Chesworth Farm - Bird Survey

Mike Ayling: Carrion Crow 3, Goldfinch 2, Greenfinch 2, Linnet 1, Magpie 6, Starling 1, Wren 3, Bullfinch 2, Chaffinch 4, Herring Gull 10, Long-tailed Tit 2, Song Thrush 3

Eddie Bew: Robin 8, Chiffchaff 13, Wren 14, Blackbird 15, Blue Tit 11, House Sparrow 4, Woodpigeon 15, Great Tit 10, Moorhen 7, Green Woodpecker 3, Jay 2, Dunnock 6, Jackdaw 6, Canada Goose 2 (fly over), Great Spotted Woodpecker 5, Nuthatch 3, Common Buzzard 2, Goldcrest 1, Blackcap 3, Mallard 1

Rabbit 2

Warnham LNR - A Guernsey Gull

Gadwall - P. Shergold

Gadwall - P. Shergold

It has been pretty slow going at Warnham over the past few days but last night (28th Nov) produced 4 Little Egrets which came in to roost in the heronry. We regualrly have birds that winter with us and are mainly seen in the early morning and late evening however four birds is exceptional for us this early into the winter period.

Paul Shergold took some fantastic pictures of the pair of Gadwall which have been around the Reserve for a while now, however they are quite often on the golfcourse lakes or at the scrapes at the north end of the Reserve. Other highlights have mainly come from the wildfowl front with upto 23 Teal, several Shoveler, Pochard and an ever growing flock of Tufted Duck are now common place.

Herring Gull (1HN7) - Warnham LNR

The Millpond finally froze over this morning with the temperature reaching -5°C this as always meant there was a good collection of Gulls coming in to bath and rest on the ice. In amongst the gulls today was a colour-ringed bird which was ringed as an adult female in 2013 at Chouet Landfill site in Guernsey on the 23rd May 2013. It is quite amazing the distance the gulls we take for granted travel between feeding and breeding sites. This is of obvious note but what is most interesting is that this bird was also seen at at Warnham LNR on the 19/01/2015 so presumably this bird is accustomed to feeding at landfill sites and may well be using Warnham LNR and the nearby Warnham Landfill site for its wintering area. It is a fascinating story and look into a birds life, I wonder where the bird is summering, I suspect we will never know! For more information about the gull ringing which takes place in the Channel Islands why not check out the ringing groups very own website: http://guernseygulls.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Below is a map of the distance and direction that the Herring Gull has travelled:

1HN7 - Journey from Guernsey

Warnham LNR - Latest Sightings

Egyptian Goose - Warnham LNR

The excitement on the bird front has returned to reality after the shock of the visiting Avocets and the drake Goldeneye over the past few weeks. Highlights in the last few days have been a pair of Egyptian Geese which have spent most of their time at Rookwood however have ventured every morning onto the Millpond. Today they were even checking out the revamped Tern Raft and were seen copulating!

Whitethroat - Warnham LNR

The last few days have also seen the arrival of a few passage migrants and scarce breeders. The Whitethroat above fits into the latter category and appears to have set up territory on Mill Meadow in the same place as last year. I suspect it is the same bird returning to breed in the same clump of brambles but only time will tell.

Common Sandpiper - Warnham LNR

The passage migrants I mentioned above have started to arrive in numbers. Three Common Sandpipers have been moving between the Millpond and Rookwood for the last five days. They are very skittish due to there not being much bare mud to feed on at present. We have also had a Hobby, Swallow, Willow Warbler and several Swifts seen in the past week.

Coot with young - Warnham LNR

On the breeding front most of the Grey Heron chicks have now fledged including one of the bird which has been on the live Heron Nest Cam. Another pair of Grey Wagtails are feeding young and there are a couple more broods of Mallards whizzing around. The first Coot babies have arrived, initially five but in true Coot fashion they have already managed to lose one! The first juvenile Magpie of the year was also noted in the car park this morning.

On the insect front things have really started to pick up especially the odonata interest. I have found several exuvia of Hairy Dragonfly though I am yet to see an adult but this is not the case with Large Red Damselfly and Azure Damselfly which are both now on the wing. Below are a few shots of the Large Red Damselflies which have been emerging from the garden pond.

Large Red Damselfly Emerging - Warnham LNR

Teneral Large Red Damselfly - Warnham LNR

Adult Large Red Damselfly - Warnham LNR

We have had the moth trap out too and numbers have been pretty low. There have been a few bits to keep us interested however and May Bugs (Cockchafers) seem to be having a very good year with counts of 15+ in the moth trap each night.

Muslin Moth - Warnham LNR

Coxcomb Prominent - Warnham LNR

May Bug (Cockchafer Beetle) - Warnham LNR

Chesworth Farm - Birding Highlights

Spring and Autumn migration offer the best chance of finding something unusual on any of the sites in the Horsham district so extra effort is put in between the wardens and all of the regular visitors. Normally this all comes to nothing but as has been shown by the recent sightings at Warnham LNR even inland sites can produce some wonderful birds. The last couple of weeks Chesworth Farm has taken over the rarity mantle...

