Battening Down

A deep and moderate southwest wind is blowing at the moment which has put the knackers on migration again. Seems like the exodus on Tuesday was a small window which a lot of birds took advantage of. By the looks of it the forecast suggests the wind is shifting to the north west on the weekend before a deep westerly develops. Things are looking more interesting by the middle of next week with some warmer southerly air again but for the next few days it doesn't look very promising so seems like a good time to get out with other things round the lodge.

This post HERE from mid-February seems slightly prophetic now in light of recent global events. The historic swings in oil prices will certainly disrupt global supply lines which will result in inflationary pressure. This situation also has the potential to generate a catastrophic economic impact if the Straits of Hormuz are not open soon and things could deepen if the Houthis in Yemen resurrect pressure on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Some commentators suggest that only a ground invasion and occupation of all the land and sea around the Straits of Hromuz by the Zionist-American forces will secure the Straits and if things escalate to that the entire global economy could have a heart attack - almost overnight, as a result of rocketing oil prices and the resulting hyperinflation and crash of equity markets. 

Of course the greatest concern here is the people who are physically caught up in this violent conflict, wider financial concerns pale into insignificance compared to what they are going through. Disconnecting from the Zionist-western matrix and building a personal nature centric sustainable system arond themselves is the best way any individual can help others IMO. At the end of the day it is the mass compliance with these unsustainable, ecocidal and murderous systems which provides the power for them to limp on into the abyss so disconnecting and building a personal system that connects to a new emerging sustainable human and nature centric system (AI has the potential to help create this) is the best response IMO.

As ever nobody knows what is going to happen next but personally I can't see how there will be a quick end to this war. Israel have waited over 40 years for a US President who is mad enough to attack Iran (my accountant calls him the Mad King) and there will never be such a maverick figure in power to try again so Israel know they only have this chance to fulfill their objectives of dominating the Middle East. There seems zero possibility that Israel will now stop- this is their one and only chance. The US may be powerless to pull out of the war as any escalation by Israel will result in retaliation by Iran on US bases and global infrastructure - President Kennedy's remark that 'If you ride on the back of the Tiger you end up in its belly' appears to be coming true (although not sure who the Tiger is here - I think they could all eat each other!) . There also appears to be zero possibility of Iran surrendering- the new Ayatollah has just had his father, wife and children murdered by the Zionist-US forces and there is no sign of any populist uprising. This could all be a black hole which has already opened that soon everything is going to be pulled into. Maybe. Maybe not. One thing for certain is that this is an extremely dangerous situation which could plunge the world into chaos and cause mass asset stripping of citizens and transfer of wealth in the ongoing emergence of Global AI-fuedalism (for good and bad). 

Considering we are teetering on the brink of economic chaos (although we often are and if often passes without too much trouble) and also that bird migration has slowed down, I thought I would take a bit of time to build up some more of our self sufficiency, off-grid capabilities and personal resilience. All these things make economic and personal wellbeing sense and help to reconnect closer to nature in order to buffer any system shocks even if they are never  'needed' and the shocks never come. Personally I find it all helps with managing 'planetary stress'. Also there are the opportunities of a life time during economic collapses so it is vital to always be prepared to be in a position to take those opportunities, to stay calm and immediately get to work on any necessary rebuild and build back better.  

Therefore in order to increase our 'personal defences', this week we are increasing our water storage and water harvesting capabilites, building up the logs piles, filling up our cupboards with non perishable food supplies (also makes sense to buy now before inflationary pressure hits), buying some new books to read (below), planting up more of the food growing beds, taking out a bit of cash, making any large purchases now ahead of inflationary risk (this year travel bookings etc), keeping vehicles tanks full rather than running them to empty,  and planting up more wildlife garden habitat so that if we have a fuel shortage and supply line lockdown having plenty of birds and wildlife in the garden will be good company to hide out with.  

A few new purchases. The Portland report has been out for a while but Kojak had my copy which I got last weekend. A brilliant read- covers a four year period. Great to compare patterns with whats going on round here.  Pan-species listing by Graeme Lyons is a great addition to a personal resilience strategy and getting the most out of local nature (I'll be doing more pan-species work in our garden this year- I find the garden is a large enough area for my small brain!). I've also bought Birding with AI. When I was at uni they used to say text books were always at least two years out of date. For computer science I presume it means this book is an epoch out of date but if I can try and keep up with any of this stuff it will be useful- considering most of the stuff I do is simple approach citizen science anyway. Just knowing how the popular recording platforms work a bit is interesting and my main goal is to learn how to use AI to not only assist with recording systems but to write bird reports and simple population trend analysis and distributions  (basically bird book style science).  

