Decided to have a walk around the Burgh today, the original plan was to park at Kithurst Hill and wander round to the Burgh however the fog on the hills ruled that out so we headed further along the road and drove up to the Canada Barn a very bumpy road which should only be attempted in a Land Rover or a KIA Rio! 😁 A brief pause to return our internal organs back into their rightful place and we are on our way, first birds were a few Swallows buzzing through , as usual up here Linnets and Goldfinches were plentiful although very spooky, several Yellowhammers decorated the hedges I managed to photograph the least Yellow one on earth!!! Although the chestnut rump can just about be made out! The grey weather doesn't help with the pics but Margie managed some nice pics of the orange sky getting all arty with her through the hedge shots. Couple of Buzzards sat in a tree just about tolerating each other and a Red Kite drifted by!
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Buzzards
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Buzzard
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Red Kite
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| Red Kite |
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The Lone Tree
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Yellowhammer
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| Slightly more Yellow Yellowhammer |
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Red Kite
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Red Kite
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The Lone Tree(different angle by Margie)
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Landscape by Margie
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Arty through the hedge shot by Margie
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| Landscape by Margie |
We pushed on down past the Old Dew Pond lots of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes about and quite a big flock (30) of Fieldfares distantly in a field, this was a trend repeated ,with flocks of Lapwing, Grey and Red-legged Partridge in the middle of fields mostly out of camera range. A Reed Bunting showed well and then I managed to spot a Ring Ouzel running around on a muddy filed distant but record shots obtained!!
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Fieldfares
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Ring Ouzel
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Ring Ouzel
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Reed Bunting
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Reed Bunting
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We reached the top of the valley and turned left, pretty quiet along here although plenty of Robins and Dunnocks and some nice Common Gulls things improved when the path went through some taller trees and thicker scrub a couple of Chiffchaffs and probably the bird of the day a nice Firecrest which showed briefly though long enough for a couple of shots, lots of Chaffinches, Thrushes ,Blackbirds and a few Redwings plus a big flock of Goldfinches.
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Robin loads of these about ,everyone examined but no Bluetails 😢
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Common Gull
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Noisy Raven
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Chiffchaff
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Firecrest
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Firecrest
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Firecrest
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Chaffinch
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Song Thrush
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We looped around hitting the main track again ,more of the same typical Farmland birds although sadly missing from a lot of Farmland , by now there was pretty much constant sounds of Guns, no doubt reducing the Pheasant population released for the purpose, they were everywhere causing heart attacks every time they erupted from the hedges right in front of us. I'm not a fan of shooting, finding the idea of killing stuff for fun baffling and pretty pathetic, the atrocities on the Grouse moors in the north are pretty unforgivable especially the annihilation of the Hen Harrier, but that said there is no doubt that the farmland around the Burgh, managed for shooting, is amongst the most productive in Sussex for farmland birds and the presence of so many Red Kites, Buzzards and Ravens suggests Raptor persecution is not really an issue ,though no doubt legal predator control occurs, If shooting is banned what happens to these areas would have to be very carefully considered, it would be a shame if the farming is intensified to the point of grubbed out hedges and crops sprayed to death right up to the edge of the fields which would be a disaster for small birds and reduce their numbers drastically and the area become another arable desert, a conundrum indeed!
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