Brighton Marina

 With another grey day forecasts and not fancying another cold, grey day wading through mud, I decided to head down to Brighton Marina, chance of a Black Redstart, the regular Yellow-legged Gull and nice firm paths the main attractions! Unfortunately I missed the news of the Pied Wheatear at Seaford which would have been a lifer grrrrrrr!😡 Still it reappeared later so maybe a chance tomorrow!

I arrived quite early, walked from the multi-storey car park down the boardwalk and to the end of the East Arm, nothing of note in amongst the boats, Gulls and Cormorants, no Guillemots or Razorbills, didn't see anything much on the sea either. Did see some nice big fish and some very friendly Turnstones at the end of the arm, but no Purple Sandpipers. Didn't see the YLG either!

Cormorant

Possibly Mullet

Turnstone

Black-headed Gull

Turnstone

Headed back along the Arm, where it meets the land, I found the Yellow-legged Gull, which showed quite well, there was also a brief view of a Kingfisher!!!

Yellow-legged Gull

Kingfisher

A quality bird, with no Black Redstarts around the Marina I decided to do the Undercliff walk to Rottingdean, which I did!!! Kin miles!!! Couldn't find a Black Redstart, several Rock Pipits, Little Egrets, a couple of Herons, a Lapwing, small flock of Ringed Plovers, a small flock of Goldfinch and a pair of noisy Ravens the best of it!

Great Crested Grebe, about the only thing apart from Cormorants I saw on the Sea 

Med Gull, only saw the one

Rock Pipit

Goldfinches, halfway up the cliff

Little Egret

Heron staring out to Sea, possibly contemplating life's complexities or wondering where all the blooming Egrets are coming from!

Little Egret

Lapwing

Jackdaw, quite posy!

Ringed Plover

Oystercatcher

Rock Pipit

Proof I made it all the way!

Pied Wagtail, heard several flying over but this was the only one that posed

Raven

Seal loitering offshore

Rock Pipit

I headed back to the Marina and had another play with the YLG. 

YLG

Cormorant

Herring Gull

Not a bad wander about, 16000 steps, be nice to have a bit of Sunshine, but wasn't to gloomy on the coast!!!

Fairmile on a Grey Day

 News that there were Hawfinches back at Fairmile, decided my destination today. I have had mixed results there in the past and today was similar a grey, drizzly morning, 17000 steps walked most of it seemingly uphill!!😱 Did see some Hawfinches, luckily got lost on the way back to the car and had a lone bird sitting in a tree, it was joined by four more, the only other highlight was a 10 minute burst of Firecrest frenzy with up to 4 birds buzzing around me, typically halfway through this a Hawfinch landed in the tree above my head!! Few other bits seen, a flock of 7 Yellowhammers sat in a tree, a few Goldfinches flying about, couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, some Redwings, a Buzzard, a group of Ravens flew over, heard a Marsh Tit and a couple of Nuthatches, but most stuff was flighty and hard to get any sort of quality pics in the misty cloud!😢 Done me best though!

Don't think the Autumnal colours have been all that good this year

Buzzard

Yellowhammer

Chaffinch

Yellowhammer

Firecrest, typically difficult chasing each other around

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Hawfinch, typically landed as I was focusing on the Firecrests

Do love a Firecrest!! As said above got lost on the way back to the car which meant I walked into a Hawfinch sat in a tree. I'd seen a couple of distant flocks of 3 or 4 but this one was serenely sat eating something, shame the sun didn't come out!

Some striking Fungi

Hawfinch

Redwing

Difficult day, a lot of miles walked for not much reward, was probably the quietest I've seen it up there to be honest, except for the hundreds of Pheasants that seem to delight in flushing up from under my feet, nearly had several heart attacks. Not quite as scary though as having to walk back down the main road as I came out on the wrong footpath about a half a mile from the layby, the cars go past bloody quick and there is no verge😱😱, ended up buried in the hedge on a couple of occasions before making it back safely!!