Prompted by yesterday’s posting on House Martins, a Westfield resident has sent us some interesting photos of House Martin nests in Turkey!  British House Martin nests look much the same as these, though the colour of the mud will vary according to the local soils of course!

Note the position of the nests below an overhang, which is typical all over Europe (and beyond).  In these photos they are above a window on a large block of flats, and nearly every window has a nest or two!

Please do let us know if you come across a House Martin’s nest anywhere in Westfield, as we would like to start an annual count.  With all this rain we think it should be a lot easier for the birds to find plenty of mud this year, something they can have difficulty with in a dry spring!   Thank you, Ralph and Dave

Yesterday we both carried out a farmland bird survey for the RSPB on two farms in the Brede Valley.  Independently of each other we heard both male and female Cuckoo, the first for both us this spring.  Cuckoos have been reported since early April from various parts of the country, but we still wait for news of a Cuckoo in Westfield Parish!  Has nobody heard one locally yet??

On 16 March we posted a comment on the 5 Cuckoos that had been radio-tagged last summer in East Anglia, as there was a local connection - ”One of the Cuckoos CHRIS (as named by the researchers), was located in Sedlescombe on 8th June 2011 on his southward journey staying in that area for several days before moving on again.  It will be interesting to see what route he takes on his return to the UK.”

Well you may have seen in the papers or on TV recently that 2 of the 5 Cuckoos have now made it back successfully to the UK, each returning to almost the same place as where they were first caught and tagged.  And one of these is ‘our’ CHRIS!   He took a more direct route for his return, but we will be watching carefully for news of CHRIS’ southward movement again later in the summer, to see if he once again takes a short break in Sedlscombe, or maybe even Westfield!   You can read about CHRIS’ movements here and zoom in to different parts of his route map -http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking/chris

Yesterday afternoon (29/04/2012) after the rain finally stopped I decided to check out the Brede valley, and saw a pair of Tufted ducks* on the floodwater to the west of Brede bridge. 

Also around were a large number of gulls - mainly Herring gull and Black-headed gull, with at least 6 Lesser black-backed gulls, plus a few pairs of Mallard - all taking advantage of the new feeding opportunities.  The temporary flooding brings worms and other soil invertebrates to the surface as they try to avoid drowning, which become easy pickings for birds around the margins.

Also there, were a singing Whitethroat (in bushes by the bridge), at least 3 Swallows feeding over the water and fields, and Peregrine falcon high in the sky.  And one or more Whimbrel were heard calling from above, but not seen unfortunately as I chose to keep watching the Peregrine instead!

*Tufted duck turns out to be a new addition to the Westfield Parish list, which has now been updated.  It seems likely this species is an overlooked but regular winter visitor to the River Brede area, and the odd pair may even breed on larger private ponds close to the river.

Ralph

UPDATE 30/04/2012

A quick re-visit this evening revealed 3 pairs of Tufted duck, and also 2 drake Mandarin ducks on the same flood west side of the A28.   Also single Buzzard low overhead.

Ralph

Nightingale singing at Westfield cricket ground this afternoon, at least four Chiffchaffs singing as well.

Terry Howard