a day out with me bro and ian barnard produced a few bits and bobs but the king eider stubbornly decided not to cross the border into sussex. we started at jurys gap and walked east to the border but the eider was not even visible until we were well in kent. we sat it out for a few hours in the hope (for me at least) that it would come into sussex but had to make do with a 1st winter iceland gull drifting along the beach into sussex, hen and marsh harriers on the midrips and a long tailed duck, slav grebe and 10+ velvet scoter offshore. all scotney could offer was some whitefronts but news that the eider had flown west had us back at jurys gap. alas it was all a waste of time as the eider returned to galloways and had probably not flown far (if at all).