There's no bunting like snow bunting

January is turning into a bird-fest. With the ability to frequently get out into the field I am already on 150 species for the year, 6 up on my previous record for January. There are still 3 days to go and I have quit a few common and less common birds to see. Today I set out to focus on one of the less common birds. It will be these that determine what the final list total will be, not how quick you can see the common birds. So with snow promised and not wanting to get caught out I set off early for the south coast. The first, and main target, was a Hume's leaf warbler. This is a small warbler, only recently split into a full species from yellow-browed. Normally you see them in late Autumn as they should be in Asia but do get lost on migration. They are common in their breeding range but uncommon here. One was discovered in Sussex, at Newhaven, around Xmas time. It did create a bit of controversy. For the first two weeks it was suppressed, and only a few locals who were in "the club" were allowed to see it. Then it got into the public sphere allowing everyone the chance to see it.
The site was a river bank opposite an incinerator plant with low scrub and trees. The morning was bright and sharp with frost. A short walk from the car got me to where I presumed it was normally seen. I was assuming it would be a long wait as there were no other birders and helping eyes. Their habit is to move fast through the trees feeding on insects and you often only get fleeing glimpses. My luck was clearly in though. Virtually as soon as I raised my bins to my eye a small bird flicked into the tree. Overall dull green - tick, eye-stripe - tick, wing-bars - tick and then it called - tick. I had got straight onto it. I was doubly lucky as for the next hour I saw it briefly only once more and heard it a couple of times. I did add peregrine falcon to the year-list as well, with one circling the incinerator chimney.

Two year ticks and the day was still young. My next stop was to another controversial bird, this one for two reasons. It was a rose-coloured starling, also known as a rosy-pastor. This is another bird which should be in Asia, but is much commoner over here than the Hume's warbler. It is controversial for two reasons. Its favoured location was a front-garden in Seaford, only 5 miles away. The owner of the garden has been getting a bit upset with the number of birders, especially those taking photos. He has children so I suppose he has a point but apparently it has got heated once or twice with rumours of damaged optics. The bird is also looking very unwell and seems on its last legs. I parked up carefully and joined another birder hiding behind a hedge two doors down from the house. The bird was sitting in a tree looking very sorry for itself.

This is taken with my phone as I didn't feel comfortable with a big lens. The bird barely moved so I left it but I doubt it will last much longer.
My third stop was for a nice safe bird, a snow bunting at Goring-by-sea further along the coast. The instructions were to look for an orange boat. This was easily found as were the four birders pointing bins and cameras virtually at their feet. As often happens with snow buntings, this was a totally confiding individual.

This is a female of the species. It spent the 30 minutes whilst I was there feeding on the beach and the path then going up onto the breakwater to have a groom.

Quite a few people stopped to ask what we were looking at and admired the bird. It was often flushed by dog walkers but came back to the same spot.
Finally I headed back to the big smoke to catch up on a gull. This one, a Caspian gull, has been present on a pond near Snaresbrook Magistrates Court since early Winter and is in its second year at least coming back. These are big gulls, like herring gulls, and normally found on rubbish tips or beaches. This one has been feasting on the bread proffered to the local gulls and picking on them as well.

They are quite close to herring gulls and can be hard to identify. Some of the points to look for are the bill, which is longer and thinner and the forehead, which is gently sloping rather than rising sharply and a clear white head with a very dark eye. In flight, the wing-tips have more black and less white, with tongues of white on the outermost primaries. It also helps that this is virtually the only large gull here and was beating up on the black-headed gulls for the bread proffered by a lady with two children!
That was enough for the day and I wended my way back home with 5 more year-ticks, all good birds especially the Hume's. Still looking for a nice lifer though.