Redstart - Chesworth Farm (J. Everitt)

Regular visitor Eddie Bew came up with the first surprise down at the Farm in the form of this stunning male Common Redstart. It spent the day feeding along the hedgelines between Jenny Bare Legs Field, Horsham Hill Field and Chambers Field. This is a less than annual visitor to any of the Horsham sites so really was a fantastic find.

Nightingale - Chesworth Farm (M. Munday)

The best bird of the year at the Farm so far has to go to the stunning male Nightingale which was found by Michael Munday. Alerted by the wonderful flutey song eventually Michael managed to get a couple of pictures of the bird perched deep in cover. This sighting was in fact the first record of Nightingale on the Farm and was lucky it was singing as it could well have gone unnoticed otherwise. Well done Michael a fantastic find.

Nightingale - Chesworth Farm (M. Munday)

Whilst making the most of watching the Common Redstart and hoping to get a slightly better picture that I got I managed to stumble across a rather lovely Red Fox which was hunting up and down Chambers Field an the allotments. I couldn't see what it was catching though I suspect it was earthworms.

Red Fox - Chesworth Farm (J. Everitt)

MEGA Birds at Warnham LNR

Goldeneye - Warnham LNR

On Thursday I was out doing the hide rounds first thing in the morning and was just scanning through the Tufted Duck flock counting them as I went thinking how strange it was that there were quite a few more than on Wednesday when I clocked eyes on this stunning 1st summer drake GOLDENEYE. This was a first for me at Warnham LNR but I know there have been several other records in the past. Still it was as stunning looking duck which showed nicely all day even displaying to female Tufted Ducks on occasions.

Goldeneye - Warnham LNR

Goldeneye - Warnham LNR

After this excitement I was pretty much satisfied for the spring! At Warnham LNR we are far enough inland that we very rarely get much by way of really exciting passage birds such as Goldeneye, Black-necked Grebes or any waders so this really was a dream inland bird.

Avocet - Warnham LNR (1st for Reserve)

What happened on Saturday morning was even more amazing...Stuart was doing a birdwatching course early on Saturday in which he discovered a pair of Avocets which dropped in shortly after 9.30am and finally departed at c3.00pm. It was a truly unbelievable sight and one I hope I see again whilst working at the Reserve. Both birds did a lot of sleeping but it was fantastic to see them wake up and actually feeding using their unique upturned bills. The pair of Avocet represent the first record for Warnham LNR and I believe for the Horsham area too.

Common Tern - Warnham LNR

On Tuesday morning we heard the familiar call of the Common Tern and sure enough Stuart then clapped eyes onto the first returning bird of the spring. It soon settled down onto the goal post in front of Tern Hide and even made a few forays over to the new Tern Raft to check it out for size!

Common Tern Inspecting the Nesting Raft

The final surprise of the mad period was the arrival of a Redstart or quite possibly two Redstarts. The female type bird pictured below spent the evening hunting around Mill Meadow hopping from Bramble to Bramble avidly catching flies. A male was reported earlier in the day but sadly I could not relocate it in the evening.

Redstart - Warnham LNR

So this begs the question...will this be the end of the brilliant run of birds at Warnham or will it carry on. Other highlights over the period were a flyover Hobby, 6 Sand Martins and a flyover Linnet but more on these to come soon.

Warnham LNR - A Busy Weekend

A very busy week at Warnham LNR with plenty of new bits for you to come and look at. The bird nesting season is in full swing and we already have some little balls of fluff running around! At the top end of the Reserve on the new Scrape which is viewable form the 2nd Boardwalk or the new Sandpiper Hide Mrs Mallard has been proudly showing off her 11 little ducklings.

We have also had a couple of other visitors to the new Scrape which should start to slowly drop in water level as the year progresses. The first of the new visitors was this stunning male Shoveler. I am pretty sure it is the male which has spent the winter on the millpond relocating but he certainly seems to be happy there as is regularly heard calling to attract a mate.

Shoveler - Sandpiper Hide

Shoveler - Sandpiper Hide

This morning there was also a Stock Dove drinking from the edge of the stream as well as pair of Mandarin which were mating on the island. A flyover Common Buzzard sent the Mallard ducklings scattering for cover but they soon reappeared to carry on feeding on the emergent weeds.

Stock Dove - Warnham LNR

We have also had a pair of Grey Wagtails which seem to be finding plenty to eat along the edges of the muddy scrape. Whilst on the subject of Grey Wagtails we seem to be blessed with three pairs this year and our recorder Jo Glossop managed to take this stunning image last week.

Grey Wagtail - J. Glossop

We have also had a number of migrant birds arriving with two White Wagtails flying over on Saturday morning as well as numerous Chiffchaff's spread all around the Reserve. On Friday we heard our first Blackcap of this spring followed by another on Saturday morning in the Courtyard.

Chiffchaff - Warnham LNR

What will this week bring...well hopefully some baby Grey Heron's on the nest camera. The first egg is due to hatch on Weds or Thurs of this week so our fingers are firmly crossed. We are also still awaiting out first hirundine of the spring so maybe that will be this week too.