Saturday 2 January 2021
Newhaven
My exercise session today took me to Newhaven where my target species was Purple Sandpiper. This is my favourite place to see this lovely winter visitor and where most of my success has been in the past.
The weather was milder than yesterday but there was rain in the air.
Having read about recent sightings on both the west and the east quay, I started on the west side, also hoping to see Fulmars on the cliffs. I was out of my depth as to where to look for Purple Sandpipers - there were none on the tide line by the quay and I couldn't access the west quay itself. To make matters worse, there were no Fulmars flying around the cliffs.
- By way of compensation, I saw a male Stonechat and a Rock Pipit on the rocks beside the quay.
With the weather getting worse and the rain settling in I decided to switch to the east side - to my usual venue, hoping to gain access to the quay. Last time I was here there was no access to the quay because of lots of development work in the area. This time I was OK and access was allowed.
- Having checked the nearby tide line, I walked to the end of the quay and back but saw no sandpipers only a solitary Turnstone that popped up on one of the beams at ground level. I set up my scope some 50 metres east of the quay and scanned the lower reaches of the quay but still without success.
- I knew they were around, there had been regular sightings, so I decided to try again and walked along the quay once more. This time I saw a couple of Purple Sandpipers flying below the lowest part of the structure so I followed their path and soon located one, displaying beautifully below me. It had been hard work but well worth the effort.
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