EASTBOURNE 2025
8th May - West Rise Marsh
The strong cold northerlies continue, unfortunately. A nice walk around early morning though produced my first HOBBY of the year, and there were lots of SWIFTS and just a few SWALLOWS low over the lake. Once again there was a sizeable flock of GULLS on the sheep field with unusually high numbers of LESSER BLACK BACKS. A single CASPIAN GULL was bird of the day.
5th May - Hampden Park, West Rise Marsh and Birling Gap
Early visits to the park and West Rise didn't produce much, but later in the morning I heard that the recent ICELAND GULL (which I didn't see very well a few days ago) had been found again in the ploughed fields at Birling. I got down there early afternoon and, true to form, it was flying off and disappearing for ages behind distant ridges. After a long wait, though, it flew in close to the road and performed outstandingly well!
30th April - West Rise Marsh
I was umming and aahing this afternoon about whether to go back to Birling to see some more POMARINE SKUAS, but finally decided to do West Rise again. And a jolly good job I did too as this resulted in a very rare patch tick, a not-very-superb GREY PLOVER moulting into summer plumage, trotting carefully around the flooded patch of field just south of the lake. Yis!
There were several SWIFTS and SAND MARTINS bombing about, an OYSTERCATCHER flew in, and a MARSH HARRIER was low over the reeds.
28th April - West Rise Marsh
Warm and sunny with no wind, great! The first SWIFTS of the year were wafting around high over the lake this morning. A GREEN SANDPIPER was heard and a nice RED KITE beat a steady path to the northeast.
25th April - West Rise Marsh
The ducks have almost all disappeared these days - I could only see 1 TUFTED DUCK out there this morning. A pair of OYSTERCATCHERS flew over and there were quite large numbers of gulls moving around between the sheep fields and the lake. A single YELLOW-LEGGED GULL was the bird of the day.
17th April - Hampden Park
A singing REED WARBLER this morning at the park,
first of the year. I should have mentionned that the
pair of EGYPTIAN GEESE has bred successfully
again - they were on show again today, ushering
around the 6 goslings.
15th April - West Rise Marsh
I've been wondering recently how I still haven't managed to see a WHEATEAR here yet this spring, but this morning a small bunch of 4 flushed up and flew onto the sheep field - about time too. Another year tick was a WHITETHROAT behind the beehives, and the light rain and grey clouds brought in plenty of hirundines again, mainly SWALLOWS, hawking low over the water.
Another GREEN SANDPIPER on site today, and there were singing SEDGE WARBLERS everywhere.
13th April - West Rise Marsh
Birds of the day were these CATTLE EGRETS
which flew around a bit before heading away
northwards - 12 is a good number in East Sussex,
and a record here for sure.
Otherwise not a lot going on - there are hardly
any DUCKS around these days, although a few
TEAL are still about behind the Lotty Pool.
3 very pinky-orange WATER PIPITS are still on site.
9th April - West Rise Marsh
It's been good birding these past few days - nothing rare but summer migrants arriving slowly. There were at least 3 singing SEDGE WARBLERS today and the first REED WARBLERS were found along the Lotty Sewer. A GREEN SANDPIPER was on site and, for the third day in a row, right on cue at about 9am, distant calls from MEDITERRANEAN GULLS could be heard, the birds eventually coming into view high overhead.
The grey clouds and a cold northerly this morning brought plenty of SWALLOWS and SAND MARTINS down to race low over the lake - unfortunately there was not a single red rump to be seen.
3rd April - West Rise Marsh
Nice and sunny again, but windy. Far fewer ducks around now but the warblers are coming in - both BLACKCAP and SEDGE WARBLER were singing. A WATER PIPIT today was looking great in (almost) full summer plumage, and 2 GREEN SANDPIPERS and this flock of 12 REDSHANKS flew up from the grassland south of the lake. A very odd and dirty-looking GULL (no idea what it is) was hanging out with a group of gulls on the other side of the Langney Sewer.
27th March - West Rise Marsh
Found two of the BLUE-HEADED WAGTAILS still on site this morning, each with a markedly different head pattern to the other. A single SWALLOW flew over and there were two SEDGE WARBLERS singing discreetly. Duck numbers are dropping by the day - just the one pair of GADWALL on the lake and not a sniff of any WIGEON.
26th March - West Rise Marsh
Walking into the car park just after dawn I could hear an unfamiliar babble and chatter coming from the long line of trees bordering the sewer. After a short while I realised they were REDWINGS, lots and lots of them, which neatly tied in to some Whatsapp messages last night talking of unprecedented numbers going overhead in the dark .
