🔍 Overview A diving duck, the Pochard is a regular winter visitor to Sussex lakes and gravel pits. Males are handsome with a rusty head and striking grey body. 🪶 Key Identification Features Size: Medium (42–49 cm)Plumage: Males: grey with chestnut head; females: brownDistinctive Marks: Rounded head, red eyes (male)Bill: Dark with pale bandTail: ShortFlight:...
🔍 Overview A sleek seabird, the Common Guillemot is mostly seen off Sussex during winter or on spring sea-watches, though breeding colonies lie further west. Last bred in 1904. 🪶 Key Identification Features Size: Medium (38–43 cm)Plumage: Chocolate-brown head and back, white underpartsDistinctive Marks: Thin bill, upright posture when perchedBill: Slim and blackTail: Very shortFlight:...
🔍 Overview Britain’s heaviest duck, more common in northern UK but occasionally seen off Sussex coasts. Scarce winter visitor and passage migrant; very scarce non-breeder in summer. 🪶 Key Identification Features Male: Bold black and white plumage with green nape Female: Mottled brown, heavy build Other: Long, sloping bill 🗺️ Habitat & Distribution Infrequent offshore...
🔍 Overview An increasingly regular large gull in Sussex, especially in winter. Tricky to identify but becoming more familiar to keen observers. 🪶 Key Identification Features Adult: Long-legged, pale grey mantle, small dark eye Other: Long, parallel-sided bill, flat-headed profile Juvenile: Pale underwing, long-winged appearance 🗺️ Habitat & Distribution Best found at landfill sites, gull...
📍 Local Expert Tip ” Black Redstarts are passage birds, especially in Autumn can be seen along the tops of the Downs especially where there are farm buildings. A few individuals may winter with Shoreham Fort and around the beach huts and groynes at Widewater being favoured locations.” 🔍 Overview A scarce migrant and winter visitor...
🔍 Overview Striking and elegant, the Avocet is a rare but iconic wader in Sussex, most commonly spotted at coastal wetlands and saltmarshes. With its upturned bill and bold black-and-white plumage, it’s a conservation success story in the UK. 🪶 Key Identification Features Size: Medium (43–45 cm) Plumage: Clean black and white Distinctive Marks: Black...
🔍 Overview Fairly common winter visitor and passage migrant. Elegant and slender, the Bar-tailed Godwit is a regular passage and winter visitor to Sussex’s coastal mudflats, especially around Goring Gap, Widewater, Worthing Beaches and Lower Adur Valley. 🪶 Key Identification Features Size: Large wader (37–41 cm)Plumage: Warm brown and buff; breeding males show rich chestnut underpartsDistinctive...
