This morning, at low tide, on the river Adur at Shoreham I counted eight Lesser Black-backed Gulls that looked dark enough to be of the continental race intermedius (top two pics), though paler than Great Black-backed Gull (pic lower left). They were in a roost just below the Toll Bridge. On the saltings from the houseboat passage the lonesome, wintering Curlew was on view.

A Song Thrush in the garden was notable. At sea, the usual suspects in modest numbers included 4 Common Scoters and 11 Kittiwakes - as often, in the afternoon.

Thinking I'd probably missed them, I was delighted to catch up with a distant view of a drake Goosander, until about 15 minutes later, 2 more drakes and a redhead appeared closer from seemingly nowhere. Also nice were ca.10 Pochard and 2 Egyptian Geese. Other usual suspects present, though a single Marsh Tit around the feeders was a nifty pickup.

Plenty of bird activity around the feeders, so many thanks to the volunteer(s) that filled those up!

Lovely morning spent on the levels, 9 Russian White-fronted Geese (6+3), Great White Egret, 3 Little Egrets, Water Rail heard calling, 6 Common Snipe, a single Golden Plover was in a flock of 249 Lapwings. Immature male Marsh Harrier, 2 immature female Peregrines, Kestrel and 3 Ravens seen. Ducks included 35 Pintail, 40 Shoveler, 154+ Wigeon and 364 Teal.

21 of us gather in the Sevenoaks Road Car Park on a cold but dry winter's morning, with a gentle but cold wind blowing from the north. We headed to the main lake to observe Coots, Black-headed Gulls, a female Pochard and Tufted Ducks. Moving round anti-clockwise we stopped again to spot Shoveler, Gadwall, Wigeon, Teal and a Grey Heron hiding in the reeds. Moving on after hearing a Cetti’s Warbler we came to the main viewpoint where we tried in vain to find the recently reported Bittern.Scanning through the Herring Gulls, 3 Great Black-backed Gulls were seen along with a male Pochard. Moving further round the lake the 3 Great Black-backed Gulls had been replaced by a single Lesser Black-backed Gull. As we turned towards the 2nd and smaller lake, a Great Egret was seen flying north. Around the small lake with a Mute Swan on it, a Kestrel was seen hovering and a white chested Buzzard seen on a post. As we walked along the sewer edge, Moorhen, a Marsh Harrier and Canada Geese were viewed but a possible Water Pipit was only heard but not seen. As we turned around the NE corner of the site, 8 Snipe were flushed from the pool edge and back at the start, 2 Stonechats were seen again. Other birds seen multiple times were Great Tit, Blue Tit, Magpie, Carrion Crow (one with a piece of Pizza) and a small flock of Starlings.

Viewing one flight line to just one roost here revealed 70 Hawfinches, nearly all between 13:50 and 13:55. Earlier, several flocks of up to 45 on the ridge may have been some of the roosting birds. Similar numbers of Greenfinches. Also two Goshawks, a Woodcock and a Crossbill. A dawn check of Nore Wood (Eartham) had revealed no finches at all, despite all the yews here.

A Great White Egret landed on a neighbour’s roof at 12:50 today. Bright yellow beak, black legs and thick S shaped neck stood out well in the sunshine. Departed after a few minutes surveying the gardens below.

The String Quartet (Rick Fullbrook, Shaun Green, Neale Hider and Paul Shoard) were originally intending to take part in the SOS bird race on 12th January but had to cancel due to one member having an unexpected business trip. We reconvened on Sunday 19th, knowing of course that our score wouldn’t count.
We started at 7.00 in The Black Rabbit carpark where we opened our account with Carrion Crow, followed by Tawny Owl. Cattle Egret, Firecrest and Marsh Harrier before we moved on to Swanbourne Lake, getting Water Rail by the WWT centre. Various ducks including the all-important Mandarin here. We then walked up the mill stream and back which added Bullfinch, Chiffchaff, Egyptian Goose and Marsh Tit amongst others. We left Arundel at 8.45 on 42 species. Burpham Churchyard and Peppering Barn gave us another 14 including Grey Partridge, Common Gull, Redwing, Song Thrush, but no Fieldfare.
Straight to Church Norton where we picked up a Great Spotted Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush in the carpark,which brought us to 60, followed by an assortment of ducks and waders including Whimbrel and Greenshank.
With 75 species, we went next to Selsey Bill and added Red-throated and Great Northern Divers, Common Scoter, Gannet and Starling(!), but couldn’t find the Black Redstart.
A quick visit to The Ferry Pool only yielded Shoveler and Dell Quay gave us our first Brent Geese and Grey Heron of the day.
We then moved on to Pagham North Wall where a busy 10 minutes gave us six more species including Golden Plover, Rock Pipit, Pintail, Snipe before a Mediterranean Gull brought up the 90. As the light started to fade, three Reed Buntings appeared shortly followed by a formation of ten Barnacle Geese overhead giving a final total of 92. Neale had a fleeting glimpse of a Woodcock at Arundel, and two of us had Greenfinch but of course we can't include these.
We didn't get Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Coal Tit, Goldcrest or Jay but you win some and you lose some!

West Beach Newhaven: Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull (pic) & Yellow-legged Gull (pic).

First sight of Fieldfares this year by Wineham Lane, near Henfield. About 10 in mixed flock with Redwings of about 40 birds.