Seaford seawatch (24 April 2019)

Wednesday 24 April. I seawatched from Splash Point, Seaford from 05:30-14:00 arriving there a bit after ME and a bit before JK, JG and SL. Other observers came and went but it was generally slow with variable visibility and a couple of heavy showers as the wind moved round from E to SE to SW. By 13:00 just JK and I remained. I recorded the following flying east (unless stated otherwise): 6 Brent Geese, 5 Shelduck, 2 Gadwall, 2 Shoveler, 2 Teal, 87 scoter, 6 Red-throated Divers (and 3 more unidentified), an even more distant Manx Shearwater than yesterday's (ME in his element with a new telescope), 52 Gannets, , 2 Little Egrets (W), 16 Whimbrel, 95 Bar-tailed Godwits, just 35 Mediterranean (32 adults, 1 second-summer and 2 first summers), 86 Sandwich Terns, 13 Great, 13 Arctic (6 dark, 4 pale and 3 indeterminate) and a flock of three pale-morph Pomarine Skuas (at 08:46). The Pomarine Skuas were seen by JFC et al at Birling 11 minutes later (as was yesterday's single). They were accompanied by two Arctic Skuas when we saw them. I missed an Eider and the only Commioc Tern seen while a Wheatear rested on the groyne for a while and a pair of Egyptian Geese that came in from the east ended up on the cliff-top.

Wheatear on the groyne at Splash Point, Seaford

a welcome distraction during one of the many quieter periods