My real hope this morning, though, was finding at least one of the three BLUE-HEADED WAGTAILS that Al and Richard found yeterday afternoon. Luckily they were still there, and still clearly tied to where the cattle are roaming, the birds sometimes sitting tight in the long grass and snatching up at the passing insects - great stuff.
24th March - West Rise Marsh
A cold breeze was blowing under a roof of grey
cloud this morning, and things seemed to be really
happening at last. An early SEDGE WARBLER
sang from the reeds and this YELLOW WAGTAIL
was at Fisherman's Point.
Regular flocks of hirundines, the first of the year,
were blown in intermittently on the wind, almost
all of them SAND MARTINS but a fair few
HOUSE MARTINS and SWALLOWS also.
And in the space of a few minutes spectacular
numbers of COMMON GULLS appeared and
disappeared, wheeling around in flocks over the
lake before heading off towards the sea - never
seen so many here before!
23rd March - West Rise Marsh
Couldn't decide whether to go out this morning, what with rain forecast and grim-looking, grey drizzle outside. In the end I thought I'd try a couple of hours at the Rise and I'm jolly glad I did, as yesterday's superb BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL turned out to be still there in the grasses on the south side of the lake, running around obligingly amongst the cattle. It's a patch tick for me and was all the more interesting to watch for its having a white throat, suggestive of an even rarer subspecies. However some (especially first-summer males) are apparently found with this feature, and its call sounded exactly like the usual flava.
20th March - Beachy Head and West Rise Marsh
Some good seawatching early morning with Chris, James, Laurence and Richard. Tons of BRENT GEESE were moving east in long lines, smashing even further the Beachy Head spring record total - 15,253 so far apparently! There were good numbers of SCOTER also, with the odd SHOVELER, TEAL and PINTAIL sneaking in.
A brief tour of West Rise in the afternoon produced, yet again, not a single early summer migrant! 3 RED KITES drifted low to the northeast.
17th March - West Rise Marsh
The last few days have been pretty quiet - no sign at all of any early summer migrants although a few CHIFFCHAFFS were on site yesterday, one sporting a silver leg ring. A couple of YELLOW-LEGGED GULLS (this one here this morning) have livened things up a bit.
Hopefully things will pick up soon...apparently the recent cold northerlies are about to end tomorrow!
11th March - West Rise Marsh
Still lots of ducks on site, although interestingly
all of the WIGEON and GADWALL had moved
away from the main lake and onto the adjacent
flooded field - this REDSHANK was found there
amongst them, having been seen earlier flying
restlessly around the lake.
The highlight today though was a distant group
of 5 RED KITES, meandering around over
Shinewater.
27th February - West Rise Marsh
Quite good this afternoon with both CASPIAN and YELLOW-LEGGED GULLS dropping in briefly for a bath.
26th February - West Rise Marsh
Managed to get a couple of hours at the Rise this morning before a period of prolonged heavy rain set in. All the usual stuff with no surprises - nice to hear both REED BUNTING and MEADOW PIPIT singing at times. Good numbers of DUCKS on the lake, although notably fewer POCHARD and GADWALL today. A CASPIAN GULL was jumping about with the other gulls but didn't remain long.
25th February - Hampden Park
Superb views of the wintering WATER RAIL early in the afternoon.
There are several GREY HERON nests on the go at the moment, but no signs of any egrets nesting yet.
16th February - West Rise Marsh
A dull and grey morning, cold and windy. Several
skeins of CORMORANTS (more than I've ever seen
here before) flew south towards the coast, and this
solitary CURLEW flew up from a field and spent a
long time wandering around, calling overhead,
before it, too, disappeared towards the sea.
A single FIELDFARE on site was the first this year!
14th February - Hampden Park
Nice to see the two ringed BLACK-HEADED GULLS still around - EVP7 was here last Wednesday, and today I noticed TRR4 again, a bird almost 11 years old. It was ringed in Poland as a chick in 2014 and has since made multiple visits to the UK including Gravesend and the River Cuckmere!
2nd February - West Rise Marsh
Very little to write about these days - numbers of everything way down, and nothing really out of the ordinary.
Last week's abysmal weather appears to have ended so took an early morning stroll, meeting Al in the car park. The highlight was this excellent WATER PIPIT which, for once, spent many minutes parading bravely in the open.
23rd January - West Rise Marsh
It became very dark, gloomy and ominous this morning with the imminent arrival of Storm Éowyn, and just as the winds picked up and light rain began to fall there was suddenly a huge, teeming mass of restless gulls over the lake, as if they knew something was coming.
A little earlier I'd seen this GREAT EGRET standing in the middle of the sheep field, surely the same bird that's roosting at night at Hampden Park, just up the road.
