birding never sleeps: Shoreham gulls and further afield (16-29 March)

Thursday 29th. I took Cookie to Shoreham Fort where on a rising tide we saw a Purple Sandpiper, 12 Turnstones and a displaying Meadow Pipit. We had called in at Harbour Way beforehand and seen nothing but decided to stop again on our way to Widewater. Good move as a 3CY Iceland Gull was present, presumably the bird seen there when I was in Ecuador and at Selsey before/after. Before I could tweet it ARK arrived and we watched the bird for half an hour or so before the rising tide pushed it off and it flew towards the harbour entrance. As Alan hadn't seen anything new at Widewater we came straight home.

Iceland Gull at Harbour Way, Shoreham

first views had me thinking of an albino it was so white but I remembered the bird seen here a five or six weeks earlier had been too

small-billed and round headed compared to nearby Herring Gulls

aged as a second-winter (3CY) due to very white plumage (above and below), pale yellowish eye and reduced black on the bill tip

its legs really were short although this image is a little misleading in that respect

it had a few browner tones to the upper-wing coverts and under-tail but otherwise it was clean white enough for a washing powder advert

no Kumlien's influence in its primaries

digiscoped images of the same bird came out much browner but did show its short legs

metal ring on a Herring Gull at Harbour Way. If it had a colour ring it had been lost

Wednesday 28th. A morning high tide visit with Cookie to Shoreham Fort produced a Purple Sandpiper, 11 Turnstones and a Rock Pipit. We went on to Widewater seeing the pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. Low tide was late afternoon and we went to the Adur seeing 2 Shelduck and three coloured-ringed gulls. One was a Herring Gull which isn't likely to be too interesting but the others were both Common Gulls, a 2CY ringed as a chick in Rogeland, Norway in July 2017 and the other an adult female ringed in a colony in Estonia in May 2011 and seen there each summer since.

Purple Sandpiper at Shoreham Fort

Norwegian Common Gull JE304 on the Adur. It was ringed as a chick at Husoy, Karmoy, Rogland in southern Norway on 7 July 2017.

more interesting, in the same flock was Estonian Common Gull P8S7

she was ringed as an adult in a colony in Matsalu Nature Reserve (SW of Tallinn) in July 2011 and has been seen in the colony every year since.

P8S7 history, all the way from Estonia by return of email

Herring Gull NA8Z on the Adur. It looked like a North Thames ring but with the final letter Z rather than T.

a pair of Shelduck on the Adur

Tuesday 27th. Two Long-tailed Tits in Stanmer Park.

Sunday 25th. Nessa was home and we went to Kingley Vale. We arrived late and it was surprisingly busy. Although 100 Hawfinches had been seen earlier in the day I saw just 6. In any other year 6 Hawfinches would have been brilliant but I was somewhat disappointed!

Megan and Cookie at the Bow Hill Trig Point

Saturday 24th. A very enjoyable seawatch from Splash Point, Seaford started slowly but picked up and kept going until early afternoon. DB, JK and I were there from 07:00-14:30 with others, notably ME and SL, present for much of that period (and earlier in ME's case). I saw Red-throated Diver 68E:6o/s, distant diver sp. 5E, Great Crested Grebe 6, Fulmar 5+, Gannet 31E, Cormorant 5E, Brent Goose 1900E (including a flock of 640 - DB counted his video of it), Shelduck 11E:7W, Gadwall 3E, Wigeon 2o/s, Teal 6E, Pintail 9E, Shoveler 43E, Eider 6E (13:35), Common Scoter 292E, Red-breasted Merganser 3o/s, Avocet 2E (I later missed another although not as gripping as the 20 seen on the Adur that morning by ARK!), Dunlin 24E, Curlew 6E, Bar-tailed Godwit 1E, Mediterranean Gull 1W (3CY), Black-headed Gull 44E, Common Gull some E (not counted), Little Gull 30E:1W (all very smart adults), Sandwich Tern 5E, auk sp. 6E, Razorbill 1E:2o/s, Guillemot 1o/s, Rock Pipit 2 (1 a candidate for littoralis) and Raven 1. DB and I called in at Newhaven Tidemills hoping for a Wheatear but had to settle for 3 Purple Sandpipers and 3 Stonechats.

part of the big Brent Goose flock approaching Splash Point

Eider passing Splash Point, Seaford

Purple Sandpiper on Newhaven Pier

Turnstone

Friday 23rd. Megan and I took Cookie to Cissbury where a singing Mistle Thrush was the highlight. Later we visited the Adur where we saw the male Wheatear, thanks to tweets from ARK and PJ. It was my first of the year which is usually something I very much look forward to but it was a rather flighty individual (at least when we were there) and soon disappeared so somewhat disappointing.

Oystercatchers on the Adur

my first Wheatear of the year was a bit of a disappointment

Wednesday 21st. A single Turnstone was all we could find on an early visit to Shoreham Fort. Later I took Cookie to the Burgh but with news the Iceland Gull was again at Goring Gap we diverted. We then drove to the triangle and walked up to the dewponds north of Peppering Barn. It was very mild and we stayed in the area until dusk seeing 2 Red Kites, 11 Red-legged and 9 Grey Partridges, 9 Lapwings (some displaying), 6 Sky Larks and a flock of 70 Fieldfares. No Short-eared Owls but Barn Owls made up for it with sighitngs at the lower dew pond (hunting for 20 minutes), beyond the upper dew pond (sat on a fence), Peppering Barn (flying N), the Triangle (flying S) and across the Arun. Certainly three, probably four and possibly five?