Barnes Peregrines perform

Morning trip without kids with Barnes WWT. I didn’t have much hope of connecting with the three Goosanders reported yesterday on the Main Lake. They’re normally either flyover birds or one-day wonders (although there was a long staying bird five or six years ago) and this group were typically absent today. Highlight of the day was a pair of Peregrines that performed brilliantly over the site.

Other birds included a couple of Meadow Pipits that flew over the site and briefly dropped into the Loosestrife on the Wader Scrape, a Water or Rock Pipit that flew over the Grazing Marsh calling, Wigeon numbers have increased to c35 (although 50 reported here just a few days ago), Teal have also increased to around 90 birds (mostly on Wader Scrape), a juvenile GC Grebe still hanging out with its parents (presumably anyway), a female Sparrowhawk over the Reservoir Lagoon mobbed by Magpies, 2-3 Cetti’s singing at various points and over 20 Jackdaws.

Newhaven Rose Bowl - Rose coloured Starling

Despite having seen half a dozen juvenile Rose coloured Starlings I’ve never seen an adult. Since one has been hanging out near the coastguards at Newhaven on the south coast that's the target for today’s day trip. Pulling into the car park at the Fort I could hear quite a lot of activity – a small tit flock moving through (Blue, Great and Long tailed) and few Blackbird feeding among the bushes. After a walk uphill and then west round the coastguards I was soon looking down into a bramble filled depression facing the sea. I could see two other birders on the seaward side looking into the centre so gave it a quick scan – 5-6 Chaffinch, 8-10 Robins and a few Blue Tits. It looked like the other birders were looking at the other side of some bushes not visible from where I was standing so moved round to where they were standing and almost immediately the Rose coloured Starling popped up on the side of one of the bigger bushes.

Really stunning bird still with a very strong pink wash across underparts and mantle, pink bill with a dark base, blue iridescence on wing coverts and tertials and purplish on primaries and secondaries.

Perhaps it’s just the Magpie/ Hoodie type pattern but the deeper and heavier bill could make the Rosy look more corvid than Starling like.

A walk west along the clifftop didn’t produce that many more birds but a Peregrine gliding along the tops, loads of Mipits, at least 30 Robins along the stretch (including those in the ‘rose bowl’), a few Skylark (but the place is surrounded by fields so just as likely to be local birds as migrants), plus c20 Curlew and c15 Oyks feeding in some rocky pools at the base of the cliffs.

Drove over to Belle Tout wood at the back of Beachy Head to have a look for the Pallas’s that's not been seen for a day or so. Did connect with the Goldcrest flock that was quite good value in itself and also had contained a Firecrest. When the sun came out walked the seaward (sunny) side of the wood and bushes and added around half a dozen Chiffchaff, another (or probably the same) Firecrest with a mixed tit and warbler flock, male and female Blackcap feeding together, and a dozen Goldcrest.