Seaford Head 12/10/19

A brief visit onto the headland this morning was somewhat of a disappointment, this being the first calm morning in what feels like ages. However, it was nice to finally catch up with my first Ring Ouzel of the autumn. Otherwise just very small numbers of expected migrants for the time of year.

Totals are as follows:

Chiffchaff - 10
Ring Ouzel - 1
Blackcap - 8
Goldcrest - 8
Golden Plover - 1E
Wheatear - 1

Golden Plover

Wheatear

Splash Point 11/10/19

So far October has been beyond awful. Incessant westerly winds have dashed any hopes of finding anything from the east, with the winds being too strong for any birds to be found anyhow, and the only American mega to occur in Sussex for however many years was as lively as well, this October (so far).

This day I had been keeping a close eye on the weather all week as the winds were forecast at gusting over 50mph. With a more southerly direction, today was the day for some seabird action to potentially happen. Although a quiet seawatch there was at last some quality with the two main highlights being a Grey Phalarope and a Sooty Shearwater. The former was spotted early on during the watch as it flew east along the beach struggling to head back west. This allowed a fairly lengthy view of the bird, and once I got it through the scope it happily landed on the sea just by Splash Point. This Phalarope was surprisingly my first at Splash Point. The latter was my first in many years, and as it tracked westwards it every so often turned around, again allowing for a prolonged view. Other than this just the standard species seen during an October watch.

Totals between 08.00-10.00 Wind SSW 6:

Common Scoter - 5
Grey Phalarope - 1 E at 08.12
Auk sp. - 50E & 20W
Dunlin - 1W
Ringed Plover - 1W
Sooty Shearwater - 1 W at 09.30

A walk with Jasper down the Cuckmere after in horrific conditions produced no Phalaropes, but two Sandwich Terns were a slight surprise.

Other visits to the patch this week have produced absolutely nothing of note, with a Black-tailed Godwit amongst the Curlew being seen.

A few seconds too late

for the Phalarope

Jasper

Black-tailed Godwit with Curlew

Sandwich Tern at Cuckmere Haven

Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2/10/19

Today I received the quite unbelievable news that a recently deceased Yellow-billed Cuckoo had been picked up only some 100m inland from Splash Point. Robert Lawson, who was given the corpse this morning from a lady along the same road, very kindly invited me round this afternoon to view and photograph the Cuckoo.

The bird was in relatively good condition (bar the obvious), but no doubt the cause of death was down to exhaustion or starvation. Still, it was fantastic to see this North American vagrant, I just hope the next one is alive and well.

This is only the third ever record of this species in Sussex, the first being found dead in Eastbourne in 1952, the second being found dead at Middleton-on-Sea in 1960, so it was certainly overdue.

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is going to be handed over to the Natural History Museum at Tring.

dead Yellow-billed Cuckoo in Seaford

Seaford Head 19/9/19

A fairly quiet morning for grounded migrants, although there was some quality overhead with an adult Dotterel that initially flew east over Hope Bottom, then a few minutes later flying west and banking down to land in the sheep field. Mike O'Shea was along the cliff edge and saw it briefly settled before it again departed off east. My first Firecrest of the autumn was the only noteworthy grounded migrant. Mike also had a Pied Flycatcher. This weekend will hopefully shape things up somewhat.

Totals for the morning:

Grey Wagtail - 3
Chiffchaff - 18
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Goldcrest - 5
Firecrest - 1
Blackcap - 35
Dotterel - 1 07.20 - 07.25
Yellow Wagtail - 8
Whitethroat - 7
Willow Warbler - 1
Reed Warbler - 1

Firecrest

adult (presumed male) Dotterel

My third site record.

Willow Warbler

Swallow

Beachy Head 15/9/19

Another 9.8km walk around some of my favourite sites at Beachy Head was eventually rewarding, though with plenty of common migrants about it was always enjoyable. An adult Nuthatch in Francis Bottom was a surprise and looked extremely lost perching on top off hawthorns. After a very birdy session in Cow Gap a trio of Coal Tits were seen on the western slopes of Whitbread Hollow (first seen by Kris along the cliffs), and in the rides and the trail running parallel to Long Down were again plenty of common migrants including some Redstarts and Spotted Flycatchers.

I had finally reached the Old Trapping Area where Simon had also just arrived, and within five minutes he had spotted a Hobby, but more importantly a juvenile ringtail Harrier, and with the recent presence of a juvenile Montagu's either in the Beachy area or further west, I was praying for this bird to be that bird. It soon became apparent it was a juvenile Montagu's Harrier with prolonged scope views (thanks Simon for the use of your scope!!) for us both, and prolonged bins views for John and Doreen. After a depressing few weeks having dipped this bird a few times and spending many hours in search of it, the relief of finally connecting with a Sussex Monty was brilliant.

Nuthatch at Francis Bottom

Spotted Flycatcher

Juvenile Montagu's Harrier over

Beachy Head

Cuckmere Haven 11/9/19

With the arrival of many Yank Waders up north I was hoping for something similar today. Maybe next week once things start to filter down. There was a surprising amount of Gulls on the west side but out of my range, so it was handy a first calendar year Caspian Gull was sat on the river. A same aged Little Gull was also on the scrape, whilst the three remaining Bar-tailed Godwits were still present. Three Wigeon were my first of the autumn.

1cy Caspian Gull

1cy Little Gull

Cuckmere Haven 10/9/19

After a fruitless morning and early afternoon spent at Beachy Head where no Montagu's Harrier was to be seen, a walk down the Cuckmere this evening was more worth my time, as at long last the Waders have arrived. A juvenile Ruff was the main highlight as it closely associated itself with a large flock of mobile Dunlin.

Totals are as follows:

Ruff - 1 juv
Dunlin - 20
Ringed Plover - 6
Greenshank - 4
Bar-tailed Godwit - 3
Whimbrel - 1

Whinchat at Belle Tout

Ruff (far right) among

Dunlin and Ringed Plovers.

Ruff (top right)

Greenshank & Ruff