Month: August 2025

A text from Phil Chantler first thing today saying he’d found 3 Dotterel (1 ad + 2 juv) in a field just inland was a warmly received. I didn’t end up going for a look till this evening and thankfully the birds were still present. Abit of a wait but they allowed close views and I even had to wait for them to move away (in a rai shower) before standing up to leave.

In other news, today was more about numbers than scarcity for me with lots of common migrants across the patch, highlights were 10 Whinchat, gropper, Garden warbler ,Spotted flycatcher, Swift, c100 Swallow, c40 Sand martin, few sedge and willow etc.

Rich B and I had a distant Honey Buzzard over the castle on the 25th, it likely came off the sea but we cant be sure, my 17th coastal HB this year, I wonder if i can get to 20…

Again the blog has been rather dormant, not without effort and coverage mind, Since the past post Ive had mostly quiet mornings, the odd Tree pipit or falls of Lesser Whitethroat or blackcap for example. The 22nd yielded 3 Pied Flys, Spotted flycatcher, 5 Whinchat,5 Wheatear, 6 Tree pipit, Hobby, c10 Yellow Wagtails, Sedge and Reed also a Grasshopper Warbler, The latter species was well represented on the 24th in the fennel field with at least 3.

Today however was fairly quiet in the bushes despite the tantalising SE wind, bar 4 Whinchat, Tree pipit, another Grasshopper warbler, a few willows and minimal sand martin movement (25 birds NE) but I was delighted to pick up a juvenile Honey Buzzard, circling over East Cliff (my house) then Dover Castle and eventaully Foxhill down where I stood. It was associating with a Common Buzzard, one of 5 that had made this move during the raptor watching session from 10am-1pm. A single juv Kestrel flew in off the sea also.

Almost a month since my last post, although I have been fairly active, there has been little to report beyond common migrants. Only 2 Days of suitable ‘Raptor Arrival Weather’ since the 18th of last month, these days were spent looking South over the harbour and although no Honey Buzzards were seen, 3 Marsh Harriers and 6 Kestrels were counted over both days, all picked up out over the water and all seemingly juveniles.

Good numbers of common migrants have been counted since the final days of July with higher numbers of Willow Warblers than I can remember since moving here. Today saw the first Pied Flycather of the autumn – the highlight of a small cncentrated fall in Langdon hole, once the fog cleared.

Other notables were a Spotted Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Black Redstart, c35 Willow Warblers, 2 Whinchat, 2 Wheatear 3 Sedge and 5 Reed Warblers & a Hobby.

As the dates creep towards the 3rd week of August I will be turning more attention to the cliff tops and less to inland Woodland birding.