Snipe + buntings at Alciston

A late-afternoon visit to my old patch at Alciston made me happy – in the tiny reedbed I used to keep an eye on, a single Common Snipe, at least a dozen Reed Buntings going to roost, and half a dozen Yellowhammers in the nearby hedgerows (with perhaps twice that number in surrounding fields). Good [...]

Turtle Dove at Berwick Station

One or two Turtle Doves singing at the Old Brickyard, adjacent to Berwick train station, this morning. Also Bullfinch, Cuckoo, Reed Bunting and several Whitethroats and Blackcaps, but the Willow Warbler present last month wasn’t heard, and not so much as a sqeak from a Nightingale – has anyone heard them yet at this site [...]

Black Kite at Seaford

A Black Kite reported at Seaford just before 9am this morning (via Birdguides).
Nothing quite so exciting at Arlington Reservoir this morning, but a very brief visit produced five Shoveler on the water, and singing Reed Bunting and Linnet near the car park.
Nearby at Berwick Station, a Whitethroat and a Willow Warbler singing, [...]

Ouse Valley, Tuesday

A good selection of birds between Southease and Lewes a couple of days ago (reported by Jeremy Patterson, via SOS sightings):
Cetti’s Warbler and Chiffchaff heard at Southease. Passerine flock still evident at Rodmell with good numbers of Corn and Reed Buntings and Sky Larks. Male and female Merlin there with up to 4 Common Buzzards, [...]

Still Plenty at Rodmell

Lots of the good stuff still at Rodmell this afternoon, in a biting easterly.
First up, a Buzzard, a Mistle Thrush and a few Fieldfares around the car park at Monk’s House, then a pair of Peregrines chasing down (but failing to catch) an unidentified wader – the female bird was later seen making off [...]

Rodmell Brooks

I found this Buzzard sat out in a field and then perched in adjacent tree near Southease as I headed along the C7 towards Rodmell.
Two Water Rail and a Kingfisher seen in the brook alongside the path, a Buzzard was perched on a bush top looking back towards the village a Sparrowhawk on a fence [...]

Rodmell Brooks

Late afternoon over a very cold and dreary brooks – 1 Common Buzzard sitting as usual on the telegraph poles leading northwest,60+ Corn Bunting,Yellow  Hammer,Reed Bunting,Linnet,Redwing and Stonechat around the stubble field and the male Merlin moving over the area northof the path.