Downland Stinger!!

 Having spent yesterday in the Big Smoke for my Daughter's Birthday, Hipster, Vegan, Gluten Free Café, as you can imagine, I fitted right in!!😏 To be fair my Truffle and Oyster Mushroom Pizza was  delicious, although the "New York Cheesecake" was quite nice,  in no way was it a Cheesecake!! Still a nice day, the Walthamstow Wetlands was closed by the time we got there, though we did see a Kingfisher and a pair of dancing Great Crested Grebes, through the fortifications!!😂 Which is not bad in the middle of London Town, also saw some Parakeets about the place!! Went on the Tube which is always fun! Survived the journey in and out as well, which is always a bonus when driving in London 😂😱!! 

Finally a day with no Rain and a bit of Sunshine when I'm not at work, Hurrah😃!!! Margie and I decided on a walk up the South Downs from the Bostal Road. This was  mainly on the basis, that it would be just about the only place in Sussex where we wouldn't need to wear wellies!!!😂 Although it was a bit muddy we were proved right! 

We arrived at just after nine, no way we were getting up early after 10000 plus steps round London the day before!! There was a Marathon going on, the Steyning Stinger, luckily we had arrived about half n hour before the first runner was due through so we were able to devise a route without much disturbance! Hopefully I can resist the urge to join in😏😂 As we were getting kitted up we could hear Skylarks in full voice in the blue sky and I could just make out the distant rattle of a Corn Bunting, excellent start!! The first field was basically mud full of Cows and Sheep, but it  also had a lot of birds in it, mainly Pied Wagtails and Starlings, but a couple of Corn Buntings were foraging as well! In the field opposite it a large flock of Linnets and several Gulls, including Common Gulls with the Black-headed and Herring Gulls.

Pied Wagtail

Corn Bunting, muscling in on the big guys

Common Gull

What lies between heaven and earth, Gulls obviously! By Margie

Or Cows also by Margie

The path ahead by Margie

As we walked along we could hear Corn Bunting singing but spotting them was tricky, were also several Linnets along the hedge and a couple of Stonechats on the fence!

Corn Bunting

Starlings part of quite a large flock

Linnet, although plenty about they were difficult to get close to

Stonechat 

Goldfinch

We carried on, a small flock of Yellowhammers were spotted, these were about the only species not singing today!! Stayed buried in the hedge mostly but managed a couple of pics!

Singing Dunnock, several going for it!

Yellowhammer, difficult to get pics of em today

There were also a couple of Reed Buntings in with the Yellowhammer.

We carried on up the hill, Corn Bunting song could be heard in several places, I eventually narrowed down the area they were in and found several, then several more!! Difficult to say how many were in the flock, but over thirty possibly twice that, it was hard to keep track of the comings and goings from the hedge but lovely to see so many!!

Corn Bunting

Meanwhile Margie was looking for some other signs of Spring

Random patch of Daffodils by Margie 

We reached the top of the hill, the views are fantastic from up here, Shoreham, Brighton and Beyond! Some of Margie's pictures below!

By now we were at the Trig Point, This is Skylark central, a massive stubble field with birds chasing each other around and singing high above, up until now I had pretty much resisted taking pics of Skylarks in flight, it generally doesn't end well, but I could resist no longer!!! My one half decent pic below 😂😂😂😂

Skylark

The Trig Point

Luckily, after much squinting, I managed to find one on the ground!!

Skylark, even on the ground they have a bit of a sing

You can see how tricky they are to spot

 It was all downhill from here, literally, we re-joined the Steyning Stinger course, fair play to them to be honest the paths are muddy and very slippery, I will be amazed if no one takes a tumble, hopefully no broken bones!! The number of people involved pretty much killed the birding, but we were pretty knackered anyway so called it a day!! 

Looking down on a distant flock of Gulls

A pretty good couple of hours, lovely to see so many Corn Buntings and Skylarks, was surprised, on the Raptor front, considering the conditions was expecting to see loads, but two distant Buzzards and a couple of Red Kites right at the end was the sum total!! Think this is our first visit to this site where we haven't seen a Kestrel!!  Can't win em all!!