I went birding!

Yes, men, women, hermaphrodite and asexual readers of this blog. I have actually gone birding! As in but a pair of binoculars round my neck and gone for a walk somewhere! As only the third time this has happened this year, I felt it deserved some extra notice.

I took a visit to Seaford Head, taking a look at Cuckmere Haven at the same time. On the migrant front, I didn't see all that much. However, in Hope Gap was a singing Chiffchaff, a flitting Goldcrest giving a typical 'migrant's view' and 2-3 singing Redwings; their odd, warbler like songs contrasting markedly with the almost deafening chorus of Song Thrushes. And overhead I heard two Mediterranean Gulls. 20 or so Meadow Pipits hanging around, and a few heading north were probably migrants too. Other resident birds seen were several Yellowhammers, a pair of Ravens, and a few parachuting Rock Pipits and patrolling Fulmars along the cliffs. Is their a bird with a more beautiful flight than the Fulmar? I always just think of them as a local bird, but those wings may have carried that bird out into the atlantic in the winter. A Little Egret on the rockpools at Hope Gap was truly beautiful in it's serene and peaceful backdrop, but was sadly too distant for a photograph. And 150+ Wigeon could be seen distantly on the west side of the Cuckmere.


These Mallard on the pond at South Hill Barn were a nice surprise




also on these ponds was more frogspawn. As you can see
they are very well developed, looking like tadpoles rather than little
black dots. By the time I have the chance to visit again they may
well have hatched



photographically, this gorgeous male Yellowhammer was the highlight. The first
time I have photographed this species.



some of the 150+ Wigeon still in the Cuckmere 




and how could I not photograph that sunset across the sea?



A tale of three dips

Being ill off school was, in different ways, a blessing and a curse today. I dipped on a life tick, a british tick and a sussex tick, saw one brit yeartick and one sussex yeartick, met most of the East Sussex birding fraternity on my way, took a few paracetamol but didn't do my throat infection too many favours.

It all started at about 12:30, when Dad said he had heard about a Lapland Bunting at Seaford Head. I'd half-hoped one might find its way to our patch with the current invasion, and with birds already seen in Sussex it was no great surprise. But a Lappie would be a lifer, and the first recorded the local area since I started birding, so I was interested to say the least.

I decided to check up with Matt Eade first to see if he'd found it. He was working, so it would have been quite some feat, but he still provided me with an exact location, on the dungheap west of South Hill Barn. Then I scrolled down the text, and thought I had a halucination. 'White Stork in the Cuckmere too'. What the bliddy hell was that doing!

Re-checking Birdguides, I was relieved to see I hadn't missed it out first time, there was no mention of the bird! Having said that, I only get the freebie version.

At precisely 13:00, Me, Dad and his friend Martin, who was staying over, headed off to Seaford Head. Due to the creature needing excersise we took  the dog, but kept him in the car when we looked for the Lapland. We ran into Paul James, John King, Bob Self, Pete Wilson and Neil Greenaway, and Dad and Martin may have heard a Lap Bunt calling, but otherwise all that could be seen from the area was two Wheatear and a flyover Yellow wagtail. We arrived at 13:20. The dog walkers woul have been here non-stop from 08:00. Joys of birding eh! However we did pick up some information. The White Stork had been visible from Harry's Bush, but now it wasn't. However, harry's Bush did have a 'showy' Pied Flycatcher.

Walking down to Harry's Bush, we were stuck behind a group of kids on a school trip. The looks I got from the dog-walkers were nothing compared to some of this lot and their teachers, but seeing as I was a forteen-year old, outside of school, with binoculars, walking around with three men, I don't blame them particularly! Once we escaped the crowd and were at Harry's Bush, the four of us (Dad, Martin, Neil and me) scoured the area for the Pied Fly. But he seemed to have stagefright. A Spotted Flycatcher, a Tree Pipit and a Redstart (sussex yeartick) were some consolation. The White Stork wasn't visible either, but while scanning for it, dad picked up a thrush, flying out to sea from the scrape. At first he though it was a Stormcock, but it soon became apparent (to him at least!) that it was a dark thrush with pale scapulars. Ring Ouzel! Martin and I eventually picked it up flying over the sea, before it turned back and dropped into the bushes around the Coastguard Cottages. My only ever September Rouzel record!

