18mph North westerlies and a noticeably colder day yielded the autumn’s first Snow Buntings. I could hear one calling somewhere and suddenly it appeared over my head at Langdon hole and flew NE along the cliffs.
A few minutes later it was on the path in front of me as I arrived at the highest point in the cliffs just West of Fan bay, A very tame bird.
The second was a much brighter male along the Tarmac path as I walked home, it flew in from the track to the farm and fed along the edge as they do.
Earlier in the morning I had been studying the cliff face, as i have promised myself i will do every morning in November, when I realised there were 100+ large Gulls feeding (on what i don’t know) on a recent cliff fall, The best of which was an adult Caspian Gull, a rare age for Casps here! see distant pics below.
A trip to Deal later on revealed a first winter Caspian Gull. I could have got better photos but I got distracted trying (unsuccessfully) to catch a Common gull with its head caught in fishing wire. Keep an eye out for that.
The only other notable thing was 12 Crossbills low and North over the valley.
PERDIX BIRDER 