adult caspian gull with other gulls along glynde reach.

3rd winter caspian gull at west rise.

2 caspian gulls, the slav and a sibe chiff at the res today. one 1st winter caspian gull still at west rise.

the slav was still present at arlington this morning. as i was under the willows trying to get some video i heard some waxwings but couldnt get into the open quick enough to see them. at west rise, 2 1st winter caspian gulls were present and a bittern was seen nearby. north of exceat bridge, an ad and 3rd winter caspian gull were found and 15 waxwings flew over east. with just enough light to stop at the ouse project on the way home a further ad caspian gull was present but flew off on its own.

a 1st winter caspian gull was at west rise this afternoon but flew off. north of the golden galleon, it was all back to normal with the lessers replaced by greaters and no caspian gulls.

late posting for weekend:

sat: 11 caspian gulls, 3 at newhaven and 8 in the lbbg flock north of the golden galleon in the late afternoon. there was no duplication between the two sites due to plumage differences.

sun: only had the morning out so headed to the golden galleon. as i got out the car a waxwing flew over west. in the flock i could only find 2 ad caspian gulls but up on the hillside another gull flock contained a lovely 2nd wint which was a new bird and the 12th in total for the weekend.

theres a bittern vid on my youtube channel but its disappointing to say the least. a waxwing from the weekend.

heading into seaford this morning, 10 waxwings were perched on the roadside at the ouse project before flying off towards newhaven. this afternoon, i twitched a bittern that jake had found at the res. this was brilliant record to say the least but things got even better when a second bird flew out from right underneath us. amazing stuff.

waxwing briefly at the bottom of freshfield road, brighton this morning.

a waxwing flew over the hollingbury pub, roedale road, brighton this morning.

yday: 2nd winter caspian gull, ad argentatus and 3 yellow legged gulls at the res.

an extremely flighty and mobile rock pipit was at the res this afternoon. 

about bloody time!! finally found a yellow browed warbler this morning in rottingdean but despite showing reasonably well it quickly moved on. lots of goldcrests (with firecrests and chiffs) around everywhere today and with the weather it felt like something bigger was going to appear but despite a full day in the field it didnt. at the res, the slav grebe still off the dam early evening but annoyingly mostly asleep. some warbler grabs to follow.

a delightful red breasted flycatcher was found this evening in ovingdean churchyard in the wood at the rear.

yday: an intermediate long tailed tit was in gardens at ovingdean. it was just a bit darker on the head than the lower pic on the punks blog but still with a beady eye. flanks not as white either.

yday: this shag was at brighton marina. heres the blurb:

 'Many thanks for submitting your shag sighting enquiry to the BTO. I can tell you that Red NUR was ringed as a chick on East Wideopens, the Farnes, Northumberland on 08/8/12. This was one of the very last chicks to be ringed this season and was one of a brood of two. The purpose of the colour ringing is to better understand the life history and movements of the shags from the North-east of England and Eastern Scotland with all colour ring reports, alive or dead of great value. Most shags stay to winter in the north east of the UK but every winter we receive reports of a few in the southern North Sea, however we have had very few shags wander west along the English Channel so a sighting at Brighton is of great interest'.

update: todays jay tally: 191 including flock of 38.

2000 jackdaws flew over sheepcote this morning.  at ovingdean, approximately 100 blue tits (also great tits and a single goldcrest in the flocks) moved thru in various flock sizes, some high in the sky, 70 jays also flew over.

also this morning, dad had an ortolan bunting briefly just south of hollingbury camp.

halfway along the road to the beacon this morning, 4 jays were flying west in the sky. this afternoon 2 flew north from hollingbury camp. a hobby was in ditchling. boring.

17 jays (10, 6 and a single), flew over brighton marina this morning.

yesterday there was a large number of robins about with birds calling everywhere, even from the rocks at brighton marina in the evening. a jay flew over seaford head.

taken at castleshaw res, manchester. desperate times!

at the res today in 2 visits there were 3 ringed plovers, 19 wigeon, 5 gadwall, some shovelers and a dunlin. in the cuckmere, a tawny pipit flew overhead very low down whilst i was on the hillside of the first 'sister'. also an avocet on the scrape, ruff, greenshank and firecrest. i checked crowlink and holywell for yellow broweds but no luck. at seaford head there were loads of chiffs in hope gap and along the little egret roost trees but harrys bush was dead.

the dotterel and golden plover still at balsdean this evening. always a joy to watch, both showed down to a few feet. quality.

juv little gull at the res this afternoon then circled up high. also white wag. no sign of garganey.

yday: garganey at res in evening.

yday: juv caspo at the res.

the wryneck still in the cuckmere on the east side feeding out on the riverbank path just beyond the steps that lead down to the scrape. actually some waders on the scrape with 6 knot, 2 common sands and some dunlin.  

