🔍 Overview One of the most familiar garden birds in Sussex. Males are sleek black with a bright yellow bill, while females are dark brown. Common across gardens, woodlands, and parks. 🪶 Key Identification Features Size: Medium (24–25 cm) Plumage: Black (male), brown (female) Distinctive Marks: Yellow bill and eye-ring (male) Bill: Strong and pointed...
🔍 Overview Elegant and long-legged, the Black-tailed Godwit is a regular visitor to Sussex wetlands. Numbers peak during passage and winter, with flocks frequenting Pulborough Brooks and Adur Valley. 🪶 Key Identification Features Size: Large wader (40–44 cm)Plumage: Grey in winter; rich orange and patterned in breeding seasonDistinctive Marks: Bold black tail, white wing barBill:...
🔍 Overview The most familiar gull in Sussex, especially around coastal towns, wetlands, and inland reservoirs. Not truly black-headed – its breeding plumage features a chocolate-brown hood. 🪶 Key Identification Features Size: Medium (35–39 cm) Plumage: White with grey wings, dark head in summer Distinctive Marks: Red bill and legs, white wing tips Bill: Slim,...
📍 Local Expert Tip ” Black Redstarts are passage birds, especially in Autumn can be seen along the tops of the Downs especially where there are farm buildings. A few individuals may winter with Shoreham Fort and around the beach huts and groynes at Widewater being favoured locations.” 🔍 Overview A scarce migrant and winter visitor...
🔍 Overview Fairly common winter visitor and passage migrant. Elegant and slender, the Bar-tailed Godwit is a regular passage and winter visitor to Sussex’s coastal mudflats, especially around Goring Gap, Widewater, Worthing Beaches and Lower Adur Valley. 🪶 Key Identification Features Size: Large wader (37–41 cm)Plumage: Warm brown and buff; breeding males show rich chestnut underpartsDistinctive...
Tucked between Lancing and Shoreham Beach, Widewater Lagoon is a slender, brackish ribbon of water running parallel to the sea—separated from the Channel by a man-made shingle bank. This 8.8-hectare Local Nature Reserve is a rare coastal lagoon habitat, shaped by tides, rainfall, and saltwater seepage, and it’s one of Lancing’s most cherished natural treasures....
