Little Egret 1E with the Spoonbill
Eider 1 female on the sea
Hobby 1 in off
Arctic Skua 5E
Sandwich Tern 6E
Commic Tern 1E
Auk sp. 1E
Swift 5 (4 in off )
Swallow 5
House Martin 20 in off
Spotted Flycatcher 2
Corn Bunting 2
Dingy Skipper 1
Rodmell
Montagu's Harrier 1 ringtail first-summer female
Common Sandpiper 1
Wheatear 1
Ringtail first-summer female Montagu's Harrier at Rodmell
Just before 5pm, whilst approaching the riverbank a slim-line dainty buoyant ringtail Harrier appeared before flying up and over the riverbank. A dash to the top revealed no sign of it. We headed north and after c.10 minutes saw it again just north of the pumping station where it was hunting low over the adjacent field even very briefly settling on a couple of occasions. Here we soon saw the barred axillaries that we were confident identified it as a Montagu's. It then flew right past us but headed off in a northwesterly direction and low across the Rise heading towards Lewes Brooks. We remained in the area until 7pm before checking Lewes Brooks but unfortunately didn't see it again. Others looked unsuccessfully for it from the A27 layby. I find every small Harrier I see presents its own challenges... this one appears to be a first-summer female that most importantly has renewed its axillaries that readily identifies it as a Montagu's. It can be aged based on its retained juvenile dark-tipped primaries and juvenile secondaries that appear all dark when viewed from above and sexed by virtue of its renewed upper breast feathers being pale ochre with rufous brown streaks (grey in males), its iris colour that is clearly not bright yellow and its renewed brown (slightly protruding) central tail feathers.
