16 Oct-Arlington waders and Beachy warblers

Saturday was a day spent out going after two good birds, with a 50% success rate...

A Curlew Sandpiper had been seen at Arlington for a few days now, so today Dad and I made a quick visit early morning. After walking along to where the Buff-breast was seen, we found two waders along the water's edge. Looking through the scope, it was obvious they were a Dunlin and our target bird. But we were quite a way off, so we walked closer for a better view. And that was when it happened...

A Peregrine swooped down low over the reservoir. I felt sure it would have scared off the two waders. An initial scan seemed to confirm this, but after about two minutes we somehow found them again, in exactly yhe same spot! I can only assume We were so sure ther had gone we totally overlooked them! But anyway, we got fairly close, having some great views through the scope. The Dunlin looked odd, almost Broad-billed Sand-esque, but I'm fairly happy it was just the commonest calidris. I got some record shots of the two feeding together, but they were even more distant than the Buff-breast two weeks ago, so good quality photos were beyond me and my pentax. it is probably worth clicking to

Curlew Sand (left) and Dunlin (right)

Curlew Sandpiper



and finally, one showing the odd-looking Dunlin

After this success, it was off to Beachy, to look for that goddamn PALLAS'S WARBLER!

Around Belle Tout wood were 30+ observers. All scouring the bushes for this Sibe. Among them was Robin Stokes, who it was good to finally meet after 'knowing' him on the web for several months. Hopefully you saw the bird Rob, but sadly I failed miserably!

In the wood were about 20 Chiffchaff, and a handful of Goldcrests. Blue Tits were also pretty numerous, and I think they might have been atleast partly made up of migrants. 20+ House Martins and a few Swallows passed overhead, and two Kestrels and a Sparrowhawk were showing well, and there were a few dragoflies, Migrant Hawkers and Ruddy Darters. But this all got a bit boring, so I headed off to The Hangar, a bit of scrub on the clifftop, to see what I could find. I was hoping for Ring Ouzel and Dartford Warbler, but all I got was a few Stonechats.Walking unceremoniously back, dad greeted me with the horrific news that the bird had been seen while I was gone!

We waited around for another 20 minutes. In this time, the Pallas's was called a few tims, but if they were genuine, the bird moved back into the thick foliage before anyone bar the first obsever got a look at it. Dad said it had only been on view for about three seconds. And this was the first time it had been seen in over two hours!

Here are a few photographs from a pretty disheartening day

Migrant Hawker, Belle Tout

Kestrel, Belle Tout

Stonechat, The Hangar

15 Oct-Beachy Head

On thursday, 14 Oct, a PALLAS'S WARBLER was reported at Belle Tout Wood, Beachy Head. The following day Dad and I went for a look, but we arrived a few hours too late. No Pallas's Warbler, just a few Goldcrests and 15+ Chiffchaff. A huge flock of hirundines were overhead, including about 100 House Martin and 50 Swallow. In Belle Tout were loads of Blue Tits, a Kestrel and a Green Woodpecker. But no sign of the formerly regular Tawny Owls. I suspect there is now so much Ivy on the trees they can hide away undetected.

House Martins and Swallows passing over Beachy Head

photos of Belle Tout Wood, the last with my Dad in the foreground

14 Oct

a few birds around today. flyovers included two Meadow Pipits, a Grey Wagtail and my first real movement of Siskins this autumn, with about 20 going over in the morning. Also a handful of Swallows, two Goldcrests and a single Chiffchaff, but autumn seems to be coming to a close now...

there is also a video (and photos) of the Rose-coloured Starling here for anyone who is interested. The author of this blog seems to be doing particularly well this year, he is the finder of this bird, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper and the april Bonaparte's Gull!

second time lucky with the pink one...

