of them. Over at Ternery Pool Tufted Ducks were chilling out and Black-headed Gulls were squabbling over a small island in front of one of the hides. The main attraction was the flock of near 200 Sandwich Terns roosting on one of the Black-headed Gull nesting islands. The Terns all took to the air when a Peregrine drifted over but soon settled again. Over at the Barn Pools it was good to get good close up views of Little Ringed Plovers with a Ringed Plover nearby for comparison. Finally round at Castle Water two Ravens flew past and the BnGrebe was present as usual and a distant Hobby was near the Viewpoint. A pair of LesserBbGulls were on top of one of the factory roofs probably scouting out a nesting place. Too many photos but it makes a change to get close to waders, eighty bird species were seen in all, helped by all the expected warblers. Still no Wheatears however, not even the usual RNHR breeding pairs.
19 April 2022 I had a quick look at Pett Pools at high tide today. Winter visitors are all but gone, only 2 Curlew and two Wigeon remaining. Reed Warblers are newly arrived and are singing now and Common Terns are calling in for a fly around on their way to the breeding site up the Pannel Valley. A few groups of Med Gulls flew over. There is still a large Gull roost, Cormorants are on the usual pool edge, and a few Marsh Harriers were circling around, otherwise quiet. However, there is a certain amount of sexual harassment going on at the Roadside Pool. Normally it is the Gadwall, three or four males chasing a female but today it was the Tufted Ducks and Pochard involved. Five or six Tufted males were surrounding a lone female which had to dive frequently to avoid them. Worse still were the Pochard, eight males after one female. I do not know why there is such an imbalance, very confusing. Maybe in each case it is an established pair being harassed by other un-paired males. There were six Little Egrets behind the Main Pool and four Great Crested Grebes still out at sea. A distant Buzzard was seen and three Red Kites heading east were reported earlier.
13 April 2022 Off into the RHNR again this morning from the Dogs Hill Road end, rather dull. At the very western end of the Reserve I saw my first Whitethroat of the year, two more later and at Cadborough Cliff, Rye there were another four seen. In fact looking at the SOS Sightings page there were Whitethroat seen today for the first time all over Sussex as well as a few Reed Warblers, so it must have been a substantial fall of migrants overnight. It was very odd near Dogs Hill to find a Brent Goose on top of the shingle ridge looking at me from only ten metres away. It did however fly off strongly. The next oddity at Harbour Farm Pool east was a GBbGull which had stolen a large egg, a goose egg perhaps, and then flew off with it. Avocets are present on the island but I am not sure if that is where they will breed. Then at the back of the Ternery Pool were two Red-leggedPartridges, mythical birds on the Reserve. Over at the west end of Flat Beach islands are being occupied by Black-headed Gulls already and in the distance were three Common Terns roosting with a Grey Plover. On Ternery Pool itself a couple of Snipe were hiding in the vegetation and the pair of Common Gulls were on the usual island. A mobile flock of about 100 Sandwich Terns finally landed on one of the islands, difficult to see from one of the hides, but more visible distantly from the other. Pre-breeding behaviour was seen with birds flying in with what looked like sand eels to present to their mates. Still no Wheatears or Hirundines.
10 April 2022 Better weather yesterday so I headed down onto Cliff End Beach at low tide. Quiet now with just two Curlew, 3 Oystercatchers and one Little Egret as well as the usual Fulmars. The Fulmars are still sitting on unsuitable perches though some have bagged good ledges. About 11 pairs seem to be present spread out along the cliffs. Always nice to see them gliding around. At one point two Grey Herons headed west above the tide line and a Raven shot out to intercept them and see them on their way. The Herons did not seem too impressed. Further along at or close to last year’s nest up in the trees above the cliff line I could see a large black blob which probably means the Ravens are nesting there again this year. I will keep an eye on them. A slab of bone-bed from the cliffs had two bits of fossils on the surface but of what I do not know, possibly fish scales. Yet again no sign of any Summer migrants.
