Seaford, Pevensey and After

An early start this morning, and met up with Paul, Sandra and Christine at 7.00am who had already been seawatching for half an hour, they had delight in telling me what I had missed. However it wasn't long before  I was looking through the new scope trying frantically to focus on the flocks of Brent Geese and Common Scoter eventually got the hang of it and enjoyed seeing 13 Little Gulls flying east, several more flocks of the Geese and Scoter. A distant Arctic and Pomarine Skua were also seen along with several Whimbrel, a few Swallows in off the sea and a single Wheatear.
A quick look at the Kittiwake colony also revealed a couple of Rock Pipits before setting off to the top of Seaford Head.

Never having visited here before I was surprised that the habitat was similar to the fire hills except for the aircraft radio beacon. Once away from the car park and dog walkers we found a Common Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat, the rest of the party looked over the cliff edge at the perched Peregrine while I carried on looking at the bushes. On their return a Ring Ouzel came out onto one of the rides then flew towards us landing on a bush giving us all excellent scope views meanwhile a croaking Raven flew over but the Ouzel was of more interest. We then headed off towards Hope Gap enjoying the splendid views of the Seven Sisters albeit very hazy.

Here we saw the Raven again on the cliff edge undisturbed by the passing walkers, a group of 6 Wheatears and several more Swallows in off the sea. A quick wander around Hope Gap found a Stonechat and a Willow Warbler before our climb back up to the car park. We now set off to Arlington Reservoir as Paul had received news that an adult Bonapartes Gull was on the water. On arrival we were greeted by several birders who put us in the right direction although it was on the opposite side to us we were able get fairly good views and also of 16 Little Gulls which presumably were the ones seen at Splash Point earlier in the day.

With the sun still shining and only 2.00pm I stopped off at Pevensey Levels but it was very quiet with only a handfull each of Lapwing, Grelags and Mallard.

The evening dog walk was to be on the level with all the walking already done so a gentle stroll along the canal to Pannel Valley and once there a quick pop into the hide ended up into a visit into the next hide as there was a pair of Little Ringed Plovers displaying plus about 15 Acocets feeding at the back of the Scrape.

On the return a Barn Owl was quartering over Carters Flood. A lovely end to another good day's birding.