First the exciting news, I have smashed back into the 13stones!!! 13st,13lb,02oz !!! Which means since I have started my brutal regime (just 3 square meals a day(and only 1 cake) I have lost 5lb, more than a LB a week!! By this time next year I'll only weigh 10 stone!! (I've done the math so you don't have to😅) To celebrate I've made an Organic Fruitcake!! Which may slow things down a bit!! It's not all harsh diet, I've also upped the exercise with a 2 mile walk every lunch break at work, if it's raining I hit the Gym (Exercise Bike) so hopefully will achieve BMI nirvana in a couple of months!!
So to today's expedition, a windy weather forecast, decided me on a winter Seawatch down at Splash Point, Seaford, I wasn't that hopeful to be honest but you never know your luck! I arrived about ten past seven, a lovely morning, though decidedly lacking in the promised wind, it was also kin cold, I'm well prepared for such things, was fully thermaled up, with added Balaclava, so no worries!! The light at the start was lovely, a glowing orange sky gave everything a nice pink wash!! I thought I would have a look for the Black Redstart, that has been reported on and off for a couple of weeks, before starting to look over the sea, no sign in the jumble of Rocks at the base of the cliff, couple of Rock Pipits, a few Starlings, highlight was a couple of Fulmars flying around close to the cliff but no sign of the Black Redstart 😢
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Lot's of Bling |
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| Fulmar Silhouette |
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| Tubenose to the fore! |
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| Newhaven Lighthouse |
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| Orangey!! |
So to the sea, was quite slow, as expected, though had 3 Red-throated Divers on the sea and 15 went east over the time I was there, was a few Gannets mooching about, even saw a feeding dive, were quite a few Razorbills knocking about probably at least 50, on the sea and flying about the area. Seven Brent Geese went west and there were a raft of Kittiwakes on the sea and a few Fulmars flying about, but after an hour or so even this slowed down, didn't seem worth getting hypothermia/frostbite so I decided to relocate!! A few pics below but everything was fairly distant!
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| Gannets |
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| Gannets |
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| Red-throated Diver |
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| Kittiwakes |
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| Red-throated Divers |
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| Great Black-backed Gull on "the Basket" |
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| Fulmar |
So decided to head to Tidemills mainly because it was close and reports of Purple Sandpipers and Black Redstarts drew me in. Got the last space in the car park close to the railway, somebody has opened a coffee wagon here, which had a lot of delicious looking cakes on show, oh how they test me, I bravely resisted both on the way in and on the way out!! So brave!!😀
I was greeted by a friendly Dunnock, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of dog poop, it's not know as Turdmills for nothing but was very little on show, hurrah! The tide was well out and were a few Redshanks and a small flock of Dunlin on the mud!
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| Dunnock |
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| Dunlin |
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| Common Redshank |
So I headed over to the pier, not much about couple of Stonechat, no sign of any Greenfinches, think a flock has been about but I couldn't find it, dipped the Black Redstart as well 2 for 2 !! Reached the Pier and walked the length scanning below, eventually found a couple, whoop!! Interesting to watch the hoards of Gulls following the ferry in, must be lots of food stirred up in it's wake, couldn't find anything out of the ordinary though!
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| Purple Sandpiper, weird angle looking down through the structure of the pier |
I wandered the area, another Stonechat, the New Bridge looks quite expensive, seems to lead to about 20 piles of gravel, though I may be missing something. I found three birds feeding on the short grass, dreams of Lapland Bunting were soon dashed, when it became obvious they were Skylarks, shouldn't have been a surprise were several singing, however they are cracking birds when seen close like this so not that disappointed. I managed to get quite close, painstakingly inching around to get the sun behind, was getting quite good when Bilbo the dog bounded in and dispersed the birds!!! Probably for the best as I would almost certainly still be there clicking away 😂!
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| Redshank near the bridge |
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| Stonechat |
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| Skylarks |
I headed towards the river a large flock of Curlew flew over, seemingly dropping down into the river. Over the next 20 minutes they are constantly up and down disturbed by a couple of low flying planes giving me some flight shot opportunities, lovely to hear their calls
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| Part of The Curlew flock |
Possibly slightly to many Curlew shots! I headed back towards the car, another couple of Stonechats posed ok and I stalked the Dunlin flock from the near bank with some success! They are very cool, they gave no sign they knew I was there, but nonchalantly kept the distance between us without stopping feeding!!
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