15th January 2012 Birling Seawatch 8am - 11.15am E2 Clear & Cuckmere

Ditchling Common
Woodcock 1 ex.

Red-throated Diver 8E, 3W, 1 on sea
Great Crested Grebe 5E, 1W
Gannet 121E
Little Egret 1 west along beach
Brent 513E
Eider 1E drake
Scoter 3 on sea
Velvet Scoter 2E females 9.35am ex.
Wigeon 14E
Shoveler 5E
Arctic Skua 1E d/p at 9am ex.
Kittiwake c.60E
Guillemot 15E, 6 on sea
Razorbill 9E
Auk sp. 82E, 5W
Chiffchaff 1 ex.

Brent Geese passing Birling Gap

Chiffchaff at Birling Gap

Exceat Bridge
Yellow-legged Gull 2 first-winters

 First-winter Yellow-legged Gull in the Cuckmere

A different first-winter Yellow-legged Gull in the Cuckmere

14th January 2012 Birling Gap 8am - 9.30am NE1 Clear, Pett & Dungeness

Red-throated Diver 8E
Great Crested Grebe 2W, 1 on sea
Heron 1W
Brent 42E, 2W, 1 on beach
Shelduck 1E
Scoter 4E, 3 on sea
Pintail 1E drake
Wigeon 2E
Razorbill 38E, 5 on sea
Guillemot 1E, 1 on sea
Auk sp. 29E, 66W
Scandinavian Herring Gull 1 on beach
Red-legged Partridge 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Skylark 50
Treecreeper 2
Linnet 8

Scandinavian Herring Gull at Birling Gap

Pett

White-fronted Goose 12

Pink-footed Goose 4

Bar-headed Goose 1

Ruddy Duck 5

 Pink-footed Goose and White-fronted Goose at Pett

Pink-footed Geese at Pett

Dungeness
Goldeneye c.15
Long-tailed Duck 1
Marsh Harrier 2
Scandinavian Herring Gull 3
Caspian Gull 1 1w ex.
Glaucous Gull 1 2w
Chiffchaff 1
Cetti's Warbler h
Tree Sparrow 8

First-winter Caspian Gull at Dungeness

Drake Goldeneye at Dungeness

8th January 2012 New Forest Calm and warm

Goshawk 3 (2 males and a female in the air together)
Slate-coloured Junco 1 first-winter male ex.
Crossbill c.20
Siskin 1

 First-winter male Slate-coloured Junco in the New Forest

Now that Dorset, Hampshire and Kent have each all played host to three of these attractive Nearctic stowaways, perhaps a second in Sussex is not as fanciful as it once seemed... here's hoping!

Male Crossbill in the New Forest

7th January 2012 Birling Gap Seawatch W3 Clear 8.15am-9.30am

Red-throated Diver 3E, 17W
Great Crested Grebe 1E, 2W, 2 on sea
Gannet 2W
Cormorant 6W
Brent 4W
Scoter 3E, 5 on sea
Pintail 4W (3 drakes)
Lesser Black-backed Gull 3W
Kittiwake 1E, 15W
Guillemot 2W
Auk sp. 5E, 11W
Stonechat 3
Treecreeper 2
Linnet 25
Raven 1

Reed Bunting at West Rise Marsh

2nd January 2012 Birling Gap Seawatch 7.45am - 9.15am W4 Clear

Red-throated Diver 7E, 4W, 3 on sea
Great Crested Grebe 3W, 1 on sea, 8 on sea off Cow Gap
Fulmar 1E, 3W
Gannet 7E, 5W
Cormorant 2E, 2W, 1 on sea
Little Egret 1 Cow Gap
Brent 1W
Scoter 1E, 4W, c.12 on sea
Pheasant 1
Pomarine Skua 1E juv. at 8.07am ex. pale morph
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1E ad.
Kittiwake 7E, 4W
Auk sp. 6E, 1W
Razorbill 8W, 3 on sea
Woodpigeon c.5
Green Woodpecker 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Skylark c.60
Robin 2
Stonechat 1 female
Blackbird 1
Goldcrest 1
Wren 1
Great Tit 3
Blue Tit c.3
Treecreeper 2
Jay 1
Chaffinch c.6
Linnet 4
Goldfinch 1

Female Stonechat at Birling Gap



1st January 2012 Birling Gap Seawatch 8am - 12.30pm SW4 Overcast

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.

31st December 2011 Pagham & Widewater

Green Sandpiper 1
Spotted Redshank 1
Black-tailed Godwit c.100
Kingfisher 1

 Kestrel at Pagham

 Spotted Redshank at Pagham

Black-tailed Godwit at Pagham

Widewater
Little Egret 3
Snow Bunting 2 ex.

Snow Buntings at Widewater