Hope Gap, Splash Point and Arlington 18/4/10

A superb morning with good birds one after the other. I arrived at South Hill Barn this morning and immediately heard a Grasshopper Warbler. I walked to the area where i had heard it, played the tape and it sang again and gave brief, but satisfactory views.

I them met up with Bob and it was obvious a good fall of migrants had occured. A total of 20 Willow Warblers were counted around the patch along with; 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Chiffchaffs, 4 Whitethroats, 4 Wheatears, 4 Blackcaps, 1 Yellow Wagtail and a female Redstart. However the highlight of the morning was a superb male Ring Ouzel hanging around the top of Hope Gap. Another good sighting this morning was a Tree Sparrow around the coastguard cottages. A few Hirundines were moving north, but still no House Martins.

Ring Ouzel at Hope Gap

We then moved on to Splash Point and in an 1.5 hrs were 190 Common Scoter, 119 Brent Geese, 9 Sandwich Tern, 2 Arctic Skuas, 6 Little Gull, 20 Whimbrel, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits and 4 Divers.

Then the surprising news of an adult BONAPARTE'S GULL at Arlington Reservoir was recieved, so i shot over there and finally caught up with it on the dam wall. Although quite distant, all the main features were noted and a superb Sussex tick. This brings my Sussex List to 262.