An excellent January sea-watch this morning. Putting it into the Sussex context a quick comparison to the Sussex Bird Report 2010 shows the largest published January movements for that year of Red-throated Divers was 76E on 10th (although we recorded 416W past Birling on 1/1/11 per JFC's summary http://beachyheadbirding.blogspot.com/ ), of Gannets was 140W on the 15th, the largest January site total of westerly moving Shelducks was only 30, the largest movement of Razorbills was 49W on the 29th, only 3 Bonxies were noted in the County in January (although we recorded 3 off Birling last January per JFC's summary) and no Pomarine Skuas were seen before April. A pity that the onset of heavy rain and poor visibility arrived at 12.30pm today.
Red-throated Diver 7E, 91W, c.9 on sea
Great Crested Grebe 5W, 3 on sea
Fulmar 2E, 9W
Gannet 36E, 422W
Cormorant 2E
Brent 4E, 8W
Shelduck 39W (5,4,1,1,5,6,7,1,9)
Wigeon 5E
Scoter c.12 on sea
Oystercatcher 3
Curlew 3E, 4W
Bonxie 1W at 11.42am ex.
Pomarine Skua 1E juv. at 12.03pm ex. intermediate morph
Black-headed Gull c. 20 off Birling
Common Gull c.400 in fields then onto sea off Birling
Herring Gull 60 on beach
Great Black-backed Gull c.15 offshore
Kittiwake 11E, 61W
Auk sp. 7E, 24W
Guillemot 1E, 2W
Razorbill 13E, 64W, c.8 on sea
Rock Pipit 2
Meadow Pipit 3
Pied Wagtail 1
Dunnock 1
Magpie 3
Jackdaw c.20
Carrion Crow 5
Starling c.15
Gannet off Birling Gap
Gannets predominated in today's westerly movement, and whilst the majority were adults, all age groups were represented including this immature.
