Tag Archives: birdwatching

Ditchling Birding

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When : September 2026 Weather : Warm 15-20C

OM1 mk2 Zuiko 150-400mmPro

We were in Ditchling visiting Bird Cottage (See previous post) and spent a couple of days exploring Dotchling Village, Ditchling Common and Ditchling Beacon.

Opposite the White Horse Inn where we stayed was an old church with a famous person buried there…

Dame Vera Lynn was a famous singer during the World war 2,,she entertained the British troops and was much loved…she was a Ditchling girl and was buried in this churchyard
In the washroom of the Bull….We’ll meet again, one of her most well known songs
A european starling watched over the church
Ditchling common is but 10 min away and there is a small lake which we can walk around in 20-30min…here a juvenile moorhen walking the log
and a wren welcomed us
A common kingfisher and some mallards in and around the lake
Moorhen walking on water in Ditchling Common’s Fish pond
Robin on the lily pads
a dunnock entertained us

On Common Lane which is the road to Ditchling Common is a very large nursery at the back of which is a small nature trail where we spent an hour birding…

close encounter with a goldfinch
A flight of goldfinches
Not far away from Ditchling is Ditchling Beacon, an elevated view point….we had an hour to kill at 4pm and so we headed up the incline…..it was windy and blustery when we got there in the afternoon…but the views were spectacular
view towards the south coast and Brighton
common wood pigeon in flight
A herring gull swept by..
The south downs from Ditchling Beacon
after 30min of blustery wind, the sun finally started appearing on the meadows
In the sky a distant raptor soared and we spent a most agreeable half an hour shooting several of them as they weaved around
from this angle it looked very pale
from beneath the patterned undersurface of the wings showed
and then as the light caught its dorsum, the beautiful chestnut red wings glowed…a european kstrel
contrasted against the green countryside
and then the sun caught the kestrel in full colour
dorsal wing pattern
hovering and looking for prey..this way…
and that…..tail feathers splayed for control
He finally dropped to the ground in an unsuccessful hunt
finally taking a look at us before flying off
the rolling downs of Sussex provided us a most enjoyable hour of birding
And a rainbow bade us goodbye

An enjoyable few days in Ditchling brought a new perspective to birding in the UK…

recommended

Svalbard (7) the way home Islfjorden and Longyearben

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When : August 2026 Weather: 0to5C

OM1mk2 Zuiko 150-400mm

Sailing back into the Islfjorden estuary, we were surprised by more sightings and interesting landscapes….

As we entered the estuary leading into Islfjorden the weather clear, the sun was shining…
Beluga! was the call
spouts from three belugas
Our only view was at this angle…this is when a drone would have done better but we were within the Spitzbergen drone exclusion zone…
and one of my favourite moments of the whole trip was this classic sighting of a puffin with fish in its beak…true it’s only 2 fish but I never thought I’d ever see this scene
Puffin
The hills fringing the fjord had really interesting colours!
after docking, we spent our last night on the boat…and were able to engage a local wildlife guide to bring us out….I really wanted to seek out the ptarmigan but alas we failed… this barnacle goose would have to do…
An arctic skua accompanied us
a flight of migratory barnacle geese!
Reindeer in the setting sun on Longyearbyen
Reindeer
one of our target animals was the arctic fox and it took a while but our guide then thought she saw some movement up the slopes…..
Indeed it was our arctic fox! It didn’t get close enough for us to take better shots and we thought that was that….
But just as we were leaving in the evening light….one of our group spotted something by the road…..
Indeed it was another arctic fox, much closer !
our final arctic wildlife experience was this lovely arctic fox bidding us goodbye…

So our great Arctic adventure finally ended…Singapore-Bangkok-Oslo-Longyearbyen, Arcic Icepack and back on our ice breaker. A unique wildlife trip…highly recommended!

Svalbard (6) Zodiacs to the water….

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When: August 2026 Weather: 0C OM1mk2 150-400mm Zuiko On our penultimate day, when we had crossed back over the Arctic Ocean to the Svalbard archipelago, we finally got a chance to get into our Zodiac equivalent Pioner boats to explore … Continue reading →