At the start of the week, the plan for Saturday was a Seaford Seawatch, by mid-week it was a trip to Medmerry to try and see the Least Sandpiper but by yesterday it was to head down to Newhaven in the hope that the Woodchat Shrike found on Friday would hang around! I wasn't hopeful, I've lost count of the number of good birds, found during the week when I'm at work only to disappear at the first sniff of a weekend 😢😢
I arrived pre-sunrise, a herculean effort to get up early, only one other Birder present, we waited a while, nothing, though it was still pretty dark, I went for a wander to see if it had moved along the cliff base, got back and the other guy had found it, although basically it just popped up on the fence in front of him!!! Hurrah!!!!!!!!
Think I may have killed any jeopardy in this post with the title!!😏😏
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| Seaford Head pre-sunrise |
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| Sunrise |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| I had just said I'm surprised there are no Fulmars, when one appeared! |
A little cracker, bit distant but nice and showy!!
After a while I decided to resurrect the sea-watch plan and headed over to Seaford, with the work being done on the breakwater, I headed up the cliff, one other hopeful Sea-watcher was present, it was pretty dire a trickle of Sandwich Terns, a couple of Med Gulls, a few distant Gannets, an Oystercatcher and a flock of 7 Common Scoters, the best I could manage, did have some stuff coming "in-off" a Wagtail Sp which looked light enough to be a White Wagtail, but to distant to be sure and a flock of what looked like small Finches but again so distant difficult to be sure!!
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Cormorant on the basket |
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| More Sandwich Terns |
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| Med gulls |
Inspired by the birds coming into land, I decided to have a wander up the Head, sadly no Kittiwakes on the cliffs, apparently they have been coming and going, but none today.😢 I walked from Splash Point to Hope Bottom, up Hope Gap, past the Dung Heap, down between the Golf Course and the sheep field, then back to Splash!! Nothing exotic found😢mostly Skylarks, Pipit and Stonechats and a blooming chilly wind! Singing Chiffchaffs and Greenfinches up Hope Gap and a bit of Raptor action the best of it!
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| Carrion Crow, photographed so I could have a rest halfway up Seaford Head without letting on I was struggling to breath!! |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Fantastic Skylark action today, so busy chasing each other around they hardly noticed me! |
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| Possibly my best ever Skylark flight shot, though it didn't have a lot to beat! |
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| Stonechat |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Collecting nesting material |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Rooks |
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| Acrobatics to see off a couple of large Corvids |
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| Distant Gannet |
Pleasant walk in the sunshine, with the wind keeping me cool, always fun trying to get pics of the Skylarks, pretty successful day, Shrikes are always good!!!! Let's hope the Sandpiper hangs around !!
