EVENTS
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
21
December 2011
I
arrived late morning at Beeding Brooks which is not normally the best time
to see owls, but I had great views of a pair of Short-eared
Owls quartering the fields. One was chasing
Crows;
it surprised me as it's more common to see Crows
mobbing owls! There was also a large flock of Fieldfares
with a few Redwings
among them.
15,
17, 18, 21 to 24, 26 & 27 December 2011
A
pair of Snow Buntings were
seen near Widewater Lagoon on nine separate
dates.
5
December 2011
I
felt very privileged to be able to see the courting displays of the Red-breasted
Mergansers in the morning at Widewater
Lagoon.
Two
Snow
Buntings were seen in the same place near
Widewater
Lagoon.
4
December 2011
On
Widewater
Lagoon in the morning were four pairs of Red-breasted
Mergansers cooing and billing so to speak
and were marvellous to behold at such close quarters; they flew as one
out to sea at about 10:00 am.
I
went down to Widewater Lagoon around 2:00
pm and within a few minutes I had picked up
the two very confiding, Snow Buntings
on the shingle, west of Beach Hut 134 between the second set of groynes
- about half way up the beach where the shingle slopes. They flew off east
around 2:30 pm
but I don't think they flew too far.
3
December 2011
I
was able to find the two Snow Buntings
still on east Lancing beach 50 metres west of the pink beach huts. However
in the 2-3 minutes it took to get my camera from the car they vanished
and depite searching several hundred yards east and west could not relocate
them. Six Red-breasted
Mergansers (4 males) were on Widewater
Lagoon.
2
December 2011
I
had great views of two Snow Buntings
feeding at high tide mark on beach by Widewater
Lagoon, Lancing about midday
in front of beach huts.
Flowers
observed in the wild in Shoreham and the outskirts
included Dandelion, Sow Thistle, Ox-eyed
Daisy (one), Yarrow
and Ragwort.
There were plenty of Haws,
but only the occasional Sloe
on the thorn bushes in Old Shoreham, adjacent to the cyclepath south of
the Toll Bridge. As the deciduous
trees had now lost almost all of there leaves, the small birds were now
more noticeable, especially Blue Tits.
On
the River Adur there was the usual collection
of common gulls and waders;
most noticeable were the Greater
Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls
and Lapwings
as
the tide was low and the mud
flats revealed. After the rain, mushrooms
were noted including some dilapidated roadside Agaricus probably
Field
Mushrooms.
December
2010
|
