A day off today for an afternoon Dentist appointment, where much bravery was shown😰 Ok was the Hygienist and there wasn't that much bravery required😁!! With a day booked off work, I felt a birding trip out was on the cards, Margie agreed to walk to work, thanks hunny, so an early start was possible, with a fresh breeze, I felt a Seawatch was in order, so found myself at Splash Point at 5.45AM, not dawn but not bad considering recent poor getting out of bed performance😏However the plan fell apart, the wind was in the wrong direction and was far to late in the spring for much going through, so after half an hour in which I saw 2 Gannets at a distance so extreme it took me ages to ID them and 3 Common Terns I decided to have a wander up the cliff and try for some pics of the local Kittiwakes, this is why I rarely find anything good, no sticking power and easily distracted by a good photo op!!
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| Newhaven Lighthouse |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull on "the Basket" |
So I meandered up the cliff to the bit I call the Chalk Plateau, cos it's flat and chalky! The wind was battering me and I was in 2 coats, hat and scarf and winter trousers and glad of it, note I didn't go to near the edge, firstly cos it has a tendency to collapse and secondly to minimise disturbance to the birds, although about 500 tourists a day doing selfies on the cliff edge doesn't seem to bother em much!! However there are a couple of spots where the angles conspire to provide great views and great photo ops of the birds. The advantage of it being windy was the birds were having a field day just hanging in the wind, especially the Fulmars,today was probably the most cooperative I've ever seen em!!
There now follows far to many pics of Fulmars and Kittiwakes
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| Fulmar |
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| 2CY Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake Stack |
Told Ya!!😂 Although I took over a 1200 pics on the cliff top, so count yaself lucky could have been a lot worse!!
It's not all Kittiwake and Fulmar from the cliff top a few other bits went by!
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| Corvid looking a bit tatty! |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Great Black-backed Gull |
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| Quite a lot of these flowers on the cliff edge |
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| This guy was miles up hanging in the sky for ages, indeed it was so long I was beginning to think it was one of those fake ones put out to scare the Gulls, unfortunately it stooped the wrong way and disappeared the other side of the cliff in a distant cloud of Jackdaws |
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| 2nd CY Gull I think Herring |
So battered by the wind I retreated down the cliff windswept but happy enough, another birder was Seawatching from the beach and had seen very little, so right decision made! I decided as it was still early to have a walk around Seaford Head.
Fairly quiet and quite windy at The Head a few Swallows zipping about the fields, Hope Gap, finally out of the wind, and an improvement in the bird action, a Common Whitethroat at the top and nice to hear a couple of Greenfinch calling
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| Belle Tout |
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| Swallow |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Surprised Robin |
Plenty of small stuff flitting around but difficult to get on, I stopped to chat to a birder who was coming up the track, he informed me he had been listening to a Nightingale at the bottom of the gap, halfway down it became obvious it was still there even I can ID a Nightingale by song!!! Arriving in the area, I could hear it singing, which is always good, but getting a picture? Frustratingly on 2 occasions I located the bird moving a foot to the left, lovely clear view, raised the camera bird flits away!! It seemed quite frankly that it was taking the mickey, waiting to til the last minute on purpose, was I to to be outsmarted by a bird, to be fair it wouldn't be the first time!! However I had worked out that the bird seemed to be following a circuit either side of the path favouring 2 or 3 perches, I decided to stake one out, I melted into the bushes, ok I moved to the side of the path and waited, bingo excellent views and a few shots, after this knowing it was beaten the bird sang from the top of at least 3 bushes a real treat!!
There now follows far to many pics of the Nightingale!!
A few other songsters were giving it large but to be honest they were no competition to the maestro
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| Blackcap |
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| Chaffinch |
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| DunnocK |
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| Robin |
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| Rabbit |
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| Common Whitethroat |
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