Summer roundup

June's fine, warm weather seemed to be the best of the summer as it made way to cooler temperatures and plenty of rain throughout the school holidays. Apart from the odd day, the feeders in our new 'nature area' outside the shop have remained busy throughout the season. The bulk of the birds using the feeders have been Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Collared Doves, House Sparrows, Robins, Dunnocks, Chaffinches and Goldfinches. We do see Greenfinches occasionally, although of course their numbers have declined dramatically over the past 12 years thanks to Tricho. The Great Spotted Woodpecker family have mostly disappeared, going back to natural food which is most abundant for them at this time of year, as is also the case for Blackbirds and Starlings. Nuthatches visit fairly regularly but are always in and out in a flash.

Blue Tit

Coal Tit

Great Tit

Non-feeder visitors include daily Goldcrests & Chiffchaffs, with Swallows and House Martins overhead. The Swifts departed some time in August without so much as a goodbye. Our first Spotted Flycatcher sighting of the year came on the last day of August down by the cow sheds where the Chiffchaffs have been so active. Unfortunately the bird didn't stay long!

Spotted Flycatcher, 31/08/17

A week later on the 9th September, in the very same spot, came our 95th addition to our species list. Once again the Chiffchaffs were actively searching for insects when another warbler arrived, sat and had a quick preen before flying off. The visit lasted no more than 10 seconds but fortunately I managed to get a few photographs to confirm its ID as a Reed Warbler.

Reed Warbler, 09/09/17

Last week saw our first sighting of a Treecreeper in a while. I recognised the call immediately and managed to find the bird on the Oak Tree in the car park. My photos aren't particularly good but it was nice to see none-the-less!

Treecreeper, 15/09/17

Most likely the same pair of Grey Wagtails which successfully raised a brood here in May/June have been back recently too, joining the Pied Wagtails.

Pied Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Finally, this afternoon I have seen a pair of Marsh Tits back for the first time since February. I had gone out after hearing the Treecreeper again, and while looking for it in the oak tree I spotted the Marsh Tit at the feeder. They were going for Black Sunflowers, presumably caching them for the winter.

Marsh Tit, 19/09/17

Shop News:

At the start of September we became a Premier Dealer for Zeiss binoculars. This addition to our range furthers our reputation as the best place in the county for trying out optics, and gives customers an opportunity to compare two alpha brands in Swarovski and Zeiss. We now have around 60 pairs of binoculars in stock so the cabinets are looking pretty grand!

Birding around Gnadenwald, Absam and Innsbruck, Austria

Allan and I were invited by Swarovski Optik to visit their factory in Absam, Austria, staying at the Speckbacherhof in Gnadenwald (less than a 10 minute drive away) for a few days in early October. Arriving in Munich airport on the 2nd, the weather was unfortunately dreadful which made a long coach journey to Austria feel even longer, with very few birds spotted on the way. Arriving late afternoon a the hotel also didn't leave any time for birding on the day, so an early start was decided upon for the 3rd before the factory tour.

A short walk up the wooded mountains in front of the hotel from 6.30am didn't reveal too much, in fact Robin, Wren, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Pied Wagtail and Chaffinch were just about the only species seen, until we made our way back to the hotel for breakfast. Sitting on top of the roof of the hotel was a Black Redstart, and the Sparrows we had heard on our arrival and thought nothing of turned out to be Tree Sparrows, rewarding our efforts on a cloudy, cold morning. The clouds began to fade as we made our way to the Swarovski Optik factory, the tour and discussions providing plenty of insight in to how these products are made. A short break mid afternoon gave us a chance to sample some of the binoculars and scopes, another Black Redstart on the eco-friendly 'living roof' providing a perfect opportunity to test the clarity of the optics. A Common Buzzard and a number of House Martins in front of the mountains tested the ability of the telescopes. Then out of the blue came a Nutcracker, a lifer for me, flying over our heads before shortly disappearing.

Tree Sparrow

Speckbacherhof

Arriving back at the hotel around half 4 gave us the opportunity in clearer weather to get out and explore the footpaths and hotel grounds a bit more. Half a dozen Tree Sparrows were easy to photograph, as were at least 3 Black Redstarts. Our walk took us a bit further than it had in the morning, but still only 10 minutes from the hotel, where we spotted and managed to photograph another Nutcracker. Activity increased all of a sudden as we realised we had stumbled across someone's bird (and squirrel) feeders. 20 minutes here revealed numerous Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Crested Tits, Goldcrest, Nuthatches, Greenfinches and Chaffinches. A very dark Red Squirrel also entertained us with its antics. Back at the hotel from the balcony we saw a pair of Ravens, many Carrion Crows, Mistle Thrushes, a fly over Siskin, Great Spotted and Green Woodpecker.