Fairly typical Curson birding really, we dip all the good stuff, and find our own bird no-one even knew was there! I'd have liked the Lapland Bunt though, but I'll be scouring the entire area very carefully on saturday!

We did have one final check for the White Stork from the Golden galleon. It was nowhere to be seen. and we met Chris Brown, who had scoured further up the cuckmere for the bird, but to no avail. Slightly disappointed at my first ever triple dip, I went back home to try and get my health up to a 10-hour trek of the patch at the weekend!

Redstart and Ring Ouzel took my Sussex Year List to 164. I've had four other sussex yearticks since I got back from canada. On 8 Sep I saw a fantastic 6  Spotted Flycatchers and a gorgeous Short-eared Owl at Seaford Head, along with a few Willow warblers and Wheatears, one Lesser Whitethroat and a single Whinchat. On 12 Sep, Beachy Head yielded the Ortolan Bunting, which showed pretty well, along with nine Whinchat, two Tree Pipits, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Spotted Flycatcher and a few Willow warblers. However we dipped on Icterine warbler and Wryneck. The other yeartick on 12 Sep was a Yellow wagtail, flying over Denton Hill.

Seaford Head and Cuckmere Haven-7 August 2010

55 Whitethroat, 41 Willow Warbler, 4 Garden warbler, 14 Lesser Whitethroat, 6 Reed warblers, 1 Blackcap, 2 Wheatears, 1 Whimbrel, 21 Curlew and 30 Meadow Pipits. For four hours in the field I'd have liked  bit more but as soon as it kicks off properly it should be good up here. Just hope autumn gets going bfore I get going across the atlantic!

Hope gap again.

I took a different route round the patch today, arriving by bike at 05:30 I went down to Chyngton Farm, where I walked down along the west side of the cuckmere, before going back up past the Coastguard Cottages, to Hope Gap, down the middle path and up the west side of the gap. I skipped out quite large areas (the mast, golf course and harry's bush) from my ususal route but still found lots of good birds around;

The first bird I saw was in the long, overgrown fields below South Hill Barn car park as you take the road  towards Chyngton Farm. A Whitethroat was in a bush here. The long grass and thistles by the roadside never really have any birds other than sparrows and starlings, but today I was rather surprised to see two Sedge Warblers in them, posing well and giving excellent views. In the patch of trees by Chyngton Farm I eventually saw a Garden Warbler, after about 10 minutes looking (I had tentatively ID'd it as this species by song already). There were also 2 Lesser Whitethroats and another Whitethroat here. Along the westernmost path along the Cuckmere valley, heading Northwards, I encountered several more Whitethroats, a Willow Warbler, a Reed Warbler (singing), 4 more Lesser Whitethroats and another Garden Warbler, turning to the pat along the river at the horse paddocks.

Here there were 10 or so Pied Wagtails in the saltmarsh, three or four adults and the rest juveniles. One of these was exceptionally pale, almost Citrine Wagtail coloured. Indeed, at first glance, and with a bit of panic, thi was my first rather nervous assumption, but within  few seconds sense returned and I decided it was a leucistic juv Pied Wagtail. however, having got home and described it to my dad, he said it sounded far more likely it was an ordinary juvenile White Wagtail, a good record for the area.

I had hoped for a few waders walking along the river bank, however all I got was a couple of Whitethroats in the bushes and a juv Curlew on the river. as I was walking along Cuckmere Beach, with meadow pipits all around me, I heard the unmistakeable sound of a Greenshank passing overhead. my first sussex year tick in over a month!!