20th January - West Rise Marsh & Hampden Park
Not much to report from an early walk around the
marsh - a flock of 6 flyover ROOKS was unusual,
and a MARSH HARRIER was perched up for a
long time on a distant fence post.
Bird of the Day was EVP7, on show again at the
pond in Hampden Park.
16th January - Hampden Park - West Rise - Sovereign Harbour
The GREAT EGRET was in Hampden Park again this morning roosting with 3 LITTLE EGRETS, and the WATER RAIL was on fine form also. A bit later Pete arrived in Eastbourne, making a rare visit, so we decided on a birding tour to West Rise and then the nearby Sovereign Harbour. The harbour was pretty devoid of birds as usual but a real surprise was this visibly very slightly injured (or tired?) KITTIWAKE which flopped down in front of us as soon as we arrived. After a minute or so it flew off, reassuringly strongly, to perch on a distant wall.
The earlier stop at West Rise had been very good indeed: on arrival we made a cursory scan for the recent BITTERN which, incredibly, was visible there again in exactly the same patch of reeds, perched half-way up and stretching its neck to have a good look around. There were fairly good numbers of bathing gulls (which included two CASPIANS) and Pete's much-wanted WATER PIPIT perched up briefly on a post.
14th January - West Rise Marsh
This was the scene early doors - just a few gulls out on the ice (with an ARGENTATUS in the middle), and ducks and geese huddled into a small patch of water. Many more gulls came in over the next couple of hours, including at least 2 CASPIANS. It was frustrating not to be able to read the leg ring on a distant GREAT BLACK BACKED.
The sun came out mid-morning and almost all the
ice had melted by the time I made a second brief
visit in the afternoon. Good job I went back there
actually as I bumped into Darren at Fisherman's
Point who, just moments before, had spotted a rare
BITTERN in the reeds - a patch tick!!
The bird eventually showed itself again and was
quite easy to see with the naked eye for a good 5
minutes or so as it clambered up a reed stem.
13th January - West Rise Marsh
Another cold morning - large parts of the lake were
frozen over which squeezed large numbers of gulls
and ducks into a fairly small area. Numbers of
SHOVELAR seemed particularly high (about 150)
and there were more GADWALL about as well.
The GOOSANDER was seen again briefly and the
BRENT GOOSE was in with the flock of CANADAS.
The nervous gulls were constantly exploding up
in a large flock and swirling around before settling
again. Among them were at least 2 CASPIAN
GULLS, one of which landed obligingly on the ice
next to a MEDITERRANEAN GULL.
There were probably more than 2 ARGENTATUS
herrings out there as well.
12th January - Hampden Park
Another freezing cold, sunny winter day. I got to the park just before dawn to find the GREAT EGRET still roosting in the frosty trees in the close company of 2 LITTLE EGRETS - really glad to get a record-shot at last of the big fella! I heard recently that the WATER RAIL which wintered two years ago was now back again, and I got lucky on my 2nd look from the footbridge over its favourite bit of stream.
Well over a hundred BLACK-HEADED GULLS were standing on the ice and I found this one sporting a silver ring numbered TRR4 - never seen this one before, and it was presumably ringed in the Netherlands along with its friend EVP7 (which I haven't seen for a couple of weeks).
9th January - West Rise Marsh
The BRENT GOOSE was there again this morning and it was a nice surprise to see the recent GOOSANDER still hanging around as well. It was with other ducks on the main lake early morning and I think it must have spent the night there. It promptly flew off, though, and pitched down in the sewer nearby - visibly it spends most of its day paddling up and down these narrow channels and away from open water (hence the very few sightings).
A pair of GOLDEN PLOVER flew over and I managed to sneak up close to one of 4 WATER PIPITS. Two of these were in amongst a bunch of passerines feeding avidly on the flooded spiky grassland: PIED WAGTAILS, MEADOW PIPITS, a STONECHAT and, surprisingly, a single CHIFFCHAFF.
7 January - Hampden Park & West Rise Marsh
I was at the park early doors, well before daylight, in the hope of seeing the CATTLE EGRET again, which was found roosting with the other egrets last Friday. Alas it was not to be - just 3 LITTLE EGRETS were there, slowly waking up and doing some stretches.
On then to West Rise which was quiet, the highlight being our friend the BRENT GOOSE, back again and munching away amongst 50 CANADA GEESE in the Sheep Field.
2nd January - West Rise Marsh
When I arrived this morning I realised my camera battery was
flat, so I had to use a mobile phone to get this amazing BRENT
GOOSE, a real rarity here, which was idly swimming about on the
flooded marshy area bordering the Sevenoaks Road.
Other than this, though, it was an unspectacular start to the new
year - just a couple of WATER PIPITS, one or two SNIPE and just
a handful of HERRING GULLS on the rather empty-looking lake.
