Lewes Brooks and Swanborough

The footpath between Iford and Lewes isn’t one I’m familiar with, so with the nearby RSPB reserve looking productively soggy I thought it was time for a visit. There are decent views (if not smells) from the path where it runs behind the sewage treatment works at Swanborough. From here most of the flood can [...]

Alpine Swift etc – Weekend roundup

A rush of activity around the Ouse this weekend, worthy of a roundup. Highlight was the ALPINE SWIFT seen at Rodmell this morning – the first locally since the twitchable Lewes bird two years ago. Also reported today from Lewes Brooks: two White Wagtails (Andrew and Ian Whitcomb), two Med Gulls, a pair of Garganey [...]

Goosanders at Arlington Reservoir

Two redhead Goosanders again at Arlington Reservoir yesterday morning (Chris Barfield, SOS sightings). I couldn’t find them between 9.30 and 11am today – just four Tufted Duck, around 20+ Wigeon, half-a-dozen Teal, a few Yellowhammers, one Reed Bunting and a female Bullfinch.

Snipe + buntings at Alciston

A late-afternoon visit to my old patch at Alciston made me happy – in the tiny reedbed I used to keep an eye on, a single Common Snipe, at least a dozen Reed Buntings going to roost, and half a dozen Yellowhammers in the nearby hedgerows (with perhaps twice that number in surrounding fields). Good [...]

Migrants at Alciston

A brief wander up to my favourite piece of the escarpment at Alciston revealed: Swallow 2 Yellowhammer 4+ Lesser Redpoll 1 Chiffchaff 2+ Blackbird c. 12 Song Thrush c. 8 Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 Common + BH Gull c.200 The concentration of thrushes, many of which were flighty and vocal, seemed to indicate migrants rather [...]

Still Plenty at Rodmell

Lots of the good stuff still at Rodmell this afternoon, in a biting easterly. First up, a Buzzard, a Mistle Thrush and a few Fieldfares around the car park at Monk’s House, then a pair of Peregrines chasing down (but failing to catch) an unidentified wader – the female bird was later seen making off [...]

Rodmell Brooks

I found this Buzzard sat out in a field and then perched in adjacent tree near Southease as I headed along the C7 towards Rodmell. Two Water Rail and a Kingfisher seen in the brook alongside the path, a Buzzard was perched on a bush top looking back towards the village a Sparrowhawk on a [...]

Rodmell Brooks

Late afternoon over a very cold and dreary brooks – 1 Common Buzzard sitting as usual on the telegraph poles leading northwest,60+ Corn Bunting,Yellow  Hammer,Reed Bunting,Linnet,Redwing and Stonechat around the stubble field and the male Merlin moving over the area northof the path.

Rodmell Brooks

Between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. :- plenty of Corn Bunting, Redwing, Meadow Pipits and Yellow hammer around the stubble field and in the hawthorns on the north side of the path to the river.Also around Stonechat, Common Buzzard, Little Egret, Fieldfare and a not very showy ringtailed Hen Harrier a couple of hundred metres north [...]

Alciston 12.10.08

A warm misty morning, with the prospect of the sun burning through at any moment. In the end, it didn’t do so until the very end of our hour-long walk in Alciston. The village street was quiet, with House Sparrows and Goldfinches most obvious, plus a ragged male Blackbird bathing noisily in a trough at [...]