Occasional notes on birds and other wildlife seen around the village of Firle, near Lewes in East Sussex.
To report a sighting or ask a question, email: cpeverett [at] gmail.com.
Thanks for dropping in, and remember: life’s too short for identification of intermediate-plumage juvenile gulls.
Charlie
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
– William Blake, from Auguries of Innocence
This page updated Jan 2015
Firle Birds 
What a good idea and very easy to use.
Thanks Charlie
I love reading your articles. If I wasn’t colour blind, shortsighted and astigmatic I would be able to see them clearly as well!
Have seen housemartins in Barcombe Thursday 12th April but not in Firle yet…?
Thought I saw three swallows a fortnight ago but as have seen nothing since think I must have beein seeing things.
Has anyone heard the first Firle cuckoo of the year yet? I am convinced I have heard one at Glynde station one morning a week ago, but not yet at Firle.
Very interesting and well-presented site!
I travel from East Kent to Eastbourne most weekends, and seek out the inland pubs for lunch (Old Oak & Cricketers are the favourites), with a little birding en route.
I’ll be checking your site regularly for info.
Keep it up.
Hello there – last evening I visited Firle Church and thought that I could hear a nightingale in the bushes on the long pathway just off the road leading up to the church. Could this be correct? regards to all and love the website – Rosemary
Thanks Rosemary!
I’d be (pleasantly) surprised if it was a Nightingale, because I haven’t heard one in the village this spring, and I have been listening out in the evenings – one near the church should easily carry to my house.
Thrushes, however, are particularly vocal and noticeable at the moment. There are some creative song thrushes in the village, and so if the song you heard was loud and varied, with elements of repetition, I would suggest that it is more likely to have been one of those.
There’s a recording of nightingale embedded in this article about nightingales. Compare this to the recording of the song thrush at the RSPB website.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep leaning out of the window in the evenings. 🙂
thank you for your reply, I think it was a thrush that I heard as I have had a very vocal one in my garden to compare it with ! also since writing to you I heard a Nightingale in a Bush where they can be heard every year on the Downs .
Best wishes ,
Rosemary
dear Charlie ,
after you left us on safari Britain we saw a skylark it was amazing see you soon
fred
Hi Fred
That’s great – strangely, we haven’t seen very many Skylarks on the Safari Britain walks (certainly we’ve seen far more Meadow Pipits) so that’s a good sighting!
Sun 4th Oct We spent a couple of hours this morning on foot from Darp Lane to Laughton Level and mainly over towards Laughton saw up to eight Buzzards soaring at a time, one or two Sparrowhawks, a flock of say 300 Meadow Pipits, 50 Swallows on wires, one Chiffchaff and a really tame Wheatear. We saw several clouded yellows and even photographed one albeit with wings shut(Don’t know how to send it to this web page). We saw, along an as yet still wet ditch several bonded pairs of darters evidently egg-laying and some bigger blue and green dragonflies which we thought perhaps emperors but is too late for this species and Geof Gowlett on the phone suggested more probably migrant or southern hawkers.
Hi Charlie,
Just wanted to let you know that, this afternoon, just after 2, I wasn’t feeling too good so went out on the playground for some fresh air. The crows were making a lot of noise, circling above the nature reserve, and on closer inspection, there in the middle of them all was the red kite! Thought you would be interested to know it had paid us a visit!
Suzie
Many thanks Suzie, that’s great news – hadn’t received any local reports for a few days, and had started to wonder if it had gone.
Still haven’t caught up with it myself, so I’m jealous – but cheered by the prospect I might still see get to see it 🙂
Stumbled across your site by chance. And what a delight it is! Uncluttered, serene one might even say, and really rather beautiful, visually and vertbally. And it’s about birds!
Thank you Richard! It *always* helps if something is about birds.