Friday 12th January 2024: Seaford Head and Cuckmere Valley

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 After a few family days in Shropshire it was good to get our birding again on a dry day. We parked by the barn at Seaford Head and walked down through Hope Gap to the sea. A few Fieldfares were foraging in the dense scrub beside the path, but it was otherwise very quiet on the passerine front. 

At the Hope Gaps steps, now closed off due to erosion, we were thrilled to spot a Great Northern Diver on the sea at fairly close range. Although we had excellent views of a bird at Southwick earlier in the month, it’s always a bonus to find your own bird.

Great Northern Diver

A pair of Stonechat entertained us, flitting back and forth between the gorse and ground, flicking their tails in the characteristic manner.  Another highlight here were Fulmars circling the cliffs with their distinctive stiff-winged flight pattern. As we rounded the cliff head towards the coastguard cottages we encountered several more soaring and settling on their usual nest site on the cliffs. They really are beautiful birds.


Fulmar

As we approached the valley, we scanned with the scopes picking up plenty of common waders, wildfowl and geese. In a distant pool a small wader caused us to ponder, but eventually it moved to a position where we were able to identify it as a bobbing Green Sandpiper.  Amongst the many Canada Geese we picked out a single Barnacle Goose, a Greylag and around half a dozen Brent Geese feeding on the grassland, together with a few Shelduck. There were plenty of Wigeon and a few tight groups of Teal in the ditches, together with an occasional Redshank.

Our target bird for the day was a long-staying Long-billed Dowitcher, but sadly we failed to find this, encountering a fellow birder who told us it had just been flushed by a Redshank. Despite waiting for some time it failed to reappear. An accommodating Rock Pipit at close range was some compensation and despite this disappointment we had an enjoyable day, a stunning setting despite the gloom, with a good number of birds.

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