Spoonbill and Eiders at Newhaven

In a bid to grow my uni patch list at Newhaven, I spent much of the day in the area and added several new species including Red-throated Diver, Teal and Guillemot. Other highlights included the first-year Spoonbill that was back in the main channel and six Eiders offshore, two of which came very close to the East Pier. Heard but not seen were at least two Bearded Tits and a Water Rail while a freshly ploughed field by the car park attracted around 270 Lapwings and two of the day's six Common Snipes.

The Spoonbill showed well near the bridge over the main channel

The Eiders made short work of some of the numerous shore crabs around the East Pier

Nine Red-throated Divers passed distantly east within a few minutes

Nine Teal

The day's tally:

Spoonbill
Common Snipe 6
Lapwing c270
Teal 9
Redshank several
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Little Egret
Jackdaw several
Kestrel
Eider 6
Red-throated Diver 9
Rock Pipit
Fulmar 32
Grey Wagtail
Chiffchaff
Long-tailed Tit 3+
Bearded Tit 1+
Reed Bunting c3
Mallard 3
Green Woodpecker
Water Rail
Great Spotted Woodpecker (heard)
Sanderling