A colour-ringed Greater Black-backed Gull (white J1063 on black) digiscoped on the River Adur at Shoreham Airport at dusk on Friday had been ringed as a pullus on 23.06.09 at BERGESTØHOLMEN, Mandal, Vest-Agder, Norway. It had been seen at Chouet Landfill Beach, Vale, Guernsey on 07 Aug 2010.

The first wigeon of the autumn arrived overnight - ca. 30 were present today on north brooks this morning along with numerous teal, mallard and a few shoveler. Blackcaps, chiffchaffs and whitethroats in the scrub around the trail, with at least 3 redstarts between Winpenny and Little Hanger hides. Spotted flycatchers also reported from various places. An impressive looking ca. 480 Canada geese and ca. 270 greylags were grazing the north brooks this afternoon.

On the Downs behind Steyning this morning lots of wheatears, plus a few whinchats and whitethroats. Highlight, however, was a peregrine, standing for several minutes in the middle of a ploughed field near Steyning Bowl.

On a 4km round walk from my Westmeston home to the top of the Downs I had 15 wheatears, 9 spotted flycatchers, 2 blackcaps, 4 chiff/willows, 2 sparrowhawks and about 150 hirundines flying E.

A Kingfisher flashed across Hove Lagoon as I was cycling past this morning.

The highlight of a walk on and around Seaford Head this morning between 06.20 and 10.20 was a Short-eared Owl being mobbed by gulls over the cliff edge at 06.50. Among the supporting cast were 2 Common Redstarts, 78 Blackcaps, 49 Yellow Wagtails, 47 Wheatears, 39 Common Whitethroats, 7 Lesser Whitethroats, 7 Chiffchaffs, 3 Reed Warblers and a single Willow Warbler. Also of note were the two confiding Golden Plover on the golf course reported yesterday and a steady movement of Sand Martins (counted at 176 but a fraction of the total). (Bob Self, Chris Brown & Steve Dawson).

The Breech Pool was dominated by 136 very noisy Canada geese with the local resident mallard and teal retreating to the margins. Three common sandpipers there and, surprisingly, a pair of pochard. A kingfisher was hunting along White's Creek. Eight recently arrived wigeon on the Creek. There were 37 yellow wagtails around the cattle in the field immediately west of Owl Copse. In the back fields were 7 whitethroats, 2 blackcaps, 1 spotted flycatcher and 1 male redstart. The bibs on some of the whitethroats are stained by blackberries and elderberries and may give rise to some interesting sightings. Curlew numbers in the fields have risen to around 120. They include a very pale individual, presumably the one that was around last winter. It appears to have been a good year for local blue tits, I counted 23 this morning. Plenty of raptor activity - 2 buzzards, 1 each of kestrel, sparrowhawk and peregrine.

A 4 hour walk around Canada Bottom/No Man's Land and then onto the Ring saw large flocks of Linnets and Swallows (50+), Yellowhammer (10+), Wheatear (10+), Whitethroat, Stonechat, Sky Larks, Greenfinch, Goldfinch (10+), a few Willow Warblers but not nearly as many as recently, large Blue/Long-tailed Tit flocks, Blackcaps, 2 Buzzards in their usual field, 1 Kestrel (female or juvenile) and finally 1 female Redstart on the Ring - my first this year.

Two very tame Golden Plovers looking wonderfully spangled in the bright afternoon sun on the (I think) 17th fairway of Seaford Head golf course - the one that runs parallel to the cliff path. On the 30th a Hobby cruised through the lower Cuckmere Valley circling with Haven Brow as a backdrop.

A lovely warm late August day with a light easterly breeze and we thought we might be in for an exciting days birding but I guess the clear overnight skies enabled many of the migrants to move out south! In the Sidlesham Ferry area a single Common Sandpiper and 30 Teal and in the channel a lone Whimbrel. Along the tramway Cetti's Warbler and a few common migrants. At Church Norton and The Severals a Peregrine out on one of the islands and in the harbour 6 Knot. Very few migrants around the hide and churchyard. Offshore 2 Shags. Selsey West Fields and Bracklesham Bay RSPB were fairly quiet with little evidence of visible migration, just 8 Yellow Wagtails in a cattle field, a single Whimbrel, 30 Med Gulls and 10 Yellow-legged Gulls. At Church Norton on a rising tide 17 Pintail, 30 Wigeon and 150 Teal. Seven Knot and 2 Curlew Sandpipers with a small flock of Dunlin that flew over the shingle beach and out to sea. Four Wheatears on the beach. (Bernie Forbes & Dave Smith).

