Splash Point Seawatch and a dip on a rare bird.

Saturday 22nd April 2023

Splash Point, Seaford

Martin, Alison and I travelled down to Splash Point, at the western edge of Seaford Head, for an early morning seawatch where we met up with Mark and Alastair C joined us later on.  

The weather was dry with hardly any wind and it was a tad misty at the start - not ideal conditions for seawatching.

• First call was to the kittiwake colony on the nearby cliffs to see the hundreds of nesting birds - always a lovely sight!  

courtesy of Martin Jeffree

• While we were there we spotted a wheatear and an obliging rock pipit.

Then we took our seats for a 3-4 hour seawatch.  Fortunately for us Simon L was also there and we benefitted greatly from his knowledge and experience.

• It was good to start with my first sightings of fulmar this year as they glided past us intermittently.
• Whist Alison and I were watching the kittiwakes we missed the fly by of 4 Arctic skuas.  Another one flew by soon after we rejoined the group but I was unable to get a view.  It wasn't until much later that I finally got to get good views of 2 more that flew by.
• There was a steady passage of whimbrel all morning. 
• Scoters were the most common sighting with hundreds passing through at regular intervals.  Simon directed us to a group of at least 7 velvet scoters.
• Sandwich terns were also ubiquitous.
• We saw a couple of swallows, another wheatear on the beach, a pair of gadwall

The seawatch came to an abrupt end when news came through of a white-crowned sparrow sighting at Hope Gap just a few minutes drive from where we were. 

When we arrived the bird had gone missing and despite our best efforts we didn't have any luck.  

• I did see and hear my first whitethroat of the year.  In the next 2 hours or so, we came across many more.

courtesy of Martin Jeffree

After a walk round the area we returned to the sighting point only to find there had been no further sighting of the rare sparrow.  

Just as we were about to leave for home Martin and Alison thought they heard part of the bird song  so we waited a little longer hoping the bird would appear, but to no avail.

Of course, no sooner had we reached home, when reports came through of regular intermittent sightings!

Mixed fortunes today - but a lovely experience.

 2023 species count = 154