Dad and I saw the ROSE-COLOURED STARLING at Castle Hill, Newhaven, today. It showed four times between 16:00 and 16:30, but not after that up until 17:00. It is very, very conspicuous if you see it well, impossible to mistake for a Starling! As well as the obvios colouration differences, the RSC had a more undulating, woodpecker style of flight, to my eyes at least. I had my camera, but didn't get any photographs of the bird. It was my 168th sussex tick for 2010, 181st british yeartick, and lifetick 652 or thereabouts.

Other birds seen where good numbers of Robin, Song Thrush, Dunnock and Blackbird, two Chiffchaffs, nine Swallows and a few Meadow Pipits moving east. There was no sign of the male Ring Ouzel we saw yesterday.

In Seaford today, just three each of Meadow Pipit and Swallow moving over. No Chiffies, no Goldcrests and no large numbers of thrushes or robins at all. However, dad had 2+calling Firecrest and a Redwing at Blatchington GC today, along with a few Chiffchaff and Goldcrest to boot!

No Rosy, but another Rouzel and a yeartick finch.

News broke through yesterday of a ROSE-COLOURED STARLING, in the scrub at the foot of Castle Hill, Newhaven. Dad wasn't home from work til late evening, and I couldn't face cycling through the human-infested sewage canal that is Newhaven, so I just hoped the bird would still be around today.

Thankfully it was, and, despite Dad having to drive his car through 'the town that God forgot', we arrived fairly opstimistic.

However, the bird hadn't been seen for a few hours, and, according to the whispered wisdom of the birders, it had last been seen disappearing over the clifftop. I took this as the cue to for a healthy scramble up the cliff. (for those who don't live nearby, Newhaven Cliffs are mercifully easy to climb, with a gradient barely steeper than any of the hills nearby and loads of footholds)...

This proved fruitless for the Starling, but there were plenty of Song Thrushes and a few Robins and Dunnocks in the limited scrub. Among the Song Thrushes was one all-dark thrush, giving an all-too familiar 'chack' as it flew away. I was already fairly confdent of it's identity, but it took another five minutes before I saw it again. It was a very nice male RING OUZEL, looking resplendent with his white breastband and scaly wings.
With no sign of the RCS up here, Dad and I hastily scrambled down the cliff and joined the other birders down at the bottom. We waited for another half-hour, but saw no sign of the bird, eventually giving up and heading home just before the sunset. However, the wait hadn't been totally fruitless. A BRAMBLING flew over calling (sussex yeartick 167 and brit yeartick 180), 20+ Swallows passed east along the cliffs, there were 2-3 Rock Pipits entertaining all. 45+ Curlew flew east, presumably going to roost somewhere on the undercliff between Newhaven and Brighton, and the Common Starlings were all flocking together in small groups as we left, though their rare relative was nowhere to be seen.

After a while, i got fed up looking for this non-existent bird, and went to photograph the well-posing gulls in the evening light. Cold fingers and tired eyes made using Manual Focus a bit of an arse, but I did my best. The shots are a bit out of focus, but still better than AF in my opinion.

in the end, two very good birds, even If I missed the best one. Driving back, two Cormorants roosting next to the enormous one at Newhaven (I really need a photo to describe this to non-locals!)

as a final note, very few birds in Seaford today. single figure numbers of Swallows passing over, but not a single mipit or chiffchaff.

a few days of autumn

on Saturday (9th October) I was around Seaford all day, mostly in the house (one of those lazy teenage days, ya know!) Over the garden I recorded good numbers of Meadow Pipit, Swallow, Golfinch and House Martin. A few Chiffchaff and Goldcrest were around, as I am now accustomed too. Robins, Dunnocks, Great Tits and Wrens are all starting to sing, marking out their winter territories...

On the night of the 9th, three Redwings and A Song Thrush were heard flying over.



The 10th began with a sussex year tick (no. 165), literally five minutes after I had woken up, when I heard the distinctive call of a Redpoll, flying over the house at about 10:30. During the morning I had plenty of Swallow and House Martin passing over, with small numbers of Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Goldfinch. Chiffchaff and Goldcrest were both in good numbers around Seaford, with larger than usual totals of Song Thrush, Blackbird and Robin. Interestingly, I have seen far more Goldcrest this autumn than I did last time round. It seems that this cold winter didn't affect them as badly as that of 2008/09, I hardly saw any the following autumn, and neither did anyone else on the South Coast to my knowledge...

