Cuckmere Haven 9-10/5/16

Yesterday after work I went down Splash Point for three hours but in a much improved E wind, little was moving, possibly down to the series of rain showers in the channel, with each one passing producing a small movement of birds. Afterwards a trek down the Cuckmere produced a few expected Waders for the time of year.

Splash Point 13.30-16.30 Wind E2:

Great Skua - 1
Grey Plover - 2
Whimbrel - 1
Common Scoter - 39
Gannet - 11
Sandwich Tern - 4
Commic Tern - 18
Sanderling - 47
Little Tern - 4
Ringed Plover - 1 with Sanderling flock
Diver sp. - 1

Today I gave seawatching a miss which was a mistake as Terns and a few Skuas were recorded past Dungeness in the afternoon once the murky conditions had ceased. Seaford Head felt rare and despite plenty of Subalpines being in the country, I couldn't dig one out, or anything for that matter. A small group of Fox cubs were very cute and provided the non-avain highlight. The Cuckmere after produced the same stuff as yesterday with the following seen:

Bar-tailed Godwit - 2
Whimbrel - 5
Ringed Plover - 2
Wheatear - 1

 the pair of Stonechats by the scrape have already produced 3 fledglings. Hopefully a second brood is on the cards

Bar-tailed Godwits along the Cuckmere River

Splash Point 8/5/6

The past few days seawatching have all been about the quality rather than the quantity. Ten hours of seawatching yesterday produced only a stunning Roseate Tern and a distant Manx Shearwater.

However today there was much more diversity with a strengthened SE wind. I was very pleased to add another 21 Pomarine Skuas to my season tally, though an incoming Osprey and two immaculate summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebes offshore provided the other highlights. The potential bird of the morning was a frustratingly distant 'Marsh Tern' that without going into too much detail, had many features resembling that of a Whiskered Tern (that was flying alongside a Common Tern) and was first considered to be a Black Tern.

Still, a very enjoyable four days of seawatching notching my Pom tally up to 169 for the spring, with hopefully a couple more opportunities in the afternoons and evenings next week.

Totals for today between 05.00-14.00 are:

Pomarine Skua - 21
Arctic Skua - 4 (3 l/p)
Great Skua - 1
Tufted Duck - 3
Red-breasted Merganser - 2
Shoveler - 2
Common Scoter - 104
Sandwich Tern - 25
Commic Tern - 289
Little Tern - 7
Arctic Tern - 2
Black-necked Grebe  - 2 offshore
Gannet - 62
Sanderling - 22
Dunlin - 1
Whimbrel - 25
Grey Plover - 1
Bar-tailed Godwit - 21
Black-throated Diver - 1W
Diver sp. - 2
Brent Geese - 22
Osprey - 1 in off

Pom Parties/times
1 at 06.35
6 at 06.58
2 at 07.51
6 at 09.02
2 at 09.31
3 at 11.23
1 around 13.00

Highlights for 7/5/16 between 05.00 - 16.00 are:

Roseate Tern - 1 10.36 performed for a few minutes before flying out to sea
Arctic Skua - 10 (4 l/p)
Mediterranean Gull - 27
Manx Shearwater - 1

 another Pomarine Skua, not that I'm complaining

 Black-necked Grebes off Splash Point

 a well earned Cider

a superb sky to start the morning on the 7th

Splash Point 6/5/16

Another all day seawatch that produced a fair bit of quality rather than quantity. The Poms were on the move this morning involving some superb flocks not far offshore. Other highlights included my first Roseate Tern off Splash and a stunning summer-plumaged Great Northern Diver close in. Other then this fewer numbers then yesterday.

Totals between 05.05 -

Great Northern Diver - 1

Black-throated Diver - 2

Red-throated Diver - 1

Diver sp- 3

Pomarine Skua - 76

Arctic Skua - 14

Great Skua - 1

Roseate Tern - 1 12.06 with 8 Commics

Commic Tern - 360

Black Tern - 12

Sandwich Tern - 68

Little Tern - 8

Gannet - 73

Tufted Duck - 2

Shoveler - 4

Common Scoter - 276

Shelduck - 3

Red-breasted Merganser - 4

Brent Geese - 19

Dunlin - 20

Sanderling - 33

Common Sandpiper - 7

Bar-tailed Godwit - 35

Whimbrel - 35

Little Gull - 6

Mediterranean Gull - 1

Kestrel - 1

Pom parties/times

11 at 06.56

5 at 07.33

1 at 07.37

3 at 07.40

7 at 07.51

6 at 07.57

2 at 08.12

1 at 08.35

3 at 08.37

2 at 08.42

3 at 08.49

1 at 09.26

3 at 09.29

4 at 09.31

1 at 09.51

4 at 10.16

5 at 10.32

4 at 12.55

4 at 14.19

3 at 17.12

3 at 18.08

 a horrid pic of the Great Northern Diver - only my fourth record for Splash Point

Poms - this photo not doing them justice

another 14 hour vigil completed

Splash Point 5/5/16

Well this day two years ago saw 100+ Poms pass this site. Although today didn't produce those sort of numbers, a fair few went through and proved a great start to the Pom season. With the wind veering to NE by late afternoon Poms were seen relatively close in affording excellent views. A great day and a few more to come over the next few days.

