WILDLIFE REPORTS
January 2004

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31 January 2004
Gale Force winds (Force 7 and above) blew continuously throughout the daylight hours, occasionally falling to a Strong Breeze (Force 5) but also gusting to Storm Force 10 (61 mph) on a few occasions in the afternoon.
Shoreham Beach Weather Station
Weather Graph for January 2004

A hawk was silhouetted for a brief period in the branches of the Hawthorn (TQ 186 044) at the bottom of my south Lancing town garden. It looked like a Kestrel sheltering from the gales. 
Adur Valley Biodiversity Self-entry Database for Lancing (Link)
Lancing Nature Notes Index

29 January 2004 
A "skein" of dolphins were observed in the sea off Widewater Lagoon, Lancing, Sussex at 2:00 pm in the afternoon. This was an unusual event off the Sussex coast and most occasional observations have been in the summer months. Pods of dolphins have been seen off Selsey Bill, West Sussex in the last few days. "Skein" is the term used by the observer and I have not known this collective noun used before for dolphins. I have not heard in use for geese or ducks either.

A family of three Foxes were playing in the open field immediately to the north of the Waterworks House (and the wooded land that surrounded it) and could be seen from the ridge of Mill Hill.

28 January 2004
There is a very light fall of snow around 3:00 am leaving a frost-like covering over grass and hedges. The dew point temperature in the early morning was -0.5 ºC (falling to -4.3 ºC in the by 9:30 am) although the temperature was above freezing at 3.2 ºC with no wind, calm conditions. By dawn the snow had all melted. But even by midday the temperature only notched 6.4 ºC. From 6:15 pm there as a sudden brief sleet squall (gusting to Gale Force 7) with a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning. This was followed by a sudden drop of air temperature to below freezing to -0.4 ºC before midnight.
Shoreham Beach Weather Station

Two small flocks of sea birds of birds whirled low over the sea off Brooklands Boating Lake which was just beginning to show sand. The swiftly flying flocks numbered about 200 and they have seen before and not mentioned. They are almost certainly Sanderling which are seen over the sand at low tide and were recorded only five days earlier.

24-25 January 2004
RSPB Garden Bird Watch (click on this text to record your sightings)
The weather was clear with a temperature reaching 10.5 ºC in the early afternoon of the 24th with a light breeze. 
Shoreham Beach Weather Station
No birds were recorded in my small garden in Corbyn Crescent, Shoreham-by-Sea. (TQ 224 055) in the very brief time I had the chance to look out. A Pied Wagtail flew from the tarmac pavement over the adjacent Privet hedge.
In the larger (75 square metres) garden at 40 The Drive (near Buckingham Park), Shoreham-by-Sea, (TQ  219 063), the garden bird count was as follows: Blue Tits 5+, Chaffinches 4, Starlings 4, Greenfinches 3, Collared Doves 2, Wren 1, Crow 1. There were four Magpies in the tree in the garden next door (east). 
Adur Valley (Shoreham) Biodiversity "Garden Birds" Self-entry Database
Town & Gardens 2004

23 January 2004
A flock of 200+ Sanderling were feeding on the sandy beach next to the sea off Brooklands Boating Lake. This area is noted for Sanderling, but this large number was exceptional.

18 January 2004
We visited the bird watching hide at Wood's Mill Nature Reserve, Small Dole, (HQ of the Sussex Wildlife Trust) and at first there was nothing to see but after a short while we were delighted to see a Siskin and a Treecreeper and a Nuthatch.
This was the first time we had been to Woods Mill since the redesign of the main lake.

17 January 2004
My south Lancing garden Goldfinch count has risen to five. (TQ 186 044)
Lancing Garden 2002 web page

16 January 2004 
On Southwick Green the upper limbs of at least half a dozen trees are being completely sawn off by the tree surgeons. They are all the same species of trees and it makes them seem incongruous amongst the fully branched trees that otherwise surround the green. There does not seem any ostensible reason for the lopping.