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.