Little Oak Lodge Update

We've been slowly making our way through the landscape design works for the green space at home. Since we've moved in we've completed the main raised beds, built the garden office and garden shed, planted nearly 200 trees as a perimter hedgerow, planted a few fruit trees, set up the bird feeding station, dug out the car parking area planting beds, set up the composting areas, set up the log sheds and filled them up, set up the herb garden and this week Matt and I cleared out the ditch in the front of the property and dug out the planting beds in the front garden.

Nice to actually see the stream in the ditch after clearing it all out and cutting down the roadside. Hopefully we can encourage more water plants in here

Next jobs to do is erect bird boxes (particularly House Sparrow boxes) and will then probably have to focus on jet spraying and re-pointing the patio and cleaning the conservatory (boring stuff). Will have to find the money from somewhere to plant up the beds we've dug although I might go heavy on the bulbs this year before a more permanent planting scheme. I might start growing stuff from seed to save money although will need to buy a greenhouse for that or annex the Conservatory.  Later in the winter/early Spring we can sow the wildflower meadows and plant up the raised beds (at the moment got winter broccoli, sprouts and onion sets).

Ultimately the goal is to increase biodiversity and carbon storage on site in addition to developing a bit of self-sufficiency with food growing and home energy production (the logs from our tree surgery business waste). Been setting the biodiversity monitoring baselines this year with the moth trapping on irecord and ebird garden recording. Should be able to quantify any biodiversity gains.  

Jacob filling up the feeders 

Been using the long winter's nights to get through some project work. Just finished writing a couple of papers on Azores Pelagics and David, Vince, Pedro and I are just beginning our 20 year review for Corvo for Dutch Birding and Birdwatch Magazine. Arjun has got through the Ebird and Rarities Report Data to add to the Azores Bird List log and today I got through the latest batch of Portuguese Rarity Committee votes. Also been getting through some work on the Beddington Farmlands campaign being led by Tony from the Wandle Forum. Dimiter was at the Bulgaria project site in the week and reports that our wildlife pond is holding up which is handy! Also been getting ready to shut down the Tree and Garden business for a week over Xmas and sorting out the end of year figures and the annual reports etc.  The background to our project and business framework is HERE. 

On the subject of work that's been interesting lately as we've done a few jobs for the London Wildlife Trust and have a job at the London Wetland Centre early next year and more London Wildlife Trust jobs too. I was doing the annual figures this week and things seem to be holding up pretty well.     

So seem to be getting there. Despite all the work it all seems a bit depressing out there so very pleased that it's the winter solstice tomorrow and we start heading towards Spring and the emergence of more colours and life. In order to brighten things up a bit I treated myself to an early xmas present of giving the campervan a paint job and body work makeover and got some internal repairs done. 

Almost good as new! 

241224 Update: Rather than drift further from main topic and do a new post about the Lodge I'll update on our mini-zoo here. One of the drums we beat is the importance of bringing nature into the home and garden and in a rapidly dissappearing wilderness the ethical and sustainable domestication and husbandry of animals is one of humanity's few redeeming features. Therefore a mini-zoo has been a feature of our household for some time now. We had to scale down when we moved but now we are beginning to build it back up again. Our latest addtion was a beautiful young male Western Hognose Snake that we purchased from Exotics at Heart back in Oxon when we visited family over the weekend. Our first family snake! 

  

Jacob has called him Slivery. Here he is having his first meal in his new home. 

While cleaning out the mini-zoo recently we had to dig out the Forest Malay Scorpion that had buried itself underground and just lived there waiting for food to drop in (morio worms). The entrance hole had collapsed and was beginning to mould over so we brought it to the surface again, here photographed in reflective light revealing that green reflection. They look black in flat light. 

Pagham Harbour- Goldeneye

I did East side this morning from dawn to high tide (around mid-day). 75 species of over 8000 individuals in nearly four hours. Ebird list HERE. Highlight was a female Goldeneye on Pagham Lagoon (the first I've seen here since I first started birding on a day trip in 1987). There was also 3 Sandwich Tern, 3 Marsh Harrier, a Peregrine, 2 Rock Pipit, Dartford Warbler and Firecrest.  

Noteable no shows today were most of the Brent Geese (about 3000 probably staying at the fields at Church Norton), Song Thrush, Redwing and Fieldfare (very few on the Peninsula it seems), hardly any Little Egrets in the harbour and I presumably just got unlucky not seeing Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Kingfisher, Yellowhammer, Grey Wagtail, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank and Whimbrel. I didn't bother doing Ferry so there would have been Shoveler and Avocet there too. So hyperthetically from my rough estimate there are over 11,000 birds in the harbour of at least 85 species.  

Only one Bar-tailed Godwit from what I could see. I picked up some Cattle Egrets in the cattle fields on Lockgate Road. The Cattle Egrets have been scattered around the Peninsula recently mainly in fields off the Selsey Road with groups of up to 35. 

Also had a Common Seal. I usually forgot to report these but often have two or three from East side. 

A mild spell has resumed now so I had the moth trap out last night. 11 December moths was all I had. Another Levant Blackneck was caught last night, this time in Surrey so I'll try again tonight in hope.

Female Goldeneye

Golden Plovers (above and below). At least 1000 on the mud and got to have been 4000 or so Lapwings. 