In the bushes around the Coastguard Cottages, I saw a few more good birds. There were plenty of Whitethroats, a Reed Warbler showed well, as did two Willow Warblers, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Grasshopper Warbler, a bried flight view and perched for half a second but I saw it well enough through binoculars. I saw many more Whitethroats in the bramble patches and scattered bushes going up to Hope Gap, and a Sedge Warbler chattered away in one large clump of hawthorn. I could also hear distantly two Sandwich Terns moving west offshore.

Walking down the middle path through Hope Gap, I saw 7 Willow warblers and 3 Lesser Whitethroats among their commoner relative.  2 Reed Warblers were singing and seen well, and about 3/4 of the way to the sea a Nightingale croaked in one of the bushes, albeit very briefly, and was not seen. It is a remarkable call and one of my favourite to hear! I also saw another Sandwich tern passing west along the sea, about 100 metres offshore. along the western path round Hope Gap several groups of Whitethroat kept me company, numbering about 20 in all. 4 Willow Warblers, in two groups of two, were also seen, and I could hear one of the same Reed warblers that had been singing previously as I reached the top. From here, I walked down the eastern path round Hope Gap, for about five minutes, seeing one Willow warbler and a few more Whitethroats, and hearing two more Sandwich Terns moving west offshore.

My final stop was the patch of bushes adjacent to South Hill Barn. from here another Reed warbler was singing, a Lesser Whitethroat flitted through the bushes and there were 5 Whitethroats and 3 Willow warblers. the final bird seen was a single Willow Warbler, in one of the bushes of the farmyard at Chyngton farm, as I cycled back.

My totals for the day were as follows;
1 Nightingale
66 Whitethroats
19 Willow warblers
11 Lesser Whitethroats
5 Reed Warblers
3 Sedge warblers
2 Garden Warblers
1 Grasshopper Warbler
1 White Wagtail
1 Greenshank
1 Curlew
5 Sandwich terns
24 Swifts
18 Swallows
10 Sand Martins

fantastically bonkers day in the Cuckmere, 9/4/2010

It didn't look like a good day for birds in the Cuckmere. The wind was light S/SW, and by the time I arrived the world and several distant relatives of its had trampled every square metre of my precious patch. Things didn't look very promising at all for the first half an hour, with a pair of Shelduck and a solitary phyllosc (probably a Willow Warbler) the highlights. Things picked up a tiny bit on the east side around the meanders, with this unusual escapee among the Canada Geese.

With the addition of the Bar-headed Goose, my spirits were lifted somewhat, and they went a notch higher with a distinctive wailing 'peeuw' call that I heard from the river. After two minutes of patience and some attempts to call it out (it was a call farly easy to mimic), I got a brief view of a Little Ringed Plover. However, a dog plundering through the saltmarsh sent it back out of view, and it didn't look like it would come out again. Around the back of the scrape, during my first look, I saw a Wheatear and a pair of Stonechats. 2 White Wagtails were feeding on the edge of the scrape, and a Swallow was hawking over the scrape and the surrounding fields. From here I went to check the sea, and I found this dot offshore.

believe it or not, this is indeed a Black-necked Grebe! It was so distant, I only managed to ID it after zooming in on the photos a huge amount, and even then I could only tell it apart from slav grebe by shape. It was a summer-plumaged bird, usually one of the finest sights in birding, but sadly, no matter what angle I tried to look at it from, it was constantly in Silhouette. After taking all these photos, my camera had run out of battery, I didn't think this would be a problem, as I doubted I would see anything much more interesting during the rest of the day.

