Seaford Head- 22 October 2012

I'm afraid I reneged on yesterday's promise of Rouzel-hunting on Malling Down- the option of finding my own on Seaford Head seeming far more appealing! When I left the house it was still pitch black outside, and very, very misty. With NE winds overnight combined with this, I imagined it wasn't going to be a terrible day!

It was marginally lighter by the time I arrived at the south-west corner of Seaford Head Golf Course, from where I began my count of the day's migrants all across the headland. Walking through Seaford in the darkness, Robins and Blackbirds were both calling in gigantic numbers, obvious signs of an overnight arrival! Once on the Golf Course I could see this to be the case, with both species present in every bush and tree! Redwings were also torpedoing overhead, out of sight in the mist. A few were also in the bushes, alongside a handful of Song Thrush, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest. A single Fieldfare was picked up by it's 'chacking' call, which I tried without success to string into a Ring Ouzel. However, this was my first returning Fieldfare of the autumn. A Firecrest was also calling unseen from within these bushes. The calls of Redwing, Robin and Blackbird were with me all the time, accompanying me through a mist so thick I was struggling to see a large proportion of the birds I was hearing!

around the Radio Mast, there were a minimum of 30 Chaffinch, with about this number again scattered around the other areas of the patch. Also present were Redwing, Blackbird, Song Thrush and Robin in decent numbers, though still nothing rarer!

Moving on into Hope Gap, The numbers were really picking up. a little flock of Goldcrest in the north of the gap held at least one showy Firecrest, my finest views of the species for perhaps two years and a real treat! The numbers of all the common thrush species were enormous, Robin, Blackbird, Redwing and Song Thrush once again arriving en force, and two Fieldfares among them. A few Chiffchaff called and showed, while one singing Blackcap was heard halfway down, and a female was present in the bushes near the sea. here the resident pair of Stonechats announced their territory, while I got good enough views to racially identify a Song thrush for the only time today. The yellowish breast and rufousy-brown back identified it as race Clarkei, the british race. I was hoping to identify some continental birds today, but all the other thrushes I saw were too flighty for this! One showy Chiffchaff was hoping around in the low bushes right by the sea, accompanying the pair of Stonechats on their circuit.

I didn't check Harry's Bush, as there were some angry looking heffers with their calves around here; but in the trees opposite the style into that field I found another little crest flock, containing another showy and impossibly gorgeous Firecrest! By now it was time to leave and hastily march to the train station, leaving the birds behind for the sake of this silly thing called an education.

Overall it was a great day for quantity, though the quality bird or two I'd hoped for didn't really materialise! It was the kind of day where binoculars tend to be used just to give you good views of some familiar faces, rather than to pin an elusive ID; but overall it felt good to be out in the morning, and when you see that many Redwings, and get views that good of Firecrests, it would be a bit selfish to complain! However, I was slightly gripped by Seaford Head's third YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER of the year being found later this afternoon! Apparently present in the bushes car park, finder uknown, but Jon Curson visited at about 4.30 and could hear the distinctive calls once or twice, from the line of bushes running north on the eastern side of the car park. I have literally never seen a worthwhile bird here before! What makes it equally galling is that this is only the second time I've made it up in October. both days had perfect conditions for Yellow-brows, and on both days they've been found, but on both occasions, it's been after I left. c'est la vie and all that I suppose, would be nice to see one though! maybe if it sticks around til tomorrow...


my estimates totals for today were;

Meadow Pipit         30
Skylark                   15
Blackcap                  2
Chiffchaff                10
Goldcrest                30
Firecrest                   3-4 (first for Seaford Head this autumn, 2 very showy birds)
Robin                   150 (high count)
Blackbird             120 (high count)
Redwing               130 (high count)
Song Thrush           40
Fieldfare                3 (first of the autumn)
Chaffinch               60
Linnet                    50
Goldfinch              30

Real Birders are out No Matter the Weather!

An early start to school, and I was a free man today by 12:00! Lewes Railway Land beckoned me first. The afternoon's are never brilliant around here, but at least the weather was still nice, for the hour or so I was here! 

Birdwise- a small amount of vismig, with 7 Swallow, 4 Siskin, and singles of Meadow Pipit and House Martin heading south. there were still quite a lot of Robins (I'd guess 25), and 12 Chiffchaff. Plus 2 Treecreeper, a Jay, and a Kingfisher around the heart of reeds. Patch bird no.55 was heard only, 2 PEREGRINE calling distantly over the cliffs. I also saw the remarkable spectacle of a Speckled Wood flying into a spider's web, getting trapped and devoured, and then rolled up into a neat, silk-wrapped parcel. I chose the wrong day not to bring a camera! As I sat for 30 minutes waiting for the train, an estimated 300 hirundines passed over Lewes Station in a constant stream, seeming to consist primarily of Swallows.

