Frontline Stories from Global Leaders in Bird Research, Conservation and Wildlife Broadcasting

Avian Odyssey is a major bird research and conservation event hosted by the Natural History Museum (NHM) in partnership with the British Ornithologists’ Club (BOC) and other leading organisations.

Originating as regional collaborations nearly fifteen years ago, it has since grown into a global conference featuring partners like the RSPB, BirdLife International, and the BTO.

This year’s programme includes nine talks on pressing issues such as plastics in the environment, the spread of Usutu virus, citizen science in China, and vulture conservation in Nigeria.

Highlights include RSPB CEO Beccy Speight’s keynote address and insights from BBC Natural History producer Giles Badger.

When: Saturday 20 September 2025

Where: Flett Theatre (Exhibition Road Entrance), Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD.

Tickets Prices:

• Standard In-person Adult Admission Price (18+): £10
• Concession In-person Ticket Admission Price: £7 (Children 13+, Student In-person (full-time education, Universal/Pension Credit).
• Disabled In-person Companion: Free
• Virtual (Live Stream) Online Ticket: £5

Website, info and tickets: here

Three new islands on the lagoon

New low point winding from the lagoon to the solar pump location

New scrape created on the wetland

We are pleased to share an update on the work at the Ferry Pool and Fields at Pagham Harbour provided by Downs to Sea.

The work so far
The Downs to the Sea project on Ferry Field is now well underway and is making great progress. Works began on 11th August and after only a few weeks, a huge amount had been achieved.

The contractors started by creating a new, shallow channel. This channel will connect the new solar pump to the lagoon, allowing water to be channelled to the lagoon as required. This will provide an input of freshwater to the lagoon, to allow staff to keep the lagoon at the correct water level and also the required salinity.

3 new islands have been created in the lagoon. 2 of these were simple to make, but the third provided quite a challenge. Even with the lagoon being the driest it has been in a long time, the area closest to the road was still too wet to hold the weight of a digger. We have discovered there is about 1.5m of silt in this area which has built up over years of flooding, so even with special bog mats to spread the weight of the digger, they could not reach this area. As a result, we worked closely with the contractors and our ecologists to come up with an alternative location for the third island. This means the island has been created in a location that could be accessed by the digger but will still be beneficial to wildlife. The gentle profile of the island edges will provide a lovely muddy edge and the non-linear shapes of the island will create sheltered areas. This will create ideal habitat for waders like Avocet to build their nests and feed their chicks.

A new berm has been created along the bank of the Broad Rife. This is an elevated area of ground that serves two purposes. The first is to provide some protection to the Broad Rife bank against wave and wind action in the lagoon. The second is to provide a raised area for the new predator exclusion fence to sit on.

The old bund running down the centre ditch of the field has been removed. This bund sat in a low area of the field and prevented water movement. This bund is now being moved to a higher point to separate the saline lagoon area of the field from the fresh water wet grassland. This will allow a greater area of the field to be managed for breeding waders and wildfowl effectively.

New spill out areas, rills and scrapes have begun being made. These are shallow dug out areas that wind their way through the wet grassland. They have shallow graded edges, so when filled with water, they will provide muddy edges for wader chicks to feed.

What’s Next ?
The contractors will continue their progress on the new bund and the spill out areas. They will also be installing a new sluice which will hold water on the wetland. They are going to be starting to get preparatory ground works done before the new solar pump arrives in October. Works will also be starting on the new predator exclusion fence.

We will continue to provide updates as soon as they are available.

Adam Huttly

The BTO Winter Bird Survey (WINBS) this autumn and winter will involve survey visits to randomly-selected squares most of which are current BTO Breeding Bird Survey (BBS squares). The survey period will run from the 15th September 2025 until the end of February 2026 and between two and four visits are required during this period to count birds and mammals.

Existing BBS volunteers are able to sign up to take part in this survey in their own BBS squares, but there are plenty of available squares for other new volunteers (see below). Taking part in this survey this winter does not commit you to the BBS or to any breeding season surveys. Please contact me at hcrabtree@gmail.com if you are interested in taking part in this survey or would like more information, or register your interest using the availability map at https://app.bto.org/bbs/public/request-square.jsp?s=WINBS. The only requirements are that you can recognise common birds by sight and sound, can record habitat details including crop types, and can commit to the required number of surveys this winter.

