You will have to wait til the end to see the surprise, you could of course scroll to the bottom to see the surprise but that would be morally wrong and make you a bad person!!😁
The day started well, in bed in fact, no not what your thinking!!! I heard a Cuckoo, no that's not a euphemism I actually heard a Cuckoo!!
We decided today to do the walk from Southease to Newhaven, it is a favourite walk that we have done a few times before and usually produces something good, not unreasonably I was hoping for a Common Sand and a couple of Wheatears as a minimum! We arrived in reasonable time, just before 8am, the usual delays while we forgot stuff and decided what to wear, I say we but you know who😁😁!! We parked on the east side near the Youth Hostel, plenty of birds singing in the small wood, a Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Goldfinch to name but three, I tried to string a Collared Dove into a Turtle Dove but Margie wasn't fooled!!
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| Collared Dove |
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| Horses |
A Greenfinch was singing by the station but a Train scared it off before I could get a pic, we crossed the tracks without incident and headed to the bridge, no sign of the hoped for Kingfisher but plenty of Little Egrets, the tide was well out I eagerly scoured the exposed rocks for Sandpipers, was about to claim one when Margie pointed out the call was clearly Redshank!! Alright Miss "I'm not a birder!!!"😂😂 Depressingly this was a year tick for me!!!
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Linnet, plenty of these about today |
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| Redshank |
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| Little Egret by Margie |
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| Windswept by Margie |
We headed down the east bank towards Newhaven, this area is open with big skies and great views and we seemed to have it all to our selves, the sun was shining but the breeze was cold, the flat areas next to the river wall were attracting a good number of birds to feed, mostly Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Linnets with the occasional Pied Wagtail and Stonechat, the open nature of the area means getting close enough for a decent picture is difficult to put it mildly!!
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| Low Tide by Margie |
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| Herring Gull by Margie |
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| Margie felt her shot of the exposed rocks looked like a face? Bit Gorilla like for me!! |
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| Splendid Blossom |
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| These flat areas had reasonable numbers of Pipits and Skylarks, but too flighty for me |
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| Nice Male Reed Bunting! |
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| Distant Kestrel |
We eventually spotted a Wheatear, nice Male but it hot-footed across the river before decent pics could be obtained, denied!!😡 Though a Male Pied Wag was more friendly!
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| Wheatear |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Reedy View by Margie |
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| View by Margie |
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| View by Margie |
We heard several Cetti's Warbler though didn't see any neither(quelle surprise!) nor did we see or hear any Reed or Sedge Warblers, maybe a bit early!!
I was stringing for England now, a brown bird flew up out of the reeds "Bittern" I cried it was a juvenile Cormorant, I was successfully turning a distant black dot into a Ring Ouzel until Margie pointed out it was obviously a Starling, I spent about 10 minutes trying to get close to an intriguing small bird in a bush, was a Meadow Pipit dang not my day!!! Margie largely ignored this stupidity and took pictures of Sheep and Mallards
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| Excellent Mallard flight shot by Margie that I was to slow to get! |
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| AHHH by Margie |
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| Meadow Pipit in Bush |
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| Meadow Pipit |
We continued along the path until we reached Newhaven, Margie trying to get a picture of an Oystercatcher taking off, this bird, which I was convinced only had one leg, although some of the flight shots prove otherwise, constantly took of as we approached only to settle a few yards further down stream when the whole process happened again and again and again!!!! The group of Redshanks was much more sensible just flew across the river!! I know there are to many pictures of the Redshanks but they are the first I've seen this year so have novelty value!!
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| Redshanks |
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| Redshanks |
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| Redshank |
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| Redshank |
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| Oystercatcher |
So we reached the Incinerator and turned around, the wind which up to now had been largely ignorable was now in our faces and increasing in strength and chill factor!! Luckily Margie had brought her big coat so complaints were kept to a minimum although I was regretting my decision to leave the scarf in the car, the walk back started well a lovely Male Wheatear showed much better than his predecessor, assuming a different bird based on geography!
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| Margie in action! |
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| Oystercatcher by Margie |
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| View by Margie |
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| Piddinghoe by Margie |
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| Mute Swan by Margie |
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| Oystercatcher by Margie |
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| Oystercatcher by Margie |
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| The Incinerator by Margie |
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| Bend in the River by Margie |
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| Redshank by Margie |
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| Ahh by Margie |
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| View by Margie |
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| Southease Bridge by Margie |
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| Seed head by Margie |
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| Cormorant by Margie |
At this point a Cormorant intervened to protect the Oystercatcher from her attentions!!
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| For mercy's sake no more pictures!!! 😃 |
Was still a few good bits on the way back, Skylarks had been singing all around but never really came close for pics, Greenfinch was singing in a bush and Linnets pretty much everywhere!!
So the surprise, well I've taken this sighting out of the narrative above as don't want to be to specific of the location on the off chance there maybe a breeding attempt, they of course may already be known about but despite a shocking amount of mis-id's today at one point I heard the unmistakeable call and despite Margie rolling her eyes and muttering what's it gonna be this time!!
Beardies!!!! and despite the wind managed a record shot whoop!
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| Bearded Tit |
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| Bearded Tit |
Could of course just be dispersing birds for the winter late returning but you never know, they are not rare and easy to get at places like Oare Marshes, so not going to apologise for a little bit of suppression, decent birder would probably be able to find em on our 6 mile route anyway although lot's of reeds to search😂 fingers crossed if they do attempt to breed they will succeed!!
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