At about 1.00, I headed off for Seaford Head, wondering what i might see. The answer was;
-a minimum of 70 each of Swallow and House Martin
-20+ Skylark, in the clifftop grazing fields
-30+ Meadow Pipits
-1 Siskin flew south, sussex year tick no. 166
-a small eastward movement of Woodpigeons, numbering about 50 birds
-20+ Chiffchaffs, 20+ Goldcrest, 2 Firecrest, 2-3 RING OUZEL and a single Blackcap in Hope Gap.

That night, three more Redwings and a single Song Thrush flew over the house calling.

these unidentified red dragonflies were everywhere

edit: ID'd as a Ruddy Darter



view out to ea from the top of Seaford Head



view out to sea from the top of Hope Gap

I'm fairly sure this dragonfly is a Broad-bodied Chaser

edit: Ruddy Darter again!

view of the Seven Sisters from Seaford Head Holf Course

 today (Oct 11th) was quiet around Seaford, with a few Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Meadow Pipit and Swallow, but nothing like the numbers of the last week or so. However, a bird 'chacking' away in a bush near school sounded suspiciously like another RING OUZEL, sadly I never saw it, as I was in a bit of a rush to get to school. One that got away I guess!

Thrushes Galore!

Last night, I heard several Song Thrushes flying over, but not a lot else, despite the clear conditions...

Today, they were the most conspicuous bird by far. I counted about 15 in my corner of Seaford, a fairly good count. Other migrants were just a handful of Meadow Pipits, Swallows, Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests. There was also a small movement of Goldfinch and Chaffinch overhead, but nothing substantial and no other finches...

Tonight, I heard my first REDWING  of the autumn, always a fairly pivotal moment I feel. I also got a great view of one of the cub foxes raised locally, as I was walking my dog.

It's 21:47 now, and I've decided to keep my windows open tonight, and see how many more Redwings I count before I drift off.

Til then, hasta manana!

Seaford on 07 Oct. Good vis-migging day!

from the title, you can gather what the theme of today was. I only had time to be looking up at the sky for about 1 1/2 hours today, walking to and from school, and keeping one eye/ear trained at the sky during lunch and break. My approximate totals were;

100 Meadow Pipits
70 Swallows
20 House Martins
2 Skylarks
1 Grey Wagtail
1 plover sp. by the laws of probability it was almost certainly a Euro Goldie but I didn't get a good enough view to rule out Grey Plover (or American/Pacific GP for that matter!) I presume it came from Cuckmere, as it flew over school, heading SW towards Splash Point. Interestingly, I saw a flock of 70 Golden Plover at Splash Point on 1 Sep last year, that followed almost exactly the same flight route, before flying out over the beach and east along the shore.

Dad saw a few Siskins and a Brambling flying over today too, but I didn't see any finches. An interesting observation though was that about 30 Meadow Pipits appeared to have been feeding on an allotment I walk past on the way to school. Not altogether unusual but I had never considered that it happened before.




AUTUMN IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

: )

seaford stuff: 06-Oct

in the appalling weather this morning, 12 Meadow Pipits and 32 Swallows flew over. Just a single Chiffchaff and 3 Goldcrests on the ground.

Birds o' the day

the most obvious avian presence today was Meadow Pipits, with 30+ S over school. The only other bird of note overhead was a single Swallow. Other migrants were 5 Chiffchaff and a single Blackcap. A Grey Wagtail was around school, and a few Goldcrests were calling. a few Great Tits were once again singing, as was a single Blackbird.

Surrisingly, I have yet to hear any typical October migrants going over, such as Skylark and Siskin. I'm waiting with baited breath until for the first of each, though a good clear day seems a long way off right now!