pics are from yday. still losing image quality when uploading to blog for some reason.

a caspian gull was at newhaven, 3 in the gbbg flock in the lower cuckmere and 2 roosted at arlington. to be honest, im losing interest in them nowadays but what else is there to do in the winter! stacks of argentatus about with the odd yellow legged thrown in too.

a black throated diver at princes park, eastbourne, and an ad caspian gull in the lower cuckmere.

from sunday. annoyingly, some of the image quality has been lost in the upload to blog.

finally getting round to updating blog for oct. the 3rd-13th was holiday time! 11 straight dawn til dusk days is hard work in sussex but expectations were running high (as always). with the eventual arrival of yellow browed warblers to the sussex coast, 7 were seen at various sites with 3 on 7th including 2 together. fri 11th saw a large movement of thrushes over brighton and between 8am and 1pm we recorded the following heading NE: 35000 redwings, 3000 fieldfares, 1000+ chaffinches, 118 ring ouzels, 100+ bramblings, 35 mistle thrushes, 7 snipe, golden plover and lapland bunting.  sat 12th was raddes day! get in there! of course it wouldn't be October without mention of long tailed blue. after singles at ovingdean, sheepcote and the sites at newhaven and seaford, we finally struck gold at a site in brighton where 15 individuals were found. mad.

the yellow browed warbler still at sheepcote this morning. a siberian chiff there too. grey phal at the tidemills.

a yellow browed warbler at sheepcote this morning in the campsite. (no general access)

yday: 2 yellow browed warblers. one spent most of the morning in a garden in vale road, portslade. the other was in queens park, brighton and becomes my 10th individual for the county this autumn.

news from the weekend: the long staying wryneck still present at newhaven heights on sat and sun.



the run of scarcity finds continued this morning with a corncrake flushed underfoot at sheepcote. the 3rd individual ive found at this site.

late news: a tawny pipit flew over balsdean last wed (28th).

the red backed shrike still present this morning.

a nice find this evening was a juv red backed shrike showing well along bazehill road, rottingdean. the bird was by the 2 hay troughs half a mile or so beyond the private road sign. also a cool looking juv cuckoo. absolutely no cars beyond the sign. park and walk.

2 honey buzzards flew over west rise late morning.

osprey east over brighton this afternoon.

taken on sunday morning.

no surprise to find a wryneck at sheepcote today. it was on the east side of the 2nd level down from the top.

late news: a male long tailed blue was in a private garden around queens park, brighton on fri 23rd and a juv caspian gull was at the marina on 13th.

yday: honey buzzard over brighton.

another quiet weekend. a dead porpoise was on the beach at ovingdean on friday evening (9th). the first returning purple sand was at the marina today. long gone are the days when they returned in the first week of july.  i also collected the set of sussex bird reports from 1972 onwards.

couple of old pics from the spring.

yday: 2nd summer caspian gull at the marina.

goldeneye at the res this morning.

yday: a black kite over lewes brooks then loafing over the southern slopes of mount caburn from 7:40-7:55pm when it flew strongly north.

wood warbler is from today, other pics and grebe video are old.

few old pics from last week.

a short eared owl at southease and a drake garganey in the cuckmere on the meanders this evening.

still 5 jack snipes lingering on. its a sad thing at the beginning of may to still be reporting winter species. 

yday: 10 purple sands at the marina roosting with 38 turnstones. all in somekind of sum plum, a couple looking very nice.

up to 20 jack snipes at a single site.

pretty much as yday but lots more summer migrants with good numbers of willows, wheatears, swallows and sand martins with a few yellow wags and sedge warblers. water pipits increased to three, one of which was singing. also a ruddy duck somewhere and the sanderling lingered on for another day.

yday: in the morning 4 garganey, 11 jack snipes and a water pipit were at various sites. in the afternoon i hit splash point in SE's and rain but it was crap. i then got a txt from jake of all people about a reported shag at the res so went to investigate. of course, i didnt see it but a very confiding sanderling was on the dam.

dross from the week: 2 red kites over queens park, seowl lewes, med gull heard at 10:30pm over garden, little ringed plovers, and 7 black necked grebes at the res. of the five, two were a pair and displaying.

yday: another long and slow day. 7 jack snipe were at newhaven. a bittern, avocet, male white wag, 2 bearded tits and 4 jack snipe were around eastbourne. early evening 2 avocets were swimming in the middle of the res for 5 mins then flew off. got home at six expecting to put me feet up but instead trudged up balsdean for a brace of ring ouzels dad had found earlier.