Of Birds & Cake the Blog of Paul: The Battles Of Seaford Head

With news of a South-eastly at Seaford Head, felt a Seawatch could be in order, wrong!!!😢started well enough, cracking sunrise, though no pics as due to getting up late I was still on the 27 when it happened😲 Seawatch started well with 20 odd Red-throated Divers through, mostly in ones n twos, though a group of 6 and another of 4 were of interest, all in the first half hour!! Sadly all very distant, as were a big flock of Scoter going West!! But after about 3/4 of an hour it went totally dead😢 except for a few Gannets!!I also had a look for the Black Redstart that has been reported a few times, this bird is reported as elusive!! Elusive? Lord Lucan was elusive this bird is the Barstard child of Shergar and the Marie Celeste,😱 it's never there when I'm there!!

Red-throated Divers

Common Scoter, bit distant😂

Newhaven with Brighton behind

So disappointing, no Brent Geese on the move or Med Gulls, so what to do? Decided to walk to the Cuckmere in the hope of an early Wheatear, 3 reported from Littlehampton had me hopeful!! Obviously there is just the issue of the bloody great hill, but I skipped up that pausing momentarily to take a few pictures of the Kittiwakes! (Translation I got halfway up and had to stop, in order not to die!!😢 although my new diet and exercise regime has seen me re-enter the 13 stones for the first time in a couple of years! Hurrah!!)

Kittiwake

Starling

Newhaven and Brighton from higher up!!

Reaching the top, I could hear Skylarks and Meadow Pipits all about and soon spotted a couple of Skylarks having a right old battle, a real brutal encounter!!

Belle Toute

Skylark, minding it's own business!

Let battle commence

It was ferocious but both survived intact!

Meadow Pipit, several displaying

I walked on to Hope Gap, a pair of Ravens flew along the cliff edge but kept dipping below the edge every time I tried to get a pic, frustrating! Hope Gap was fairly quiet, only one pair of Stonechats, a big decrease on a couple of weeks ago, maybe all the rest have headed north back to breeding grounds? Several Fulmars flying about near the steps and several Curlew out on the rocks!

Stonechat

Curlew

Fulmar

Stonechat

I headed down to the Cuckmere, a couple of Long-tailed Tits were entertaining and the first Rock Pipits of the walk I found were on the beach, a scan of the Cuckmere, revealed a few Curlews, lot's of Canada Geese and a big flock of Gulls which at extreme distance seemed mostly Great Black-backed Gulls!

Long-tailed Tits

Rock Pipit

Redshank

I headed back, Fulmars performed well and more Skylarks and Pipits were singing and displaying!

Fulmar

Skylark

I headed back through Hope Gap, the Stonechats were further up the slope and a Rock Pipit was along the cliff face. A Peregrine patrolled the cliffs and there were Lambs

Peregrine

Rock Pipit

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

As I neared the Seaford end of the walk, I once again heard the kronk of a Raven, looking up it was flying straight towards me, right ya bugger I'm gonna get you this time, I was about to get the shot, when out of nowhere the Peregrine stooped in an attacked it, carnage ensued, a Battle Royale! In truth it wasn't much of a contest the sheer aggression of the Peregrine coupled with it's awesome speed and manoeuvrability meant the Raven hit the deck pretty quick, landing on a post and screaming it's defiance at the circling Peg!! which quite handily was circling right over my head!!

Incoming Raven

Peregrine launching an attack

Stooping in!

Disgruntled Raven

What an awesome bird!!

Fantastic action, Peregrines really are the best!!!

I headed back down the head, stopping again to play with the Kittiwakes!

Kittiwake

At the bottom, I went and had another look for the Black Redstart, predictably no sign, however a very good walk, the Raven/ Peregrine duel will live long in the memory!!!!

When I got home, it was time to make the Christmas Pudding, yes I know it's March, but trust me giving it lots of time to mature pays dividends, I do the Mary Berry one, the downside is it takes 8 hours to steam, I know!! 8 fecking hours, but it tastes so good! This year I've had to swap in Gluten Free flour, so put an extra egg in, so fingers crossed, plenty Brandy in it anyway so it can't go that wrong!