Decided today to attempt to get in on some of the Geese action reported, with Whitefronts and Bean Geese being reported all over, thought the Cuckmere was as good a place as any to have a look and with Black Redstarts knocking about along the coast, thought I would combine it with a walk down to Hope Bottom where I have seen them in the past. Margie decided to stay in bed (or in her words, someone has to do the bleeding housework), so once again set out on my own😢
Parked at the Barn about 8am, as I left the carpark all the Gulls in the large field behind the Barn took off and flew north,I don't usually have this effect and a quick scan confirmed my thought a Peregrine having a right old ding-dong with a crow they quickly disappeared in the gloom towards then over the cliff!! I continued down Hope Gap, predictably quiet my mood was as gloomy as the light😓 halfway down there was a loud commotion amongst the Jackdaws congregated to the bottom of the Gap, despite this heads up I still failed to get a shot of the Peregrine as it zoomed over the gap in hot pursuit of what looked like a Feral Pigeon dagnabit!!!😡 The most interesting sighting apart from this was the sky out to see which looked very impressive.
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| Some nice flowering Gorse |
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| Spectacular Sky |
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| Strange Sky considering everywhere else was Grey |
I stopped on the staircase on top of the cliff , the tide was fully in with the waves crashing into the cliffs a group of surfers were enjoying the waves, mental!! Ignoring this insanity I scanned what rocks were on show for small black birds ,all the ones I found were Rock Pipits, but was nice to see Fulmars patrolling the cliffs although the pics were terrible in the dodgy light. Another pulse of panicking Corvids and Gulls set me scanning for the Peg ,but all I could see was a strange blob struggling to fly out over the sea, closer examination revealed it to be a Peregrine with it's breakfast, possibly the Feral Pigeon from earlier again apologies for the pics was very gloomy
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| Peregrine with prey |
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| Anyone ID the prey? |
Some pics of the Fulmars and Rock Pipit
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| Fulmar |
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| Fulmar |
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| Waves crashing on Rocks |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Surfers |
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| Bit of Blue Sky |
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| Fulmar |
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| Fulmar |
My vigil on top of the cliff slowly turned into an impromptu Seawatch in 10 minutes I had two groups of Auk sp through and a singleton that was defo a Razorbill and two Red-throated Diver which made me regret my decision not to do a proper winter Seawatch today😠 however with only 3 layers of clothing on and no scope, I had to keep moving so decided to head on down the Cuckmere!!
I walked down to the Coastguard Cottages this area is roped off due to coastal erosion, Health and Safety gone mad!! hopefully when Brexit is sorted if I want to stand on top of a 300ft cliff that could collapse at any minute to check for small birds I will be able to do so without the hinderance of a flimsy blue rope attached to rusty iron posts with a sign saying danger of death!!😉😉😂 Anyway I walked around and back up the beach, despite looking perfect Black Redstart habitat none could be found😕
So headed up the valley the gloom was lifting and there were lots of birds about ,big numbers of Canada Geese ,the evocative sounds of Curlews, Redshank and Wigeon. Plenty of Teal ,Egrets Herons and a flotilla of Swans on the river.
The path was muddy and extremely slippery and to my credit I walked well over a mile without falling over ,though it was the kind of not falling over that could lead to slipped discs, hernias and destroyed Calfs 😲but it was worth it, first bird of note was a Kingfisher ,I actually recognised the call and was waiting for the bugger whoop!!😊
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| Female Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
A few pics of the other birds seen on the walk up the Cuckmere
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| Little Egret |
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| Teal |
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| Teal |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Teal |
I was scanning the area constantly but apart from three Brents and a Barnacle Goose all the Geese were Canada Geese. There were a couple of Gull flocks mainly Greater Black-backed but several Lesser Black-backed also Herring, Common and Black Headed Gulls, couldn't find anything out of the ordinary the one bird I thought could be a Yellow-legged turned out to be a LBBG which was slightly lighter than the others 😟😟 I had reached the point where I decided to turn back when everything went up ,this is when you realise that there are far more birds present than you realised!! Apart from the Gulls and Geese there was a large flock of Starlings, loads of Skylarks, Pipits and Wagtails, a massive flock of Wigeon,Curlew, Lapwings. Annoyingly I couldn't find the cause of this consternation but it was fun watching it spread across the landscape!
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| Part of the Gull flock in the air ! |
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| Shelduck |
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| Wigeon |
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| Wigeon |
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| Mallard |
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| Gull Flock |
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| Skylark |
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| Curlew |
I headed back down the river like Bambi on ice ,the Kingfisher teased me with several flybys but wouldn't pose. A Reed Bunting landed in a bush right in front of me and a Rock Pipit showed well the light was getting better though the wind was getting up, I know I'm never happy!!
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Nearly in breeding plumage |
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| Mouth of the Cuckmere |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Redshank |
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| Stonechat |
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| Curlew in Flight |
I decided to retrace my steps but there were still no Black Redstarts, another session from the top of the steps once again turned into a Seawatch, The Fulmars were still patrolling I found a Red-throated Diver on the sea and a Razorbill ,the distances involved mean record shots only though the Fulmar shots came out slightly better! Felt like a proper Seawatch when a couple of Gannets and a first winter Kittiwake appeared !!
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