Of Birds & Cake the Blog of Paul: Seaford Head

A weather forecast of a moderate eastly breeze and sun sent me down to Seaford today for a Seawatch, however on arrival just before 6 AM there was no breeze and the sea was a mill pond, undeterred I set up anyway, but it was predictably poor with 8 Gannets and a couple of Red-throated Divers the only interest in the half n hour I gave it, although a Fox along the beach was a bit of added excitement, there weren't even any Rock Pipits😢 So I gave up and headed up to the Barn Car Park in the hope a wander around Seaford Head would get me a Wheatear or two!!

Gannet

Black-headed Gulls

Fox on the Beach

On arrival at the Barn, I de-clothed somewhat as felt it was gonna be a bit on the warm side and headed off towards Hope Gap, the top end was pretty quiet with some Rooks in the field, no Wheatears, a few Sparrows and a couple of Wrens.

Rook

Hope Gap was a bit more lively, with a couple of singing Chiffchaffs, some Chaffinch, a singing Greenfinch and a lot of Blackbirds. I was serenaded all the way down by a Song Thrush high on the east side.

Blackbird

Robin

Chaffinch

Nice to get a posy Female

Song Thrush

Greenfinch

Singing Song Thrush

Hope Bottom held the usual posy Stonechats, nice to hear them singing, a couple of very smart Pied Wagtails and a few Rock Pipits.

Stonechat (Female)

Stonechat (Male)

Having a sing!

Not sure she was very impressed

Rock Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Rock Pipit

Pied Wagtail

No Wheatears, so I headed east to try the Cuckmere, lots of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks singing and displaying along the way, the usual suspects in the Cuckmere, (see pics below) nice Avocet probably the best but was spooked by a dog before I could get close, two cats near the cottages was a bit depressing, you would think if you lived on a nature reserve, you could maybe live without cats!! No Wheatears seen😢

Misty Belle Tout

Nice showy Meadow Pipit for a change!

Skylark, they were in good voice today

Stonechat

Greenfinch

Sparrowhawk

Different Greenfinch, several singing around the site

Black-headed Gull

Avocet

Little Egret

Did the loop and headed back to Hope Bottom, absolutely nothing to do with the Harry's Bush field being full of cows!! Just felt the coast would be more productive😂 As I approached the east side there were a couple of Male Stonechats having a bit of a barnie one of which was extremely bright with a lot of white in the wings, quite stunning really although typically it was always the one furthest away!!

Female Stonechat

The very bright male, possibly one from the continent.

The other one

Having a sing, couldn't detect a European accent!😀

Rock Pipit

At this point I spotted another guy with a camera on the west side of the valley, focusing intently on something on the ground, I realised it was Simon, I've met him before a couple of times and know he is interested in reptiles, I know there are Adders at Seaford Head, I've been told by lots of people but have never managed to see one here!! I hurried over and sure enough he had an Adder in view, he showed me two in the end but said he'd seen more and a couple of Lizards!! Considering they were just laying there sunbathing they were very difficult to get sharp pictures of, due to the ground clutter, but you can tell what they are. Very impressive critters and without doubt the highlight of the walk.

Adder

We wandered up the west side looking for more, we were buzzed by a Peregrine, going like the clappers, the only sharp pictures were the ones where half the bird was out of shot!!😢 I said goodbye to Simon, with much appreciation for his skill in finding the Adders and more importantly showing them to me!! I headed towards the Golf course in a last ditch attempt to find a Wheatear, failed miserably though the Peregrine buzzed me again, which was nice!! Lots of Pipits and Skylarks but none posed for pics, looped back to the car park, the Dungheap held a single Rock Pipit and that was that!!