Month: March 2025

A couple of days of bright chilly NW wind with fairly little to report. I counted 18 Red Kites moving SW along the cliff tops the morning of the 27th, the same morning Colin counted 31 just inland of where I was sitting.

Notable birds include a Hawfinch on the 28th which was calling in the Pines garden, I picked it up when it flew SW. White wagtails are still a daily occurance but 4 down with the cattle presented the only grounded birds ive seen for a while.

2 Swallows, 2 Black redstarts, c50 Redwing and a Wheatear on the 29th whilst the Bockhill guys had a Hoopoe fly in off the sea.

Light South Easterly winds with the addition of showers and low cloud made for a decent morning. The first notable birds were two male Ring Ouzels that dropped out of the sky onto the cliff face from high up, picked up whilst trying to locate unseen calling Redwings.

Redwing too were moving and a flock of 55 were in tree tops in the valley whilst 22 flew over with a Blackbird early on.

2 Black Redstarts, a Woodcock, c350 Chaffinches, 3 Brambling, 2 White Wagtails were also tallied during the morning. Other birders out and about locally had an Iceland Gull, 7 White Fronted Geese , a Hawfinch, 2 early Tree pipits and 2 Lovely Wheatears (the latter of which I twitched! thanks to Simon & Javi). so a fairly good day to be out.

Another 2 Black Redstarts the day previous aswell as a Flock of Starling approaching 1,000 birds which I never really see here.

A shift in the wind to a moderate Easterly on the 18th and attention was turned to the sea. Some wildfowl movement highlighted by 12 Pochard – followed by 5 Garganey (below) among a mixed group of Shoveler, Teal and Pintail.

Poor pics but they came past fairly close for the bay!

The following day the winds were lighter and from the South East, again I focused on the Sea at dawn and enjoyed c1400 Brent geese fly upchannel between 7.00 – 08.40. Only a small Portion of the vast numbers past Dungeness & Beachy head but still abit of a spectacle, with some very large flocks and varying distances and heights. The birds continued throughout the morning and I saw many more from the clifftop as I checked the head land.

A newly arrived Firecrest at fan bay and 3 Chiffchaff in the wood were the extent of birds in the bushes – clear skies and light SE winds are often poor for grounding migrants here but not bad for flyovers of which 2 White wagtails and my first Swallow of the year noted as well as some very high sounding and basically invisible Chaffinch and Siskins and a Woodlark in over the cliffs at the lighthouse on the 20th.

4 Red kite also moved South West along the cliffs on the 20th

More chilly North Easterlies and clear skies, a Water pipit along the cliffs on the 14th was the most significant bird for me since last posting.

littoralis Rock pipits have been evident too with one the same day over the valley and Phil C found one just inland today (below).

Lighter Chaffinch passage today c200 NE with c50 Siskin counted and 3 Caspian Gulls (2 x 1stW+1x2nd W) among 100’s moving at cliff top height in a North Easterly direction.

Besides these a few really nice looking Caspian Gulls are coming through, with myself and Gerald at Deal seeing them fairly regularly. The March look : bleached heads, slightly worn wing coverts and in their most obvious and contrasting plumage, the below first winter birds were at Deal on the 12th…

and below at st Margs on the 11th

Not much to mention from me during this quiet period except an early Sand martin in over the cliffs at Fan bay on the 3rd. Today was the first day of light(ish) NW winds after a cold NE blast kick started my spring visits up the cliffs; out at dawn, eager not to miss migrant Chaffinches (of which I counted 440 y’day). They didn’t get started really till 7.40 with squadrons of between 15 and 60 at a time moving NE along the cliffs at varying heights (some very high) until about 09.30 when they seemed to tail off. I’m keen to better my high count of 3,470 (a pittance compared to other local high counts) having missed the movement due to work the past couple of years.

The occasional Siskin was heard, but only a flock of 16 were counted. During this time a Woodlark and 2 White Wagtails also moved along the same line NE.

3 more White wagtails were with the cattle at Fan bay, another Woodlark flushed off the deck near the Lighthouse and seemed to go down in one of the fields and a Red kite Flew N over the valley.

A desperate check of the usual Wheatear spots was fruitless and the completely unexpected highlight of the day came (as it sometimes does) as I walked home over Fox hill down – An adult male Goshawk, which circled up from the direction of the harbour and continued North up the line of the A2. The same circumstances in which I’ve seen Osprey, HB and Redfoot arriving, although it could have been following the coast perhaps.

Slightly stunned I took some distant photos as the bird circled, drawing the attention of local carrion crows before continuing on towards the military school, wreaking havoc among hundreds of corvids and gulls.

The last spring Goshawk along this stretch of coast was a 2cy bird at Bockhill almost 4 years exactly to the day – 13/03/21 . Curious to know today’s bird’s origins.