Seaford and Cuckmere (21 March 2015)

Saturday 21 March.  I met John King at Splash Point, Seaford where a very quiet seawatch (it was clear and northerly) produced a Slavonian Grebe on the sea and a Red-throated Diver, 16 Brent Geese, 3 Common Scoter and a Mediterranean Gull passing east.  A Rock Pipit and an alba Wagtail were on the breakwater and two colour-ringed gulls nearby.  We drove to the barn and walked a short circuit to the edge of the golf course and back up Hope Gap seeing only Meadow Pipits.  The Charleston Reedbed area was better although the wind had picked up and the more interesting birds were not overly co-operative.  The pair of Garganey were distant and often out of sight in vegetation, a Ruff only appeared out of a ditch once and the Great Grey Shrike although close was only seen briefly before dropping behind the riverbank.  A very low tide tempted me to try the Adur at dusk for more colour-ringed gulls but none were evident amongst the estimated 800 Common, 500 Black-headed and 300 Herrings gathered there.

local Herring Gull A7UZ at Splash Point, Seaford.  The second gull I looked at.

North Thames J1MT at Splash Point, Seaford.  The third gull I looked at.  The next hundred or so were unexceptional.

White Wagtail on the breakwater at Splash Point, Seaford (DC encouraged me to be bold!)

Brent Geese passing Seaford the easy way

Egyptian Goose with four of its five small goslings

drake Garganey north of Charleston Reedbed

the female was less obliging

Great Grey Shrike opposite Charleston Reedbed

it quickly dropped out of sight below the riverbank and did not reappear in the time we were there - presumably having found somewhere more sheltered.

gulls roosting on the Adur at low tide

Mediterranean Gull on the Adur.  Low tide was at dusk and the light was poor.

Friday 20 March.  A Peregrine on Southwick Power Station on my way to work.

Thursday 19 March.  A Peregrine on Southwick Power Station on my way to work.  A low tide is always welcome on the way home with hundreds of gulls gathering before roosting on the sea.  I estimated 700 Common, 500 Herring and 300 Black-headed but could pick nothing out amongst them with my 8x20s.

Sussex in mid March

Wednesday 18 March.  Three superb male Wheatears came in at Shoreham Harbour, two landing on the west arm and one on the east, before working their way north.  For me the first Wheaters are one of the year's most anticipated highlights and one that grows with each passing year, no matter how far behind the first arrival they are.  In this case 10 days later than birds seen at Pagham.   Also passing Shoreham Fort between 06:25-08:25 were 131 Brent Geese, 7 Shoveller, 7 Eider, 3 Common Scoter and a Red-breasted Merganser while 2 Rock Pipits were on the west arm and 2 Purple Sandpipers were under the wooden jetty.

early morning at Shoreham Fort

Friday's eclipse would show well in similar conditions

just arrived

the first Wheatear is always eagerly anticipated

and rarely disappoints

photogenic Turnstone

Teal at Widewater

Stock Dove in the garden

Tuesday 17 March.  Two Rock Pipits by Carats Cafe, 2 Peregrines on/near Southwick Power Station chimney and 40 Brent Geese flying east offshore.  Also local Herring Gull A4AH at the University.

Sunday 15 March.  A quiet hour at Shoreham Fort with just 2 Common Scoter and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers moving east and two Purple Sandpipers under the wooden jetty. Later Megan and I walked a circuit from Lancing Ring to Cowbottom and Steepdown seeing 4 Buzzards, 22 Sky Larks (many in song), 3 Fieldfares and a Raven.  My mum's 89th birthday.

Enid Collett leaving at high speed - someone in the sea off Worthing which proved to be a false alarm

trying out the new camera following its repair

it seemed to have been successful

although this Turnstone was a very obliging subject

Purple Sandpiper on the west arm

Rock Pipit on the west arm

the white tips to the median and greater coverts might be suggestive of littoralis

the same could be said of the white ground colour to the underparts

Raven over Coombes

Mum

Dad

Saturday 14 March.  A visit to Newhaven and the Cuckmere with John King.  At the former we saw 18 Snipe, Kingfisher, Richard's Pipit and Stonechat. John picked out the Great Grey Shrike north of Exceat Bridge and south of it we saw single White-fronted, Greylag and Barnacle Geese, a Norwegian colour-ringed Greater Black-backed Gull, 20+ Rock Pipits, 2 Chiffchaffs and best of all a smart Firecrest.

Richard's Pipit on the Ouse Estuary Project

Great Grey Shrike north of Exceat Bridge

one of the rare occasions it wasn't sheltering from the cold NE wind

the 'bandit' mask always looks good head on

juvenile White-fronted Goose, lower Cuckmere

Norwegian Greater Black-backed Gull, presumably J7426, lower Cuckmere

Friday 13 March.   Herring Gull A5HH at the University's Sports Centre.

Thursday 12 March.  The lock-gates were open for a boat on my way home so I went on to the east arm seeing 12 Turnstones but not the hoped for wheatear.

Wednesday 11 March.  An Eider flying east saved an hour at Shoreham Harbour from being almost birdless, an adult Mediterranean Gull and returning North Thames Herring Gull were seen on the Adur at low tide while a walk around Mill Hill with Megan produced a single Buzzard.

