If you're a regular reader of this blog you may know that I enjoy taking part in outdoor things as a whole not just walking, and this year I completed my Silver Duke of Edinburgh award.
It started in April, where I had an awesome time walking around the Ashdown Forest in migration season, seeing some pretty decent birds. See
here for that post.
From the 21st-23rd June, I had a final expedition that would be taking place in the South Downs, starting agonisingly close to Pulborough Brooks. So on Friday 21st I headed down to Pulborough station with a few friends, ready for an exciting if not tiring 3 days of walking.
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| my birding logbook |
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| my birding logbook |
We began our first day at around 09:15am, with Chiffchaff, Song Thrush and Whitethroats plentiful in the area, while Marbled White butterflies were also on the wing. Heading on, and briefly getting lost, I had an all too brief encounter with what seemed to be a Nightingale, while the next few kilometres were very quiet. We soon reached an area along the River Arun called Waltham Brooks, where a number of Cetti's Warblers sang their explosive song alongside a hidden path. Reaching the nature reserve at the brooks was quiet, but a Green Sandpiper that flew in calling was my first of the autumn season...
Pushing on we soon got lost again in a eery, confusing woodland, but Siskins and Chaffinch helped me keep some sort of focus while there (as usual I ended up doing all the map work so I was a bit out of form!!) A singing Willow Warbler was the first of the trip however. The next part of the walking was largely quiet for most of the morning, with fewer breaks due the lost hour when getting lost in the woodland! We quickly caught up on time, and stopped for lunch at a nice-looking heathland area where Yellowhammers were seemingly everywhere, as were a few Stonechat. It all was going well here until I told my group that the path we were on was called the 'Serpent trail' at which point everything that moved was a snake, making my life much more fun even if I was blamed for everything! The start of our afternoon was quiet, even with good numbers of Marsh Tit and House Martins in areas. Eventually we reached a place called Chingford Pond, where damselflies were everywhere. Heading on was quiet for a period, but hearing a few Skylarks - so, so few... - wasn't bad. After another 7km of walking, we eventually reached our destination for the night at 17:15, with the evening going pretty quickly.
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| Lapwing (Waltham Brooks NR) |
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| Whitethroat (Waltham Brooks NR) |
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| Not sure - anyone good with plants? |
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| m Stonechat with food |
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| f Banded Demoiselle damselfly |
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| Common blue damselfly stare-off with a fly. The fly won... |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Painted Lady |
Our second day began with us leaving at around 8am, heading South across the apparently tick-infested hills. Overall, I enjoyed it much more than the first day, with the scenery much more exciting and navigating slightly easier. However, the wildlife was taking a day off, unsurprisingly due to the fairly warm weather. Fortunately, the route was also much shorter, and so we reached our second campsite at around 2:45pm, where we had a very chilled evening, playing games and barely moving. The only notable bird, even if there'd been loads already, was a Firecrest that sang non-stop in a dense tree above us.
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| River Arun |
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| River Arun |
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| Waltham Brooks NR |
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| Some interesting marshland at Chingford |
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| Chingford Pond |
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| Forest near camp |
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| Skylark field |
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| Skylark field 2 |
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| South Downs |
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| South Downs |
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| South Downs |
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| South Downs |
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| South Downs |
On the third day, slightly eager to get through the longest and hardest day, we set off at 07:45am, before promptly getting a little lost. The first 3km were dull, with barely anything to see. From here, things improved significantly. Whilst listening to a few Skylark, I watched another bird pop up onto a post and call, letting me get my best ever Corn Bunting views yet. After a few minutes watching it, the bird flew straight over my head, joining 2 further birds and landing in a field, probably to attend to young. This was pretty uplifting, making the upcoming hill feel much smaller than it was.
We continued onwards for a further few kilometres, eventually reaching our first checkpoint to meet our assessor, where a few Lesser Whitethroat and Skylark were observed.
The next part - perhaps 6km - of the journey were comfortably my favourite of the weekend. As we walked along a long path, near the 'Slindon estate,' the fields were completely full of Skylarks, which sang continuously for the duration of the journey. An amazing sight and sound that many fear we may not have in many places ever again, as they continue to drastically decline. In some areas they were joined by warblers and Yellowhammers, making it all the more enjoyable. We continued onwards towards Amberley, and along this route Reed and Sedge warblers were seen, along with a number of other species including Water Rail. When we reached the village, after a long, tiring few hours of walking, we stopped for a break, before carrying along through Amberley Brooks back towards Pulborough. And what a way it was to finish my birding for the few days. It started with a nice family party of Willow Warblers, and then a fly-by Kingfisher. Then I caught sight of a distant singing Corn Bunting, that decided to fly right towards us, landing metres away from another group ahead of us. Obviously they were clueless, but after some patience (not from my group unfortunately) the bunting started singing on a bush and then a post ahead of me, allowing me some awesome views of the species, even if it has a slightly uninspiring song...
I then ran to catch up with my group, nearly putting my camera away as well. As I caught up with them, a sound caught my ear and it was a sound I'd been pretty desperate to hear for a long, long time. Being a birder who loves bird sounds more than anything else, I was thrilled to hear my first reeling Grasshopper Warbler. Despite being fairly distant, it was reeling very loudly, and when it stopped for a few seconds another bird was audible even further off. Sadly I couldn't stay longer as my group had disappeared ahead, but I was delighted to finally add a bogey species, and my target species of the year, to my ever-growing life birding list.
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| Corn Bunting 1 |
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| Corn Bunting 1 |
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| Corn Bunting 1 |
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| Corn Bunting 2 |
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| Corn Bunting 3 |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Skylark |
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| Corn Bunting 3 |
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| Corn Bunting 3 |
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| Corn Bunting 3 |
I then decided to put my kit away so we could get back to the train station fairly quickly, which brought to a close a brilliant final day walking through the South Downs!
Thanks for reading :)
