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!

6 August-Hope Gap undercliff

walking along the undercliff from Hope Gap 1/2 a mile west and back, a pair of Fulmars were feeding a chick on the cliff, six Rock Pipits, some recently fledged juveniles, were along the undercliff. three Little Egrets and a Grey Heron were on the rockpools, along with 8 Oystercatchers, a Whimbrel and a Common Sandpiper. a few Cormorants flew past offshore, and about 100 yards out a stream of Kittiwakes, mostly adults, were moving west. Also seen 2 Ravens 6 Whitethroats, 5 Willow Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats and a Chiffchaff, all of this mid-afternoon. 3 Jays and 20+ Magpies were on Seaford Head Golf Course, including one gang of 10 maggies. a few Swifts and House Martins were overhead.

In Seaford, a Goldcrest in the garden, while a few days ago were 15 Long-tailed Tits, mostly juveniles, and the same number of Swifts still screaming overhead. A Whimbrel flew over two nights ago.

first visit to the patch

today was my first autumn visit to the local patch at Cuckmere Haven and Seaford Head. July is a time when the first few warblers are moving through, and waders are in full swing, and I saw a few of both today.

The first presumed migrant I saw was a Whitethroat on the Golf Course. walking along the east side of the course I saw a few more, and got a brief glimpse of a Lesser Whitethroat, while walking up through the wood on the south side of the Golf Course, there were 2 Willow Warblers. Around the mast, I saw my first few Swifts passing overhead to the west. There were a few more warblers, 2 singing chiffchaffs (presumably territorial and not migrating yet), a few Whitethroats, two Lesser Whitethroats, and a singing Reed Warbler. resident birds included a calling Bullfinch and several family parties of Linnet, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Blue Tits.
There were singing Skylarks and Meadow Pipits around the Golf Course, and along the clifftop a few family parties of both were feeding in the short grass. The only migrant along here was a Wheatear, a fairly early record for autumn. the pair of Ravens were very showy, approchable down to a couple of metres, the best and most prolonged views I've yet had of them. most fantastic was as one then the other bundled accross the path, dropping off the cliff-face before swooping back up again. At the same time, five Swifts flew past, barely at head height and practically touching distance.
A few minutes later a group of 40 Swifts flew over. I only picked them up (mostly so high up I needed binoculars to see them) by their calls, so many others probably passed high overhead during the morning undetected. On the western path along Hope Gap I saw a few Willow Warblers, including one singing male. I also saw a few Whitethroats, 2 Lessers and a Reed Warbler. down the middle path through Hope Gap was quiet, there was a Chiffchaff, a few Willow Warblers, 10 or so Whitethroats, 5 Lesser Whitethroats and 2 Reed Warblers.
A few more Lesser Whitethroats and Willow Warblers were along the east side, with one Reed Warbler, while more Swifts went overhead and 3 Sandwich Terns were heard off Hope Gap.
In the area around the Coastguard Cottages it was deathy quiet, a few Whitethroats being as good as it got!
In the Cuckmere Valley were decent numbers of hirundines, 50 Swallows, 10 Sand Martins and a handful of House Martins passing through. 2 Green Sandpipers and a Common Sandpiper were in the ditches on the west side of the valley, there were 2 Curlew on the river and a Whimbrel circled the valley several times before dropping into the pastures with a group of 3 Curlew. In the bushes along the west side of the valley were several more Lesser and Common Whitethroat and 1 Reed Warbler, with 2 Lesser Whitethroats and a Willow Warbler around Harry's Bush, and at least one more Lesser Whitethroat noted on Seaford Head Golf Course (I heard two in the area where I had seen one five hours earlier).
By the end of the day, totals stood as follows;
Common Whitethroat-32 (most likely the majority were breeding birds or has dispersed from very nearby)
Lesser Whitethroat-17 (a very good count, especially for July, and a personal record for the patch)
Willow Warbler-15
Reed Warbler-7
Chiffchaff-4 (singing males, probably still on territory)
Wheatear-1 (the first of the autumn and quite early, though possibly dispersed from the breeding pair at Cuckmere Haven)
Swift-122 west overhead, but probablyt many more I didn't pick up
Swallow-50+ passed through Cuckmere Haven
Sand Martin-10 passed through Cuckmere Haven
Sandwich Tern-3 off Hope Gap
Curlew-5 in lower Cuckmere
Whimbrel-1 in lower Cuckmere
Redshank-1 in lower Cuckmere
Green Sandpiper-2 in lower Cuckmere

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.