3 black tailed godwits at arlington this morning, swimming in the middle of the res before flying off towards the cuckmere. at west rise, a single lesser emperor was showing extremely well whizzing around our heads but also resting for long periods out of the wind.

a surprise at the res this morning was a juv kittiwake. more routine fare were 21 common sands, 2 green sands and 2 greenshank. at west rise, we spent a good deal of our time there looking thru the various dragons and as we walked up the west side of the lake ian found a lesser emperor! quality stuff. it was extremely mobile and often hunting over the pasture. about the 8th for sussex and personally my second after an individual at shinewater on 19 aug 2000 (found by ITB and also seen by KBG). a garganey there too. plenty of migrants around today at other sites but no goodies.

4 black terns at arlington this evening.

an osprey was at arlington this afternoon. also a very distant dark pipit at the far end of the dam but with several groups of people walking ahead of me i could not find it again. i was hoping it would be last weeks rock pipit.

41 lizard orchids were counted at camber this afternoon, my highest total for the site but no bee orchids.

another vid, not today.

we spent the best part of 11 and a half hours in the field but it was pretty hard work finding anything. we visited all of the usual sites and also combe haven. at arlington there were 2 dunlin early morning. this afternoon we found a wood sand and also heard 2 quails. one of these birds was calling from pretty low cover and we decided to at least have a go at seeing it. on reaching the field it gave a burst of song about twenty metres in front of us. we crept forward and suddenly saw the little bugger motionless on the edge of the field. it did slide off but we got onto it again and i managed to nail it calling. i dont expect to ever see one like this again. other vids show the bird better but this one has the song. the 2nd bird was calling in the distance.

yday: an osprey flew over brighton in the morning.

at least 20 red kites (including 2 groups of 5) and a hobby over brighton during the day.

a red kite flew east over brighton this anoon.

the wag from arlington and a slighty better turnstone pic. not today.

single osprey at the res this morning but no hoped for waders.

a turnstone, 2 ospreys and a distant fly over calidris wader  were at arlington this morning. there seems to be a fair few inland turnstones around the country today.  short eared owl beddingham, pair bearded tit eastbourne.

pretty quiet at the res this evening with no rumpers just a single common sand, ringed plover (fly over), mute swan, pair of shoveler and a possible female white wag feeding 3 young. sometimes it looked fine, sometimes more like a pied, but it does possibly have a grey rump. present since the weekend. i then went down the cuckmere where there was a short eared owl over the scrape. the pair of egyptian geese with four chicks still at litlington.

nice close views of the arlington osprey this anoon. 

few curlew sand pics from pevensey last weekend. a non breeding plumaged bird on the left. cheers chris! lovely flock.

the channel wag is from yday.

not really much to shout about today despite the conditions, there were migrants but not many goodies. the osprey was still at arlington early morning. 4 avocets were on the scrape in the cuckmere. also some crazy bug landed on the car roof. unfortunately, another dead sparrowhawk road kill was found at beachy head.

all new pics are for yday.

today: 10 common sands arlington, 5 curlew sands pevensey levels, male channel wag and female blue headed wag at west rise.

arlington this morning produced an osprey (which was also seen perched on the deck in a ploughed field), grey plover, blue headed wag and stacks of hirundines. a hobby and 6 greenshanks were on lewes brooks, a dead male sparrowhawk (road kill) was at newhaven along with a fine male whinchat. in the cuckmere were a few groups of barwits, 30 dunlin on the meanders and loads of hirundines which were just everywhere and a joy to watch. plenty of migrants around everywhere today. also a pair of egyptian geese with some chicks at litlington.

i went straight from work in barcombe to lewes brooks where there didnt seem to be much in a quick scan. at arlington, there were 5 common sands and a female blue headed wag with the yellows. i then went down the cuckmere with the intention of finding a kp but came away with a temmincks stint. it was on the meanders and i managed to stalk it pretty well but by this time the light was fading. i carried on down to the scrape but found nothing. a nice evening.

