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.