Saturday 29th April: Hope Gap And White-crowned Sparrow

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 Tim and I were leading an Sdos walk at Hope Gap Seaford, which coincidentally was the location if a ‘mega’  species, a White-crowned Sparrow, normally found in America and not the UK. This bird is not to be confused with the White-throated Sparrow, another American vagrant which we twitched with Andy last year. I confess I hadn’t realised this was a new bird, or I may have dragged Tim over a lot sooner, with it having been reported several days ago.

The site was very busy with birders from as far afield as Cornwall. Sue managed a photo before we arrived, but with a party of seven in tow and a swarm of photographers we had to settle for short but decent views of the bird. As you can see, I was rather chuffed with this lifetime tick!

White-crowned Sparrow
Leaving the twitch

Aside from this rarity, we had an enjoyable walk with a good mix of species seen. The outing is planned to coincide with Spring migration and we were serenaded throughout by scritchy scratchy Whitethroats which were plentiful. Blackcaps were also present as we descended through the scrubland, and by the Coastguard Cottages a Lesser Whitethroat also posed briefly on a flowering hawthorn. As we climbed back up past Harry’s Bush a few Willow Warblers were chasing insects, and we enjoyed hearing their melodic descending call for the first time this year.

Willow Warbler


In the more open, grassy areas we had excellent views of both Meadow and Rock Pipits, enabling us all to compare and contrast their plumage features and size and structural differences. 

Rock Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Stonechats and a Wheatear were seen, plus our first Whinchats of the year. Fulmars circled around the cliffs and we were able to see a few pairs nesting on the sandy cliff face. Linnets and Greenfinches looked resplendent in their fresh summer moult.  A small group of Whimbrel flew past out at sea and half a dozen summer plumaged Dunlin were foraging at the edge of the River Cuckmere. To add to the springtime atmosphere a few Swallows passed overhead. A few of us then headed down to Splash Point where we found Kittiwakes had returned to their colony and we enjoyed brilliant scope views of these enchanting gulls. We ended the day with around 45 species, and a number of new ticks!

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