A West Sussex Heath in early June 2021, Guided Birdwatching Trip Report

A trip to a West Sussex heathland on a wonderful summer evening in early June produced performances from the majority bird species that specialise in this unusual terrain. The ground is sandy, in some places pure sand. Pine and birch trees dominate the wooded areas, and the ground is carpeted with heather and gorse. It had been a hot day, a slight breeze was therefore much appreciated.

At the start of the walk we heard numerous birds singing, and in particular the chiffchaffs seemed to be the most vocal. Despite hearing many chiffchaffs they proved elusive to spot. Eventually the chiffchaffs gave way to a willow warbler singing, a much more musical song with a tumbled descending lilt. He showed off atop a birch tree as he sang his phrase.

Willow Warbler.

A woodlark ascended in flight to the top of a tree where it sang it's most delightful song. It is not the most complex of tunes, but is delivered with liquid tone in a beautiful performance.

Woodlark.

Stonechats are one of the more conspicuous small birds at heathlands, having the helpful habit of standing up proud on the top of any suitable perch. We watched a colourful male as he foraged for insects for a presumable brood full of hungry stonechat chicks.

Stonechat.

In a lower section of the heath a particularly busy area was found with avian activity coming from all directions. A woodlark performed a fantastic song flight which lasted for 10 or 15 minutes. There seemed to be a few male woodlarks in this area, with others seen singing from the usual treetop position. A couple of tree pipits were also found in this area, singing away with great vigour.

Woodlark (above). And Singing Tree Pipits (below).

Speaking of vigour, a reed bunting was singing his absolute heart out! It is not a song that will dominate the audio mix of birdsongs but nevertheless was delivered with as much intensity and duration as he could manage, a most impressive showing.

Reed Bunting.

The range of species seen in this spot was quite interesting. We had been hearing the distant songs of mistle thrushes during the walk and got lucky when one put in an appearance landing in a nearby tree. A yellowhammer was also perched up and singing his distinct phrase, as well as a pair of linnets and a great spotted woodpecker.

Mistle Thrush, Yellowhammer, Linnet and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

The headline act on a summers evening at a heath such as this is the nightjars. Dusk was nearly upon us and at 9.20 pm the first churring sound was heard. After a few distant churrs one flew across the path near us. Now sounds were popping up from different directions and then an individual flew from left to right in the clear area in front of us, an excellent view. We got a bonus when a nightjar perched up in a nearby birch tree for a short while, and the flew off into darkening landscape. A great way to end the evening.

Photos were taken and kindly provided by Les Phillips.

If you are interested in attending a guided walk such as this one, the upcoming events can be seen on the Events page on this website, here. To stand the best chance of spaces being available join my mailing list by emailing me at: baggaleyhugh@gmail.com You will receive a monthly email with the upcoming events prior to their publication on this site.

- Hugh Baggaley