Red-rumped Swallow

Wednesday 27th April

With overcast skies and a brisk NE breeze and cancellation of my planned breeding bird survey in Cambridgeshire, I convinced myself that Seaford Head would be awash with incoming migrants but my optimism soon evaporated with nothing more on my walk round than a couple of singing Willow Warblers and a Swallow. I then tried the Cuckmere where there 4 smart Bar-tailed Godwits on pools on the west side of the river near the beach, 7 Dunlin along the river itself and 6 Whimbrel in the salt marsh 200m south of the Cuckmere Inn. Apart from the waders, it was quiet, with just a feral Barnacle Goose for my efforts and the usual resident Fulmars, Stonechats and Rock Pipits on Seaford Head.


I then tried Splash Point where there was nothing moving and all the Kittiwakes I saw were resting on the sea rather than on the cliff face. All I could think was that either egg laying had yet to commence or that the birds had been disturbed in some way, by Peregrines perhaps?

Just as I pulled up at Charleston Reedbed (where there was no sign of Monday's Purple Heron), I got a call from Gareth to say that Ed Paxton had just found a Red-rumped Swallow at Uckfield STW. Being only half an hour or so away, I decided it was worth a try even though I'd never been there before and had no idea of where to park. Google maps took me to more or less the right area  and having found somewhere to park and climbed through a couple of holes in the fence, I found a small group of birders standing on a grassy hillside overlooking the sewage works. There were plenty of hirundines (mainly Swallows but also a few House Martins) feeding over the settling tanks and it was only a short wait before the Red-rumped Swallow flew into view.  Over the next 45 minutes or so, it showed several more times, mainly hawking over the sewage works though one occasion it did pass right overhead. Being so mobile, I didn't attempt to take any photos but others had more success than me https://twitter.com/Harvey_S_86/status/1519388318827528193

With news that there were still 8 Ring Ouzels at the Long Man of Wilmington, I decided to go back for second helpings but, despite climbing to the top of the ridge, I had to be content with a brief flight view of 5 that dropped into an area of downland scrub where they remained stubbornly hidden and out of view.


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