Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Horsham Green Gym at Warnham LNR

Horsham Green Gym visited Warnham LNR today to carry out a task of woodland thinning and coppicing. Ryan led a group of c35 volunteers as we began to thin some of the overcrowded young Birch and Ash in the Millpond Plantation. The volunteers also made a start on the coppicing of the Hazel stands which will be used for hedge-laying later in the year.

Most of the interest on the bird front tin the first couple of hours of light this morning with the obvious highlight being another single Hawfinch over west at 7.40am. Good to see decent numbers of Redwing still moving over and the Mistle Thrush tally is slowly increasing with four birds feeding on Mill Meadow today. Again there was no sign on Sundays Great White Egret but the Little Egret was around all day. Totals from this morning are below:

Woodpigeon 242 (Over NE), Starling 47 (Over W), Redwing 226 (Over W), Fieldfare 20 (Over W), Stock Dove 9, Great Spotted Woodpecker 3, Goldfinch 9, Mistle Thrush 4, HAWFINCH 1 (Over W), Chaffinch 10, Feral Pigeon 2, Mallard 52, Coot 2, Great Crested Grebe 2, Blackbird 3, Song Thrush 5, Cormorant 7, Water Rail 3, Green Woodpecker 1, Jay 2, Little Egret 1, Greylag Goose 162, Moorhen 2.

Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Great White Egret - S. Collins

A very busy day on the Reserve with lots of people visiting and as a result a nice mixture of birds were recorded. The best bird and rarest by far today was found by Sean Collins which was a GREAT WHITE EGRET. The bird above represents only the second record of this species at Warnham. The other record was also found in the same month on the 4th October 2013. September and October seem to be the month to see the species in Sussex after it presumably disperses from its breeding sites on the near continent. The Great White Egret is a recent colonist in the UK and has become much more regular along the southern counties of England but is seldom seen this far inland.  Despite a good search in failing light we did not relocate the bird roosting so presumably it moved on before nightfall. Well done to Sean for finding and photographing this stunning bird.

The only other avian highlight of the day was a first-winter Yellow-legged Gull that dropped in with 30+ Herring Gull in the morning but soon departed towards the tip. The nets were quiet again this morning with a single Marsh Tit being the only bird of note.

Marsh Tit

Totals from today are below:

GREAT WHITE EGRET 1, Yellow-legged Gull 1, Redwing 33, Woodpigeon 91. Carrion Crow 4, Water Rail 2, Grey Wagtail 1, Pied Wagtail 1, Robin 2, Blackbird 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker 2,  Grey Heron 2, Little Egret 1, Mute Swan 1, Coot 1, Mallard 36, Black-headed Gull 49, Herring Gull 38, Tufted Duck 2, Kingfisher 1, Great Crested Grebe 2, Little Grebe 2, Moorhen 2, Chaffinch 4, Lesser Redpoll 9, Marsh Tit 1, Long-tailed Tit 8, Wren 1, Goldcrest 1, Greenfinch 4, Common Buzzard 2, Red Kite 1, Starling 80, Sparrowhawk 2, Goldfinch 4, Dunnock 3, Coal Tit 3, Pheasant 1

Red Admiral 2

Migrant Hawker 1, Common Darter 1

Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Misty Morning at Warnham LNR

A very misty and autumnal morning greeted us this morning with another frost and no chance of seeing much by way of visible migration as we couldn't even see the millpond! The only bird seen was a Kingfisher in front of the Tern Hide as seen in the photo. Eventually the warm autumn sun burnt off the mist and immediately exposed lots of overhead migration with Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Redwing, Fieldfare, Starling, Chaffinch and Goldfinch all moving over in a westerly or south-westerly direction.

Wes noted a fly-over Hawfinch later afternoon and whilst locking up the gates in the evening a single Lapwing flew over calling heading northwards and a Tawny Owl was calling from the Millpond Plantation. The warm sunshine brought the raptors out in force with Red Kite, Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk all putting appearances in during the day. It was a quiet day on the ringing front but always nice to catch a few Lesser Redpoll.

Lesser Redpoll

Totals from the day are below:

Mute Swan 1, Greylag Goose 122, Canada Goose 2, Teal 17, Mallard 37, Shoveler 2, Tufted Duck 8, Pheasant 2, Cormorant 7, Little Egret 1, Grey Heron 4, Little Grebe 3, GC Grebe 2, Red Kite 1, Sparrowhawk 2, Common Buzzard 2, Water Rail 1, Moorhen 4, Coot 1, LAPWING 1 (Over N at 6.15pm), BH Gull 30+, H Gull 40+, LBB Gull 1, Feral Pigeon 4, Stock Dove 9 (Over SW), Woodpigeon 1813 (Over SW), Tawny Owl 1, Kingfisher 2, Green Woodpecker 1, GS Woodpecker 1, Magpie 6, Jay 3, Carriow Crow 6, Jackdaw 121, Goldcrest 1, Blue Tit 20+, Great Tit 15+, Marsh Tit 1, Coal Tit 4, Long-tailed Tit 14, Wren 4, Starling 226 (Over SW), Blackbird 6, Fieldfare 27 (Over W), Redwing 83 (Over W), Song Thrush 14, Robin 7, Dunnock 3, Grey Wagtail 1, Chaffinch 8, HAWFINCH 1 (Over W per WA), Goldfinch 7, Greenfinch 2 and Lesser Redpoll 21.

Migrant Hawker 3, Common Darter 1

Red Admiral 3

Warnham Millpond at Dusk

Chesworth Farm

Riverside Fields - Chesworth Farm

There were plenty of birds around making the most of the sunny conditions. There was a steady stream of Woodpigeon moving over the Farm in a south-westerly direction including a couple of decent flocks of over 40 birds. There was a single Meadow Pipit on the wires by Tip Field and bright pink male Bullfinch in the corner of Parlour Mead Field. Also of note was a flock of 23 Redwing in White Gate Lag.

The herd of British White cattle have done an excellent job in grazing the flood meadow over the past month or so and will soon be moving into Gravel Pit and Spring Barn Fields so keep your eyes peeled for on Farm signage.