Please note that this survey will be running alongside the long-term Sussex Winter Bird Survey for this winter.

The available squares for this autumn and winter include (updated 9/9/2025):

SU7800 near West Itchenor*
SU8102 near Bosham Hoe*
SU8605 central Chichester*
SU8615 Westdean Woods*
SU9113 near East Dean*
SU9923 near Petworth*
SZ7996 East Wittering*
SZ8199 near Birdham
SZ8698 Sidlesham*
TQ0109 Arundel Park*
TQ0124 near Kirdford*
TQ0322 near Codmore Hill*
TQ0324 near Wisborough Green
TQ0826 Billingshurst
TQ0918 West Chiltington*
TQ1031 near Slinfold*
TQ1114 Washington Common*
TQ1323 Dragon’s Green*
TQ1531 Broadbridge Heath*
TQ1606 near Steep Down*
TQ2515 near Albourne*
TQ2536 Gossops Green
TQ2638 Langley Green*
TQ4233 Broadstone Warren*
TQ4938 near Blackham*
TQ5023 Buxted*
TQ5026 High Hurstwood
TQ5128 near Crowborough*
TQ5212 Golden Cross
TQ5220 Blackboys*
TQ5228 near Crowborough*
TQ5435 near Eridge Station*
TQ5619 near Heathfield
TQ5639 Tunbridge Wells*
TQ6000 Eastbourne Upperton*
TQ6817 near Penhurst
TQ7811 Hollington*
TQ8023 near Northiam
TQ8413 near Three Oaks*
TQ8414 near Three Oaks*

Helen Crabtree (BTO Representative for Sussex)

The Society have received this message. Please contact the team directly if you are interested in helping. Thank you.

“We are contacting you to enquire whether you or your members would be interested in contributing to the Jack Snipe Research Group’s study. We are based at University Centre Sparsholt (UCS) (accredited by University of Portsmouth). Currently two PhD students, Jolene Orlowski & Kevin Clements, are investigating the species’ over-wintering and migratory behaviours. This project is overseen by their PhD supervisors: Dr Claire Cresswell, Dr Andrew Hoodless and Dr Francoise Cabada-Blanco. To expand on this knowledge and bring together anyone that has an interest in Jack Snipe, we are releasing a citizen science questionnaire that will aid our investigations into:

1. Day roost and feeding locations
2. Population numbers
3. Habitat usage
4. Detection/survey methods

If you or your members would be interested in contributing and being a part of this study, please click on this link to our questionnaire. If you would like more information, please contact us at jacksnipestudy@gmail.com

Kind regards,

Jolene Orlowski, Kevin Clements & Dr Claire Cresswell

Do take a look at this great opportunity to lead the production of the Society’s flagship publication, our annual and highly respected bird report. You’ll be part of a skilled team and if you read about the role, you may well feel that you could do it even if you have never filled such a position before. Contact information is in the link. Thank you.

Sidlesham Ferry Field and Pool near Pagham Harbour was an iconic place for birding as one of the county’s best places to see breeding, wintering, passage and roosting birds at close quarters. It even produced the occasional mega rarity. In recent years many know that the situation has declined, and plans are afoot to improve things.

Funding has been secured for £186k investment in the 17ha site. The National Lottery Heritage fund is supporting it with £108,000 through the South Downs National Park Trust’s Downs to the Sea programme. Other sources are £35,000 from Countryside Stewardship payments, £20,000 pledged from SOS’s core funds, and £10,216 from SOS’s Big Give Green Match Fund campaign. Additionally, a £5000 donation was received from Friends of Chichester Harbour.

This means the project can start almost immediately aligning with the long term vision for the area, despite the short term disturbance that will occur.

The project will involve:

• Creating more muddy areas around Ferry Pool and the ditch network in Ferry Field to establish a wider area for birds to feed for invertebrates, this includes breeding birds (particularly flightless wader chicks), wintering birds and those using the location as a feeding/resting ‘pitstop’ during migration. This will involve considerable earth moving by skilled contractors.

• Separating the saline water zone from the freshwater area by creating a bund using the arisings from the earthworks mentioned above to establish greater biodiversity between these habitats. Currently the saline water is encroaching into the freshwater grazing marsh area, impacting on its potential.