However, by now it was about 3.00, and a lot of people had eft the Cuckmere. I walked back up to the scrape, and was looking at the White Wagtails again when I turned around and noticed something sitting on a fencepost about ten metres away. On my first look, I could see it was a Pipit, and an odd one at that, with a striking supercilium, an all-black beak and a greyish coloured head. It dived down into a ditch, but reappeared, and this time I got an excellent view for about 15 seconds. I noted that it had a browny-grey back and wings, long legs and a long tail, and a breast with a few pale streaks on the upper breast, but otherwise the breast and throat were very clean white. I had now narrowed it down to Water Pipit or Scandinavian Rock, but luckily I had the old Collins Field Guide with me. What I had seen ooked very much like a typical Water Pipit, but in the book was an illustartion of a rare variation of Scandinavian Rock which was very pale and grey. The illustartion showed it to have a dark malar patch, and when the Pipit appeared again, I checked, and it lacked that patch, leaving me with quite a clear cut Water Pipit! However, before long it flew off, showing white flanks to the tail, another good marker for this species. It called now as well, a sharp, explosive 'tseeeeep', very similar to Rock Pipit but subtly higher-pitched and more drawn out, giving a more evocative feel. Following this, I frantically searched all the small creeks and floodwater around the Scrape. The number of White Wagtails around was now at least six, the Swallow was hawking the fields again, there were plenty of Meadow Pipits, 5 Snipe were flushed from one of the islands on the scrape by a goose plondering through the grass, and a Little Ringed Plover showed well on the scrape. But in all this madness, I couldn't find the Water Pipit, and eventually gave up, heading back up the river towards Exceat Bridge. I heard the other Little Ringed Plover calling away from the river, but it wasn't immediately visible, and I couldn't be bothered searching for it again. However, at ht epoint were the meaders started, a pipit flew up from the bank of the river and landed on the shore of them, uttering exactly the same call as the Water Pipit I had heard earlier. It was indeed the same bird, and, at a happy distance and with no one else nearby, provided good views for five minutes, n the company of a Meadow Pipit and a Reed Bunting. There wasn't much else to look for now I had all the major details, but I piad more attention to its shape. It had proportionately longer legs and tail than the accompanying Meadow Pipit, and had a longer-necked, slender, more upright stance, similar to Richard's Pipit.

Walking back up the river, over the bridge and up Chyngton Farm, I saw the Bar-headed Goose on the meadners, with another Swallow and two Sand Martins hawking above. Two juvenile gulls n the meanders proved to be a Great Blackback and a Yellow-legged, with a nice comparison between the two easy. Finally, I saw two more Swallows over Chyngton Farm, and a group of 7 Shelduck feeding together in the fields below, before heading home pretty much on cloud nine!

Photos 21/3/10

Not actually a later date, but about half an hour later, here are the photos from yesterday!

Wigeon in the Cuckmere, there were about 60 of them concentrated along one ditch and the surrounding grassland

one of the three White Wagtails that showed well by the horse paddock

and another one

Some Little Egrets, three were fishing together in one ditch and showing very well for the camera

Also, this morning I got a text from Matt Eade, saying he, Marc Read and Bob Self had seen a Serin flying over Hope Gap! I was on course to arrive at school a few minutes early, so I walked out for a brief circuit of the Golf Course. Unsurprisingly, I saw nothing at all, very jealous, if only every good bird could turn up at the weekend!

No Alpine Swift or Scandinavian Rock but a boreal Jack and White Wags saved the day

On Sunday 21st woke up at a reasonable 10:00, NW winds had rendered Splash Point completely useless for the day, but I still planned an afternoon visit to the Cuckmere to take a look for some Scandinavian Rock Pipits. However, Ian Whitcomb phoned the house at about 10:30, saying he and brother Andrew (his blog has details and a record shot) had seen an Alpine Swift flying over Rodmell! As unlikely as catching up with the bird seemed, Dad and I had to go for a look anyway. We stopped at the garden centre at Kingston, where you get a decent view accross the floodplain, but before long it became apparent there was no Swift anywhere around. However, we did bump into Matt Eade and Marc Read, both out looking for the damded thing too. We all eventually decided to have a quick look from Southease, again to no avail. Matt called Paul Marten (the poor bloke was up in Crawley, trying to act as ambassador for us and the Whitcombs, as none of us had their phone numbers and vice versa!). However, despite rather spoiling his morning, we did gather the Swift had last been over Piddinhoe, heading strongly South. It didn't look promising, and Marc was especially annoyed, he lived in Newhaven and might have managed a garden tick if he'd stayed at home! We all decided on one final search, at the Ouse Estuary Project. Inevitably this didn't pan out well at all, 3 Chiffchaffs and a squealing Water Rail being small consolation, and dad and I left Matt, Marc, and Geoff Gowlett and Charlie Perverett at the Ouse as they searched a while longer, to no avail, while we went home to sulka and keep a look out over the garden! Still, all part of the twitching experience, I suppose!

At around 2.30, I set out for cuckmere, in the hope of seeing  Scandinavian Ripit or two. Immediately noticeable was the continued presence of at least 120 Wigeon in the valley, while also counted fairly easily where at least 50 Meadow pipits and 7 Chiffchaffs. In the horse paddock and saltmarsh the Scandies are supposed to be, there were three White Wagtails among their pied friends. From here on I searched up and down the riverbank and horse paddock several times. two Blackcap were chacking away from inside a Long-tailed Tit flock, but there was nothing else of note, bar a Curlew and a few Little Egret. However, in one final burst of activity, I was walking the horse paddock for the last time before leaving, when three feet in front of me, a small wader burst out from a patch of tussocky grass, flying out over the bridge in a low and direct manner.
 I assumed at first it was a Snipe, but it had been very diffiult to flush, and as it was flushed it didn't make their usual rasping call. It also looked quite small for the five seconds I saw it, with two bright yellow stripes visible along its back as it took off. Comon Snipe, when flushed, also tend to cartwheel off into the sky and carry on going until they quite a distance away. It finally occured to me that I had seen a Jack Snipe!! I had been cautious about it at first as Jack Snipe typically fly into the nearest bit of cover and then aren't seen ever again, but I soon realised this was just about te only cover in the horse paddock. I presumed it was an exhasuted and grounded migrant, that had perhaps stopped to feed on the saltmarsh, as winter birds generally pick more suitable habitat! I took a few photos during the day, which i will add at a later date.

13 March 2010, two year ticks and many signs of spring!

A day that always promised a lot of birding activity, and in whcih I got to use my newly acquired camera quite a lot!

It started in the early morning, with a few Redwings still present around Seaford, along with a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker from my back garden, while I managed some nice photos taken of one of the local pigeons and a dunnock which has taken up territory in a very obliging bush on the corner of the street, and often shows very well.

After this, I cycled up to Seaford Head, hoping perhaps for a few migrants, but more for some camera-practice. Things started well, a few efforts to photograph crows in the fields at South Hill Barn coming out like this

Crows are among my favourite birds, being inquisitive, cunning and intelligent, however, I have already discovered this intelligence makes them difficult to photograph, They will stay put as long as you are moving, but stop and pull out a camera and in the time it takes to turn it on, the crow will prbably be a distant dot flying away on the horizon, or perched in a field too far away to photograph. However, the Carrion Crows in the latter picture posed well, being at just the right distance to feel 'safe', while the Magpie in the former picture was just luck and some heavy cropping at home as it disappeared over a hill! Also in the fields just to the north of South Hill Barn, a Fox ran through the sheep, causing momentary havoc, annoyingly it was gone before I could get a snap.

The next interesting thing I saw was a Peregrine flying strongly overhead, North over South Hill Barn. I was locking my bike up at the time so I couldn't photograph it, but it was so close I could hear the noise made by its wings as it rushed past!

At the small pond by South Hill Barn, frogspawn was a sure sign of spring around the corner (and for once the weather did feel like this today!), while the usual pair of Mallard posed well for some photographs.

In the pastures East of South Hill Barn, there were 300+ Starlings, with each sheep attracting its own small flock (see picture below), while two more Magpies where slightly more photogenic than the last one

I also took a photo of the sheep, just for the hell of it!

While walking along the path that runs along the eastern edge of this field, I saw a bird perched in one of the tallest bushes in the semi scrub (a mixture of tall-ish bushes and untamed brambles) to my left. It took off with a bouncy, loloping flight, similar to a Thrush or Woodepcker, and as it disappeared from view I got a brief glimpse of a white rump. a Wheatear!! It was my first of the year, the first in sussex this year (as far as I'm aware), and one of the first to be seen in Britain as a whole this year! (They have been much later arriving than in recent springs, it seems.) They tend to prefer open ground, but I theorized that this individual had probably been doing exactly that before the dog-walking mob descended on the cliffs, and had since taken shelter in the low-lying scrub of Hope Gap. I searched for it for twenty minutes or so, but could not relocate it.
While I was looking, I got this photo of a Jackdaw on the clifftop, presumably enjoying the sea view!

I had planned to walk along the clifftop in a vain search for more Wheatears, or perhaps a Black Redstart, but as I walked along the bottom of Hope Gap, where the sea is easily viewable, I saw two birds in the distance, I thought they would be gulls, but the looked diferent in shape, even from that range, and my suspicions were confirmed when they simalteneously dived, not typical gull behaviour! Walking down the steps at Hope Gap to the undercliff, I got a closer look and they turned out to be a pair of Great Crested Grebes. A few of these can often be seen from the coast in spring as the migrate east, but unlike other migrants, they never seem to be in a hurry, simply swimming along and letting the waves to most of the work for them. These two were no different, and thanks to a bit of running, followed by some crouching behind the strategically located boulders found on the undecliff, I got close enough for a few photos. These are very blurry, but you can clearly see that it is a pair, partaking in some pre-season courtship.

I followed the two of them along the undercliff, and as a result found a Fulmar nest above me, and got photographs of Oystercatcher and Curlew on the rockpools that were revealed with the tide. There were also several Rock Pipits along the cliffs holding territory, but I didn't get any photographs, hopefully within a month a walk along here might be greeted by their fantastic but often underlokked display flight.

Here the dedicated male is regurgitating food for his mate, presumably busy incubating their eggs

A Small oystercatcher in a big sea

While I was photographing the Curlew, a soft, whistling sound became apparent in the distance, which I identified as Wigeon. Gradually, it came closer, and closer, until eventually I saw about 100 of them flying out of Cuckmere Haven and out to sea. About 50 of these continued onwards and departed east, with the other 50 remianing offshore, at a distance of about half a mile, from whcih I somehow got this very distant record shot

After walking along the undercliff for about an hour, I eventually arrived at Cuckmere Haven. I didn't see anything else hugely interesting, but got a few decent photos, shwon below

a few Black-headed Gull images, taken from in the Cuckmere, with #1 being taken on the main river and#2 on the ditch that runs parallel to it on the West Side

and a nice chance to get Redshank and Oystercatcher in the same shot.

And finally, ending as I started, with an inquisitive looking pigeon in the dovecote at South Hill Barn!!

I also saw a migrating Meadow Pipit fly NW over the car park as I was unlocking my bike for the ride home.

However, I haven't quite ended. I saw a Tawny Owl, caught in our car's headlights on the way back from Brighton at about 7.30 pm. After the hard-earned year tick a few hours ago, this was somehwat luckier and somewhat easier!!! My yearlist is now 109 species., with the addtion today of Wheatear and Tawny Owl.

My Highlights of the day, as follows;

Red Fox-1 ran accross sheep fields near South Hill Barn

Peregrine-1 flying low NE over South Hill Barn

Starling-300+ in sheep pastures south of South Hill Barn

Common Frog-six clumps of Frogspawn counted in the small pond by the car park

Wheatear-1 in Hope Gap

Great Crested Grebe-a pair observed in courtship as they drifted east past Hope Gap, stopping off in Cuckmere Haven and still present in the bay when I last saw them

Wigeon-100 departing out to sea from the Cuckmere, with about half continuing east and the rest sitting on the sea half a mile offshore for atleast 10 minutes. 

Meadow Pipit-1 NW over the car park at 13:55

Photos

A few pics I've taken over the last few days. Please note the camera is new, and its been almsot constantly windy, so it is difficult to hold a camera remotely steady

A Collared Dove taken from my bedroom

Several Herring Gull photos, also taken from my garden

A Magpie and a Jackdaw, also from my back garden

Starling on the aerial on our roof

Canada Geese at the Cuckmere, 10/3/10

Other sightings from the last few days, at the Cuckmere on 10th March 100 Wigeon, a sign winter isn't over yet, while a Goldcrest singing in Seaford for the first time since the weather was last nice(over a month ago!) was a sure sign spring is just around the corner!

31 Jan 2010-Cuckmere Haven

In the Cuckmere today, 3 new birds for my year list, which took it up to 98. These were Little Owl (2 calling to each other from the copse on South Hill, Seaford Head) Goldeneye-2 drakes showing well on the river; and Raven-one seen flying over West towards Seaford Head. Also a few Little Grebes, 1 Snipe flushed from the path along the East side of the river, 3 Brent Geese again, 700+ Great Blackbacks, 200+ Teal and 400+ Wigeon. Doing the big garden birdwatch this morning I saw a Blackcap, and on the buildings at Chyngton Farm, Seaford a Grey Wagtail, perhaps the same bird seen at my school a few weeks ago(two areas c.200 metres apart).

23rd Jan-The Cuckmere Valley

birding with Jon Curson and Nick Pope. To start off we headed down to the Cuckmere. Here, the Scaup was still showing, now on the pond visible from the path in the first bend of the meanders. It was accompanied by a male Tufted Duck, 2 Teal and a Redshank, although most of the wildfowl and wader present six days ago appear to have moved on with the total thaw. A Mistle Thrush was also seen. At Arlington Reservoir, sveral newbies for the year that took my list up to 89, these were Greylag Goose, Pintail(9), Gadwall(1), Great Crested Grebe and Coot, also a very showy Bullfinch and 40+ Redwings around the farm paths to the right of the feeding area and car park. Sadly however no Goosander, which had been reported regularly over the past few days, and which were seen later on today. Back in Seaford, I saw a Goldcrest performing well in a conifer on Blatchington Hill, and the wonderful male Black Redstart again put on a show around Seaford Primary School, seen flying from one rooftop onto a suitable bush in a garden, then onto the rooftop of that property where it had a well-deserved feed.

17 Jan-Cuckmere Haven and Seaford

In the Cuckmere today I found a female Scaup. (left). Identified from a female Tufted Duck by several factors, but the most obvious one is the white face. Present on the river at first, but flushed upriver and seen again in a flooded field North of Exceat Bridge, then flew South again, I then saw it on the river briefly, before it appeared to fly out to sea. However, I met up with Les Bird soon after, and we again saw it on the river 100 metres south of Exceat Bridge. Here Les got several photographs, one of which is shown left. After a while it was flushed onto the meanders, where it stayed with pairs of Tufted Duck and Pochard. Also in the Cuckmere area 3 Brent Geese, 15 Little Grebes, 500 Lapwings, 50 Curlew, 30 Redshank, a Grey Wagtail, a Little Egret, small numbers of Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Fieldfare and Redwing, 200 Teal, 150 Wigeon, 8 Snipe in the watermeadows Sout of the A259, and a Woodcock flushed from a flooded field a mile North of here.

Here the Scaup is on the left, with a pair of Pochard on the right and a Little Grebe in the background with a small sprat in its mouth. Taken on the meanders. Thansk to Les Bird for these two excellent photos.