1st May 2026

A monthly round-up of bird sightings in and around Staple.

Swallow (Library picture)

Birds in April: My first Swallow of the year was seen over the Old Dairy cafe at Goodnestone Park on 1st April. On the same day there were Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps calling in the woods around the Serpentine Walk. On the 2nd, a Barn Owl flew out of Crixhall barn. This was the first sighting here for some time and a welcome one. There were also 50+ Fieldfares in the poplars along the Crixhall Court driveway. These are winter visitors to the UK, now returning to their summer breeding areas. A White-tailed Sea Eagle was spotted over Crixhall Court (sadly not by me) on the 4th. This is likely a roaming bird from the Isle of Wight reintroduction scheme. On the 6th there were 2 Snipes on the Great Pedding stream and a Red Kite drifted by overhead. Two returning Swallows were 'chirruping' from the overhead wires in The Street on the 7th. A Cetti's Warbler was singing near the reservoir at Great Pedding on the 8th and a Coot was showing off two chicks on the stream. Corn Buntings are regularly seen around Staple but it is always nice to hear them singing from wires over the intense yellow of the oil-seed rape in spring. The morning of the 9th was sunny and warm and my first Common Whitethroat of the year was collecting nesting material on the edge of the Twitham plantation and another was along the Crixhall track. Over the following days, their scratchy song could be heard in many locations around Staple and they certainly seem more numerous this year. It's good to have had a number of sightings of our native Grey Partridges this month. There are good areas of habitat for these birds around Crixhall and Goodnestone, and now that managed shooting no longer takes place here, their numbers may be recovering. A female Mallard was shepherding 7 newly hatched ducklings along the Great Pedding stream on the 11th and a Yellow Wagtail was also present. Cetti's Warblers were now calling both, at the reservoir, and further downstream and 3 Teal flew up. The 12th saw a Wheatear in the newly cultivated field alongside the stream and a party of 25+ Swallows were feasting on insects over the sheep fields. A new species for the area list was a White Stork circling over a field being planted with potatoes adjacent to the Ash bypass on the 16th. This individual was probably from the Knepp reintroduction scheme in Sussex. A small group of Mediterranean Gulls flew high over Great Pedding calling on the 18th and my first Reed Warbler of the year was singing by the stream on the 19th. Ravens have been regularly seen in the area and may well be breeding locally. Finally, a Cuckoo was shouting his name from the woodland boundary to Goodnestone Park gardens on the 26th.