Whooper Swan Twitch

It was a work day in London today. I was up at 4am to leave by 5am and had 11 clients to meet and also had a meeting with the accountant and a personal visit to my mum too - so it was a busy schedule. As I left the house there were Redwings going over and there was a light south westerlies with overcast skies. By 7am as I arrived at my mums Paul Bowley reported Brents moving off Selsey Bill and it was basically at that point I realised that I had probably left the Peninsula on the first big migration wave of the Spring. Sure enough the news kept coming in through the morning with over 1500 Brents moving East off the Bill (there were 5500 off Dungeness), a few Wheatears at various sites and an incredible flock of 6 Whooper Swans were found by Les in White's Creek. Birdguides also reported a Spoonbill and there were three White-fronted Geese with the Whoopers and more birds moving off the Bill. All the news from today HERE.

I did my best to get round all my appointments as swiftly as possible and then headed back south to try and catch up with some of today's action. I managed to get to Church Norton by about 5pm with an hour or so of light left. The Whoopers were still present but distant on North Wall viewable from the Benches and the Brent Goose passage had resumed and Andrew and I had about 500 moving east (also distantly). There were also 3 Greenshanks and 3 Bar-tailed Godwits out on the mud. So managed to witness some of the magical vis-mig today and also scored the big ones so a little bit of a recovery. 

Whooper Swans off North Wall (for decent photos see HERE)

Brents on the move in the evening

Greenshanks 

White Out

It was a bit of a wipe out today with fog/mist lingering for most of the day. I had planned to do the Bill first thing and then 'do' the harbour but a change in plan was necessary as the sea at the bill was not even visible and visibility was down to about 50 meters across the whole harbour. Nonetheless I gave it go (a Cattle Egret was in the field opposite our house as I left which is the first on the deck round here for me) and started off at Ferry, then did Halseys to Owl Copse and Bremere Rife and then I went home for a bit as it was pretty hopeless viewing. 

In the late morning I went over to East Side and then finished off at the Spit. Ebird list from today HERE. I still managed 75 species but the count of 1641 individuals is well off - I couldn't see any of the big wader flocks. The highlight of the day was a clear arrival of Chiffchaffs even including one seemingly coming in-off at Pagham Spit with Les. I counted up to 16 individuals with several birds singing with 10 between Halseys and Owl copse area, 4 on East side footpath bushes and 2 on the spit. I also had the Bullfinch (year tick) calling at Owl Copse with Mike and a few other bits included a Spotted Redshank, 36 Snipe (15 Ferry and 21 East side), the Green Sandpiper on Ferry, a Sandwich Tern in with the gulls, my first Kingfisher in a few weeks and good numbers of Linnets on East side.  

The Bullfinch puts me on 137 for the Sussex year HERE which I think is 133 for the Peninsula (I've seen Great White Egret, Marsh Tit, Mandarin and Goosander at Arundel). Bullfinch also a world year tick so now on 510. There's a chance I might get to 1000 this year as got trips planned to Ghana and Namibia and also Bulgaria. That is if the world as we know it doesn't end before, oil reached 120 dollar a barrel recently and no sign of things in the Middle East ending soon with the global economy teetering on chaos. There's a strong argument to get in a large year list while you still can (avoiding Dubai transfers!).  

Chiffchaffs (above and below)- several had clearly been drinking nectar / eating pollen and I watched several on the Blackthorn blossom

Male Goldcrest- a few of these seem to be on the move recently 

Spotted Redshank

Adult winter Sandwich Tern- I did a bit of reading up on Cabot's Tern as forgot what to look out for but the white speckled rear crown, the long curved bill and the broad white primary edges are all good for European. Cabot's in adult winter has narrow primary edges, a thicker and shorter bill and very dark cap.   

Black-tailed Godwits- one of the only waders that are progressing rapidly into summer plumage

Grey Wagtail looking good in summer plum

Seems like Robins may also be on the move with quite a few prominent today

White out wipe out 

Arundel WWT

A family day today so we went to Arundel WWT and then afterwards had a walk round Swanbourne Lake. Despite the distractions of having to stop Isaac jumping into the lakes and biting the heads of the geese, somehow I managed to see two new year ticks HERE. Highlights included Goosander, Mandarin, Peregrine, Marsh Harrier, Marsh Tit and Firecrest.

The moth trap was quite lively last night with 57 individuals. The only NFY was Narrow-winged Grey, Eudonia angustea. 