North Thames Herring Gull F9BT.  Seen by me at Widewater in February 2013 and on the Adur in May 2014.  It had been ringed as 1CY at Pitsea Landfill (Essex) in October 2012 and was seen (not by me) on the Adur in April 2013.

Monday 9 March.  A Peregrine on Southwick Power Station chimney.

early March in West Sussex (Brown Noddy breeding at Pagham?/how not to get a ringed gull reported)

Sunday 8 March.  A short visit to Steyning sewage works before sorting more photographs from Ecuador. I saw (but did not hear) a Siberian Chiffchaff 3-4 times in about 90 minutes although only once was a decent view, the others being rather brief.  There were probably 8 Common Chiffchaffs there, at least one Goldcrest and a female Blackcap.

a very poor image of Siberian Chiffchaff at Steyning SF taken with my old Olympus E-520.  Being tempted away by the Canon Powersot (currently being repaired following water damage at Cerro Mongus) I had forgotten how to use it!

this one is even worse and I got several where its head was hidden completely

Saturday 7 March.  John King and I went down to Selsey Bill hoping to see Great Northern Diver.  The tide was low, which seems to be good for seeing them, but the wind stronger than forecast and I'd not taken account of a low sun, pleasant as it was, making a segment of the sea hard to view due to glare.  I need not have worried.  Locals told us several were close offshore and we were able to watch them almost continuously for the couple of hours we were there (although I never felt like returning to the car for my camera).  I counted seven on one scan of the octant we could readily view but we doubtless saw more (10+?) as birds were drifting past as the tide came in.  Very pleasant.  We also saw about 15 divers flying east (all those identified being Red-throated), 56 Brent Geese, 4 Common Scoter, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers and single Mediterranean Gull and Sandwich Tern.  The Eider eluded us and a female Shoveler failed to impress as a substitute.  With a rising tide we tried Church Norton where 4 Slavonian Grebes were on the sea at a reasonable distance (3 had early traces of summer plumage) but otherwise it seemed quiet.  Two Avocets were roosting on Sidlesham Ferry and 5 in the harbour along with 90+ Black-tailed Godwits.  A few of the latter were in full summer-plumage and showed extensive brick-red underparts suggesting that they were the wintering race islandica (as one would expect).  We could not find a grey goose flock during a brief stop at East Lake (nor did the Dusky Warbler put in a surprise reappearance).  We finished at the Burgh seeing 3 Red Kites, a Stonechat, 20 Fieldfares and 25 Reed Buntings.  A knowledgeable farmer/manager there told us that he had not seen any Short-eared Owls for a couple of weeks.  There were 6+ Chifchaffs by the little sewage works and on the way home another Red Kite flew over the A27.   An interesting BBC Natural World programme on Super-powered owls during the week had got me feeling that I would like to see Barn Owl again so I called in on my way home and saw two.  Brilliant birds.

RSPB lets slip that Brown Noddy is breeding in Sussex

one taken much earlier ...  (Michaelmas Cay, 1986)

Mediterranean Gull on Sidlesham Ferry.  One of three seen amongst 200 mostly winter Black-headeds

they were much better than these images suggest

Friday 6 March.  A Peregine on Southwick Power Station chimney as I cycled past to work.

Thursday 5 March.  A Rock Pipit was singing from the roof of Carats Cafe as I cycled past to work.

Wednesday 4 March.  Megan and I walked from Chantry Hill to Lee Farm and east along the South Downs Way to Highden Hill.  We saw 4 Buzzards, a Raven and 45 Yellowhammers (in two flocks).  I visited the Adur for the late afternoon low tide.  Black-headed Gulls were most numerous with at least 500 roosting of which 15-20% were in or coming into summer plumage.  Two had colour-rings and a Common Gull had a metal ring but otherwise nothing of note was seen amongst them.

Three ways for ringers not to get their gulls reported: 1. only put a metal ring on them as only Jake Everett at Warnham is likely to be able to read it.

Three ways for ringers not to get their gulls reported: 2. don't register your scheme on the European-CR web-site.  This was 7341 but no schemes are shown as using 4 numbers 

Three ways for ringers not to get their gulls reported: 3. don't bother replying when previous rings are reported.  This is from a Danish scheme but as they did not reply about a Lesser Black-back I saw last year, nor a friend's Black-headed Gull I'm not sure I'll bother either. Knowing it is Danish is good enough for me ...

Sunday 1 March.  Megan and I walked around Rackham and Parham Park.  There were at least 500 Lapwings on Amberly Wildbrooks and a pair of Tufted Duck on Parham Lake but we only saw 2 Goldcrest and 2 Coal Tits at Rackham.

Saturday 28 February.  Poor visibility restricted us to the Adur where Megan saw a Kingfisher while I was looking at gulls.  Lots there but nothing of interest that I could find.  I'm finding it very hard to get back into local birding - late winter is never my favourite time of year especially when the weather is poor and I've still got photographs to sort and notes to write up.

Tuesday 24 February.  Two noisy Peregines on Southwick Power Station chimney as I cycled past to work where Herring Gull A4AH put in an appearance.