Totals between 05.15 - 19.45

Pomarine Skua - 58

Arctic Skua - 17 (7l/p, 1 int.)

Great Skua - 3

Red-throated Diver - 1

Black-throated Diver - 4

Diver sp. - 3

Commic Tern - 591

Sandwich Tern - 79

Little Tern - 23

Black Tern - 4

Arctic Tern - 34

Whimbrel - 43

Bar-tailed Godwit - 69

Grey Plover - 86

Ringed Plover - 1

Turnstone - 1 s/p  

Dunlin - 9

Sanderling - 65

Knot - 1

Mediterranean Gull - 3

Gannet - 148

Auk sp - 15

Little Gull - 24

Teal - 2

Common Scoter - 254

Hobby - 1

Common Sandpiper - 1

Shelduck - 6

Brent Geese - 39

Pom parties/times

1 at 05.33

3 at 10.15

4 at 11.33

1 at 12.35

10 at 13.13

4 at 14.23

2 at 16.33

3 at 16.41

6 at 17.02

4 at 17.13

4 at 17.30

3 at 17.37

2 at 18.23

8 at 19.18

3 at 19.27

 SPOONS

Arctic Skua

Seaford Head 3/5/16

Back to calm and clear conditions this morning with a touch more variety on offer, but the area still low on migrant numbers. It appeared more Blackcaps and Whitethroats had arrived overnight with sightings being more frequent, but with the local population it is difficult to determine what were new.

Totals are:
Wheatear - 1
Redstart - 2
Sedge Warbler - 1
Willow Warbler - 17
Reed Warbler - 1
Garden Warbler - 1
Sand Martin - 1N
Swift - 1N
Swallow - 20N
Yellow Wagtail - 1N

Cuckmere Haven & Splash Point 2/5/16

For the first few hours today I had to act 'step dad' and therefore missed a decent seawatch but I'm slowly coming to terms that every once in a while I'll miss something, and today was that. Some compensation however was a Sedge Warbler in the garden. Cutting my duty short I made it out by late morning and ventured down the Cuckmere. Good numbers of Waders were along the river and an arrival of Warblers were present in the bushes.

Afterwards a 5.5 hour seawatch produced a good movement of Skuas involving three species. The cold had got to me by the end and my plans to head up to Balsdean from Peacehaven didn't materialise.

Cuckmere totals:

Dunlin - 60

Sanderling - 4

Common Sandpiper - 1

Bar-tailed Godwit - 6

Whimbrel - 8

Whinchat - 1

Willow Warbler - 15

Splash Point totals:

Pomarine Skua - 5

Arctic Skua - 9

Great Skua - 15

Manx Shearwater - 6 + 2W

Brent Geese - 20

Common Scoter - 7

Commic Tern - ca. 750

Black Tern - 1

Little Tern - 15

Sandwich Tern - 50

Red-throated Diver - 2

Gannet - ca. 50

 Sanderling and Dunlin in the Cuckmere

Arctic Skua past Splash Point

Otford, Kent & Seaford Head 1/5/16

Being a May bank holiday weekend I was regretting to see myself in NE Kent at first light in the hope of seeing the meena Oriental Turtle Dove that was finally pinned down yesterday evening after its two month presence in the small village of Otford. The drive from home only took one hour, arriving just after 05.30, and only a small wait was needed when the Dove flew in from behind us and landed in full view in its 'favoured' tree. Lovely scope views were had and after five minutes of admiring and noting the key id. features, the bird flew onto the ground and out of sight. Having seen the orientalis Oriental Turtle Dove back in 2009 in Oxford, I felt little need to hang around and an hour later I was on the patch (where I should be this time of year) just as the area had warmed up, arriving shortly after 07.00.

The Head wasn't too bad but still lacking any numbers, though a couple of singing Reed Warblers and my first Garden Warbler were very welcome. By mid morning the tap had turned on for inbound Hirundines, which was a nice change from seeing very little visible migration in previous weeks.

This evening a walk behind Peacehaven produced a female Redstart and nice variety of common summer migrants on territory. 

Totals are:

Reed Warbler - 2

Whinchat - 2

Wheatear - 1

Hobby - 1

Willow Warbler - 6

Garden Warbler - 1

Yellow Wagtail - 2N

Swift - 3N

House Martin - 36N

Swallow - 60N

Sand Martin - 3N

meena Oriental Turtle Dove in Otford - the white vent and white corners to the tail separate this from orientalis OTD.

 a smart Whinchat at the dung heap

 Linnet in Hope Gap

 Reed Warbler by Harry's Bush

 this Lesser Whitethroat was a new arrival holding territory in a new spot. There are at least six singing males holding territory on Seaford Head now.

looking down into the valley of Hope