Saturday 12th February 2022.

The Hooded Crow at Polegate showing well by McDonald's.

Fresh from a good sleep overnight, Andy and myself made the trip down to the Eastbourne area for a trio of superb ‘year-ticks’. Over the past week, an American Robin was, it seemed, right at home on a stretch of grass and bushes near a housing estate, pulling in a steady stream of admirers and this morning was no exception. For a supporting cast, there was the Hooded Crow that had taken up residency at the Polegate Services and finally, a Hume’s Leaf Warbler (or Hume’s Yellow-browed Warbler), which was going to be the trickiest bird to see in windy conditions off Bolsover Road.

The Hooded Crow at Polegate Services. 

The American Robin at Eastbourne showing well. 

Our first port of call was for the Hooded Crow at Polegate Services and though the drive was relatively easy, some daft idiot nearly crashed into us when a stretch of the A27 went from two lanes into one. If I never swerved out of the way in time, she would have smashed right into my car, so you can imagine how angry I was. It just goes to show how dangerous the roads are, even when things seem so calm. The weather was looking good with bright sunshine and a little wind, but once that sun hid behind a cloud, it got a lot colder.

The American Robin blending in to the background.

Negotiating the roads to the Polegate Services was easy enough and on arrival, we spotted a group of birders looking at something up in a nearby tree. It was the Hooded Crow and so I pulled over, grabbed my camera and reeled off several photos of this smart bird. I know this sounds a little ‘twitchy’, but there is not a lot of excitement in watching Crows and so we spent all of 5 minutes here and then headed off into Eastbourne. Yes, Hooded Crows are very scarce this far south and thoughts are that it is a European bird that has flown over. There was a McDonalds close by and probably enjoying picking up all the scraps that people leave behind. 

A rear view of the American Robin.

We soon reached the west end of Hill Road and we were lucky enough to find a convenient parking spot in which to make our way to join the main throng of birders. Best behavior was called for in places like this and from what I could see, all the birders (probably about 60+ ) behaved themselves admirably. We did not have to wait too long when the shout went up that the American  Robin was showing again and though not easy at first, it was perched at the base of a dead tree at first, then it popped out and started feeding typically ‘thrush-like’ on the grass. I managed to grab quite a few half-decent photos of the bird before we made our way back to the car. This was a ‘lifer’ for Andy though this was my second in the UK, after the Cornwall bird I saw many years ago.

Another photo of the American Robin. 

Letting others enjoy the American Robin (and many thanks to the local residents for putting up with the deluge of birders present should be mentioned), Andy and I went for our third ‘year-tick’, the very elusive Hume’s Leaf Warbler. The ‘Sat Nav’ took us to Bolsover Road and carefully parking up, we followed some birders to where the bird was seen last. We made one of the ‘Lazee Birders’, James and his son, at the location from where it was last seen and he told me that he hardly got a sighting of it though the bird was frequently calling. It didn't take long for the 50+ birders to scramble over to where the bird was calling, but with the wind coming in off the sea and bright light, it was going to be very difficult to view the bird and so it turned out.

A Red Kite over countryside at The Burgh. 

The bird led everyone a merry dance by flying from one area to another, but with the trees and bushes swaying in the wind and the bird falling silent now and then, it was difficult to locate, but every time the bird started calling (the call was somewhat not as high as the Yellow-browed Warbler), everyone, including us, would rush over to try and view the bird, but even this proved difficult to try and view. I got around three views of the bird, the last of which was the best one when I spotted it coming out of cover in some vegetation. It was damn cold here too and so after 45 minutes or so, we made our way back to the car. I had a  quick check on Bird guides for anything else to go for, but it was quiet in the area and so I made a decision to go to Burpham in West Sussex for potentially more ‘year-ticks’.

Andy enjoying the view up at The Burgh.

Sadly, the Bewick Swans were not showing in the fields west of the Church, but a pair of Little Egrets were seen walking around the sheep. We did see a few Mute Swans in the area and a few distant Swans, but without my scope, there was really no telling what species they were. We parked up by the ‘triangle’ and took a slow  walk up Peppering Lane, enjoying the many raptors on show this afternoon. The main species seen were Red Kites, which seemed to be everywhere (one stretch of sky held 5 birds at one stage) along with the Common Buzzards, they all put on a good spectacle. We were hoping for Hen-Harrier or Merlin, but we were not to be lucky on those species. At least two female Sparrowhawks were also seen along with at least 4 Kestrels, but best of all was a male Peregrine that flew high south and even took a stoop at a Common Buzzard below it! I told Andy that young Buzzards get killed by Peregrines should the youngsters stray into a Peregrine's territory.

A Common Buzzard perched on a distant fence.

There was surprisingly not a great deal else to be seen, with very few passerines around; though we did see a few Reed Buntings, three Pied Wagtails in a sheep field, a flock of Starlings  and the occasional Chaffinch. The area was good for Grey Partridge but apart from a very distant bird, which I think was one judging by the colour, but it was too distant to be certain. Andy spotted a Red-legged Partridge from the car as we were leaving. Large Gull flocks drifted out of the valleys heading south and most likely were to make their way to the harbours to the south after feeding out in the countryside. Even the regular Corn Buntings did not show today either, which was disappointing, but I am sure another trip here later in the year will reveal one or two. It was 3pm by the time we left here and it was certainly getting colder and so made our way back home with three very good ‘year-ticks’ under my belt.

Another Red Kite drifting high overhead.

The trip back was not without incident either as one dangerous driving dickhead got far too close to my car on the A27. I am seriously considering putting cameras in both my cars as the level of dangerous driving on the roads now is getting ridiculous. Thankfully, Andy took the registration plate of the idiot on the A27 and so we shall see what the Police will do there. I will not hold my breath on this one. I really do not want to write about incidents like this, but it is getting more common on our roads and with the new Highway Code laws that have come in, I honestly think the world has gone mad.