13th - 15th April 2025

Tuesday, 15th April: There was some rain overnight - the first in about a month - leading to a rather cloudy, murky morning with some drizzly mist and a light to moderate E/NE breeze. Some sunny periods developing later but remaining changeable.

Elmer Rocks: The change of weather, with some welcome cloud and rain, offered high hopes of producing interesting migrants, but it was all rather routine at first, before improving later. There seemed to be nothing moving offshore in a brief look, apart from a couple of Sandwich Terns east and a Gannet west, although two Great Crested Grebes were on the sea displaying, and a migratory flock of 25 Sanderlings dropped onto the beach for a brief feed, before moving on. 

Migratory party of Sanderlings, which dropped in briefly to feed on Elmer beach on a murky morning.

Elmer and Ancton: I was expecting more in the way of migrants from my circuit of the back fields and woodland edge, but it didn't really happen. There were a few Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, plus a Swallow overhead, but the meagre highlight was recording my first two Whitethroats of the year. Other regular species included a pair of Green Woodpeckers, a Kestrel, two Buzzards, a couple of Song Thrushes and a Little Egret flying over. 

Moving on to the Lane End paddocks at Ancton, there was a bit more activity, though nothing too exciting. Three Willow Warblers were present, including two singing birds, plus four Chiffchaffs, three Blackcaps, the pair of Pied Wagtails, a Mistle Thrush, two Green Woodpeckers, two Great Spotted Woodpeckers and two Swallows.

Green Woodpecker (above) and Mistle Thrush at Lane End paddocks

Longbrook Park, Bognor Regis: A first appearance on the blog for this nice little location. Having not been overwhelmed by excitement from my efforts this morning, I was very pleased to receive a message from a local birder - John Kirkman - who gave me news of a Nightingale singing from thick vegetation at this site, at about 07:35hrs. However, I didn't see his message until after 11;00 whilst having coffee, so I made haste and was on site by about 11:35. It was quiet for a short while, then the bird began singing stridently, ignoring all the passers-by and families on the adjacent footpath. I stayed for a good twenty minutes, listening to its wonderful song, though it remained deep in the vegetation. It didn't show properly, although I got a couple of brief glimpses of it moving about, just shapes really.

This site is comfortably within my 5Km site boundary and is apparently a Local Wildlife Site with Arun District Council, but of course is very popular with tourists and locals alike, being situated next door to Butlins. However, worth keeping an eye on...!

Longbrook Park, Bognor - worth keeping an eye on!

Sunday, 13th April: A bit of a change, with more cloud today, though still reasonably bright and remaining dry, with the wind having shifted to the SW 3-4.

Elmer: The clear highlight this morning was finding a Hoopoe locally, which I believe to be the first confirmed record for the Middleton-on-Sea Parish. Whilst not entirely unexpected, given a small influx to the country, it is still a very scarce migrant in this area, not occurring annually. The circumstances of the finding were a little unusual though...

I set off from home at about 07:40 to cycle the few minutes to the local beach this morning on my usual route, via Ancton Way, on the Elmer Sands estate, on a still Sunday morning, when it was all very calm with not a soul around. I'd only gone a few hundred yards when I heard a distinctive 'Oop, oop, oop' call a few times. "Sounds like a Hoopoe" I said to myself, "but don't be silly, must be a small dog or something". But no, by now it was loud and clear - it certainly DID sound like a Hoopoe, causing me to stop in my tracks. 

I listened and the call continued awhile. The row of houses here are backed by a thick wood of mature trees and I was frantically scanning to try and locate the source of the call, when suddenly it flew, giving a very brief glimpse of a Hoopoe before disappearing....only for the call to continue but somewhat softer, obviously from some distance away. 

"When have you ever heard a migrant Hoopoe call like this," I thought, "so I need to see it better to prove it". A bit of a panic ensued, so I played a hunch and headed for the beach to overlook the small area of set-aside behind. On arrival - nothing - then just as one of the locals wanted a chat, I saw it in flight, having apparently just come up from the set-aside. It flew west over the wood and was lost to view again. I put messages out to other local birders and lots of searching then followed, before I briefly saw it in flight again. This time it was heading back to the wooded area! To cut the long story short, I failed to get a photo, but fortunately other birders also eventually saw it briefly, just to the east, on the Climping side.

There wasn't much of any note regarding other species, though several Chiffchaffs, three Blackcaps, a Mistle Thrush, a few Linnets and two Buzzards were seen.

Rabbit and Hoopoe in Cudlow's field, Climping (with thanks to local birder Bola Akinola). This is quite probably the same bird as I saw, having been found in an area adjacent to my last sighting, however given the influx of the species this spring, it's just possible it is another individual.