#I was never really active on the bird site but ditching that place as soon as possible was the best thing

[northssketchbook]

I'm also on bluesky Link!

Tumblr is my usual haunt as always <3 , but I'll also be present over yonder

Tbh I'm still being cautious about this site (twitter really wasn't my cup of tea, and this one we'll see), but I'll maintain an account and upload some stuff here and there.

[devilbirder]

2021 game plan

This year started out with a plan to see as many birds as possible within 10km of Worthing Pier. This is basically what I did last year but this time with the car instead of the pushbike. Cycling with a puppy in tow just didn’t seem practical.

On New Year’s Day I whipped around various sites around Worthing, building the foundation of my local year list, but with a new lockdown looming, the car full of junk and the puppy still not up for long days out, I soon put the idea on the shelf.

Of course I didn’t stop going out. My dream of an ideal birding life has long revolved around the idea of being able to bird productively on foot from home. To be able to pop out for some birding, come back in for a coffee or to do some work then maybe head out again later in the day, and so on. And if I can make some small positive difference while doing so, all the better.

I hadn’t ever really thought this approach to birding was an option for me but when I started venturing out on foot with Beni this January, out of curiosity I checked out a spot called Marine Gardens just a short walk from home. I had driven past it many times but never thought much of it. However, inspecting this little green space on foot kicked off a bit of a fixation. 

Sure, it’s very small - you can check it in 10 minutes or so - but that’s the beauty of it. Just behind the beach, with a respectable mix of trees and shrubs, it just screams out as the sort of mini urban hotspot where frequent observation should pay off. It was easy to begin fantasising about stumbling upon, say, a Melodious Warbler, a Hoopoe or a Red-breasted Flycatcher.

At the same time, I recognised an equally exciting chance to do something positive in Marine Gardens. I read a poster by the Friends of Marine Gardens at the entrance, describing a bid to preserve and increase biodiversity among their aims. I got in touch with the group over Facebook, saying I had some ideas for improving the site for birds while engaging visitors with them. 

Phil quickly answered me with great enthusiasm and a couple of weeks later we’ve worked together to get a brand new feeding station up, complete with an identification board for the public to work out what they’re seeing. There are other ideas in the pipeline which I’m looking forward to helping out with over the coming weeks and months and will boost the value of the Gardens for wildlife and people.

The new feeding station and some of the habitat at Marine Gardens

This led to me being contacted by the Friends of Heene Cemetery, a little gem an even shorter walk from my front door but which I had no idea existed. It is a closed cemetery with a similar ethos behind it: maintaining the historical character of the site while supporting and recording its wildlife. I was invited for a look round and I’ll be checking in regularly to record the birds and give any advice and support that I can. Not all that far in from the beach, it may well be blessed with a similar ‘green oasis’ effect as Marine Gardens. We are surrounded by so much concrete in Worthing, after all, that any migrants ditching on the coast are bound to head for places like these.

Suddenly I have two small but intriguing green spaces within a short walk from home, where I can potentially have a positive impact on the birdlife and the community’s appreciation for it. No doubt I will dig out some interesting migrants in these spots over the course of the year but my other doorstep birding asset, the sea, will always deliver.

The shelter by Marine Gardens is the traditional hub of Worthing seawatching and just round the corner from home but I’ve always opted to watch from somewhere a short cycle or drive away. As part of my wider realisation of the potential just off my own doorstep, I’ve taken to conducting my seawatches from this shelter. Looking back at the Sussex birding history made there, with county megas like Cory’s Shearwater and Leach’s Petrel, it’s hard not to get into the spirit of hyper-local birding.

The Marine Gardens (seawatching) shelter

In a podcast I recently listened to, David Lindo struck a chord with me. He pointed out we birders are good at talking to each other but our community can be insular and often forgets about the importance of sharing our enthusiasm with the wider public. This is so true.

It’s been heartening to see people enjoying the new feeding station and I already know of a couple who have signed up to the Sussex Ornithological Society because of the activity in Marine Gardens. At both sites, volunteers have taken great interest in the local eBird pages I directed them to and some have even talked about registering and adding their sightings.

Lockdown may have nudged me towards this new approach to local birding but doesn’t have much to do with it now. It turns out my ambition of having promising birding on my doorstep, while being able to do small things for local conservation, has been up for grabs all along. I’m thoroughly enjoying it and can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings.