back to town. turning 15 and dipping a pec!

With my exciting weekend gone, it was back down to earth for me now, as I returned to school for four more days. Still, I've got half term up in Edinburgh, from where I hope I'll get a few good birds! My school week wasn't totally devoid of birds though...

Mon 18 Oct
A few Siskins going over, and two Chiffchaffs seen. However, the large numbers of thrushes of the past few weeks have tailed off. The only migrant passing over was a single Meadow Pipit, though a Grey Wagtail going low over school might have been a migrant or wintering bird. I found out about a Shore Lark in the Cuckmere, and hoped I might just be able to sneak it in after school one day...

Tues 19 Oct
Once again, a few Siskins moving overhead, and a single Chiffchaff. No other migrants seen though. I've been seeing Jays regularly in Seaford since I returned from Canada, and today one greeted me to a nice flight view, during the most unspeakably crap english essay I have ever had to sit through. A Grey Wagtail was also seen, at South Downs Leisure Centre, walking back from school. This bird has been around for a few weeks now, and look like he's gonna winter here...

Wed 20 Oct
My 15th birthday today! In school a single Chiffchaff, with three Goldcrest around town, the Grey Wagtail seen at The Downs and not a lot else. When I got home, the Shorelark was apparently not showing, but a PECTORAL SANDPIPER had been seen at Arlington Reservoir! Neither are sussex ticks for me, having seen larks at Pett (2004) and Rye (2008), and a pec at Pulborough Brooks (2007). However, both would be local ticks, year ticks and just great birds to see in general! The odds seemed better for Arlington producing, so it was there we headed...
We saw Jake Everitt and Roger and Liz Charlwood on the dam, who greeted us with the dreaded news. The bird, which was acoompanied by two Ruff, had flown off to the other side of the damn! Jake had seen it for literally a few seconds as he arrived, Roger and Liz hadn't seen it at all. It wasn't looking good...
Before long, Bob Edgar arrived, nd we greeted him with the same unhappy news. One of the Ruff came back, but his brother and yankee cousin had both stayed put. A Green Sandpiper was on the other side of the reservoir, just ID'able. But in an hour we never saw the Pec Sand. The only consolation is that we almost certainly wouldn't have seen the Shore Lark either...

Thurs 21 Oct
from what I can remember, a dull day. The only bird of note was a Grey Wagtail on Blatchington Pond (probably the same bird that's been hanging around at The Downs, it's not that far away).

While I would love to tell of Friday, it is a tale of the beginning of a long, two-day drive, which really belongs in another post. So, I bid you farewell with these crappy pictures of the bird that wasn't a Pectoral Sandpiper...

however, it was a yeartick, no. 184 for Britain and 170 for Sussex I think...

Not a Pec Sand, Arlington Res, 20 Oct 2010

14 Oct

a few birds around today. flyovers included two Meadow Pipits, a Grey Wagtail and my first real movement of Siskins this autumn, with about 20 going over in the morning. Also a handful of Swallows, two Goldcrests and a single Chiffchaff, but autumn seems to be coming to a close now...

there is also a video (and photos) of the Rose-coloured Starling here for anyone who is interested. The author of this blog seems to be doing particularly well this year, he is the finder of this bird, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper and the april Bonaparte's Gull!

Seaford on 07 Oct. Good vis-migging day!

from the title, you can gather what the theme of today was. I only had time to be looking up at the sky for about 1 1/2 hours today, walking to and from school, and keeping one eye/ear trained at the sky during lunch and break. My approximate totals were;

100 Meadow Pipits
70 Swallows
20 House Martins
2 Skylarks
1 Grey Wagtail
1 plover sp. by the laws of probability it was almost certainly a Euro Goldie but I didn't get a good enough view to rule out Grey Plover (or American/Pacific GP for that matter!) I presume it came from Cuckmere, as it flew over school, heading SW towards Splash Point. Interestingly, I saw a flock of 70 Golden Plover at Splash Point on 1 Sep last year, that followed almost exactly the same flight route, before flying out over the beach and east along the shore.

Dad saw a few Siskins and a Brambling flying over today too, but I didn't see any finches. An interesting observation though was that about 30 Meadow Pipits appeared to have been feeding on an allotment I walk past on the way to school. Not altogether unusual but I had never considered that it happened before.




AUTUMN IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

: )

Birds o' the day

the most obvious avian presence today was Meadow Pipits, with 30+ S over school. The only other bird of note overhead was a single Swallow. Other migrants were 5 Chiffchaff and a single Blackcap. A Grey Wagtail was around school, and a few Goldcrests were calling. a few Great Tits were once again singing, as was a single Blackbird.

Surrisingly, I have yet to hear any typical October migrants going over, such as Skylark and Siskin. I'm waiting with baited breath until for the first of each, though a good clear day seems a long way off right now!

Birds round town

24 Sep
A large westerly movement of birds today, with 230 House Martins, 120 Swallows, 4 Grey Wagtails, 2 HOBBIES and 20 Meadow Pipits. A few Chiffchaffs around too.

25 Sep
A few Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests present

27 Sep
A Grey Wagtail over the house, a few Chiffchaffs and some Swallows passing over. three our four Robins, singing subsongs in very close proximit to one another, were all continental migrants I believe.

28 Sep
Grey Wagtails near house and school today, I believe these are the returning wintering birds. A few Chiffchaffs and Swallows too. Meadow Pipits moving over in good numbers. A few presumed continental Robins too.

