HUMAN SCAVENGERS WHO SWOOPED ON SHIPS AND THEIR CREWS

IN the February 1949 edition of the Sussex County Magazine a reader reported in the Nature Notes column that 'a damaged gannet in adult plumage has been picked up at Seaford'. My bird-watcher's book tells me that these birds have a wingspan of nearly six feet and a short, harsh cry. On the very next page of the book I find details of that other large seabird the cormorant and its smaller relative the shag, 'a bird of surprising intelligence and devotion'.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Sep 2005, 14:34 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 22:37 BST

Regrettably, neither of these characteristics was what, in the days of sail, caused sailors to liken the people of Seaford to the shag: it was its legendary habit of scavenging - picking over dead matter lying on the beach! By the 17th Century the little town was without its earlier import/export status by the loss of its harbour as the build-up of shingle drove the mouth of the river Ouse farther and farther west. The tiny population survived on a very little fishing till they remembered their right, bestowed by King John, 'to convert to their own use such goods as they find floating in the sea, those thrown out of ships in a storm, and those driven ashore when no wreck of ship is to be seen'. They did quite well by searching for such flotsam and jetsam after passing ships had suffered a rough night in the bay. Soon they created shipwrecks by moving navigation lights on shore, and so on. It is said that crews of such vessels prayed for divine protection 'from the Seaford shags'.

Today, visits to our area by cormorants and shags cause considerable interest, passers- by pausing on seafront walks to watch them diving underwater for fish, then coming ashore or perching on handy rocks, spreading their great wings to dry - an unforgettable sight.

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This summer other sea-birds '“ half the size of the shags '“ have been on display on our cliffs, as many hundreds of kittiwakes made their way to nest. Their now annual visits are featured by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and other bird-watching groups, with a viewing area at Splash Point. My book says that these bright little birds breed in large colonies on precipitous cliffs and sometimes in the crevices of artificial cliff-faces such as window- ledges of tall buildings! What a lesson these little creatures teach as they honour us with their presence! A few minutes' watching their busy flight and preoccupation with their nests somehow puts our complicated human life in perspective.

How times have changed since local boys thought it great sport to climb down the cliff face to find birds' nests. Some paid for their curiosity with their lives, like young John Costick who in June 1796 fell 'endeavouring to take the mews' eggs' and several others, much more recently. (Mew being another word for gull).

I wish more details could be found about the falcon chicks which in 1881 were thought by our artist friend Mr H H Evans interesting enough to be sketched after their rescue.

l Apologies for misleading statements in last week's Seaford Album piece. Mr Burroughs did indeed help the local Boy Scouts, but in fact he lived not at the Crouch but in one of the large houses that formerly stood in Cricketfield Road, below Corsica Hall. He was the wealthy owner of a company that made billiard tables, cues, etc. It was Mr Cullingford 'in the building trade in London' who lived in the house later used as the District Council offices.

The error was all mine, and Fred Pettitt's memoirs are not to blame.

Related topics:WHOSeaford