this mega distant avocet was found on lewes brooks this evening.

At last! after a 2 month wait i can finally provide details of a colour ringed caspian gull found at brighton marina on 5 Jan. a yellow ring with black PAHP, it was ringed in a caspian gull colony in poland on 21 may 09 and has travelled 1384km. it was also seen in france prior to the marina but i dont have the details to hand.

late news: mist during the afternnon of the 19th produced my first wheatears of the year with 10 at the marina along with 2 chiffs. the following day pett pools held 83 ad LBBG's, various argies, a 'yellow legged' gull and a swallow.

the spring certainly stepped up a gear this morning when i found an alpine swift. driving south through rodmell i suddenly exclaimed to me bro 'theres a f##king swift'. hard on the handbrake we lept out the car and had good views as it flew low down circling over the roof tops close enough to see the white throat at times thru bins. with the weather clearing it gained a bit of height and after twenty mins drifted off south. a great find tick. it appears to be the earliest for sussex beating one at the crumbles on 25 march 1990. elsewhere, 2 white wagtails were on lewes brooks and 2 black reds were at cooden beach. also of interest was a steady passage of black headed gulls overhead today especially at arlington where large flocks were arriving from the south circling over the res then heading off north. various med gulls were seen/heard amongst the flocks at all sites.

news for 14th: this bittern was found last sunday morning in trees around the flood at deans farm, it was still present late afternoon when it had moved down to the waters edge. the pair of garganey and a firecrest were also seen there.

the pair of garganey were still present this morning between piddinghoe and southease on the W side of road just south of Dean's farm.