• Enabling easier hydrological controls within the freshwater system, to ensure they remain wetter for longer, especially later in the spring and summer when flightless wader chicks need to feed. This will be achieved by making the ditch network a little deeper with wider and shallower side profiles to maintain those important soft feeding areas for longer and by installing a fish friendly solar powered pump to extract fresh water from surrounding streams to top up when required. This technology has been successfully deployed in the Netherlands and may other RSPB reserves in recent years and replaces diesel pumps and their carbon impact.

• Installing a 1.9km anti-predator fence around Sidlesham Ferry Field and Pool to protect ground nesting birds and their eggs from mammalian feeding. Fox activity in the area leads to the failure of the nests of Lapwings, Redshanks and Avocets at this site due to this predation. This year there are only two Lapwing pairs are using the site; the potential is many more. To achieve a sustainable population and replace mortality in adults, Lapwings need to produce 0.6-0.8 fledged chicks per pair per year. This site’s breeding productivity is considerably below that requirement and could be considered a population sink. The installation of such fencing immediately increases breeding productivity above the threshold. Some sites with such fencing in Kent and Essex are getting 1.4-1.8 fledged chicks per year and they are breeding in much higher densities typical of the colonial breeding of this species.

SOS have had a long association with this site. Its early members may have been part of the work party that constructed the original hide that overlooked the pool in the mid-1960s. In the late 1970s or early 1980s a £5,000 grant from SOS (partly made via a fundraising campaign to members) secured the purchase of the field by providing funding to Sussex Wildlife Trust. In 2017 a splendid new hide was constructed partly funded through a £20k grant from SOS.

Please be aware that during this period of crucial work there will be a lot of disturbance, but the hope is that weather depending – the work can be completed in good time.

Adam Huttly

This is a good time of the year to consider taking part in the BTO Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), because if you take on a square you will also have the option to take part in both the BTO Winter Bird Survey (WINBS) (starting 15 September 2025) and the Sussex Winter Bird Survey (SWBS) (starting 1 November 2025) by surveying the same square over the coming winter. Some squares have recently become available and there are plenty of squares available right across the county; some of these squares are accessible if you have limited mobility or if you are reliant on or choose to use public transport.

This national monitoring scheme is administered by the BTO and jointly funded by the BTO, JNCC and RSPB. It has been running since 1994 and its primary aim is to provide population trends for common and widespread bird species in the UK. Population trends for Sussex are also produced and published in the Sussex Bird Report. Survey plots are randomly-selected 1-km squares and the same squares are surveyed each year. Volunteers visit their squares three times each year during the breeding season, once to record simple habitat data, and twice to walk a fixed route, recording birds seen and heard. There are more than 200 BBS squares across Sussex, covering every type of habitat, and new volunteers are always needed.

Volunteers must be able to recognise common and widespread birds by sight and sound, and must be able to physically get around a survey route reasonably early in the morning, but beyond those requirements absolutely anybody is welcomed into this survey scheme. Previous experience of survey work is not necessary and help and support from experienced volunteers can be arranged if required; there will also be some informal practice sessions arranged in Sussex in March and April 2026. Finally there is no requirement to conduct surveys alone – take a friend with you!

The BBS squares (asterisks indicate priority squares that have been surveyed before) in Sussex which currently need volunteers for this coming winter and the 2026 breeding season are (updated 5/9/2025):

SU7800 near West Itchenor*
SU7802 Cobnor Point*
SU8102 near Bosham Hoe*
SU8605 central Chichester*
SU8615 Westdean Woods*
SU9113 near East Dean*
SU9729 near Northchapel*
SU9923 near Petworth*
SZ7996 East Wittering*
SZ8199 near Birdham
SZ8698 Sidlesham*
TQ0109 Arundel Park*
TQ0124 near Kirdford*
TQ0322 near Codmore Hill*
TQ0324 near Wisborough Green
TQ0826 Billingshurst
TQ0918 West Chiltington*
TQ1031 near Slinfold*
TQ1114 Washington Common*
TQ1323 Dragon’s Green*
TQ1531 Broadbridge Heath*
TQ1606 near Steep Down*
TQ2515 near Albourne*
TQ2536 Gossops Green
TQ2638 Langley Green*
TQ4233 Broadstone Warren*
TQ4612 near Ringmer*
TQ4938 near Blackham*
TQ5023 Buxted*
TQ5026 High Hurstwood
TQ5128 near Crowborough*
TQ5212 Golden Cross
TQ5220 Blackboys*
TQ5228 near Crowborough*
TQ5435 near Eridge Station*
TQ5619 near Heathfield
TQ5639 Tunbridge Wells*
TQ6000 Eastbourne Upperton*
TQ6817 near Penhurst
TQ7811 Hollington*
TQ8023 near Northiam
TQ8413 near Three Oaks*
TQ8414 near Three Oaks*

