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.