Saturday was a domestic affair, so fast-forward to Sunday and in the early hours I met Ian at a sight in West Sussex for some orchid searching. Our main target, the
Sword-leaved Helleborine, had us searching for some time, but eventually we found the only colony in Sussex.
On the way to the site, near to South Hardham, I spotted a huge White Helleborine on the side of the road. As I had time, I pulled over and searched the brilliant beech understorey and found several Bird's-nest Orchids, including one that was the biggest I'd ever seen. At another location away from here, I again stopped as the habitat looked ideal for my orchids. A quick scout around didn't actually produce any, though as soon as I parked up I could hear a Goshawk calling. After a while, two birds flew through the forest showing briefly.
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| Sword-leaved Helleborines |
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| White Helleborine |
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| Bird's-nest Orchids |
On Monday, I had an excellent day touring a few sights in West Sussex. Although I had many targets for the day, I wasn't anticipating on seeing them quite so easily (this can't be said for the Wood Warbler, where I didn't have a sniff of one all day).
I started the day at Stanley Common, a site I'd never been to before, but also, a sight that back in the day used to hold an annual pair of Wood Warblers. With few birders checking out these sites, I thought it was worth a go. A circuit didn't produce any Wood Warblers, though I found some decent stuff that is listed below:
Cuckoo - 1
Crossbill - 7
Redstart - 1 singing male
Firecrest - 15 singing males
Garden Warbler - 1
Siskin - 5
Tawny Owl - 1 flushed out of a bush by harassing Blackbirds
Next up was Blackdown, a site this time I had only visited once before when the Parrot Crossbill was there. Despite walking several good looking slopes, I still couldn't locate any Wood Warblers, but as always the typical heathland birds were encountered, plus of course the stunning views of the surrounding counties. A
Dartford Warbler took a particular liking to me during my visit.
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| Adult & juv Crossbill |
At Woolbeding Common I laid on the floor for about an hour hoping to pick out any raptors that might've been patrolling the skies, though typically just the usual
Common Buzzards, and two stratospheric
Sparrowhawks going over, was all I could find. In the same field as me however, were four
Woodlarks that included a mating pair. A Downy Emerald also flew through, but best of all were a swarm of up to perhaps 400 bees that went past in a tight-knit group.
With temperatures now soaring, I checked a site along the River Rother and happily found up to four
Common Clubtail dragonflies, including a recently emerged individual. Also present was immatures of both
Scarce Chaser and
Black-tailed Skimmers, a
Hairy Dragonfly and an
Emperor, whilst the damselflies consisted of only Azure and Large Red.
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| Scarce Chaser |
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| Common Clubtail |
I then spent many hours walking the understorey of the large network of beech woods in Charlton Forest. I was on the hunt for Fly Orchids, though surprisingly I couldn't find any, despite the habitat looking absolutely brilliant. There were plenty of
Bird's-nest Orchids scattered about, but little else. On my walk back, walking under more trees on the escarpment heading back down into the village of Heyshott, I found a sleeping
Badger. I had to change my camera lens and negotiate a few branches so I could get a clear view, and after a while the Badger woke up allowing me to take several photos as it looked on rather perplexed. A male
Goshawk flew over and at the bottom of the escarpment, I finally found a small colony of
Fly Orchids, a few
Greater Butterfly Orchids, and many
White Helleborines.
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| Bird's-nest Orchid |
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| A sleepy Badger |
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| Fly Orchid |
My final destination was Ambursham Common, a site I used to love being taken to by my Dad, and where we've easily had our best Nightjar encounters. A walk around first produced a
Hobby and the typical heathland species, and finally, when the sun went down, I saw a minimum of five Nightjars, that included perched views, wing-clapping and of course plenty of 'churring'. No Woodcocks was the only disappointment here, but it had been an exceptional day, a day that also produced a
Honey-buzzard during my wanderings.
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| Nightjar |
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| Honey-buzzard |
