Coastal Birds

 It's that time of year when I turn my attention to the coastal birds.

9th April 2022

• Went down to Newhaven to see the fulmars before moving on to Seaford where I saw the nesting kittiwakes at Splash point.  No luck with black redstarts or purple sandpipers.

 

11th April 2022

Martin and I did a late afternoon seawatch at Splash Point and what a rewarding experience it turned out to be.

• I saw my first gannets of the year, mostly far out to sea but a few came in close.
• My first whimbrels of 2022 came by in flocks and looked spectacular as they flew past us heading east.  The lower image shows the kittiwakes floating on the sea. 

courtesy of Martin Jeffree

       

                                 

                                                                           courtesy of Martin Jeffree

• There were lots of terns around too, mostly sandwich terns but there were also some common terns.
• Incredibly there was a good passage of Arctic skuas and we saw at least 6.
• Pride of place though went to the 2 pomarine skuas we finally got to see after tracking their movement  along the south coast on WhatsApp from Selsey and Worthing.  Indications are that this is the earliest date on record that these lovely birds have been seen.

courtesy of Matt Eade and Twitter

What a great start to the seawatching season!

 Year total - 166