Davey Watt had a really bad day on Saturday.

It all had something to do, he explained at Arlington Stadium, with policemen, cameras and a pheasant.

"I've had a terrible day. I got done twice for speeding getting here and I've got a smashed windscreen where I hit this pheasant," said Watt.

Mind you, things did get better for the Australian who has taken speedway by storm this year. And that had everything to do with two other types of birds.

Watt raced to his first-ever paid 15-point maximum in the top flight as Eastbourne Eagles roasted the Swindon Robins 56-40 to move back into third place in the Elite League.

The visitors could never manage to do what the traffic cops did and catch Watt.

He figured in four of Eastbourne's five maximum heat wins, all with different partners, and is now poised to move into a heat-leader position after starting the season as a makeweight at reserve.

Only former world champion Nicki Pedersen has rattled up more points than Watt, who is now well past the 100 mark with under a third of the season gone.

While Watt has been flying high from the off, Andrew Moore is only just getting to grips with the step up from the Premier League.

Moore produced one of the highlights of the meeting with a round the boards effort to notch his first win of the season at the 45th attempt.

Eastbourne can expect more of the same from Moore, who is gaining in confidence and will find points easier to come by when he goes down to reserve.

There were plenty of other signs as well that the Sussex outfit are emerging as serious title contenders.

The Aussie connection served Eagles well with the real Adam Shields standing up after a lack-lustre run, while his regular partner, Dean Barker, was not far off the pace after a wretched couple of meetings.

Shields scored a hat-trick of wins, including victories over Swindon's Grand Prix duo of Leigh Adams and Lee Richardson, while Barker was involved in Eastbourne heat wins in all of his four outings.

The final margin of 56-40 flattered the visitors, who had tactical rides by Adams and Richardson to thank for preventing a slaughter. Both doubled their money in 6-3 and 7-2 heat wins, while Charlie Gjedde was the only other Swindon rider to get in front.

Adams came out on top 2-1 in the psychological battle with Pedersen ahead of next weekend's world championship meeting in Sweden.

Pedersen won the battle of the big guns in heat 11, while Adams hit back in heats 13 and 15, but it did not really matter with Eagles already on their way to two points and the bonus.

So dominant were Eagles by then they could afford to rest David Norris from his last ride with the Eastbourne skipper still feeling the effects of a crash at Swindon and a traumatic night at Wolverhampton.

With no major incidents and top referee Frank Ebdon with his finger on the button all evening, Eagles sped to victory in double-quick time.

No one was faster out of the traps than Watt and when he was in front the rest were always chasing shadows. Just do not mention speed traps and pheasants.

Eastbourne: Davey Watt 13, Nicki Pedersen 13, Adam Shields 11, Dean Barker 6, David Norris 6, Andrew Moore 5, Steen Jensen 2. Bonus points: Watt 2, Barker 2, Moore 2, Jensen 1.

Swindon: Leigh Adams 16, Lee Richardson 10, Charlie Gjedde 8, Matt Tresarrieu 3, Sebastian Alden 2, Jonas Davidsson 1, Nathan Irwin 0. Bonus points: Alden 1, Davidsson 1.