little to be seen

updates from 30th and 31st July

walking the eastern edge of Seaford Head Golf Course on 30 July revealed one fly-over Sand Martin, and there were 3 Whitethroats and a Willow Warbler. There were plenty of Kittiwakes at the viewpoint, and also 1 summer-plumaged Black-headed Gull offshore here, this bird also being present on 27 and 28 July. Further long Seaford Beach were greater numbers of Black-headed Gull and a single juv Kittiwake, while just opposite the Salts was a large gathering of gulls, in excess of 200, mainly Herring and Black-headed but with one or two young Lesser and Greater Blackbacks identified. it looks like a good potential spot for Yellow-leggd Gulls if the group remains there. There was also a Gannet flying around several hundred metres offshore, and over Seaford plenty of screaming Swifts.

on 31st July, on my first visit to Seaford Head, round 10am with Dad, dog and some family friends, there was very little around, bar 5 Whitethroats, a Willow Warbler and 40 or so Meadow Pipits in the heavy mist. All these were in the wild-land between Hope Gap and the Coastguard Cottages. On a later visit (around 7pm), with just Dad and the dog, walking through Hope Gap was even quieter, just 1 Willow Warbler was there to show for out efforts, although a Great Green-Bush Cricket was a nice surprise anyway.

White-tailed bastard!

cut a long story shot, I got fairly crap views of a White-tailed Plover in a crowded hide in Slimbridge WWT, 300 or so miles from home, then the damned thing turned up about an hour's drive away at Dunge. God I hate birding sometimes! autumn continues to trickle along, a calling Willow Warbler/Chiffchaff at Slimbridge (I half-heard it but probably a Willow) on the same dae might have been a migrant, as would the definite Willow calling from somewhere near my house yesterday and today. a Great Spotted Woodpecker has been fairly vocal around the house too (presumably a dispersing juvenile) with perhaps the same bird beinng seen distantly in flight this afternoon from my bedroom window. Also my first Goldcrest for a while was also probably dispersing. Starlings and Woodpigeons are starting to flock together now, and at school I saw two adults and a juvenile Great Black-backed Gull. This is lmost certainly the same pair I saw in April/May on a roof near school, and is the first record of breeding for seaford to my knowledge.