Rock Pipit- I'm looking forward to see what these birds look like in Spring. This for example is already quite contrasting with a strong supercilium. 

Cattle Egrets out in the Peninsula fields. They seem to have dispersed from the breeding area by the North Wall and Halseys Farm and are getting all over the place. I even had one when I went to pick up the Campervan (which has a very tidy makeover). Seen them up as far as Hunston on the Peninsula and see them most days now while driving up Selsey Road to Chichester. 

Female December moth (above) and male and female (below) . The female is larger, has different markings and does not have feathered antennae. 

Selsey Bill- Fulmar

I joined the daily seawatch this morning. Ebird list HERE. Highlight was a Fulmar, a Peninsula tick for me and there was also a movement of about 26 Red-throated Divers and about 4 Great Northerns around. 

Despite Slavonian Grebes being present offshore the Peninsula for nearly a month and birds seen daily in the week, I still haven't caught up with one. 

Fulmar (above). Despite living here for nearly six months this is the first proper seabird (a tubenose) that I've had. Fulmars breed in small numbers in Sussex, mainly around Beachy Head and are often seen off Selsey but seem to leave the area between August and December. Birds return to the breeding area around now. 

Shags- this flock and a single bird flew east early on. Seemingly this small group of Shag roost somewhere in Chichester harbour and make their way out somewhere to the east everyday. There aren't many other Shags in Sussex and Selsey Bill is one of the best places to see them. 

Most of the diver action today was like this-rather distant 

Non-stop Birding Review 2024, January to June

Here's a photo summary of the first half of 2024 which covers updates on our birding and nature projects at  Little Oak Group and birding and mothing adventures through the year in my personal quest to see 800 species of bird in the Western Paleartic and 5000 in the World and find as many rare birds and moths on the way. 

JANUARY 

After leaving the Old Vicarage in late December we started the year off at a rental in Thame while waiting to move to the Selsey Peninsula. The rental was on one of those hellish red brick Wimpey home estates built on green space but it was actually quite nice as was next to Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve and had a bit of habitat in the form of the SUDs. 

Local winter birding highlights around the estate included a couple of Knot (above) in the Thame Valley and a few Great Egrets (below)  

I did a couple of visits to Otmoor too

A new application was submitted by Valencia in January for the troubled Beddington Farmlands project. 

FEBRUARY

The first family trip of the year was to Madeira. While the boys are young I'm visiting some kid fiendly easy destinations to pick off a few scattered WP ticks. Trocaz Pigeon (above),  Madeiran Firecrest (below) and Madeiran Chaffinch (below that) were three endemics that I needed. Trip report HERE

Canary Island Red Admiral 

Had the moth trap out at the holiday rental (below) and had a few lifers including Traveller (above) 

Madeira- a stunning destination 

MARCH

The first proper birding trip of the year was to Estonia to go for Stellar's Eider (above) and a few mammals. Dipped Moose. Trip Report HERE.

Other highlights on the Estonia trip included Long-tailed Ducks, Eagle Owls, wild geese and dramatic winter scenes (above) 

A couple of new birding investments in March-a new mirrorless R7 and 100-500m lens and a compact sound recorder 

A retrospective lifer in March when Dick Forsman confirmed the identity of this Saker Falcon from a previous trip to Azeribaijan in 2022. 

Early Gall Moth to pheromone lure at the Thame Rental- the first UK moth lifer of the year 

APRIL

We did an Easter holiday trip to Devon to visit Jaffa and stayed in a forest lodge on the edge of Dartmoor. Goosanders were on the river (above) and we twitched the Devon beavers (below) 

The moth trapping was pretty good at the woodland lodge with Marbled Pug (above) and Grey Birch (above that) amongst a few lifers 

Meanwhile back at the Thame Rental, caught a Northern Drab which was also a lifer. The moth trapping was actually not bad due to close proximity to the Cuttlebrook corridor. 

The first publication of the year was this note on the discovery of Steppe Gulls that we made in 2023 in Azerbaijan. Copy HERE. 

MAY

The highlight of May was another birding trip to Azeribaijan with Vincent, Harry, Renee and Elvin. Trip report HERE.  A couple more WP ticks including Shikra (below- second image down) and Black-winged Pratincole and we also found a hybrid Crested x European Honey Buzzard (4th image below) only the 2nd for Az. Loads of other birds including Red-fronted Serin (above) and Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin,  Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Pallas's Gull, Red-necked Phalarope and Black Francolins. 

Birding in the Caucasus 

Had a few moth lifers out in Az including this nice Banded Tiger 

The Thame garden produced another moth lifer, Double-striped Knot-horn 

At the end of May we completed on the Selsey Peninusla homestead purchase which we got refurbished before moving into in June

JUNE

We only had a couple of weeks at the new Selsey Peninsula home before we had to go and stay with family in Australia for more works to be carried out. The first full day birding on the Peninsula produced an American Golden Plover (below) and a Golden Oriole so a pretty nice start. The first local rarity I found was this Roseate Tern (above). Haven't actually found much since! 

Dog's Tooth was the first moth lifer in the new garden 

Ahead of our trip to Western Australia I finally got myself a thermal 

No sooner had we arrived at the new home were we on the road again. First stop Singapore (above and below) on the way to Western Australia.