On the way home I called into Newhaven, trying to relocate a Wryneck reported yesterday on RBA. I failed in this assignment, but there were a few good birds in the area;

• a SHAG was offshore, fishing to the east of the pier about 100 metres o/s. My first in Sussex since 1 September 2011 surprisingly!
• a small flock of waders flew down to bathe in the puddles immediately south of the industrial land, about 100 metres NE of Newhaven East Pier. They consisted of 17 Ringed Plover, 6 Dunlin and 2 Turnstone. Turnstone is a fairly unusual bird for Tide Mills in my experience, bizarrely I have only seen them here three times previously!
• 2 Wheatear. One at Tide Mills showed a bright supercilium, long primary projection and uppright, dick's pipit like stance, typical of GREENLAND WHEATEAR (oenanthe oenanthe leucorrhoea), while one, perched on the viewing screen at the Ouse Estuary Project, looked a much more typical 'british' Wheatear. 
• 1 YELLOW WAGTAIL, my latest ever and first ever record for October! it called three times as it headed over

However, whether it was worth the soul-chilling south-westerlies and the dismal rain is another matter! The highlight of the day was probably the GREENLAND WHEATEAR, great birds that still feel like a bit of a rarity, depsite being pretty regular. Slightly commoner stuff included 30 Lapwing and 20 Curlew, a handful of Gibbugs (Great Black-backed Gulls), my first Common Gull for a few weeks in Sussex, and a handful of Chiffchaff. The tide on Mill Creek was sadly too high for the Pectoral/Buff-breasted Sandpiper that hasn't arrived yet...

Subbuteo and Shovelers

The journey to school

Being observant on the train paid some fine dividends today. I generally don't see much, but having found Cattle Egret and Black Redstart along this train line before, I generally keep my eyes open just in case! and today it worked out, with a HOBBY over Newhaven Incinerator(hence the rather clever title!), powering on through the awful, awful conditions. My previous latest record was 25 Sep (2010, at Abbot's Wood), and it's always a great feeling to see one of the 'summer' migrants in October!

Also around, there were 40+ Redshank on Mill Creek at Newhaven Tide Mills, and a few Great Black-backed Gulls  (gibbugs for short), looking imperious as always around Newhaven Marina.


Patch Dedication...

is what I call it when you still find an hour to grill your patch despite the dismal rain! And it seemed these difficult flying conditions did ground a few migrants. 30 Robin, 25 Blackbird and 15 Chiffchaff made up the bulk, and 5 Goldcrest, 2 Blackcap and 2 Siskin added a little bit more quality. The true number of migrant Blackbird, Robin and Goldcrest is of course clouded over by resident birds, but considering the inflation in numbers (especially for the former two), I feel safe in saying that a fair number of the birds were continental migrants. To put it in context, the number of Robins was  over twice the number of resident Blue Tits I counted today (14), and both species were almost literally calling/singing out of every bush! The Siskin were a highlight today, being seen a few times among a roving flock of birds that included Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Blackcaps, Chifchaffs, Chaffinches and Goldfinches! It's also the second time I've seen grounded migrant Siskin here, having found three among a Goldfinch flock on September 17th.  

thought it's not taken today, it's a picture. and it's kinda relevant...  

Other birds today included 5 Meadow Pipits and 3 Swallows SW. A far cry from the thousands of birds moving over at the weekend, but in conditions like this I didn't expect much of a vismig! Altogether more surprising, though, were 2 SHOVELER, also heading SW low overhead. These were an altogether not too bad 54th bird species I've seen on the patch since 10 September! In fact, when you consider it's an inland site with no wetlands, bar an embanked river and a few ditches, I'm rather happy with that total! other patch regulars today included 8 Magpie, a Green Woodpecker and 3 Treecreeper. And after an hour on the patch, with clothes and feel sodden, I went to school and sat watching the rain, in some odd way wishing I could be back out in it admiring my birds.

Lewes Railway Land- 27 Sep '12

Welcome to the first real posting on this blog! I thought I'd begin with the last time I did some birding in Sussex, namely yesterday!

With sixth from finishing at 3.20 yesterday, I took advantage and took a walk around the Railway land with Jake Gearty. It being the afternoon there wasn't a lot about. However the resident tit flocks included Coal (new patch bird for Jake) and plenty Long-tailed, along with an estimate of 5+ Chiffchaff and 10+ Blackcap. A few of the latter gave great views, but most were heard only or briefly fly-catching out of bushes and disappearing back into them. We also got two brief, but intriguing fly-by's from a fairly large, brown warbler with pale-looking flanks. Maybe a Blackcap, but something about it made me think Garden Warbler or Reed Warbler. It was certainly too big for a phyllosc, but not quite big enough to string it into a Barred! One that'll get away I guess.

However, an altogether more frustrating on-that-got-away was a Thrush that flew out of a bush alongside the river, giving us only the briefest glimpse of what looked like the scaly wings of a RING OUZEL. Jake thought he saw the bird one more time, but I didn't. We did, however, see a lot of Blackbirds in the same area, and based on our view you couldn't quite rule out a blackbird caught in the light. I never heard any 'chacking' calls distinctive to the species either, but I am sure one will turn up here eventually this autumn!

One of two new birds for this patch was however, a Thrush. Jake picked up a Mistle Thrush calling, and we quickly got semi-decent views (OK they were crap, but still identifiable!) as it powered overhead, towards the railway line. The other new bird patch was slightly more underwhelming. It's a bit embarrassing that in three weeks of checking this place, this was the first Swallow I'd seen flying over! They took my 'school terms yearlist' up to 53 species though still eight ahea of Jake! 

It's also the time of year some of our commoner birds may start coming in from further afield. I've already mentioned an increase in Blackbird numbers, and I got some prolonged views of a Robin that seemed to be showing characteristics of a continental bird, but I'll need to read up on that a bit before I try and claim any with confidence!