Newhaven Tide Mills with the Ashdown Bird Group

 

  

Friday 31st October 2025

Newhaven Tide Mills, Sussex

Ashdown Bird Group

09.00 to 12.30                                                                                                                                        

7 members present

 

Trip Report

We were fully justified in going ahead with this morning’s walk. The rain that had been forecast didn’t arrive until 11:00, by which time we had completed most of our route and enjoyed some excellent birding.

 

Route Map

 

 

We parked in the main car park on the A259 Seaford Road and walked towards the sea. After crossing the railway line, we headed west to survey the vegetated area south of Mill Creek. We reached the East Pier before the rain began. On the return leg, we followed the coastal path east, before returning to the car park via the Sussex Ouse Valley Way.

 

We had an early flurry of activity.

• We were greeted by the sound of skylarks.  Soon after, we saw several flying around, the first of several sightings.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

 

• There was a small group of red-legged partridges at the far end of the field just west of the car park.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

 

• We had our first sighting of goldfinches as they flew together, occasionally perching in the nearby trees.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

• High above us, a wader flew by — it turned out to be a snipe.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

• Shortly afterwards, a low-flying raven caught our attention.

Courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

 

Mill Creek proved to be surprisingly quiet.

• There was only a single redshank in view, and it soon flew away and out of sight.
• As a consolation, shortly afterwards, we saw a kestrel flying overhead.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

• A brief seawatch yielded a distant glimpse of two gannets.

The area of vegetation to the south of Mill Creek was home to more birds.

• Several stonechats caught our attention at the start.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

• A charm of 10+ goldfinches flew overhead, followed by a flock of linnets.
• We saw our first greenfinches just as we left this area.

 

Approaching the industrial zone near the East Pier, we encountered even more species.

• A curlew flew overhead.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

• In the compound, there were several gulls, including a common gull and this great black-backed gull.

Courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

 

The East Pier provided today’s main highlights.

• As we neared the pier, the concrete supports just above the waterline were alive with activity—turnstones and purple sandpipers busily foraging along the damp surfaces.
• Just before we entered the pier, we caught a brief glimpse of a rock pipit by the water’s edge in the adjacent compound, moments before it disappeared from view.
• As we continued along the pier, we observed a steady succession of turnstones and purple sandpipers, below us - at least four of the latter, and slightly more of the former. Their presence came as something of a surprise, given the absence of any recent reports of their return.

Courtesy of Ian Hodgson

Courtesy of Ian Hodgson

 

Courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

 

Courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

 

The following sequence of images from Phil shows the Purple Sandpiper probing the barnacle shells looking for food.

 

• As we walked back along the pier, while checking our sandpiper count, we saw an oystercatcher flying over the harbour.

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

 

 

The predicted bad weather finally kicked in, bringing heavy showers during the return leg. Nevertheless, we pressed on, and there was one more significant moment before we reached the car park.

• Tim pointed out a group of 15+ ringed plovers on the shingle beach by the eastern path - a close-up of one of them is shown below.

 

Courtesy of Phil Aylen

 

 

 

Against all the odds, we had pulled off a lovely birding trip today - thanks, John and Martin.

Thanks also to our photographers today: Ian, Patrick and Phil.

 

Bob Hastings

2nd November 2025

 

Courtesy of Ian Hodgson

 

 

Species List

Name:	Count		Name:	Count
Black-headed Gull	1		Magpie	21
Blackbird	2		Meadow Pipit	22
Blue Tit	3		Mute Swan	23
Carrion Crow	4		Oystercatcher	24
Cetti's Warbler	5		Purple Sandpiper	25
Common Gull	6		Raven	26
Cormorant	7		Red-legged Partridge	27
Curlew	8		Redshank	28
Dunnock	9		Ringed Plover	29
Gannet	10		Robin	30
Goldfinch	11		Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon	31
Great Black-backed Gull	12		Rock Pipit	32
Great Tit	13		Rook	33
Greenfinch	14		Skylark	34
Grey Heron	15		Snipe	35
Herring Gull	16		Starling	36
House Sparrow	17		Stonechat	37
Jackdaw	18		Turnstone	38
Kestrel	19		Woodpigeon	39
Linnet	20

 

Species count = 39

 

This picture of a gull flying was the subject of some debate when Patrick posted it on our WhatsApp site asking for help with the ID.  The consensus of opinion was that it was a young common gull.

Courtesy of Patrick Sullivan

2025 species count = 196

Twitching!

Monday 26th October 2025

Woods Mill near Henfield, Sussex

A report came up on Bird Guides of a rare shrike at the Sussex Wildlife Trust headquarters at Woods Mill, so I went down there mid-afternoon and joined a group of birders who were already watching the bird. 

It was perched on a prominent bare branch, quietly going about its business.  After a while, it took flight but soon returned.  

Richard, a friend from the Weir Wood group, kindly agreed to let me show his images of the bird, and these are shown below.

Courtesy of Richard Allan

Courtesy of Richard Allan

Courtesy of Richard Allan

The tricky bit is to identify which shrike this is.  At the moment, it is listed as Isabeline/Red-tailed Shrike and will remain so until DNA tests or otherwise can split these two possibilities.  

Watch this space!

Monday 26th October 2025

Mill Pond, Crawley, Sussex

Having seen the shrike at Woods Mill, I just had enough time to drive up to Crawley to catch the Ring-necked Parakeet roost at Mill Pond. 

• I joined Alastair, another friend from the Weir Wood Reservoir group.  He was counting the birds as they flew in, over the lake and into the trees, 50 metres or so from our position on the boardwalk.  He had counted over 250 by the time I got there.  My take was a mere 5-10!  

• Alastair then took me round to the roost area, where we saw the birds frantically moving around, preparing for the nighttime roost.

What a spectacle - thanks Alastair!

2025 species count = 196

195 Isabelline/Red-tailed Shrike

196 Ring-necked Parakeet.