Today AP and I set out at 7 am for a circular of the RHNR round Castle Water and back through the Wood, Long Pit and the Salt Pool. Surprisingly the first bird seen flying around calling was a Little Ringed Plover not far from the Viewpoint, they are usually never anywhere near this area. After seeing a Sparrowhawk and two male Marsh Harriers, one a sub-male, we arrived at the north end of Castle Water. In the adjoining fields lambing was in full swing and juv. GreaterBbGulls were squabbling over after births and a dead lamb, a Raven also flew over. A fine pair of LesserBbGulls were close by, showing nice size differences between the sexes. At the north end of Castle Water itself both a Black Swan and a female Goldeneye were out of the usual. We then had our first flock of Linnets for the year, but only 10. From the Castle Water Hide the resident BnGrebe was seen out in the middle with a pair of TuftedDucks. A Cormorant was having a tussle with a branch for its nest but lost the battle and could not take off from the water. At Camber Castle up to eight Egyptian Geese were flying around and one pair landed on the battlements. At least we had heard two pairs of Sedge Warblers and a few Blackcaps and Willow Warblers so maybe Spring is here but again no Hirundines. In the Wood a Tree Creeper was calling as well as Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers. There was little else of note until we reached the Salt Pool where the White-fronted Goose was in residence with the Greylag as well as two Ruffs and a Whimbrel at last was seen there later on in the day. A GreaterBbGull was occupying its usual nesting place on top of the car park Martello Tower.
06 April 2022 Annoyingly I have yet to come across a Wheater this Spring. However, a friend Martin King managed to find an interesting article in the Naturalist section of the Field 1894 no. 2170 relating to the history of the Wheatear in Sussex. In the article referring to John Ray in English Proverbs 1742 it states that Sussex was renowned for the delicacy of ” the Bourn Wheatear “, the best of its kind. It refers specifically to a Wheatear taken on the South Downs near Eastbourne by a device shown below by Southdown shepherds in the 15th and 16th centuries. Such Wheatears were fattest when the ears on the wheat were ripe, but the name itself is more likely a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon name for them ” hvit ears ” which translates as ” white tail or rump “.
Gilbert White in 1773 had written about the abundance of Wheatears on the Downs at certain seasons and that the numbers of birds taken was a matter of notoriety and also commented on their resemblance in gastronomic terms to the French Ortolan Buntings. In the time of Oliver Cromwell the then Lord Mayor of Eastbourne was saved by his wife from a visit by Lieut. Hopkins who was looking for evidence that the Lord Mayor was a royalist. His wife served a prodigious Bourn Wheatear pie, giving the Lord Mayor time to destroy any incriminating evidence.
Willugby in 1676 in his ” Ornithologia ” later translated in to English by Ray describes the method of catching Wheatears on the South Downs. He stated that ” The Sussex shepherds use the following art. They dig long turves of earth and lay them across the holes whereout they were dug, and about the middle of them hang snares made of horsehair. The bird being naturally very timorous if a hawk happens to appear, or but a cloud pass over and intercept the sunbeams, hastily hide themselves in the holes under the turves and are caught by the neck.” Catches by a single shepherd could be as high as 84 dozen in a day with birds being sent to market as far away as Tunbridge.
In 1831 Yarrell and Blomefield visited the South Downs and talked to local shepherds and found that the practice was still going on. They ate Wheatear pie in Eastbourne that very night. They also bought one of the horsehair traps off one of the shepherds. One must assume that the practice continued throughout the 19th century and possibly into the 20th century but hopefully for the Wheatears sake it has now stopped but you never know. A beautiful bird is the Wheatear and it deserved better, it is a wonder that we still have them. Photos are of RHNR Wheatears on migration last September.
03 April 2022 Cold and only 5 degrees but bright down at Pett Pools. Still no summer visitors on view and the numbers of winter visitors are steadily going down, today at high tide only 25 Curlew, 4 Oystercatchers, 2 Redshank with very yellow /orange legs in the bright sunlight, maybe first winter non-breeders, and thirty odd Wigeon. Three Brent Geese feeding at the back of the Pools was unexpected, near to a female Marsh Harrier sat on the edge of the reeds. A Barnacle Goose has been around but I did not see it today. At one point near the Cormorant Pool four Marsh Harriers were all up in the air together after which the resident pair started displaying, which involved the male dropping in from height and the female turning upside down as practice for the food passes needed later on in the season. The two resident white Aylesbury Ducks had a fly around with a Mallard before settling back on the Roadside Pool.
RX COASTAL BIRDS 