Seaford seawatch (12 May 2019)

Sunday 12 May. I met JK at Splash Point at 05:30 and we seawatched all morning. It was very very quiet but the wind changing from NNE to SE kept us hopeful. We were giving up when JMS arrived at 11:30 to tell us Selsey had had a Pom at 11:07. We stayed, and stayed but it did not appear until 14:15, some time after JK had given up but only 2 minutes after CB and ME arrived. Immaculate timing. I stayed on to 16:00, hopeful a second Pom seen at Selsey at 13:50 might arrive but we didn't see it. I recorded the following flying East: 44 Common Scoter, 4 Red-throated Divers, 2 Great Crested Grebes, a Grey Heron, a Little Egret (it/another having flown W earlier), 27 Gannets, 10 Whimbrel, a Curlew, 6 Bar-tailed Godwits, 3 Mediterranean Gulls, 67 Sandwich, 5 Little, 40 Commic, 2 Arctic and (at 10:30) a Black Tern, a pale-morph Pomarine and dark-morph Arctic Skua (at 14:15) and an auk. 14 Swallows came in and White Wagtail and Rock Pipit were seen on the groyne.

Saturday 11 May. An early visit to West Mill produced 2 Lapwings, Turtle Dove (heard), a Cuckoo, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Nightingale. Later Cissbury with Megan and Cookie was very quiet with Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Greenfinch and Yellowhammer.

Friday 10 May. I took Cookie to the Knepp Estate where we spent four hours walking around the southern section, most in the company of DS. I saw 2 introduced White Storks at their nest, 8 Stock and 2 Turtle Doves, 2 Cuckoos, 2 Great Spotted and a Green Woodpecker, 2 Jays, Lesser Whitethroat (and 2 heard), 6 Chiffchaffs and a Mistle Thrush. I also heard 6+ Blackcaps, 2 Garden Warblers and 3 Nightingales.

Turtle Dove at Knepp

under-appreciated when they were common ...

Introduced White Storks at Knepp, not exactly unobtrusive

Roe Deer at Knepp

Thursday 09 May. I took Cookie to the Adur where we saw 2 Shelduck, 4 Ringed and a superb Grey Plover, 2 Whimbrel and a Reed Warbler. Later 2 Swifts were seen over our road, the first this year.

Ringed and Grey Plovers on the Adur