Eastbourne American Robin

This week Twitter and the blogosphere have been awash with pictures and stories about the star American Robin that was found late on Tuesday afternoon in a rather unlikely suburban location on the outskirts of Eastbourne in East Sussex. There was good reason for such intense interest: there have only been 28 previous records in total and the last mainland twitchable one was down in Devon on the Exminster Marshes all the way back in 2010. So a proper Mega then! Certainly it was something that I'd not seen previously and as it was only about two and a half hours drive away it fullfilled all my criteria for a day out. 

Whilst really hardcore twitchers were going to be there at first light the next day, I generally like to wait a little while for the crowds to die down a bit. Not that I was in position to drop anything anyway: I had a full-time job to do so it was either a matter of waiting until the weekend or I would have to arrange a day off which would require at least some reasonable notice for my manager. In the end I decided that the first weekend after discovery would be far too crowded so opted for taking Friday off instead and to head off on news. The latter dropped just after 7 a.m. and I was off by 8. The journey there took pretty much the predicted two and a half hours though the last bit from Brighton onwards was longer and more tedious than I had expected. Still I passed the time in the company of Radio 4 and at around 10:30 I found myself turning off into some rather narrow sideroads that lead up the hill towards the aptly named Hill Road. I parked up at some distance from the main twitch location and hurried towards the assembled crowd. 

Staking out a berry bush (off screen on the right)

There were about forty birders present in the end area of the cul-de-sac by the garages. Judging by the relaxed atmosphere the bird currently wasn't on show which was soon confirmed on asking a fellow twitcher. There seemed to be two groups of photographers camped out in front of some likely looking berry bushes so I set myself up by the further group and looked around me. The surrounding houses were nestled tightly on the rather steep hillside and surrounded on two sides by woodland. With not a breath of wind and surprisingly strong sunshine it was a truly lovely day, altogether different from what I had been expecting that morning when I was preparing. In fact I was beginning to wish that had put some sun cream on!

The garages with one berry bush on the left-hand end

One of the key themes of the day was about reading the crowd. I soon noticed that the photographers near me had suddenly gone into alert mode and were staring intently at the bush in front of us, fortunately the one that I had chosen to stand near to. After initially just seeing some movement from deep within, suddenly our star bird came out into the open on the bush and started eating the berries. This was a cue for some frenzied papping and I duly joined in with my superzoom, managing some shots that, as a blogger rather than a photographer, I was more than happy with. 

Yet more American Robin photos - just what the internet needs!

After a little while the bird flew off a short distance and dropped down behind the garages out of sight. A few minutes later and it flew low across the road down into a small garden just on the edge of the garage area where the ground sloped down steeply to a heavily laden berry bush. Birders near to this area soon crowded around the fence, peering in and trying to get a view. I had a brief peep but it was too crowded for my taste and the views were so poor that there seemed little point in making an effort. So instead I went back to the main square and waiting to see where it would go next. 

After some twenty minutes or so it flew low over us all and out onto the steep slopes beyond the houses. Here there was a small clump of trees and bushes including a single tall bare tree that I recognised from internet photos. However, rather than sitting there the bird instead dropped onto the ground and out of sight. There then followed a long period of frustrating waiting for it to show. It was periodically on view for some people at some angles. Again, it was a question of reading the crowd and I soon spotted that a couple of people down at the end of a side path could see it so I joined them, gaining some brief views of it on the ground through some branches before it moved too much for the angle to work any more. After that there was a long period of not seeing it at all.

The kind of obscured view that you more often associate with a crippling mega
rather than the previous porn shots

Time passed and gradually numbers swelled as more people arrived and the lack of recent decent views meant that fewer people were leaving. PL, a fellow Oxon birder, turned up. I'd been half expecting him today: we tend to have similar twitching criteria and need the same species so we often meet up on twitches. I brought him up to speed on events and fortunately within a few minutes of his arrival I again noticed that some people seemed to be on it. I picked it out on the ground in the field in a large gap to the right of the main bushes where it was working its was to the right and I managed to get PL onto it. After that, from watching the crowd it was periodically showing at certain angles but I didn't see it again. Not that I minded: I'd had crippling views to start with plus a number of "record shot views" to follow and felt it was time to move on.

