A chilly afternoon at Cuckmere Haven. 26.11.26

Sim Elliott

Nov 27, 20212 min read

On Friday 26,11,21 I made my now usual trip to Cuckmere Haven, getting the 12X from Brighton to Exceat. It was a very chilly afternoon, and the partially cloudy, partially sunny weather produced some beautiful skies.

I walked down the path to the east of the Cuckmere, starting at the Seven Sisters County Park. I walked across the dyke that separates the northern oxbow lake to the lower oxbow lake; then I walked round the saltwater pool (anticlockwise) and back up the main path. I alternate between walking this walk (which affords good views over the lakes, but poor view of the river) and walking the paths on the western side of the Cuckmere, down by the riverside and back on the Vanguard path (which affords good views if the river and its bank but less good views of the oxbow lakes). In the summer I can walk both sides in one visit, but in a winter afternoon there is only time to do one side, as it got dark by 16.00 yesterday.

This is what I saw: ca. 20 Little Egrets; a Kestrel; ca. 50 Dunlin; ca. 10 Oystercatchers; ca. 100 Black-Headed Gulls; some Herring Gulls; ca. 10 Rock Pipits; ca. 10 Carrion Crows; ca. 20 Redshanks; 5 Little Grebes; ca. 20 Teal, a Stonechat. When I walk the other side at this time of year I see roughly the same birds, except less Dunlin, but I often also see Curlew, Black-Tailed and many large Black-Backed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Canada Geese (who collect in pre-roost agglomerations on the meadows and marshes of the east side of the river_.