Cuckmere Haven East with the Ashdown Bird Group - Friday 4th October 2024

 

Friday 4^th October 2024

Half-day visit to Cuckmere Haven

Ashdown Bird Group

(4 members present)

 

Trip Report

 

Today’s trip, the second of our supplementary Friday outings, was another particularly good event.  With a species count of just under 50, great company and fine weather we just about had it all.

 

Our route couldn’t have been simpler – we just followed the eastern path from the car park at Exceat down towards the sea.

 

 

 

Here are some of our highlights:-

·     Bird of the day for John was a whinchat that Martin spotted in the vegetation just after we left the car park.  Unfortunately we were unable to get a photograph.

·   My bird of the day however was spoonbill.  Two flew in as we reached Foxhole Bottom so we detoured to the banks of the river where we enjoyed excellent views of the birds.

 

 

·         It’s always nice to see a kingfisher and this morning we had several sightings of at least 2.

 

 

·         We did very well for waders with notable sightings of common sandpiper, redshank, dunlin and ringed plover but the star of the show had to be this greenshank.

 

 

·         The “cutest” sighting had to be this family of 8 little grebes

 

·         This area is a “hotspot” for rock pipits and we saw many.  Also seen were linnet, goldfinch, chiffchaff and, best of all this blackcap.

 

I’m sure I speak for all 4 of us in saying that this trip was both enjoyable and productive and firmly established the Friday outings as a valuable adjunct to our programme - thank you John. 

Thanks also to Martin for leading the group and for being our only photographer today.

 

Species list: 

Name:	Count:		Name:	Count:
Black-headed Gull	1		Little Grebe	26
Blackbird	2		Magpie	27
Blackcap	3		Meadow Pipit	28
Blue Tit	4		Moorhen	29
Canada Goose	5		Mute Swan	30
Carrion Crow	6		Pied Wagtail	31
Chiffchaff	7		Raven	32
Common Sandpiper	8		Redshank	33
Cormorant	9		Redwing	34
Dunlin	10		Ringed Plover	35
Dunnock	11		Robin	36
Goldfinch	12		Rock Pipit	37
Great Black-backed Gull	13		Rook	38
Great Tit	14		Shelduck	39
Greenshank	15		Skylark	40
Grey Heron	16		Spoonbill	41
Herring Gull	17		Starling	42
House Martin	18		Stonechat	43
Jackdaw	19		Swallow	44
Jay	20		Teal	45
Kestrel	21		Whinchat	46
Kingfisher	22		Wigeon	47
Lesser Black-backed Gull	23		Woodpigeon	48
Linnet	24		Wren	49
Little Egret	25

 

Species count = 49         

2024 species count=202