Anyone who has been following the multitude of Eastbourne blog posts will no doubt already know about what else was on offer. There was of course the long-staying Hume's Warbler down on the seafront which was next on my itinary. I'd only ever seen one Hume's before, in November 2011 at Wyke Regis in Dorset where I'd managed to rock up on the way back from Cornwall and see it within a few minutes of arriving. So there was no pressure on this next target but it would still be nice to see as I am very partial to a nice phyllosc. I duly programmed up the Sat Nav and after a hiccup where it secretly changed the destination (I have to figure out why Google Maps does this occasionally) I turned up at the right spot and found a parking space right opposite the twitch. The last RBA instructions had said that it was along the lower promenade on the sea front but clearly the line of birders up one side of a small park-like square said otherwise and I hurried to join them in staring up at the canopy of some Holme Oaks. There I met NT (another Oxon birder) and his wife who told me that it was feeding along this side but was only giving occasional glimpses.

The Hume's twitch. Numbers more than doubled during the time I was there

Once again it was a question of reading the other birders to see where it was. The two birders at the top of the side road seemed to be raising their bins most frequently though often I could barely even see the movement that they were homing in on. It was certainly tough going. After some 15 minutes or so the bird popped out briefly at the top of the tree and I got some brief flight views though to be honest I couldn't tell it was a Hume's from what I'd seen. Then a little while later the top two birders seemed to be seeing something again so I moved up to join them. This proved to be well timed as shortly afterwards the bird worked its way onto a small branch "peninsular" that stuck out from the main canopy, though still feeding on the hidden far side. Suddenly, up it popped in full view and side on and I was able to appreciate it in all its glory for a couple of seconds before it was off again. I wasn't going to get any better views so wandered back to the car where I got out my lunch. I then sat on a bench in the glorious sunshine and munched contentedly.

There was one more target bird to see which came in the unlikely form of a long-staying Hooded Crow at Polegate services at the start of the A22. When I had mentioned this to PL back at the American Robin he told me that he'd not seen a Hoodie in the UK at all as he hasn't birded Scotland so I told him I would let him know how I got on. I arrived at the services and parked up right at the far end away from the deafening roar of the traffic: this certainly wasn't the nicest of birding locations that I'd been to. I had been hoping to find it on one of the roof tops but in the company of a couple of other hopeful birders, there was no sign of it. We wandered out to the main roundabout hoping to see it in the trees but without success. The other two turned back but I walked a little further on before spotting it sitting on top of a lamppost along the main road. I yelled out to the other two but such was the noise that I had to run back to tell them. By the time we got back it had flown off so they went back again only for me to find it again in a tree a little way beyond the far side of the road so I had to run back once more to fetch them back. They then spotted a side path that went down to a service road that ran under the main road and right past where the crow was which we duly took. A couple of minutes later we were able to get much better views more or less opposite the bird. I took a few photos but where I was standing was in deep shade and out of the sunshine it was cold so I didn't linger. I've seen plenty of Hoodies before in Scotland as well as a few in Cornwall so it wasn't that big a deal for me.

Hooded Crow

I had already messaged the news to PL when I'd first seen it and just as I was heading back to the car he turned up. So I took him back to the spot and showed him where it was so he could tick it before heading back to the car again. There were a few other birders loitering where I'd parked so I told them all where it was as well and then was finally able to get into the car and head off on my journey home.

I'd like to say that the journey back was uneventful but sadly the Friday afternoon traffic had other ideas. Firstly I chose to go on the A22 rather than the A27 in order to avoid the roadworks there. This would have taken the same time except for a road closure which forced a minor diversion around some admittedly rather pretty villages off the main road. I was soon back on track though my Sat Nav ETA kept rising as the M25 ahead of me started to clog up. Whilst crawling along the M25 itself and as yet another jam blocked things up ahead, I was offered a faster alternative route so found myself weaving my way around Wraysbury GPs to the M4 and then up the A404 before finally reaching the M40 and Oxford, arriving some half an hour after my original predicted time. Still I didn't mind: I'd had a great day out with a shiny new national lifer and two very nice bonus birds in some beautiful weather. Who could ask for more?