A walk in the West Grinstead vicinity today produced some interesting migrants. Namely, 1 Curlew, 1 Hobby, 2 Whinchats, 1 female Wheatear, 2 Spotted Flycatchers, 1 Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap and a few Chiffchaffs. Also seen were 2 Stock Doves, several Common Buzzards, 1 Kestrel and 2 Sparrowhawks.

Good numbers of common migrants along the eastern edge of Lullington Heath NNR this morning. Pick of the bunch were 2 Redstarts, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and a Garden Warbler. Two more Spotted Flycatchers in nearby Friston Forest.

Congratulations to Chris Barfield for producing an excellent newsletter. Unfortunately the article on page 12 about winter Atlas recording mistakenly lists seven tetrads, where so far no winter species have been recorded, as being priorities for recording visits this winter. In fact all but one of these tetrads are allocated to reliable and competent volunteers who will carry out Timed Tetrad Visits this winter, and anybody wishing to do some roving recording this winter should choose tetrads where TTVs have already been carried out but where low numbers of species have been recorded. During the next month I will be producing some general guidance on where further recording is needed, and I am always happy to advise individuals directly on priority tetrads close to where they live. Tetrads SU93V, TQ53Z, TQ60F, TQ62Q, TQ62U, TQ70J, TQ72Y, TQ81F, TQ91U and TQ91Z are unallocated for winter TTVs and volunteers would be welcome. You can easily find out where these and other tetrads are at http://www.bto.org/birdatlas/taking_part/atlastools.htm where you can type in a tetrad grid reference and obtain an OS map of the tetrad.

With an extra day off and good weather, could not resist taking a chance of sighting an Osprey. After a long wait I was rewarded with one circling the west end near the hide for about 5 mins. It made one plunge and came out with a reasonable sized fish then headed east. It was about 14.15 - sorry for those who left a short while before, just two of us saw it.

While at Seaford Head today there was a seal that came up 5 or 6 times to have a look around.

Predictably there was no sign of the Hoopoe at Climping this morning, following a clear night and bright sunny morning with light E/SE wind. Migrant numbers were down on the last few days, and the best bird was probably a Hobby which showed well for a short time. Combined patch totals from the regulars were: 3 Redstarts, 25 Common Whitethroats, 5 Lesser Whitethroats, 15 Willow Warblers, 5 Chiffchaffs, 12 Blackcaps, 12 Yellow Wagtails, 9 Wheatears, 2 Whinchats, 3 Reed Warblers, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Sandwich Terns and 4 Buzzards. (OM, P Bowley, E Standing, R Pulley et al).

On the South Downs Way 1 Km east of Ditchling Beacon there were a number of migrant birds in a small area, mostly on fences, including 5 spotted flycatchers, 5 yellow wagtails, 4 wheatears, 2 whinchats, 2 whitethroats and some willow warblers.

Garden Warbler in our Coldwaltham garden this morning feeding on insects on the Buddleia. Over on Waltham Brooks this evening good numbers of Sand Martins, House Martins and Swallows feeding over the lake, 1 Willow Warbler and 20 Goldfinches including many juveniles. At least 25 Lapwings resting on the island. Near the sewage treatment works a Spotted Flycatcher shared a tree with a pristine Lesser Whitethroat and a family of Stonechats. The perimeter fence was alive with Chiffchaffs with at least 12 counted with 15 Pied Wagtails on the settling beds.

Two spotted redshanks flew in at 18.15. Still present at 19.00. Having just missed (by 5 mins) the osprey catching a fish in front of the hide at 17.15 the wait for a possible visit by the second osprey that is frequenting the reservoir was rewarded by the shanks instead. Also present 2 green sandpipers, one dunlin, 3 ringed plover, one little ringed plover, one common tern and 4 kingfishers together on the tern rafts.

A couple of hrs yesterday (Sunday) afternoon on the Downs between Chantry Post car park and Lee Farm, produced two marsh harriers (1 juv and 1 adult or nearly adult male), 2 hobbies, a female sparrowhawk, 1 wheatear, 1 redstart, 1 spotted flycatcher and 1 whitethroat. Today, during a walk around along the west side of Thorney Island (11.00 - 15.00) we found 1 osprey (hovering/drifting W at about 14.00 on the rising tide, heading for Langstone), 3 or 4 wheatears, 1 lesser whitethroat, 1 common whitethroat, 1 hobby, and at least 5 buzzards and 4 kestrels. Plenty of greenshank, curlew, black-tailed godwits, a couple of whimbrels and at least 100 bar-tailed godwits were the best of the waders and there were 15-18 common seals on view at midday to the south of the island.