Seawatching at Splash Point, Sussex

Sunday 1^st May 2022,

Splash Point, Seaford

Ashdown Bird Group

(6 members present + 1 guest)

Trip Report

Late April/early May is prime time for seawatching with lots of stellar birds migrating east through the English Channel before heading up into the North Sea.  Splash Point, at the western foot of Seaford Head, is our nearest accessible site and was our preferred observation point today. 

We were not alone, of course; the regular seawatchers were there from dawn and took up the “posh seats” on the elevated concrete ramp/breakwater; we set up on the pebble beach to their right, alongside a large group of visiting SOS birders, who too were already in place when we arrived at 07.00. 

Weather conditions were quite favourable with a light southerly breeze and good visibility.

 

 

We were targeting skuas today and were hopeful of seeing up to 3 varieties.

·         Top of the list was the rarer pomarine skua.

·         We were also looking for the more common “bonxies” and Arctic skuas.

·         At least we could bank on seeing the breeding kittiwakes on the ledges of the nearby chalk cliffs - one of the few remaining sites in the whole of the south east where you can still see these beauties.

 

 

·         2 pomarine skuas had already gone through before we arrived but we didn’t have to wait long before another 2 appeared.  Within the next hour we saw another go through, then another. Eventually, most of us managed to see at least 5.  All in all it looks like at least 8 went through in the morning session alone – a really good passage.

 

·         The Arctic skua was the next skua seen, shortly after the first pomarine skua went through.  Of the 7 that went through I think most of us saw at least 3.

 

·         Surprisingly, the lowest skua count was the “bonxie” with only 3 passing through.

So within the first hour we had ticked off all our target species, the kittiwakes, of course, showing well  to our left throughout our stay. 

 

There were lots of other species around as well and the highlights are listed below:

·         The most ubiquitous was common scoter with numbers in the hundreds.

·         Sandwich tern numbers were also high, in the tens rather than hundres though.

·         One of the most interesting sightings was eider, a species not common here on the south coast  There were 10, including 5 drakes, floating on the sea to our right; they gradually drifted towards us, eventually passing by us to the east of  the breakwater.  Later on a group of 9, presumed to be a different flock, flew west.  

·         2 red-throated divers flew by.  Other divers were seen but they were too far out for anyone to make a reliable ID.

·         Gannets, whimbrel, brent geese, Mediterranean gulls, fulmars, black-headed gulls and common gulls were also noteworthy sightings.

·         We even had a couple of swallows arriving in off the sea.

·         A little egret and a couple of shelduck were pleasant surprises.

 

Not all the action was on the sea.

·         Most of us saw our first wheatear of 2022 when one showed well by the ruins of the old hotel above the kittiwake watch point.

·         A peregrine was also seen perched on the cliffs.

 

 

 

 

Our best seawatch to date!

 

Bob Hastings

05/05/2022

• On Tuesday ay Weirwood I heard my first garden warbler of 2022

Year total - 183