With today being my last day off from this extended block of days off, I made the most of birding the patch and was rewarded with some great birding.
I started up on Seaford Head but with a stiff ENE breeze there wasn't a great deal happening. An obvious
Starling movement was occurring, but other than a few Finches and some Crests I soon moved on and into the Cuckmere. This was a good move as a whole host of interesting birds were found. First up was a small and mobile flock of
Barnacle Geese that eventually flew off east. With this cold snap I suspect these Geese were more than likely from the near-continent rather than somewhere dodgy locally. Along the riverbank I was pleased to come across a delightful
Snow Bunting that spent the day feeding along the strandline. A superb
Merlin then put on a good show (this being a belated year tick) and flew just over my head as it disappeared to the south-west. Last of the quality was when Dad joined me and together we came across a
Vagrant Emperor battling against the strong easterly wind. It helpfully landed allowing some photos to be taken before presumably carrying on north upriver where I encountered it again some 30-minutes later. After scanning the enormous Gull flock to the north of the bridge and the smaller flock to the south I came across some presumed Littoralis Rock Pipits around the horse paddocks. On the 'brooks' to the north of the bridge was a
Knot mixed in with 18
Dunlin, and 48
Lapwing was also a decent count. A great day out on the patch.
Totals for Seaford Head are:
Starling - 570 W
Brambling - 3 E
Firecrest - 2
Goldcrest - 15
Chiffchaff - 2
Barnacle Geese - 8 W then E
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| Barnacle Geese circling the area |
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| Merlin at Cuckmere Haven |
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| Snow Bunting at Cuckmere Haven |
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Vagrant Emperor at Cuckmere Haven
I believe there are less than 5 records in Sussex?
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| Bar-headed Goose |
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| presumed Scandinavian Rock Pipit |