a wood warbler was at hollingbury in the morning. this evening i vistied arlington, where there was very little, and lewes brooks where the great white egret (just one) showed well. its lores are a velvety blue/purple up close, and those legs! i know they dont get much attention nowadays but its cetainly a looker- the best one ive seen.

a summer plumaged great white egret was found on lewes brooks this afternoon. i havent adjusted the colours, its legs really were that red! theres a vid on my youtube channel.

yday: an excellent seawatch at splash point from 8:30am-7:45pm recorded the following:

manx shear 20
black tern 6 ( incl. a flock of four which flew high inland)
little tern 36
pom 6
velvet scoter 2 ( pres. same also seen at worthing and dung)
black throated diver 32 (better than poms in sum plum- a close group of 5 was just awesome)
bonxie 155
little gull 187
arctic skua 98

i didnt bother counting gannets or commics. also a presume harbour porpoise still. i even surprised myself staying all day, i tend not to have the patience but yday was different. it had quiet times but birds seemed to arrive in waves whenever there was a distant rain shower out to the west. 60 little gulls went thru at 7:15pm just ahead of a rain front heading inshore . i even managed to beat dung on most species!. many thanks to ron knight for the sandwich!! i was starving. think ive got a few vids so ill upload some soon.

was gutted that i had to work today as the forecast looked great. i finally managed to slack it off by 11:30 and headed to arlington expecting big things. actually there was bugger all. i then decided to hit splash point and was again expecting to see quite a bit but it was dead! i stuck it out and once the rain had finally cleared, birds started to move through and commics were the theme. totals between 12:45 and 7:45pm:

commic tern 1917 (lots of both arctic and common and including tightish flocks of 250, 200 and 160 which rose high in the sky and off out of sight, something that many of the flocks were doing. it was great)
little gull 19
bonxie 11
little tern 2
arctic skua 60 (some of which went right overhead inland presumably cutting off seaford head)
manx 2
pom 4
med gull 9 (4 pairs and 2nd sum)
sanderling? 1
puffin 1
black tern 2 (one very close in)
sandwich tern 25

i really had to leave when i did, arctic skuas and commics hadnt stopped coming thru by then. annoying, could of got 2000+.

shit quality but you get the idea.

highlight of the day were 13 little gulls at arlington. 8 were stunning adults with gorgeous pink fused underparts and and were just brilliant to watch. around eastbourne the jack snipe lingers on and a 2nd cal yr caspian gull was roosting in fields. west rise is currently closed due to dog/sheep incidents.

a late-ish jack snipe, green sand and water pipit were around eastbourne.

despite the unsettled conditions still very quiet at the res. the only thing worth mentioning was a constant arrival and departure of hundreds of gulls (mainly 1st sum common) all arriving from very high in the sky ahead of some very dark skies. it felt good for osprey so waited around longer than usual but no show. i then went down the cuckmere where the first bird i saw whilst still in the pub car park was an osprey, nice. also a hobby flew low over the scrape.

no kites today but a merlin flew over brighton. just as it was getting dark, over a hundred brents flew north over the garden.

2 red kites over brighton late morning.

7 red kites (2 and a nice close flock of 5) over brighton this afternoon.

a red kite flew east over newhaven this morning and a brambling there too. 2nd winter iceland still in harbour. very quiet everywhere else. black necked grebe still at east rise.

2 3rd winter caspian gulls, which were surprisingly year ticks, and the black necked grebe were around eastbourne. an avocet flew into west rise and was happly swimming around like a phalarope. in the afternoon 3 iceland gulls, including the 2 adults!! were at newhaven harbour.

rt hen harrier again at barcombe res flying low over fields this anoon.

the delightful ad iceland gull still at newhaven for most of the morning, briefly following the ferry but mainly sat on the west arm. at arlington this evening were 4 sum plum med gulls.

yday: 10 sum plum med gulls at arlington.

ad and 2nd winter iceland gulls still at newhaven this evening. the first ad ive seen in sussex since 1988.

male great grey shrike singing at glynde this morning. not much along the coast from brighton to newhaven.

a red kite over brighton this afternoon.

at a single site in the ouse valley an impressive 25 woodcocks and a single jack snipe were seen. the iceland gull was being boring not really doing much and the black necked grebe was still in eastbourne.

the great grey shrike still showing very well at glynde this afternoon. med gull at the res.

yday: avocet still on the scrape in the cuckmere.

earlier in the week a rh goosander was with gulls off the marina.

a cracking pair of bearded tits, bittern and 2 rh goosanders were on eastbourne lakes. a drake goosander was at arlington.