a caspy new year

I'm not generally one for serious listing, but I made an exception this year! Myself and a few other young birders, living in Norfolk, Durham, Northumberland, Lancashire, Aberdeenshire and various other areas decided a few months ago to have a Patch Battle- see who can see the most species in a year on their local. If any of you are reading this, here's how I got on on day 1! 

I started in great form, not 15 minutes after getting off the bus at Cuckmere Haven, I'd found an absolutely stonking adult CASPIAN GULL amongst the others. Features I noted were;

• long and parallel-edged bill
• sloping forehead
• very small, beady eye
• fairly pale mantle shade, slightly darker than argenteus herring gull
• a large amount of white in the primaries
• long-winged
• deep-breasted, holding it's chest up very high
• very pale, fleshy-pink legs
• very long-winged
• a somewhat clumsy, waddling gait when walking 
• long-necked 
• it was frequently seen 'albatrossing'

I'm not the most confident guy at identifying Caspians, but this one was practically doing a song and dance in front of me! Sadly the only photos I managed were completely unidentifiable! 

Further down the Cuckmere, I eventually found the 16 Barnacle Geese, flying out to sea! I'll take this as a hopeful sign of their origin, and given there was a report of 50 from Lewes on the 1st as well (click here), it seems there may have been a small arrival in sussex. for now then, I'm having them! 

Other than these two, not a great deal to report. a brief seawatch off the Cuckmere revealed 5 Fulmars kicking about offshore, a decent early arrival for them. also, if you want to visit the Cuckmere at the moment, I really would suggest wellies; 80% of the paths are complete quagmires!

I kicked off my patch battle with 48 species, see below;

1. Mute Swan- c10 in the Cuckmere
2. Canada Goose- c300 in the Cuckmere
3. Greylag Goose- 3
4. Barnacle Goose- 16 (ex)
5. Shelduck- 15
6. Mallard-6
7. Wigeon-150 in the Cuckmere. 40 offshore at Hope Gap, 22W at Splash Point presumably part of this group
8. Teal-30
9. Pheasant- 3
10. Little Grebe-5
11. Fulmar-5 o/s
12. Cormorant- 7
13. Grey Heron-2
14. Little Egret-4
15. Sparrowhawk-1
16. Oystercatcher-2 at Cuckmere, 20 at Hope Gap
17. Curlew-40+
18. Redshank-15 roosting on an island in the scrape
19. Black-headed Gull- c700 overall
20. Common Gull-c75 overall
21. Herring Gull-c400 overall, argentatus; one at Exceat, one at Hope Gap, two at Splash Point
22. CASPIAN GULL- 1 adult north of Exceat (ex)
23. Lesser-black back- c250 overall, about 10% intermedius
24. Great Black-back- c150 overall
25. Feral Pigeon -16 at Seaford Head
26. Green Woodpecker- 1 at Harry's Bush
27. Skylark-c10, a few singing
28. Pied Wagtail- c20
29. Meadow Pipit- c10
30. Rock Pipit- 3 in Cuckmere, 2 near Splash Point
31. Wren- 1 Cuckmere, 2 Seaford Head
32. Dunnock- a few
33. Robin- widespread, a few singing
34. Blackbird- 1 each at Cuckmere and Hope Gap
35. Song Thrush- 1 singing at Exceat
36. Blue Tit- c5 in Hope Gap
37. Great Tit- 1 singing at Exceat
38. Long-tailed Tit- c5 at Exceat
39. Magpie- widespread
40. Rook- widespread
41. Jackdaw- widespread
42. Carrion crow- widespread
43. Starling- widespread
44. House Sparrow- flocks at Golden Galleon and north of Exceat
45. Chaffinch- widespread
46. Greenfinch- one by the scrape
47. Yellowhammer- one by the scrape
48. Reed Bunting- 1 near the Horse Paddocks, Cuckmere

Happy New Year everyone!