East Head

The brilliant sunshine and blue sky brought out the crowds at East Head yesterday.  The crowds of people and dogs on the beach did not put off flocks of up to fifty Sanderling feeding vigorously at the water's edge at low tide.  They skittered back and forth, probing into the sand with their beaks and pulling up nice juicy lugworms.  It was not just the kids and dogs running around that they had to put up with; Common and Black-headed Gulls were crowding in looking for the chance to snatch a worm away and sometimes they succeeded.  Why can't they get their own lunch?  You have to admire the sheer tenacity of these little birds as they make the most of the opportunity to feed while the tide is at its lowest and the sand is uncovered.  Among them were two birds with rings.  Both had a blue ring on the right leg and one had a white ring on the left leg and the other had a red ring on its left leg.

There was little to see on the dunes apart from a small flock of Skylarks and that is probably due to the high level of disturbance on this Christmas holiday.  Snowshill was also quiet with small numbers of Wigeon, Teal and Lapwing.  With the tide out there were plenty of feeding opportunities elsewhere.  Work on the new sea wall here has ended with some tree-planting and landscaping.  It should now start to settle in and it will be interesting to see what effect it has on bird numbers. There was a huge flock of Brent Geese on the meadows and many of these moved round to fields north.of Roman Landing.  It is one of the great sights and sounds of Sussex wildlife to see and hear these flocks on the move.

We walked round to Ella Nore, but with the tide out so far and all the birds feeding at the water's edge it was hard to make out what they all were, but there were lots of Dunlin, some Curlew, Redshank, Grey Plover, Oystercatcher and Shelduck.  While most waders feed on the most recently uncovered mud at the water's edge, Bar-tailed Godwits prefer to get right in the water and wade about.  There were no birds on Ella Nore itself, not surprising as the tide was out.  When it is in this gets very crowded and it is fascinating to watch flocks flying in and out and struggling to establish a space for themselves.