Nutcracker

Red Squirrel

Crested Tit

A nice spot for bird watching...

Black Redstarts

Black Redstart

Tree Sparrows

The next morning we prepared our suitcases to leave, though our coach didn't depart for Munich until early afternoon. Swarovski had planned a visit to Innsbruck and weather permitting, a trip up the Nordkette mountain range in a cable car. Visibility wasn't great but the trip went ahead, and as we made our way up it was difficult to see the cable more than 50 yards ahead. At 7,500ft up, it was also pretty cold, something we hadn't planned for. A glance of a corvid flying past the cable car as we departed gave us hope though, and shortly after making our way outside we spotted 2 Alpine Choughs, flying between the mountains. Like boyish fanatics, we struggled to get any good photographs, until around 30 birds picked up from what could only have been 30 yards to the left of us, flying directly over our heads! What a magical moment it was, a lifer for both of us, and we could only laugh after spending quarter of an hour hopelessly chasing one or two birds.

Alpine Chough

Alpine Chough

Allan at the top of the mountain

The weather deteriorated once more on the coach journey north, but somewhere roughly half way between Innsbruck and Munich we did spot around 10 Great White Egrets in a field, a nice way to end the trip.

Thank you to Swarovski Optik for inviting us and to the Speckbacher hotel for their hospitality.

Seeing Red

Redpoll, Redwing and Red Kite - three not so common sightings for us, but all three spotted in the past few weeks. The Redpoll (Lesser) arrived on the 26th March amongst the many Siskins and Goldfinches in the Nature Area. The initial rush to get record photographs has proved unnecessary as it is still around now, with two couples spotting it from the hide yesterday morning. Still, an unusual visitor here, though perhaps not too much of a surprise with numerous sightings locally this winter, including a few here one or twice late last year. The Redwing was in fact in the Nature Area at the same time as the initial sighting, and though not as uncommon as the rest (certainly during a cold winter or in the Autumn as they demolish the yew berries) was still a surprise given the time of year.

Last Spring, Red Kites were not an uncommon sighting in East Sussex, with the SOS receiving many reports of most likely migrants arriving back in the UK after spending the winter in warmer climes. Even here we had a period of a week or two (around late March) where we were spotting them regularly, though between then and now we have only noted one sighting on the 10th October, perhaps a bird making its way back south. Yesterday morning (12th April) a single bird graced the glorious blue sky and was soon joined by 2 Buzzards - a delight to watch and made all the more enjoyable by the long time it spent lazily soaring in the thermals, allowing for some nice views through the bins and a few record shots with the camera.

Red Kite (right) with 2 Buzzards

The feeders have quietened down significantly as anticipated; April is always a quiet month as the birds have other things on their mind, along with a more plentiful supply of natural food. Still it's one of my favourite times of the year, with longer (plus hopefully warmer) days and the arrival of the spring migrants. Our first Cuckoo was heard this morning, Chiffchaffs chiffchaffing for perhaps a couple of weeks and a couple of local Swallows, though none here yet. You can see our spring first dates here which will be updated as new arrivals turn up.

Once again, the Kestrels are inspecting the church, and once again they are getting hassle from the local Jackdaws. It never seems to put them off so hopefully we will witness this space being used once again to raise another brood.

Binocular sales have been exceptionally good for us since adding Swarovski to our range late last year, allowing us to expand very recently with the addition of Vortex optics. On Sunday 17th April I will be attending Kent Wildlife Trust's Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve for an Optics Demonstration Day, and another on Sunday 1st May at Bough Beech, so do pop along if you can.

The best place to buy binoculars in Sussex!

October 2015 was the beginning of a new era at Feathers, as we became a stockist of Swarovski Optik Binoculars. Our selection of CL Pockets, CL Companions and the new EL Swarovision FieldPro binoculars are now available to try and buy in our shop in Salehurst, East Sussex. We are within comfortable driving distance of West Sussex, Surrey, South London, Kent and even Essex.

Alongside Swarovski Optik is our large selection of binoculars from Vanguard, Hawke, Opticron and Viking Optical, all available to look through and purchase in store, or have delivered straight to your door via our online shop. So if you're looking to buy a pair of binoculars for yourself or a loved one this Christmas, then do pop in (we'll even make you a nice cup of tea or coffee), give us a call or feel free to browse online!