Tuesday 25 April. I took Cookie to help with my South Downs Farmland Birds Survey at Lancing Hill. Not a very inspiring location and expectations were not exceeded with highlights being 2 Red Kites, 10 Skylarks, a Greenfinch and 2 Corn Buntings. On the way back we called in at the Downslink just north of the A27 to look at and listen to an interesting Chiffchaff that had been found there. It had a song with similarities to Iberian Chiffchaff without being totally convincing. It's structure and plumage seemed to fit quite well although it had solid rather than diffuse ear coverts which I later learned are a pro-Iberian feature. I've seen very few Iberian Chiffchaffs (just the original Portland bird in 1999 and 4 in Spain) so am not familiar with the range of variation in their songs. Recordings of a bird at Otterbourne Park Wood, Hampshire in May 2022 sounds quite similar.
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| Common/Iberian Chiffchaff on the Downslink |
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| sonogram of my rather messy recording, frequency of all notes in the range 3-7 kHz (I had it in mind that the frequency, if not the note structure, is better for Iberian Chifchaff whereas Common Chiffchaff is more normally 4-8kHz) but individual notes look much simpler than on sonograms of Iberian Chiffchaff |
Wednesday 26 April. With several others I seawatched at Splash Point, Seaford from 05:55-11:00 in light but cold ESE winds and in good visibility. During that time I noted 2 Barnacle Geese, 3 Shelduck, 89 Common Scoter, single Great Crested Grebe and Oystercatcher, 37 Whimbrel, 245 Bar-tailed Godwits, 48 Sandwich Terns, a dark morph Arctic Skua, 3 Red-throated and a Black-throated Diver, 25 Gannets and a Great Egret (at 10:25) flying east. Also a Merlin came in and 2 Peregrines were seen offshore.
Thursday 27 April. I went to Splash Point, Seaford with David Buckingham and with several others we seawatched from 06:00-11:10 and 12:10-14:00 in light/moderate ESE/SE winds and reasonable visibility. During that time I noted 9 Brent Geese, 11 Shelduck, 2 Shoveler, Gadwall, 8 Pintail, 2 Teal, 15 Velvet and 505 Common Scoter, 6 Oystercatchers, 332 Whimbrel, 3 Curlew, 155 Bar-tailed Godwits, 20 Knot, a Sanderling, 5 Dunlin, a Redshank, 15 Little and 3 Mediterranean Gulls, 146 Sandwich, 3 Little, 160 Common/Arctic and a Black Tern, 13 Arctic Skuas, 5 Red-throated, 8 Black-throated and 5 unidentified Divers and 110 Gannets flying east. Also a Hobby came in, along a similar line to yesterday's Merlin but further out. Between bouts of seawatching we visited Hope Gap where the White-crowned Sparrow was being watched. Very leisurely and no stress at all, in complete contrast with my previous visit!
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| pale morph Arctic Skua passing Splash Point, Seaford |
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| mostly Whimbrels passing Splash Point, Seaford |
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| White-crowned Sparrow in Hope Gap, Seaford Head |
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