an osprey flew over the garden this anoon.

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. 

a dismal day weather wise but at least the birding was slightly better. 4 bewicks swan (2 ad+2 juvs-1 ad with yellow neck collar) were on pevensey levels just east of middle bridge. 2 bitterns showed very well brielfy at shinewater.

yday: with nothing else to do, went to have a look at the crane at southease. on the way a red kite was found between lewes and beddingham and eventually flew down the valley. it was seen again half hour later flying N up the valley where it came very close overhead, pics taken with just camera. the crane was seen in the usual field and later in the day 10 or so jack snipes, woodcock and green sand were seen somewhere else.

at arlington this morning there were colour ringed GBBG's from jersey and norway. 2000 GBBGs were counted in the cuckmere but nothing could be found amongst them typically. the great grey shrike showed well along the pannel sewer to the west of the road.

news for yday: a trip eastwards looking for gulls was rather dissapointing in the fact there werent really any to look through. best of the rest was stuff we already knew about. scotney held slav grebe, black necked grebe (kent side), 11 smew (a flock with 2 drakes), marsh harrier and 62 whitefronts. marsh harriers were also seen at pett, icklesham and rye(2) where there was also a ringtail hen harrier. the day ended with 3 goosanders (1 drake) and 2 ad med gulls at arlington. typically, the day i dont go to the marina dad finds a black necked grebe offshore there!

more late news: 8 shags were roosting on the end of the west arm of the marina 25th.

3 goosanders (1 male) were at arlington reservoir late this morning.

finally, an update! the christmas period was largely quiet with a trip to manchester producing nothing more than 2 red grouse at dovestone res, oldham and a fem goosander on a river near batley, huddersfield. the marina failed to produce anything other than run of the mill stuff like shag (up to 5) purple sand (max 16) and 1-2 black reds. the snow of recent days hasnt really produced as much as i thought but there were still many thrushes, pipits, skylarks and lapwings on the coast. 6 woodcock, 4 firecrests and 2 chiffs were at sheepcote on the 10th, y'day there was a med gull on hove lagoon but the highlight were 5 woodlarks on southwick beach.

news for 29th nov: a fantastic few hours at the marina from 12.45-3.30 produced 11 leach's petrels. several birds were very close in affording some brilliant views. the only other bird of note was a little gull at the base of the E arm.

yday: this bonxie was washed up on brighton beach.

2 wrynecks were found at the north end of sheepcote today. 1 by the 3 caravans and 1 in the SE corner of the old bmx track. though fairly close together the time period between the findings and general circumstances indicate two birds. it was actually not a bad day out considering i got there late due to work cancellation but more on this later when i have me notebook, its just dross anyways.

update: other sightings during the day included 1000's of hirundines, 100's of meadow pipits, 67 blackcaps, 30 chiffs, 30 whinchats, 16 stonechats, 8 redstarts, 5 wheatears, 2 grey wags, 2 lesser whites and singles of reed warbler, sedge warbler, yellow wag, reed bunting and little owl. the latter is a good bird here and the first record for a few years despite being present at ovingdean.

updating the blog continues to be fairly slow due to lack of internet. the month started with a dotterel at balsdean during the week. On the 10th, an afterwork visit to sheepcote produced 2 redstart, 4 spot fly, 10 whinchat, 30+ blackcaps and 20+ willow warblers along with a wryneck that had been found earlier in the day. Y'day got off to a good start with the stiff NE's producing plenty of migrants from the start (though very little flying over) and a mornings tally of 55 willow/chiffs, 30 blackcaps, 6 crossbills, 8 spot flys, 13 whinchats, 2 redstarts, hobby and firecrest was topped by the finding of a juvenile rose coloured starling, a first for sheepcote. An elusive bird initially present for 20 mins, it was not seen again for many hours but was finally enjoyed(?!) by several observers when it was relocated during the afternoon as it joined a highly mobile and skulking flock of starlings. (cheers for the photo jake)

it has been estimated that there were somewhere in the region of 120,000 painted ladies in the field near ditchling beacon. see here: http://www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/sightings.html

a true spectacle was witnessed this evening. Halfway along the road to ditchling beacon there is a small field of thistles and in it are literally thousands upon thousands of painted ladies.

at work today a scarlet tiger spent most of the day turning up in various locations around the garden. avian highlight though was a male honey buzzard over during the anoon.

a red kite flew over sheepcote this morning and after several poor years it was nice to find 67 bee orchids there too.