Owl Display, Beer & BBQ - Sat 18th July, Salehurst, East Sussex

Hosted by Feathers Wild Bird Care & Busters Farm Produce

Owl Display by Owls About Town

Stalls from Hawke Optics, Vanguard Sporting Optics, The Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and The RSPB

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June Birding

June is normally one of our busiest months of the year, both in the shop and for birds on the feeders, as all the fledglings arrive in gardens. It seems this year is significantly quieter, very few Blue Tits or Great Tits, the Sparrows are busy but not a whole load of youngsters, the Starling youngsters were out in May and have slowed down too. The Great Spotted Woodpeckers have brought one juvenile in though, which is always nice to watch, and the Nuthatches are certainly regular at the minute too.

Adult Male (left) and juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker

A brief but nice surprise in the Nature Area was a male Blackcap, just staying long enough for Allan to get a nice photo.

Unfortunately the Spotted Flycatcher's attempt to breed was unsuccessful, the nest was built but then destroyed, presumably by a corvid or rat. A big disappointment for us as they now haven't bred here for the past 3 years.

The Pied Wagtails didn't breed in the same place as last year and so far we have seen no young, though they are seemingly now gathering nesting material so we're keeping watch on that.

The Kestrels, however, did breed in the same place again as the Church tower evidently provides a safe home. Though we haven't kept up with their progress as well this year, they are certainly very active now and it seems the young are out flying now, though not venturing too far from the safety of the Church, particularly as the Jackdaws give them a lot of grief!

Allan had an unusual event in his garden recently as an adult Great Tit was feeding a couple of baby Blue Tits. This is known as cross-species feeding and according to the linked BTO article can be down to a number of factors, including mixed clutches and nest failure.

Cross-species feeding: Adult Great Tit feeding fledgling Blue Tit

Spotted Flycatcher

In 2013, the Spotted Flycatchers investigated the nest site they had used previously but disappeared without attempting to breed and in 2014, we only spotted one a couple of times during the summer. So this year we were hoping they would return to breed once more, as unlikely as it seemed. Much to our delight, Allan spotted one by the Oast House on the 27th May and a pair together on the following day. They have now built a good nest which will hopefully withstand any further miserable weather we seem to have been getting recently. They're not always around the nest site at the minute and are obviously venturing further afield to find food, and after having last week off, I'm now back and hoping to get a few nice pics. Today's fine weather presented my first opportunity and Allan has taken some nice pictures too.

The Oast House is also home to a pair of Blue Tits, at least one pair of Wrens and numerous House Sparrows. The Blue Tits in the nest box in the nature area fledged late in May.