Two nice winter bird spots from my garden in Firle this morning - 7 Bramblings going over calling and a small flock of about 20 Fieldfares in the adjacent fields and trees, the first reasonable flock this end of the year. The local thrushes have done o.k. this year - Blackbirds, Song and Mistle Thrushes all seem to be pretty abundant, but I have only seen 2 Ring Ouzels moving through this autumn - have there been many around?

A woodlark was calling over the car park at 11.00 this morning. Lots of small birds around the trail - goldcrests, bullfinches and redwings much in evidence, plus the odd redpoll. A few small groups of fieldfares went over, mostly going NW. A peregrine caught a starling or similar near West Mead hide at about 08.00 before carrying it off high to the west of the reserve, possibly eating it on the wing. Ca. 100 pintail on North Brooks amongst the other wildfowl.

Last Friday 3 Red Kites were seen flying over Storrington towards the Downs at 1.30pm.

This evening (7pm) a welcome garden tick with a flock of 80 Brent Geese heading west; first heard and then seen, the birds were clearly silhouetted against silvery cloud on a very bright moonlit evening.

This evening, whilst on a run, a Long-eared Owl was settling on fence posts at Newhaven Tide Mills around the factories at about 19.45. It was flushed twice before heading off into the darkness. It was seen at close range and I could just make out the long ears.

Hundreds of Woodpigeons moving west this morning but one flock of 200+ flew straight out to sea heading SSW. Totals of 144 Sanderling and 15 Grey Plover together at high tide and a single Great Crested Grebe offshore.

A major surprise (at least for me) was a Barn Owl low over the rooftops of Southwick at 20.15 this evening when I was out dog walking. It was flying from E to W and past over Kingston Lane into Shoreham until it was lost from view. The absence of any suitable hunting areas nearby, the coastal location and the bright moonlit night makes we wonder if it was a migrant?

A 90 minute visit produced a pair of Dartford Warblers (see photo), a male and two female Common Crossbills in flight and calling, 13 Lesser Redpolls, around 15 Coal Tits, many of which were foraging on the ground, 2 Goldcrests (with many more heard), a Meadow Pipit, a Green Woodpecker and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

A Kingfisher along the stream crossing the first hole of the River Course.

Highlights of a walk along the North Wall this morning were 4 Rock Pipits, 2 Swallows flying SW over Owl Copse and 4 Bearded Tits moving E along the reeds at the front of the Breech Pool.

Pretty quiet of late though still good numbers of small birds, Goldcrest in particular, plus 3 Marsh Tits, 2+ Coal Tits, 2 Nuthatches and 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers at the feeders. Also noted have been 42 Teal, only a few Tufted Duck and Pochard, several Mandarin, 2 Little Grebes and 25 or so Lapwing. Jays, Bullfinches and winter thrushes are still an obvious feature to date. Gull number however are down, although there were four species today, Black-headed, Common, Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed. Sadly the Little Egret and Green Sandpiper seem to have departed. As of tomorrow I'll be away until the 10th December, so if you have any Weir Wood news please post it here.

Half an hour watching the two feeders in my garden this morning before work produced 1 Siskin, 1 Redwing, ca. 50 Greenfinches, ca. 20 Goldfinches and 2 female Bramblings while a Common Buzzard flew overhead.

After Monday's storm Selsey Bill was the obvious place to be this morning. Wrong again!! Little was passing by during the time we were there apart from a couple of Red-throated and a single Black-throated Diver that flew west as did the a few Red-breasted Mergansers. A Merlin came in off the sea and good numbers of Goldfinches were in the neighbourhood. At Church Norton a single female Common Eider in the harbour and we counted 230 Knot as the tide was dropping. At Sidlesham Ferry 6 Avocets. (Bernie Forbes & Dave Smith).

Sixteen people joined me on the best morning for weather we have had for a bit, although there still was some strength in the south-westerly wind to say the least. This would keep most birds heads down for the whole morning but it was not quite as bad as I had expected 24 hours earlier. It was a straightforward walk from the carpark to the sea and back on the eastern side. The birds along the way included a difficult to see Ring Ouzel that only really let itself be known when it gave out two sharp 'taks' when it flew off, 1 Redwing, several sightings of Kingfishers, 2 pairs of Stonechats, Kestrel, Redshank, Curlew, Greylag Goose, Tufted Duck, a flotilla of 17 Little Grebes and Little Egret. A sea-watch was virtually impossible due to the head wind so a quick about turn and back to the carpark with the wind and light behind us which produced excellent views of a Peregrine coming towards us from the north, over our heads and then continuing still fairly high south -west. A good morning's walk with one or two nice birds thrown in all made even bettter by everybody's good mood. Thirty-seven species were seen.

Fantastic close view of a Firecrest in bramble to the left of the Ramsar hide over looking the scrape area.