The Downs in Spring, Guided Birdwatching March 2024

A beautiful spring morning in the South Downs with abundant bird life and wildflowers.

Upon meeting, a song thrush was singing in full voice and the first of many chiffchaffs was chiff-chaffing away. Within a stubble field a mixed flock of finches moved around, it contained a good number of goldfinches, redpoll and linnets. Further along a marsh tit perched in a floriferous blackthorn bush, before moving into the bare trees where it spent a long time eating a meal by standing on it and pecking away.

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Marsh tit. Photos by Cynthia Downie.

The footpath was lined with dog's mercury, primrose, wood anemone and a carpet of daffodils.

Dog's mercury

Wood anemone

Daffodils

Within an oak tree a coal tit flittered around, while something larger was perched above. Peering through the branches revealed a male crossbill pecking through the mosses and lichens. Fortunately he stayed in the tree for a long time, and the whole group managed to get a close up view of this individual.

Overhead buzzards and a red kite were soaring, and a couple of ravens flew over. At one stage 13 buzzards were all together soaring in a thermal. A smart peregrine circled close to a buzzard giving some great views. A goshawk joined in too, it was such a pleasure to see so many individuals and a range of raptor species in one spot.

Further up the slope the melodic sounds of a mistle thrush was filling a clearing with song. There he was standing proud on top of the tallest tree, a perfect stage for his performance.

Mistle Thrush. Photo by Cynthia Downie.

We enjoyed the views from the top of the downs, and walked back downhill accompanied by a range of woodland birds including bullfinch, goldcrest, firecrest.

If you are interested in attending a guided birdwatching session such as this one, the upcoming events can be seen on the ‘Events’ page of this website. Or to stand the best chance of a space being available, you can get the information emailed to you prior to its publication online by joining my mailing list. To do so simply email me at baggaleyhugh@gmail.com

- Hugh Baggaley