First-summer (2nd-calender year) male Goosander. Presumably this is the same bird that I saw in December (it was in the same place) which I stringed for a female HERE. I was unaware of this plumage (it doesn't appear in Collins or Reber but is described in HEB) but the dark back, the white lower scapulars coming through and the darkening face clearly indicates a male. NFY.

Male Mandarin- a year tick. Generally find them at the top end of Swanbourne Lake under overhanging trees

Early Thorn- upto 3 on recent nights 

Narrow-winged Grey- NFY 

A bit of Early Reveller variation (above and below) 

Slowly Marching on

The wind has switched round to the north for the last couple of days slowing down migration. The first wave (the first small push of Brents, Shovelers, Pintails, Scoters and a few hirundines) appears to have abated and it looks like the next spell of southerlies resumes on Monday so fingers crossed. There a few more Chiffchaffs around (birds singing too) and also a few Goldcrests which are pushing into the headwind. 

It was wet again on Friday but today it was overcast but mainly dry. In between family stuff I popped out for an hour this morning to check out Ferry and the harbour from the Tramway HERE and this afternoon I had a look at Church Norton HERE. Highlight was a really nice group of Slavonian Grebes off Church Norton with at least five birds (probably six and possibly seven) which were relatively close in. Presumably it was a group gathering ahead of migration. There was also a Great Northern Diver off Church Norton (a Pagham Harbour tick for me despite being common a few hundred meters away at the Bill) . 

Other interesting bits included Green Sandpiper on Ferry, Greenshank in the harbour, the first Gannet I've seen in a couple of weeks off Norton and still pretty good counts of waterbirds in the harbour including 7 Barwits, a new group of 20+ Blackwits and there are still 250+ Golden Plover, 200 Knot, 800+ Dunlin, 200+ Grey Plover and 300+ Brents. Duck numbers are generally down with only 2 Pintail from what I could see, 200+ Wigeon and low numbers of Teal. Shoveler numbers are staying high with an increase to 132 on Ferry and smaller numbers in the harbour.  

The overcast nights have been better for the moth trap with 40 individuals on Thursday and some NFYs including Early Reveller, Early Grey, Early Thorn, Early Moth and more Clouded Drabs, Common and Small Quakers, Hebrew Character, Agonopterix Hericliana, Depressaria daucella and Common Plume. Moth year list now on 21 species. 

Slavonian Grebes off Church Norton (above and below)- quite a nostalgic sight as I ticked Slavs off Church Norton in the 1980s. Due to milder winters and short-stopping the local wintering population has reduced and nowadays Slavs are more regular off Selsey Bill than Church Norton so it was very nice to see them this evening 

Green Sandpiper, Redshanks and Avocet on Ferry. Also a single Lapwing, 12 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 more Avocet and Oystercatcher on Ferry. 

Golden Plovers over a murky harbour 

Early Grey- not appreciated the 'hairy' legs before 

Early Reveller

Clouded Drab- a more classic type

Pottering around at the Lodge

Kojak stayed over last night so we started the day off at the Bill HERE where the highlights included Great Northern and Black and Red-throated Diver, a Fulmar, a few regular seaducks, a couple of Sandwich Terns and the most unusual record was a single Yellowhammer, which are common on the Peninsula but scarce at the actual Bill. 

Kojak had a Tawny Owl from the Airbnb caravan yesterday night so I put out the noc-mig last night and still need to go through that. 060226 update: A few bits on the nocmig HERE including Little Grebe (a garden tick), Barn Owl (year tick), Teal, Coot, Redwing and Shelduck. Now on 116 for the garden HERE and 132 for the local patch year. 

Aftter the Bill we then quickly checked out Ferry, HERE, which was pretty quiet before Kojak headed off home and I spent the rest of the day finally getting out into the garden to plant up some seeds for this year's food growing. I planted up a couple of rows of potatoes, using some of last year's crop as seed potatoes, and then sowed Sweetcorn, Tomatoes, Chillies, Peppers and some flowers and put them in the Conservatory propogator to germinate. 

Unfortunately most of the seeds I kept from last year were found by winter rodents who ate the lot so I had to 'buy-in' again although the plan this year was supposed to be to chain last year's crops. Will increase security next year. 

There were a few moths in the twin actinic last night including the year's first Clouded Drabs and Twin-spot Quaker (also Common and Small Quakers) and this afternoon I put the MOL Lure out and caught two presumed Early Oak Piercers, Pammene giganteana. Now on 16 species of moth for the year. 

