The cold weather has brought the return of our winter visitors Redpoll (5) and Siskin (3) along with a male Bullfinch,a Heron and 9 Blackbirds.

SWT course participants were treated to an excellent morning at Rodmell, perhaps the best sighting was the 40+ flock of reed buntings feeding in some stubble with a single corn bunting amongst them. A pair of peregrines on a pylon, 10 dunlin amongst the hundreds of lapwing and a single snipe flushed. In the early afternoon 2 flocks of about 20 golden plover joined them. A pair of gadwall in one of the ditches ans a few shoveler on the pools. Three buzzards circled above us as we left. No owls though. A quick trip to Newhaven Tidemills where we located the 2nd winter Iceland gull on the pier before it joined the other gulls in circling around a fishing boat before landing on the water. The 2 Avocets on the mudflats were very obliging and about 30 curlew flew in to graze in the fields.

I'd like to take some lessons from Derek Barber in how to bird Black Down. Spent an hour walking over 3 miles around the area late yesterday morning and missed all the gems he saw. Good views of Siskin and Goldcrest, flyover Redpoll and Crossbill flocks and possible Raven from the car near the car park were my highlights.

On the sea at Goring Gap on Sunday afternoon, 10 Red-breasted Mergansers, 4 Great Crested Grebes, 7 Common Scoter and with the mergansers a male Goosander which took off and flew W.

Encouraged by the report from Matt Eade I went in search of the Glossy Ibis and Pale-bellied Brent Geese. In the morning not much luck, but on the way to Litlington the pair of Egyptian Geese near the road, probably the birds which have been around this winter and also last year. Returning in the afternoon there were the following unusual birds:20  Pintail, 12 Pochard and a female Goosander, two Common Sandpipers on the river bank near the Golden Galleon, also a Bar-tailed Godwit. I eventually managed to pick out one of the two Pale-bellied Brents which were seen by Bob Self earlier in the day, also the escape Bar-headed Goose, an Avocet at the pools, and, on my way back in the late afternoon,  a Kingfisher flew across. Phew!

Tawny Owl, at 20.50, heard calling in the village (Westfield) just to the northwest. Nice to hear that at least one has made it though the winter, any other members heard them calling, if so where?

At Castle Water three Bitterns from the hide, two of which posed on the ice. On the nearby fields four PINK-FOOTED GEESE and 44 White-fronted Geese. Also three Marsh Harriers - adult male, adult female and a juv.

Looking north from the viewing gallery of the Foredown Tower towards New Barn Farm, to the horses field just south of of the bypass, I noticed, using a 50mm spotting scope, that in the field there was a small flock (perhaps 10) of Magpies picking over some old broken up horse droppongs and amongst them a few "thrushes", the best view of one of these showed it to be a Fieldfare - my first seen this winter. The magpies were themselves very "argumentative" - pecking and "bullying" at least one of their number.

Good selection of woodland birds in Rewell Wood today: 3 Firecrests, 10 Crossbills, 8 Marsh Tits, 12 Coal Tits, 25 Long-tailed Tits and a flock of 30 Siskins and 1 Lesser Redpoll.

Two drake and 3 redhead Smew still on the Ternery Pool late this afternoon (pic attached).

A late afternoon visit produced around 200+ Siskins, 2 Bramblings and good numbers of Redpolls (including at least one fine male MEALY). The Crossbill flocks are many and consist of smaller groups of birds (no flock exceeded 20 birds in number). The PARROT CROSSBILL put in an appearance in the silver birch around the small pool at approx SU915303 at 3pm.

A very early start saw us arrive at Pagham at about 07.00. We walked along the North Wall and immediately found the White-fronted Geese. There were large numbers of Pintail in the river and several skeins of Brent Geese (one of which included the leucistic bird). We had Kingfisher, Snipe and Marsh Harrier from the wall and then joined a few brave birders and waited for the PADDYFIELD WARBLER. We were rewarded with very brief views of the bird on the tyre bush at about 08.25. After waiting to see if the bird would re-appear (it didn't) we drove over to Church Norton where we had decent views of Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated and Great Northern Diver on the sea, followed by a lovely Firecrest on the path to the car park. A quick stop at Ivy Lake provided 100+ Shoveler, 50+ Pochard and a similar number of Gadwall. We decided to return home at this point, but diverted via Newhaven harbour, where the ICELAND GULL was showing well on the West arm at around 16.00. We also saw 6-7 Purple Sandpipers sheltering on the concrete blocks at the end of the west arm and a juvenile Shag fishing in the harbour. All in all a nice day with 80 species in total, not bad for a twitch!

Thanks to Mick davis for the attached photo of today's Tundra Bean Geese.

Quiet afternoon on the sea with only a Mute Swan swimming westward. At Widewater three Little Egrets were squabbling loudly close to a stunning male Pintail.

Lewes - R.Ouse - Rodmell - Northease - Swanborough Lakes - Lewes walk. Hoped to see Bewick's Swans but none seen. Nothing on river. Three Mallard and 2 Mute Swans near frozen ditches; 3 Reed Buntings in the usual spot where the Rodmell path meets the river. 100+ Lapwing in field to north of path. Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Blue Tits, Robins, Mistle Thrush, Blackbirds in Rodmell. Four Song Thrushes. Large flock of Fieldfares flew over at Iford, two more flocks above Swanborough Lakes. Flock of Fieldfares feeding in field to north of sewage works and behind garden centre (19 visible). Ponds frozen, no birds.

Seen on Pulborough Brooks RSPB reserve: 3 Bullfinches 1 male and 2 females. Also saw a water rail, 7 snipe and 4 curlew.

The 2nd winter ICELAND GULL still at Newhaven Harbour early afternoon today. (Jan Jupp).

As the Smew was reported yesterday I spent this morning once again birding around the reservoir. From the dam I could see that most of the duck were gathered in some open water towards the west end. Once I arrived the Tufted Duck and Pochards were still around and seemingly from nowhere the Smew was found in the middle of the ducks, geese and Cormorants all enjoying the warmer conditions. Sadly the White-fronted Goose and Goosanders were no longer present. Other species noted included at least three of the Green Sandpipers, 43 Lapwing, 87 Teal, but possibly more, and seven Gadwall. The gulls were few and far between, a Lesser Black-backed Gull and 12 Common Gulls were noted however. At the west end feeders six Long-tailed Tits were enjoying the nuts, also a Marsh Tit, 35 Greenfinches and overhead a vocal Common Buzzard.

Next indoor meeting is Wednesday 15th February, 8pm at Friary Hall, Crawley, RH10 1HR. John Hamilton will be giving a talk on Peru. All welcome. Admission £3 C&H Group members: £2.50 seniors; £4 non-C&H Group members. (Celia Dickerhof).

A flock of seven White-fronted Geese (pic of 3 attached) (looked like 1 adult and 6 1st-year birds) behind the Breach Pool this morning (thanks Peter Callis for the call). Also the female Marsh Harrier was present again, though I didn't linger for the Paddyfield Warbler.