bang on cue, a pallass warbler was found at sheepcote valley this morning. an elusive little bugger, it was first seen in the hedge around whitehawk footy pitch but also heard calling from the camp site. it was sort of tagging onto a small tit flock but the many crests, tits and few chiffs in the area made it hard to relocate. more of a surpise however was a richards pipit flying south calling as we waited for the warbler to show. also treecreeper and 4 firecrests. a firecrest was at ovingdean and the deer still present there.

yday: 2 raven, ring ouzel and 2 firecrests sheepcote. wheatear and 200 skylarks ovingdean.

just visited ovingdean this morning. very little in the bushes but a great deal going on overhead with the following totals between 8:00-11:00am: 1259 fieldfares, 50 stock doves, 6 house martins, 117 bramblings!, 3 redwings, 16 reed buntings, 209 chaffinches, woodlark, 2 great spots, mistle thrush, 6 redpolls, 379 jackdaws, 2 ring ouzels, c.20 blue tits, 18 cormorants, golden plover, 8 magpies (all high in the sky) and several siskins. also shit loads (many many thousands) of wood pigeons but i did not count them due to concentrating on everything else. i didnt want to leave especially as chaffinches began coming thru more frequently but had to due to family commitments.

sat 16th: rather quiet at sheepcote. a little egret, merlin, 2 ring ouzels and 14 stonechats (10 males) were noteworthy. little egrets is still a good sighting here. an avocet was in the cuckmere viewed from seaford head eventually landing in a field near foxhole barn, arlington bird? bins only.

expectations were running high today. it was the last day of my holiday and there had been shit loads up the east coast yesterday. unfortunately the 'mega' never materialised but it was still an enjoyable day. the wind made birding hard work. best of the bunch at sheepcote were 11 ring ouzels. ovingdean was dead, i then went to newhaven heights. the usual walk around the cliff tops revealled a ring ouzel but then decided to head down to the base of the cliffs to search for rare wheatears. i parked the car and began walking along the cliff base. i flushed a thrush into some grass near an out building and went over to have a second look. it was just a song thrush but then right infront of me was an adult rose coloured starling. it ended up showing well feeding on the grassy slopes but was rather flighty. it possibly flew over the cliff top but i cant confirm this. the day ended with 2 ring ouzels in cow gap

though the bird appears adult, i was wondering if this bird is a 2nd winter. on closer inspection there is contrast between the glossy coverts and duller primaries and the nape had a slight brown wash.

highlight of the day was a great grey shrike found this afternoon at ovingdean. the bird was in the NW corner of the horse paddocks to the NW of the main farm buildings in the centre of the village. a satisfying find tick, i've always wanted to find me own and i've been checking this area in particular for such species. other sightings today included a turtle dove and firecrest at sheepcote.

another quiet day at sheepcote. other than the owl, not much to shout about. a brambling and a flock of c.45 blue tits flew high west over the top level. at ovingdean an osprey flew west and a flock of c.20 blue tits were by the farm building before flying off high to the west. twenty mins later a flock of 7 done the same. a single blue tit also flew west along the cliff top at newhaven heights.

additional dross from yday included a woodlark flying south at ovingdean, turtle dove at newhaven and firecest at cow gap.

interesting sightings at arlington this afternoon included a black tailed godwit, 5 grey plovers and a fly-by lapland bunting.

called in at arlington this evening. had a great hour on me tod with the bird, amazing views. got some video to upload soon.

in the mist and rain, a grounded woodlark was at the N end of sheepcote.

an 11 hour stint in the field starting at sheepcote and ending at scotney with the sun going down over rye. not really that much to show for it. sheepcote had 2 ring ouzel, firecrest, short eared owl , 2nd W med gull, 37 chiffs. best of the rest were 2 firecrest seaford head, garry bagnell at arlington, little stint northpoint and 2 buff breasts, 6 ruff, little stint, 2 marsh harriers, hundreds of goldies and thousands of starlings at scotney. couldnt find any wallcreepers on the cliffs at fairlight and the midrips were closed.

weekend dross: sat: ring ouzel sheepcote, black tern shinewater, firecrest fairlight, drake merlin scotney.

a treecreeper (rare here) and ring ouzel were at sheepcote. this afternoon, in horrible conditions i decided upon a visit to arlington. scanning from the start of the dam i got onto a wader on the shingle spit beyond the water tower, surely a buff breasted sand but a bit too distant and so went back to the car for the camera and headed off. indeed it was and the bird gave excellent views. it was very hard to photograph due to its active behaviour but the strong winds and driving rain didnt help. i even lost my brolly which ended up in the res. a very pleasing find, cool birds! also juv/1st winter little gull, ad yellow legged gull and avocet.