Two Common Swifts zooming west over sister No.3 at 12.58 was easily the best from a hike from the Country Park Visitor Centre to Birling Gap today.

A rather damp Wheatear in Fishbourne Creek this afternoon.

Late morning I made my way to Barnham Brooks, which seems to be flooded fields. From my position, with thanks to a local birdwatcher, I saw 13 Little Egrets, a Shelduck, 3 Gadwall, two pairs of Lapwings, Skylarks, about 10 Wheatears (left pic, it seems a bumper spring for this species in Sussex), two Whinchats (both males (right pic)),Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers, Whitethroats, our three hirundines, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer.

Needing to recover from two hours of wind-blasted seawatching at Splash Point, two of us decamped to Arlington Reservoir. In the relative calm of the top of the dam wall we had good sightings of a pair of Common Sandpipers and lots of hirundines. Then our luck was really in as a male Garganey sailed into view. He was quite content just swimming around by himself and then in the company of the local Mallards.

A Yellow Wagtail flew low in off the sea calling near Worthing Pier early afternoon.

Regarding the roof nesting Great Black-backed Gulls in Worthing, I hadn't reaslised they were so scarce as breeders in Sussex until I looked in the latest bird report. The adults are still present on the rooftop on Selden Road today. Last year they fledged one young, and the previous year they had at least one chick but I didn't see whether it fledged or not. If they are successful this year I'll take photos. I'm happy to give the road address to county recorder if required.

The weather forecasts leading up to today's SOS seawatch at Seaford looked unpromising for sea passage but how wrong can you be? It was actually close to dire which made finding anything of interest a tall order for the 25 or so members of SOS and the Ashdown Bird Group that turned up to be wind-blasted and chilled on the shingle beach at Splash Point at 07:00. Apologies to those new to sea-watching - hopefully, they're not put off for life. The wind was moderate from the south-west becoming west later. Other than local birds, Gannets were in the majority with numbers picking up during the watch to give a total of 166E and 7W. There were also 8 Commic Terns (giving yesterday's total at Dungeness a run for its money), 19 Scoter, 39 Sandwich Terns and 9 Whimbrel plus singles of Red-throated Diver, Arctic Skua and Common Gull. Two Shelduck were circling the nearby cliffs and some of the birders present spotted an incoming Swallow and a Shag offshore along with a Common Seal. I may have missed other sightings as, with the group spread out along a line and the wind blowing hard, it was difficult to hear everything shouted out. Even in the annals of SOS sea-watches at Seaford, this was one of the worst that I can remember (though to be fair, there was one a few years back where two Greylag Geese flying west was the highlight). Fortunately, at 09:40, the rain that had threatened since the start put us all out of our misery and we fled. Our experience this morning was surely tempered by the seabird and passerine extravaganzas experienced yesterday at Dungeness and Portland, respectively, that appear to have bypassed Sussex. Well, hopefully, there's always another day......

Fifty-eight species recorded at a wet Pulborough Brooks 2 hours this morning including 2 Shelduck, drake Garganey (Winpenny), 5 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 10 Teal, 3 Tufted Duck, 2 Cuckoos (h), 14 Avocets, 2 Oystercatchers, 12 Lapwing, Common Sandpiper (Westmead), 4 Redshank, 3 Greenshank (N Brooks), Dunlin (Winpenny), Great White Egret (Winpenny), 300 Sand Martins (Winpenny), 2 Cetti's Warblers (h), Garden Warbler, 8 Common Whitethroats and 3 Nightingales (h).

Starting at Cliff End at 09.30, a Goldcrest singing just above our heads by the closed PC. Only a couple of pairs of Fulmar on the cliffs at low tide, an overhead Raven and a singing Greenfinch plus Blackcap, Chiffchaff & Lesser Whitethroat in greenery close to the beach. Along the RMC to Pannel, a Grey Wagtail low overhead calling near the road as I locked the car, several Whitethroat, Cetti’s, Reed & Sedge Warbler (double figures of the latter by the time we reached Pannel) and a 2nd Lesser Whitethroat by Carter’s Flood. Also a Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier and hovering Kestrel close to the canal. A small group of Linnet were in the sheep field and a Stonechat & pair of Reed Bunting in canal-edge hawthorns. On the scrape, just a few duck sp. remaining - Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Shelduck & Tufted Duck although a Pochard earlier flew across the RMC. Also numerous Black-headed Gull, with just a handful of Mediterranean Gull and Avocet, several Little Ringed Plover, a pair of Ringed Plover plus a few Lapwing and Redshank. We were joined by Barry in the 2nd hide (1st hide still closed) who pointed out a pair of Common Tern (with another 4 arriving a little later) and also spotted/heard a Green Sandpiper fly off (which I heard but missed). At the 3rd hide, a couple of Common Sandpiper dropped in and a pair of Common Tern were displaying and scrapping with another pair that also flew on to the scrape. A very brief mid-afternoon stop by Pett Pools produced pinging Bearded Tit, a few Common & Sandwich Tern flying past with some diving close to the shore on the now high tide. A couple of groups of waders also headed east close inshore - the first group of 15 comprising 8 Curlew and 7 Bar-tailed Godwit while the 2nd group were just 3 Bar-tailed Godwit. We finally arrived at RHNR at 16.00, having spent most of the day at Pannel and Pett Level. Still time for a late afternoon inner circuit around the 3 hides but no sign of the long-staying Spotted Redshank on the salt pool, just a solitary Whimbrel instead. The Reserve was fairly quiet but we did hear a Cuckoo over in the Long Pit direction and see plenty of Avocet in the various saltmarsh scrapes en route to the 2 hides. The weather closed in and steady rain kicked in while we lingered in the Parkes hide until 17.30. Time to push on (and get very wet) and head for Gooders hide via the harbour entrance/river mouth. At the latter, a small flock of about 10 Linnet were sheltering from the heavy rain under a large boulder in the EA compound, then a pair of bedraggled Wheatear and best of all, a male Whinchat together along the Flat Beach fence-line close to the pillbox nearer the river. Finally a summer plumage Grey Plover fairly close plus a few more distant Dunlin, Ringed Plover, a solitary Brent Goose & several Little Egret on the saltmarsh from Gooders hide. These welcome late sightings pushed our total up to 81 species for the visit.

A frustrating morning, with fog obscuring the sea, all I saw was a group of barely visible 25 Brent Geese E, only my daily allowance of 1 Swallow overhead. News of all the birds passing Dungeness today prompted me to have another go in the afternoon, but just 35 Common Scoters and 4 Gannets E; not a single tern today!

I took an early morning walk heading west out of Peacehaven. For the first time in ages there was an easterly breeze following the unremitting northerlies we've been subjected to recently. A female Wheatear (not a particularly big one) was on a rooftop bungalow and a Lesser Whitethroat and two Willow Warblers in the 'Dell'. Four more Willow Warblers were in other patches of roadside scrub, a Sand Martin came in off the sea and a male Sparrowhawk zipped through. On Beacon Hill four big, Greenland type Wheatears were together (two males and two females), three pairs of Whitethroats showed well and four Great Crested Grebes were on the sea at Rottingdean.

Later in the afternoon three Whitethroats were song-flighting and two Sedge Warblers and a Reed Warbler were also singing at Tide Mills.