Seawatch at Climping this morning produced, 1e Black-throated Diver 4w 2e Red-throated Diver, 22 Great-crested Grebe, 50+ Red-breasted Merganser, 45e BrentGoose 5 Common Scoter, 4 Mediterranean Gull, 75+ Auk sp east, and good numbers of Gannets offshore, 1 Rock Pipit, 4 Grey Partridge, 15 Linnet in the setaside and 2 Buzzard.

4 Swan day today as i decided to check out the 5 Whooper Swans at Barnham, also 1 Bewick, 1 Black and 53 Mute swan, also 33 Lapwing and 1 Buzzard.


Popped into Marsh Farm no sign of the Smew, very quiet, with only 7 Grey Partridge, 3 Pochard, and 2 Tufted Duck.

Onto Burton Mill for a brief view of a Bittern flying out of the reedbed at 1710

29th Jan 2011

Sea watch at Climping beach for an 1hour or so in the bitterly cold wind produced, 2 Slavonian Grebe, at  least 30 Great Crested offshore from the car park this morning, also 50+  Gannets feeding distantly offshore, 4 Red-throated Diver, 40+ Red-breasted Mergansers, 30e Brent Geese, 4e 2w Mediterranean Gull, 12 Common Scoter, 1e little Egret, and 10 fieldfare in the setaside.

Decided to check the sea again at midday, and with the high tide approaching  and a flat calm sea making viewing easier the, following was recorded.  3-4 Slavonian Grebe, 3 Red Throated Diver, 2 Gadwall, 40 Great Crested grebe, 60 Red Breasted Mergansers, 4 Mediterranean Gull,  4e Common Scoter, 12 Gannet, 70w Oystercatcher, and 30w Sanderling

Late morning stroll around Black Ditch this morning all the flooded fields containing loads of Gulls but nothing noteworthy, did find 1 Water Rail, 1 Little Egret, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Bullfinch, 4 Jay, 1 Goldcrest, 2 Buzzard, 50 Fieldfare, 60 Redwing, 12 Meadow Pipit and 3 Teal.

2-3 Slavonian Grebe offshore this morning amongst  good numbers of both Great C Grebe and Red B Mergansers, also 1 Eider on the flat calm sea. Several Auk sp moving east along with a couple of Gannets. At least 10 Grey Partridge in fields around the patch this morning could have been as many as 15, and a couple of Redwing at Baliffscourt.

A walk around the eastern end of the patch this morning and a  flock of 15 Diver sp high and east caught my eye as I approached the river mouth. 1 Grey Heron on the break water along with 100+ Turnstone 50+ Grey Plover and Several sanderling on the tideline. Best of the rest being 2 Great S Woodpecker, 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Goldcrest a Kingfisher on the golf course and Peregrine on the gas meter.

Quick look at the sea from the car park very this morning and with only 1 Eider, 8 Mediterranean Gull, 10 Red B Merganser and 1 Great C Grebe, 30 Fieldfare and several Redwing in the  fields.

Onto the farm and still present was the Redhead Smew along with 6 Pochard and 5 Tufted Duck.

Late morning visit to the farm produced a nice suprise in the form of a Red headed Smew with Pochard Teal and Tufted Duck, but flew off when shooting started. Also 1 Green Sandpiper flushed from the bank, and good numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare in the area, and a Water Rail screaming from the ditches.

Apologies for the poor record shot.

Quick look at the sea from the car park late morning produced 2 Red-Throated Diver offshore with 3E also 1E Diver sp. 6 Common Scoter, 1 Razorbill 1 Great C Grebe and 6 Mediterranean Gull among the Common and Black H Gulls close inshore. 1 Rock Pipit 1 Sparrowhawk and 5 Grey Partridge was the best of the rest.

A SMEW reported on the river arun heading north from the new england college this morning.

24 Dec 2010
Just to say I was in the right place at the right time on the 24th December, when the c35 Waxwings flew east across Climping car park. Great patch tick. Minutes earlier I'd missed the 21 reported also moving east, and was stomping about cursing and swearing, so couldn't believe my luck when a second flock passed over.