Yellowhammer at the Bill

Early Oak Piercer aka Early Oak Gall Moth, Pammene giganteana. Only 16 previous records for Sussex according to the website HERE and looks like the first for the Peninsula. 

A bit of Clouded Drab variation (above and below)

The garlic that we planted in November is coming on well and we've still got carrots and spinach in the beds that survived the winter. I stuck two rows of potatoes in the spare space and the rhubarb is beginning to appear in the fence side.  I've been feeding the spinach to the live food for the reptiles. The furthest bed from the camera is planted up with perennial fruits (strawberries, black and redcurrants and also Lovage) so hopefully that will just do its thing and the middle bed is where the sweetcorn, peas and puleses will go. I also put in some potatoes in some of the pots and a good check of the fruit tree hedge on the whole of perimeter looks like its all survived the winter well. So that's the self sufficiency effort plan for this year. The daisies and violets are coming up in the lawns, primroses and lesser celendines in the front garden and the early spring bulbs that we planted are also going good. 

The 'ditch' in the front garden- I deliberately kept this 'messy' this winter (and got lucky that the flood water was not impeded)  in order to preserve the hollow stalks that might be harbouring invert larvae. We were rewarded last week with Sussex's second record of Mompha divesella which I caught at dusk here- so the plan seems to have worked. Will be going for a lot of wildlife garden features again this year with a meadow in the back and front gardens and are letting all the hedges go. Hopefully over time will build up the insect and breeding bird population in the garden. 

Garry Messenbird RIP

It was with great sadness that today we said goodbye to Beddington Farmlands Birding Legend Garry Messenbird. Garry started birding at Beddington in 1978 and birded there continously (practically daily through the 1980s) until he moved with his family to the Sussex coast in 2007. In those Beddington years (particularly in the 1980s and 1990s) he meticously recorded the birdlife of the farmlands and became a birding celebrity in 1984 when he found a Killdeer in February and a Lesser Yellowlegs in the autumn of the same year. He added countless other firsts for the farmlands and more importantly recorded the changing bird populations through some of the most important transitional years of the farmlands.  

Garry was a mentor to me and many other beddington boys and remains one of the best birders I've ever known. He had an arguably not particularly healthy disdain for authority and particularly had no time for rarities committees (he quite rightly knew that less skilled birders than him were in no position to judge his records) and he was stubbornly needless of any validation by anyone. As he didn't play by the rules, didn't submit descriptions or even attempt to provide evidence for his records (even though he often had good photos to back up everything) he may have appeared as an untrusthworthy observer for those who had never seen him in action and maybe that wasn't helped in some of his later years where older age and ill health may have also clouded some of his judgement. 

He was certainly one of a kind and indeed was the single cause of me having to conduct some writing gymnastics when I wrote the 'Birds of Beddington' as I had to have Garry's records seperate  (many of which I or others had either seen or seen the photographs of but he would never submit them to the official channels) and the official records (processed through the channels). There was then a palava when it came to publishing as some group members felt that only an official record should be published but the group agreed that this was a very unusual situation (the greatest birder in the group was a complete and utter rebel!) which required a compromised approach which we agreed to publish (after some group members withdrew their photos in protest).  Alls well that ends well and we published what was described in Birdwatch as a local birding benchmark. 

The funeral was held at Worthing Crematorium and in addition to Garry's family there was a nice turn out of Beddington birders and their wives including Grant and Marie Prater,  Kojak (aka Kevin Guest), Derek Coleman, Devilbirder (aka David Campbell), Nick and Darry Gardner, myself  and a special appearance by another Beddington legend Johnny Allan with his partner Lynn. With Johnny's appearance today it was like a funeral and a resurrection in the same day! Great to see Johnny who famously disappeared off the birding scene in 2012 in order to give up twitching and pursue a more balanced and healtheir life style (pursued his interests in history and wider natural history) and it showed today as he looked great with a big orchid list too! Great to see all the guys and what a great send off for Garry. 

We did a birding walk HERE over the South Downs after the funeral service and then on the way back Kojak and I checked out Cissbury Ring- a Sussex famous birding spot which I haven't been to before. We had Marsh Tit on the walk which was a county tick.  

GARRY'S TRIBUTE PAGE

RIP Garry- the original binoculars that he found the Killdeer with

Beddington birders, left to right: Derek Coleman, Sussex birder, Grant Prater, Dave Campbell (the soon to be new editor of Birdwatch magazine), me, Kevin Guest, Johnny Allan, Nick Bond (Garry's briding nephew) and Nick Gardner

View over the South Downs from Cissbury Ring