Splash Point-24 April 2010

With SE winds from the off, and 25 birders keeping their eyes on the sea, this was always going to be a fantastic day. And so it proved to be.

The most constant feature of the 2.5 hours dad and I spent at Splash this morning were Terns. They were constantly streaming past, a never ending flow of dainty, persil white flying machines on loose, powerful wings. Commic terns were ab absolute constant, many coming very close. I would estimate we saw upwards of 400 during our stint. Most of the flocks went very close, allowing the short-billed, long-tailed Arctics to be picked out in good numbers, I identified at least 50, probably about 70 or 80 (it was a week ago, my memory has gone a bit fuzzy since then!), and there were almost certainly well over a hundred moving through. Sandwich Terns went through in three-figures too, and among the hundreds of these commoner terns were 8 Little Terns, which they really were among their big cousins, and 4 Black Terns, looking for all the world like huge swifts, plowing accross the sea in such a haphazard way I half-expected them to crash land into the water.

Skuas were a fairly big feature too. One Arctic Skua circled right over our heads before carrrying on east, and two went ENE towards Seaford Head Golf Course, being lost from sight as they vanished over the cliffs. Overall about 12 Arctic and 8 Great Skua went through, but sadly no Poms.

100 Little Gulls flew past, their very ability to actually fly without being blown about in the wind like a butterfly amazing me as much as anything else. Unsurpisingly though, a fairly strong SE wind did push a few inland. 40 went over our heads, including one spectacular flock of 30 birds, all heading towards Arlington Reservoir. No Bonaparte's were among them, though!

A fair few waders also went past. about 60 each of Whimbrela and Bar-tailed Godwit, the latter in tight compact flocks that zipped by so fast you could miss them if you blinked. Thankfully, one mixed flock did put down on the beach briefly, giving good views, but quickly flew off, passing us quite close in. Most bizarre of all, though, was a group of 4 Avocet. First picked up at a ridiculous distance of about 2 kilometres, they were sitting on the sea! After a few minutes, the unsure little group took off, flying past us in quite unsteady fashion (though that is normal for any Avocets). However, their nerves showed when they put down again, about 100 metres east of the groyne! They only stayed for a minute or two before finally finding their wings again, but I got a fairly good look at them, thanks to the birder who kindly let me use his scope.

Other than all that has been mentioned, their were a fair number of wildfowl. About 50 each of Common Scoter and Brent geese, including one Pale-bellied bird, and two Shoveler, two Pintail and 13 Shelduck.

A Brilliant day's seawatching!

Splash Point, seaford

in an two and a half hours of seawatching at Splash Point today, SE winds looked promising, and we saw some good birds, but it wasn't a classic day.

Dad and I started at 7.00, with the first bird we saw being...

a White Wagtail!
It was walking in the middle of the road, 30 yards back from the carpark at Splash Point, as we drove along. First priority, don't run it over(!), second priority, have a closer look at the pied wagtail, which is now deeply indebted to us, and realise it is in fact the Pied's much scarcer cousin! Sharifin Gardiner and Dick Gilmore were alreadt at Splash, and had seen an Arctic Skua and a few other things without us. During an hor and a half until 9.30, To start with, we saw mainly Common Scoter (we saw about 150 overall), and they were by far the most numerous species during the moring. We also saw 25 Sandwich terns, a similar number of Brent Geese, 5 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Mediterraena Gulls, 2 Teals and a Velvet Scoter, along with 2 Meadow Pipits, amd presumably the White Wagtail, coming in off the sea. Some o the Common Scoter were close in, and I managed to separate males and females within the flocks that were reasonably close in, the male/female ratio was approximately 3/1, though I don't remember very specifically. One flock of 10 Common Scoter settled 100 yards offshore, giving excellent views throgh the scope, with the males yellow bills very noticeable. Another flock of about 15, flying high above the sea a dn also about 100 yards out, had a female Velvet scoter in it, the first time I have seen this species locally and only the second time I have managed to pick one out in a scoter flock. the two Mediterranean Gulls were passign with 5 Sandwich Terns, which went through in small groups of 4-10 througout the morning. One flock of Brent Geese, seen from the car as we were leaving, were flying directly over the beach, and it looked like they would go directly over the groyne and the watching Dick Gilmore and Matt Eade, but taking one look at the two men with binoculars they came to their senses, and dramatically swerved around the groyne at the last possible moment. However, despite their impressive flight co-ordination and escape manouveres, Matt still managed a photograph, see here.

Splash Point 20 March

with a strong wind coming from the S/SE today, my first spring seawatch was fairly good, though others have reported greater variety and numbers in the past week. Also at Splash Point today were Bob Self, Geoff Gowlett and two other birders whose names I don't know. The highlights, from 06:30-09:00, were 300 or so Brent Geese (with flocks of 100 and 120 flying very close inshore), around 30 Common Scoter and 25 Red-throated Diver, 2 Mediterranean Gulls, 2 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Pintail, 4 Eider, 1 Whimbrel, 20 or so Gannets, 3 Shelduck, 1 Whimbrel, 1 unidentified diver, and nice performances from the resident Rock Pipits, Peregrines and Kittiwakes. No sign of the Black Redstart reported here recently. All the seabirds were passing east, while 4 Meadow Pipits came in off the sea. None of the hoped for Sandwich Tern and Garganey, although I still got two year ticks, Eider and Whimbrel. Many of the birds seen passed cose inshore, with good views of most of the brents, the two Pintails, several summer-plumaged Red-throated Divers and the Eider. A good day, though well down on Thursday, when other birders reported a Red-necked Grebe, a Black-necked Grebe, larger numbers of Scoter (including one Velvet), a few Little Gulls and Sandwich Terns, and almost 800 Brent Geese.

8 Jan 2010-Splash Point and Seaford

at Splash Point today, smaller numbers of passerines overhead, although one flock of 50 Fieldfares was notable. on the sea were 2 Common Scoter, while a Guillemot flew West, with a Little Gull East and a Woodlark overhead passing East. a few Gannets were also offshore again. My yearlist now stands at 45 Species.