22nd April

Took the short walk to Tesco at lunch time to get my lunch in the small copse by the car park I found a Male Pied Flycatcher,

Then on the way way back to Chichester I went via the north wall at Pagham harbour nature reserve to see the Pectoral Sandpiper which I found and some one let me have a look through there scope as I only had my bins with me hoping not to miss to much at Pagham this Spring, Did miss the Dotterel at Climping last weekend as I was back in London still you can not see everything

Monday 20th

Left home in London at 1/4 to six this morning for my Monday train trip back down south to work in Littlehampton
Have a nice sleep on and off until we reach Billinghurst then I'm into some bird watching from the train birds seen this morning included Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Starling, Kestrel, then as we past between Arundal & Amberly I had a Common Crane in the fields by the side of the railway and has we approached the junction at ford there was a nice male Perigrine sitting in a field to my right
other birds Herring gull, Black Headed Gull, Magpie, so not a bad start to the week,
Then when I got back to Chichester tonight Had the Male Perigrine sitting on the roof top opposite my flat

Saturday 18th April Day out in Kent

Dungeness & Grove Ferry

Back in London for the weekend so I decided I would go birding with my mate we have now been birding together for over 30 years

We decided that a day out in Kent was on the books but where do we start Dung or Grove, We left my house and headed for the motorway just as we reached the M25 I looked at the Pager and found that there was a Hoopoe at Dungeness so now we new where we would be going first. So after a quick and enjoyably breakfast Dung here we come

Dungeness
On arriving at the observatory we parked and had a walk around the mout as we could not see any birders looking for the Hoopoe there were a small group of birders looking in the shrub(we found out later that they were looking for a nightingale) our walk around the mout produced very little Linnets, Meadow Pipits and we found 3 Whitethroats in a bush as walked towards them 2 flew of leaving 1 in the bush after a short while we realised that it was a Lesser Whitethroat but not showing very well but it was singing. Then I noticed some birders coming back across from the trapping area as they got closer we asked about the Hoopoe and they told us where to look after short while we found the Hoopoe but it then flew the other side of the power station road into the desert area, Now we had a look around the shrub but there was not a lot more to see in the way of migrants so it was of to do a sea watch as there had been a few Skuas seen earlier in the morning, But no luck with Skuas we did have Gannet, Kittiwake, A small movement of Sandwich Terns, and some Common Terns over the patch, other birds seen where 18 Whimbrel 1 Bar tailed Godwit,25 Common Scoter. Flying by. We the drove back past the ARC pits where had a Little Ringed Plover, Spotted Redshank, Our next stop was the RSPB reserve to see what else might be about not a lot on the main reserve but there was a few bits to see on the ARC pits on arriving at the car park we set of down the track we could hear Cetti’s Warbler & Sedge Warbler singing, After a short while we heard a Cuckoo but we did not manage to find it, My mate had gone on a head of me then called to say he thought he had a Reed Warbler I caught up with him and after a little while we did manage to find the Reed Warbler, We had a Marsh Harrier flying around over the back of the pits, We then had a look from one of the hides and found 3 more Little Ringed Plover, & a nice Male Garganey, Other birds seen in the Dungeness area Herring Gull, Common Gull, Greater Black Backed Gull, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Shell Duck, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Woodpigeon, & a large number of Stock Doves so it was now time to leave Dungeness and head for Grove Ferry where there had been some migrants seen

Grove Ferry Stodmarsh Nature Reserve
On arriving we parked and started the walk to the viewing area I spoke to a birder who gave us some information our first bird of note was another Lesser Whitethroat but a bit different from the one at Dung as this was showing and singing very well, we then had a look at the viewing area where we found 6 Greenshanks, 1 Ruff, Redshank, 1 Little Ringed Plover & a Yellow Wagtail and yet another nice Male Gargeny ( must say I do like watching Gargeny) we also had Swalloow, Sand Martin flying over the water, Then took a walk around to the Hide where we found 3 more Little Ringed Plover & Hose Martin,
We now decided to have a drive around the back roads to see if we could find Nightingale but with no luck we did have what we thought might be a Garden Warbler but could not find any where to park to try and locate it

So all in all a nice and pleasant days birding

Easter Monday

Spent the afternoon doing a walk around part of Pagham local nature reserve as we passed the ferry pool on our way to church norton we had a Hobby fly over we started at the car park at church norton took the path down to the Harbour then went right towards the sea in the trees and scrub we had  3 Blackcap , a Garden Warbler then in the bushes by the paddocks I had a Lesser Whitethroat there were also Chiffchaff, and Willow Warbler. We then took the path along to the severals were we had Swallows and House martins flying over the water at the path between the severals we had 8 Whitethroats 4 Sedge Warblers and a Cetti's Warbler singing, We then took the path between the severals back through the fields were we had more Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers on the corner near the farm we had a Cetti's Warbler sitting on the side of a bush nice to see as you nearly only hear them, We then took the path back to the lane and back to the car park.

We then took a look at Selsey Bill but there was not a lot going on

Buttewrflies seen today Comma, Large White, Peacock, & Red Admiral 

Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th April

Saturday

Spent a hour and a half at Selsey bill not a lot going on did find the Purple Sandpiper on the beach in with the Turnstones and a Common Tern plus more Swallows coming in of the sea.

Our next stop was the car park at Church Norton for lunch we had a look around the church yard and a Osprey flew over the harbour not much in the way of migrants and as it was starting to rain we headed in land. Our next stop was Chichester Gravel Pits I decided we would have a look at the pits going in from North Mundham, We took a short stroll keeping a eye on the weather a few Chiffchaffs, Blackcap and plenty common birds to see

Sunday

Well after keeping a eye on the pager yesterday we set of for what in any ones mind would be a twitch our first port of call was Winchester Hill for the White Throated Sparrow My sister who has been on some of my birding outings over the years said she would drive me there other wise I do not think I would have got there on Public Transport this would be her first full blown twitch after taking the wrong turn we finally got to Winchester hill we arrived at about 11 o’clock by 11-30 we had good views of the bird and managed to scope it for a few people I did not take any pictures but with the bank of cameras I’m sure there will be some good ones on the net, As we where leaving we had a Common Buzzard Then we drove to Farlington Marshes this is a good winter spot and also good for migrants in the spring and autumn, Migrants seen Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Yellow Wagtail, Whitethroat, other birds of note included Bearded Tit, Spoonbill, Peregrine, Black Tailed Godwits, a raft of Great Crested Grebes, Med Gull, Cetti’s Warbler, Common Buzzard,  plus the common species you would expect to see

Sunday 5th April

Took a stroll along Climping beach

Where we had Wheatear, Grey partridge, Sandwich tern. After we crossed the road from the car park I scanned the paddocks sitting on a post in the middle was a Male Black Redstart, We then took a stroll along the road leading to mill house where I had a Swallow come in of the sea, just as we where leaving we had 2 Common Buzzards