Staines Reservoir, Sunday 14th January 2007

After the appalling gales of the previous week Sunday dawned fine and bright with only light winds. Five SBC members and two welcome visitors made up an amicable group. We met at the west end of the causeway and conducted a gentle shuffle to the east end and back over the following two hours.

The highlight was without doubt a Great Northern Diver, which had been present with a second bird for over a week. Initially it was located at the most northerly tip of the north basin. The bird spent 95% of the time submerged, so finding it and 'scoping' it before it vanished again was a challenge. Frustration gave way to amazement however, when on reaching the Ashford end of the causeway it (or another?) appeared close in at a range of 25 yards. It now spent most of the time on the surface and swam alongside us all the way back. At one stage it appeared to have some fishing gut caught in it's mouth, but later appeared to have shaken it free.

The low sun made duck ID on the south basin difficult but flypasts by a male Goldeneye were impressive in superb light. We had good views of Shoveler and Wigeon on the north basin, while Ruddy Duck (rapidly becoming a rarity!), Tufted Duck, Pochard and Mallard completed the Anatidae. Gull ID was practised on four species (Black-headed, Common, Great Black-backed and Herring) all sitting on one of the tern rafts.

Not a fantastic species list overall, but a very pleasant morning.

Hugh Evans

Pagham Harbour, February 11th 2007

I was pleasantly surprised when seven members, including the membership secretary, and two non-members arrived at Church Norton car park. The ten of us headed towards the harbour, where the tide was completely out. After scanning the common waders, we headed down the harbour to hopefully find Avocet.
We had only got a little way, when one sharp eyed member of the group picked out a Peregrine sat down on the other side of the harbour. Despite the distance we all enjoyed good and prolonged views of this ever popular raptor. A nice start to the trip!

Over the next couple of hours most of the common waders and duck were seen, including four Avocet feeding in one the tidal channels. As the sky darkened we headed back to the cars for lunch. Two members of the group, however, skipped lunch and carried on. Although they got a touch wet they were easily compensated by an elegant Spotted Redshank!

After lunch the rest of the group headed to the sea, where we eventually found a party of 10+ Mediterranean Gulls feeding on the shore line. A Cetti's Warbler briefly gave away its presence in the wooded area by the Severals, by briefly singing, but unfortunately it did not sing again and we could not locate it either. We eventually returned to the cars, where all agreed it had been a thoroughly enjoyable day.

David Smith

Whitmoor Common April 2009

Eight participants joined me for the Field Meeting to Whitmoor Common on Sunday April 19th. The weather was generally sunny but with a cool northerly breeze in more exposed areas.

First bird was a House Martin over the car park before we set off along a path that was rather muddier than expected after a couple of recent rainy days. The first of several Great Spotted Woodpeckers was heard calling but we did not get a good view of any of them. Quite a few minutes were spent watching a male Sparrowhawk performing a magnificent elaborate sky-dance with spectacular undulating loops and stoops and he was briefly joined by a much larger female before both hurtled down into some woods. Several Willow Warblers had arrived and were singing their delightful, gentle tune and we managed to pin one down for decent view. A couple of Chiffchaffs were also present and in song.

An unexpected mammal sighting in some horse fields came in the form of some South American cameloids which I think were Alpacas rather than Llamas. Following the most severe winter for many years some heathland birds seem to have suffered particularly badly and the population of the sedentary Dartford Warbler on Whitmoor seems to have been completely wiped out; we did not find any sign of one at all. However a male Stonechat was nicely perched and a Skylark was singing lustily over adjacent horse pasture. A Buzzard then appeared close-by at a low height, although largely obscured by trees. Some tiny carnivorous sundews were examined then a Woodlark suddenly flew across and then perched very obliging on a nearby dead stump.

Heading across an open heathland area a pair of Linnet and another Stonechat were seen perched and then passing through a wooded area a Treecreeper was scuttling up tree trunks. Perhaps one of the most interesting birds of the morning was a Jay mewing in a quite excellent impression of a Buzzard, it certainly had me fooled until I saw it. An Orange-tip butterfly provided a further sign of the advance of Spring as the day became warmer. A noisy Nuthatch called attention to itself before finally a pair of Blackcaps both showed themselves several times darting about in the trees. A total of 28 species were recorded during the morning.

Steve Chastell