29 Sep
20+ Meadow Pipits going south today. Also a few Chiffchaffs, a Goldcrest and the Grey Wagtail near the house again. 50+ Jackdaws flew over the house this evening. a few presumed continental Robins too.

30 Sep
A YELLOW WAGTAIL flew over calling today, very late, as did 20+ Meadow Pipits. 7+ Chiffchaffs and two Goldcrests in town. A few presumed continental Robins too.

As well as these birds, Long-tailed Tits are getting ever more obvious, and I'm hearing their calls far more regularly from the garden and school. Blue Tit is becoming more obvious, although, as I noticed recently, I can't remember seeing a Blackbird in seaford since early July! I've seen Ring Ouzel more recently!

New Camera!!!

An exceptionally tame Grey Wagtail at Blatchington Pond today was nice, but overshadowed by much better news.


I FINALLY HAVE A CAMERA!!!
It's a Pentax X70, and it cost just £260 (it would have been around £350 but it was on sale in the seaford camera shop.) It has HD movie , 24x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom, 12 megapixels and plenty of other details I don't want to bore anyone with. So now hopefully I will have a few photos to put on the blog!

Catch Up

The past week and a bit has been so unspeakably dull I couldn't even be bothered to post anything on here, other than the two singing chiffchaffs. However, now I finally have enough interesting birds to collate together to  make a post more than a few words long, so here goes:

On the 26th February, I saw a Cormorant flying NE over Seaford Head School, presumably en route to the Cuckmere, along with the already mentioned Chifchaff singing in a garden near School.
On the 27th, I got out and up to Seaford Head and the Cuckmere, hoping for an early migrant of some type. Highlights of a dull day were Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew and Shelduck.
On March 1st, another singing Chiffchaff was heard from my bedroom, somewhere in one of the gardens backing onto ours. A few Redwing were also in this area, and a Grey Wagtail was on rooftops along Sherwood Road.
On March 2nd, the Grey Wagtail was again seen along our road, and a pair of Rook were also present, not very common in any urban areas along the South Coast. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was the first I had seen in Seaford since January.
The pair of Rooks were again seen on March 3rd, perhaps looking for a territory. Another Greatspot was present along Southdown Road, Seaford, where a Goldcrest was calling, the first I've heard in a while.
The Goldcrest was heard again on Southdown Road on March 5th
Today, a walk in the Cuckmere produced no sign of the Glaucous Gull seen yesterday, but on Seaford Head 3 Meadow Pipits came in off the sea and there was a Stonechat.

Grey Wagtail (8th Feb)

once again the not-grey but actually rather colurful Wagtail was at my School today. Elsewhere in seaford 2 goldcrests seen briefly flying from shrub to shrub in St. Albans Road. The birds appear to still be rather shy, I still hardly hear any singing apart from the ever joyful Robins, Great Tits and Dunnocks, one of whom can reliably be seen from the same bush on the corner of my street every morning, singing his heart out. Snowdrops are now coming out, coinciding with rather different drops of snow!

Egret in the Ouse

following up the Crane reported by Les Bird yesterday in the Ouse, I checked all the levels from Lewes-southease, with a lengthy detour to Glynde. Highlights were a Common Sandpiper and a Kingfisher on the river Ouse just South of Lewes and 4 Green Sandpipers along Glynde Reach, an excellent count. Some of these showed very well when they were flushed as I walked along. Also along the reach and the surrounding levels were 100+ Teal, 50+ Wigeon, 1000+ Lapwing and 3000+ Starling and a calling Chiffchaff, with 2 Water Rails 'squealing' from a small reedbed just south of Glynde. Also seen atleast 4 Grey Wagtails along the river. However, after spending six and a half hours in the field, The best bird came from the train back to Seaford, as at Southease, I saw a CATTLE EGRET!! It was in a field about 200 metres south of Southease station. I only saw it for about a minute, but I noted its short, dagger-like orange bill, short neck, compact and stocky appearance and a more rounded head than a Little Egret, It also appeared slightly smaller. My year list now stands at 103, with five addititons today, Common Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Green Sandpiper, Chiffchaff and Cattle Egret.

5 Feb 2010-Seaford

once again, I saw the Grey Wagtail at school today, mixed in with his Pied relatives. Also a few Wren singing on Southdown Road were the first I've heard in a few days, when normally they are very vocal at this time of year. Another welcome return (depending on how much you value a good night's sleep!) are the Foxes and their disturbing yaps as they bring new foxes into existence, to put it politely.

4th February-Seaford

very quiet locally in the start of February, the only birds of note so far have been some Long-tailed Tits around my school today and yesterday, when I saw the Grey Wagtail again. I still hear Goldcrests from time to time, but only their whisper-thin calls penetrating from the trees around town, they seem to have stopped singing, as have many other birds, such as Blackbird and Chaffinch.

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).

16 Jan-Seaford

today, in the area around Seaford Primary School, a Goldcrest in the wood opposite it, a Grey Wagtail on the industrial area below Chichester Road, and a Blackcap 'tacking' from the wood on the hill by the Trek Club.

12 Jan-Seaford

5 Fieldfares in Seaford today and yesterday, also today a Grey Wagtail around my school and 4 Goldcrest in Seaford, one of which was singing to its hearts content in around the Downs Leisure Centre. Tonight mating foxes in the suburban sprawl around my house kept me awake until past midnight, they sound totally spine-chilling and I thought I was hearing someone getting murdered at first!