Made a visit for the first time this year to East Sussex with several target birds in mind! The first target was a visit to Prince's Park in Eastbourne to try for the Bonaparte's Gull that had been present now for nearly 2 weeks..the promised Eastbourne sunshine failed to materialise but the bird was soon located and showed well to the admiring camera club and a few birders amongst us! The bird was also heard calling whilst being chased for it's bread by a large by comparison Black-headed Gull...once fed, the bird was quite happy to loaf around in the middle of the lake. A very confiding bird and pleased to see another one in Sussex after the summer-plumaged Arlington bird a few years back and my first Bonaparte's being a first winter bird in Whitstable, Kent back in the late 90's, so this was a plumage tick...will be interested to see if this hangs around and starts moulting into summer plumage..could be worth a return visit!
Managed these in pretty poor light
Then we made a stop at Newhaven Harbour where we counted at least 24 Fulmars on the cliff face or flying around, there was also a Common Seal close inshore and scanned through the gulls in the hope of something interesting..which there wasn't!
Moved onto Southease, parked by the train station and viewed the Dark-breasted type Barn Owl flying around the nearby fields, there was a normal Barn Owl also present...the light was grim the whole day so didn't help with the photography but a good day out and nice to connect with all intended
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