The following BBS squares may be accessible to you if you have limited mobility (including using a wheelchair) as the survey routes are entirely on pavements and minor roads:

SU8605 central Chichester
SZ7996 East Wittering
TQ2638 Langley Green
TQ4612 near Ringmer
TQ5639 Tunbridge Wells

The following BBS squares may be accessible by train as they are close to rail stations (other squares may be easily accessible by bus):

SU8605 central Chichester
TQ5023 Buxted
TQ5228 near Crowborough
TQ5435 near Eridge Station
TQ5738 Tunbridge Wells
TQ6000 Eastbourne Upperton

For further information, please contact Helen Crabtree at hcrabtree@gmail.com.

The next 30 days are crucial for monitoring the Sussex Honey-buzzard population and I’d very much welcome any details of sightings as well as photos, including from published viewpoints, by email. Please only use social media for sightings from published (in “Where to Watch Birds in Surrey and Sussex”) viewpoints and give only numbers, in line with the Bird News Services. Thank you. Mark Mallalieu (mallalieum@gmail.com)

In recent years there has been a surge in popularity of birding apps, such as Birdnet and Merlin, which suggest an identification based upon the sounds or images presented to them. The use of such apps is great fun and to be encouraged since they make for excellent educational tools. However they do, fairly often, get it wrong and generate “false positives”. Because of this the SOS, in line with BTO guidelines, kindly asks users to refrain from adding any record into a database (such as iRecord, Birdtrack or eBird) which is unchecked and based solely upon an app reading.

One great advantage with Merlin is that recordings can be easily saved and stored on the app for future reference. And so the next time your device flashes up a Marsh Warbler or a Golden Oriole, remember to press the “save” button – it could make or break a fantastic record!

David Thorns

recorder@sos.org.uk

Swifts in Sussex: A Community Success Story in Time for Swift Awareness Week – 29th June to 6th July

As summer approaches, so too does one of the most exciting events in the birdwatching calendar — Swift Awareness Week, running this year from 29th June to 6th July. Across the UK, communities are celebrating these remarkable aerial acrobats, and here in Sussex, we have plenty to be proud of.

The Sussex Ornithological Society (SOS) has long supported efforts to protect and encourage Swifts, having contributed an impressive £12,000 to local projects over the years. These funds have gone toward everything from installing nesting boxes to public engagement and awareness campaigns.

One particularly heartening success story comes from Clymping, where a community-led initiative has brought Swifts a much-needed helping hand. A total of 28 Swift nest boxes have been installed around the village, thanks to a collaborative effort between local residents, Clymping Parish Council, and a generous grant from SOS.

As one local resident shared:

“I just wanted to keep you informed that I have a pair of breeding Swifts in my Swift box. I have a camera in it, which Paul Stevens installed earlier this year. My first Swift arrived on 3rd May, and the pair were reunited on the 12th May — though they may have met sooner, as I was away for a few days. They’ve laid two eggs. They were always together in the box, but now seem to be taking turns incubating the eggs…”

Stories like this show the real impact of conservation at the local level — not just in terms of habitat protection, but also the joy and connection it brings to those involved.

In Clymping, residents funded 50% of the project costs, with additional support from the parish council and SOS. It’s a brilliant example of community spirit meeting conservation success.

As Swift Awareness Week approaches, take a moment to look up at the skies — and if you’re lucky, you might just spot one of these incredible birds, darting and swooping through the Sussex summer air.

Interested in helping Swifts in your area? Visit https://www.sos.org.uk/archives/category/swifts to learn more about how you can get involved.

We will continue to update SOS members on how our funds are being used to help birds and nature in and around Sussex.

(Adam Huttly)

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