brighton again

brighton is a special place for me.......my first real girlfriend ended up at the university of sussex in falmer and we spent lots of time in brighton but that was many years ago i went out with a woman who worked at roedean school which was is not far from where i slept for the weekend 

our boy fell in love some 4 years ago and moved to brighton to be with his girlfriend river. the trouble is brighton is crap for birds its just too busy.

so after a long drive south after setting off at 5am we ended up at bishop stowford a nice town in essex where i bagged a pair of levis sonetti shorts and a fat face t-shirt  from the charity shops 

my only gripe with the M25 is its not circular as you have to come off at the A21 then get back on. why the M21 takes first choice is anyones guess 

even im boring myself so a few med gulls past the marina a turnstone and a yellowhammer in cambridgshire 

 

a coffee and fag is good

 so thursday 13th june im outside the house enjoying my black coffee and ciggie when i look up and see a little egret flying quite low overhead heading west towards hebden bridge, it was quite a surreal moment but a great sighting for me and the garden list only my third ever in calderdale semi-retirment from joinery is good 

little egret you mave to zoom in 

moor raptors over mytholmroyd

 bit of a slog this weekend for birds 

i was struggling to see anything other than breeding birds namely house martins sand martins over the house plus lots of swifts and swallows,grey wagtails are doing well with at least 6 pairs seen on various walks 

a raven over on saturday evening was the first for a few weeks and 2 buzzards soaring high over the valley when around 11am a slimmer thinner winged raptor appeared quite high being mobbed by crows bins grabbed and i was looking at a female type marsh harrier coming down cragg valley it then started circling reaching the river getting higher and higher before heading east down the river excellent bird

perfect raptor weather

 a nice walk on saturday morning very warm with a nice breeze 

a cuckoo sang for ages from daisy bank a lone lost looking lapwing flew south a snipe drummed and and a curlew curlewed which was nice 

2 gulls flew east lesser black adult and herring gull 3rd year lots of meadow pipits and skylarks singing then as i reached the head of the woodland a large raptor flew purposley towards the wood a large accipter 

overall a bulky solid looking bird and quite a curvy appearance not the small angular look of sparrowhawk, never got much on plumage as i was looking south-south-east into the sun so it was more of a shillouette but as it dropped below the trees the browner upperparts were seen,it just glided into the woods and must have been the same bird i saw last week soaring above the valley 

last week it wasnt as straight forward as it gave the usual chameleon views at first it looked like a falcon then a buzzard 

a crap description of goshawk 

after getting back enjoying the weather a bird was high up heading north grabbed the meopta bins a red kite!!!! it had some lost feathers to the primaries which match a photo on facebook of one seen near hebden bridge a few days earlier 

mytholmroyd weekender

 so at my second home in the Royd im sat in the garden with colette and jessie enjoying a beer with loads of house martins and a few swifts over the garden great sound then around 2038 a large bird appears high over the garden a gull a buzzard no a osprey heading sw fantastic bird and a garden tick stunned we enjoyed our evening but colette had northern lights on her mind now colette has always wanted to see them and despite trying a number of times failed. so she goes to bed around 2245 i stayed up but headed to bed around 10 minutes later. at 2320 my phone buzzed with a message from the swillington bird group saying "northern lights over the reserve now" off outside in dressing gown took some crap photos but was sure i saw some green/purple so i woke her at 2330 with the words "there here"within seconds she was up.......and what a display the colours changed from blue to purple to green it danced in the sky stunning just stunning

at 1 am we headed to bed after what was just stunning 

saturday jessies days of long walks on the moors are in the past but me being giddy just had to have a walk so five miles later im back with a cuckoo heard and goshawk in flight giving a great view plus redpoll 

great weekend 

sussex 02-06 may 2024

well our annual trip to sussex for the boys birthday  

left mytholmroyd at 3am and had a good drive down the A1 A14 M11 before hitting the M25 around 7 am then it went tits up after crossing the QE2 bridge 

whoever designed the junction of the M25/M26/A21 was on drugs or something , why does the M25 which is a circular motorway just continue onto the A21!!! leaving us having to come off the M25 on a slip road to get back on the M25 typical british planning, then 6 miles of roadworks with only 1 group of workers with only one of them digging.

we were now fed up having being on the road for 6 hours so came of at the A22 stopping at Knights garden center for a rest.

arriving in brighton we parked up and found all the ticket machines are now "pay by phone" not a problem i have the app! just to throw some more fucks into our day the app needs updating so 10 minutes later i try to pay nope card declined try again the same. colette trys same thing! nice of brighton to discriminate people who dont have a smart phone. gave up and headed to brighton marina to stock up for the week at asda then headed to buckle holiday park near seaford 

well what a dump nearly every caravan looked dumped 

note gaffer tape over window 

also a dumped porsche brand new but flat tyres and mould on windows and ford capri, toilet block was shocking 

our pitch was flooded after the heavy rain the night before, set up in wet windy weather.

by 2pm i was ready for some birding so headed to Tidemills a short walk away 

Tidemills is a ruined village by the port in Newhaven 

lots of warblers including the years first sedge,reed, whitethroat and cetties 1 little egret and good numbers of greenfinch 

03/05 

Tidemills 

spent most of the day here usual warblers plus a very showy lesser whitethroat and some very nice stonechats 

back at the van i was checking the birdguides app when a reported kentish plover came up at Tidemills within 10 minutes i was on site to see nothing oh well.

sat on the beach at 21.30 enjoying a beer when a whimbrel flew over calling 

04/05

Tidemills 

weather better but same birds though another lesser whitethroat singing near the campsite and a very small movement of black headed gulls east 

mid morning finally headed to brighton to see the boy and his girl lots of hugs and chats as we walked along the seafront in sunny warm weather, we explored the lanes then the north laines.

i was shocked that the tapas bar i visited some 25 years ago was still going when i went out with a local lass who went to sussex uni good days 

05/05

wind gone se 

so i missed the pom skuas and black tern but i did get gannet 19 whimbrel and 9 common scoter before heading on foot to cuckmere haven some 4 miles away. a long boring slog along seaford front before reaching splash point. a few birders but no point chatting as the southerners are just ignorant so up and over the hill 

seaford

after getting to seaford head the view of the seven sisters is stunning birding took a backseat as i just gazed over such a wonderful view 

seven sisters 

cuckmere haven 

more lesser whitethroats great song lots of little egrets but not much else but a great walk one to be proud of.

got the bus back 

an evening seawatch produced 3 gannets 3 sandwhich terns 21 common scoter 3 whimbrel 

then a bbq with the boy 

06/05 

a day to forget 

woke to rain at 0630 rescued as much as we could given our pitch was 4 inch deep in water 

afer we had packed 

so spent 6 hours in ankle deep water tried to escape at 9am but the van didnt sound good and decided to call the AA who came quickly but said do not start and left by 1330 a truck arrived and took us to cobham services and waited for 3 hours for the next truck. left at 1930 got home at 0130 but great driver and still got 3/4 tank full 

ex AA on a AA truck 

an invitation

 last month i was given an invitation to join a walk at cromwell bottom nr to answer questions on my time there in the 80's/90's 

well yesterday the walk was great with allan and stuart, at times i was more intrested in birding watching my first sand martins of the year plus willow warbler the best for me were 3 blackcaps singing stunning birds 

also had a guided tour of north cut which is the old tip and some great work done on the habitat i also enjoyed seeing lots of familys out with kids anything that involves getting people to even just have a walk in nature can only be a good thing