An odd month weather wise, which made it feel quite unlike spring at times. The first half was dominated by strong SW winds while the second was characterised by winds with a northerly aspect and associated low temperatures. The intensifying layers of bird song were a reminder that migration was indeed still happening out of sight.

Sussex seawatching should start to heat up in April, so I was interested to see what might be possible from Hastings seafront. The received wisdom here is that SE winds are required in spring for easterly movement and unfortunately mornings with such conditions were few. Even on the more promising days, species like Arctic Skua and Common/Arctic Tern seemed to be undetectable, despite reasonable counts made on the same mornings from nearby sites like Beachy Head and Dungeness. I wonder if a stronger SE blow could push these species close enough in to be observed from Hastings?

Nonetheless there were birds to enjoy, with a steady stream of Sandwich Tern and the odd group of Whimbrel moving east close-in. Wader passage seemed quite resilient to adverse conditions and added some interest at local wetland sites. At Combe Valley CP the water levels remained excellent for waders throughout the month and on my visits Whimbrel, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper and Dunlin were all noted.

Over at Rye Harbour NR there was an amazing spread of summer plumaged waders on the 28th, including parties of brick-red Bar-tailed Godwit and Red Knot, a handful of silver-spangled Grey Plover and the long-staying, now deep black, Spotted Redshank.

Wildfowl numbers were much depleted as birds head off to breed. Surprisingly, a Pink-footed Goose lingered with Greylag at Pett Level until at least the 17th. The pair of Garganey that arrived at Combe Valley CP in March seemed to hang around for the first half of the month (and may well remain undetected). A pair of Mandarin on the floods on the 23rd were a novelty.

A pale morph immature Common Buzzard was seen along the cliffs at Rock-a-Nore in Hastings on the 22nd, apparently the same individual that I saw there back in August last year. Red Kite were seen at Hastings CP on the 12th and West Hill on the 22nd, a new species for me at both sites.

There were steadily increasing hirundine numbers throughout the month, though numbers felt low overall. House Martin started joining the Sand Martin and Swallow from around mid-month. My first Common Swift was at Combe Valley CP on the 23rd.

There seemed to be little evidence of grounded passerines during the month with one exception: Northern Wheatear. Their presence seemed to be associated with light northerly winds – perhaps these were enough to entice them to attempt the channel crossing but energetically draining enough that they had to make immediate landfall? Most notable was a fall along Hastings seafront on the 14th, with at least eight scattered among the sea defences, boat yards and amusements, and another two on West Hill.

Otherwise, summer visitors were largely found back on territories and singing, with an early arrival of Nightingale, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Common Whitethroat noted on the 7th at Combe Valley CP. That seemed to be a false start and it wasn’t until about midway through the month that numbers of these species, along with Lesser Whitethroat, started to build.

Willow Warbler were regular at Combe Valley CP throughout the month with a high count of four on the 7th. Another Willow Warbler seems to have taken up territory in Firehills wood at Hastings CP. It’s sometimes doing a bit of ‘mixed singing’, with phrases of Common Chiffchaff song occasionally integrated into bursts of song. There were Common Chiffchaff singing nearby and occasionally passing through/near its territory, so I wonder if this this is an example of “interspecific territoriality” in a Chiffchaff dominated landscape?