Author: Jamie Partridge

Thunder, rain and lightning over night last night and an increase in bird activity on the headland this morning. 10 Yellow wagtails among the cattle, 2 Wheatear, single Whinchat, 2 Tree pipit over west, good numbers of both Whitethroats and willow warblers and 2 Grasshopper Warblers.

My personal highlight was the first Pied Flycatchers of the autumn; 2 in Sycamores at the western end and one in the cavernous green cathedral that is middle wood, this bird was vocal so i wonder if another was present somewhere nearby.

The best day for a few days was another still, sublime morning. c20 Willows, notable numbers of Lesser Whitethroats in the bushes, 2 Yellow Wagtails over, A tree pipit over the farm but no flycatchers yet though! A juv Cuckoo fly over the harbour field and into Langdon Hole early on.

2 Whinchat, 2 Wheatear and a couple flocks of westward Swallows. The conditions were ripe for flyovers and these came in the form of a Golden Plover, a Ringed Plover and 3 Marsh harriers – 2 Juvs together over the tarmac path, and a 2cy male hunting at the old airstrip. Another Juv was hunting near fan bay y’day morning, a good couple of days for the species here.

My first Silver–spotted skipper of the year was on Light house Down as were a cloud of Chalk hill blues.

Calm, South Easterly days have been few and far between this year. They are my favourite winds in the warm weather months here and often produce fly over raptors etc. Today was no exception – I had fantastic views of a juv Hen Harrier very close just East of Fan bay, the bird moved at hunting level toward the tarmac path and as I got my phone out to text Colin I saw that he had already texted to say it was coming in off the sea near the Lighthouse.

August is a good time to see Hen Harrier here, Likely/evidently arrivals from Calais where they are numerous.

3 Whinchats, Wheatear, Willow Warblers, Sedge and a brief Grasshopper Warbler were all in the Fennel field near the lighthouse.

A dark female Honey Buzzard flew over the Harbour at 12.30, continuing west over our house, East cliff and inland – a great run of Birds over the street recently. I picked it up flying away from me, but saw it nicely before getting a few distant shots. Interestingly I’ve had birds appearing to arrive in off the sea in August with the same ‘spring arrival’ weather before…Today’s bird constitues my sixth HB of the year here at the coast.

An early start after sleeping out in a cave on the cliffs, waking to the sound of a singing Black Redstart, a slightly less familiar sound here recently. Followed by a walk around with Russ, c150 Swifts west, single Yellow Wag south, small numbers of warblers, I didn’t see a Wheatear but 2 slightly scruffy adult Tree pipits were in the fennel field, my first of the autumn.

A bright start to the morning, light SW winds and cloud from mid morning. First Whinchats of the autumns – 2 along the fence near the light house with Colin, 2/3 Wheatears there also, 11 Willow Warbler, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 20 Sand martin.

At 1pm I was washing up back at home and heard the Gulls go apeshit, I threw off the washing up gloves when I heard the Peregrines chime in too, thats a sure sign of a large raptor here. Sure enough I flung the door open to see an Osprey getting a hard time over my head, It was trying to gain height so I ran in doors to get the camera and re-emerged to see it flying westward along the cliffs towards town.

An afternoon visit to Deal beach looking for my first Juv Caspian Gull of the year was a success, one of the first birds to come in was a vocal Casp and performed well alongside 4 juv Yellow–legged gulls and the local Herrings.

The morning wasnt bad either, light NW winds and sunshine, nice early autumn weather for my first Willow Warbler of the autumn, a yellow wagtail over South too.

The Quail was still singing in the same spot and my second Large Tortoiseshell was in the enclosure, never very close but showed nicely for Colin, Mark, Lucy and I.

A few hours of light SW winds and sunshine before the rain began was pleasant weather for a walk up the cliffs, the highlight of which was a singing Quail just West of the Lighthouse. A first for me here, it seemed to be moving about abit and singing every few minutes around 8.30 am, I’ll head up there this evening again.

A juvenile Marsh Harrier flew south West over light house down, as did c500 Swifts, 90 Sandmartin, 2 House Martin and 55 Swallow and my first Wheatear of the autumn was on the track to the farm.

3 Small blues, my first Chalk hill blues of the year, a Small purple barred moth and a Ruddy darter were insects of interest.

Light SSW winds convinced me to head up the cliffs as apposed to inland first thing this morning and although the headland walk was fairly quiet (110 Sand Martins, 20 Swallow and 2 juvenile Yellow–legged Gulls west) my day was made when I walked back down the cliff path onto my street and had a female Honey Buzzard circling low above the houses at cliff top height.

The bird got a single buzz off one of the adult Peregrines and a few Gulls vocally complained but it drifted over the cliff top and towards the castle – cue me legging it back up the cliff path in an attempt to see it again, I picked it up high over the A2 heading inland. Ive seen a handful of Honey Buzzards that would have flown over my house but never one from the street itself, very exciting for me!

An event I look forward to, high summer gulling. Ive seen a couple of Juv YLGs flying around in the past couple of days, but this afternoon tried the beach at Deal and had 3 different birds. 2 of which came in close the other floated around far out. Expect more to come but heres some images.

The darkest of the 3 below, with the first signs of Scapular moult just coming through .

There are a few Juv Herrings now flying around Dover and starting to ‘creche’ in the harbour, the pair of Lesser black Backed gulls on the cliff behind my house seem to still have very small chicks.

The first South Easterlies I’ve experienced here since the end of the April and despite the late date I knew there was a chance of an HB. Colin and I met on light house down and spend a couple hours looking unsuccessfully but whilst walking home at 12.30 I picked up a Honey Buzzard out over the water just East of the Harbour. It flew West over the Eastern docks and round the corner out of view, I could hear the Gulls going apeshit, shame i wasn’t sat in the garden as it would have gone over head! Poor pic below, the only non heat haze pixel ball.

A south-bound adult Cuckoo was on Foxhill down, my first of the year here and 11 Sandmartin + 100 Swift flew South West .

I should mention the 1,015 Swifts that I counted flying SW on the 1st, abit of a spectacle! Im also seeing a few Mediterranean Gulls in the harbour – the first of a summer build up we get here.

Light Sw winds first thing and a slight Haze gave the morning a Raptor feel and sure enough just after 09.30 I picked up a dark phase male Honey Buzzard coming low over the fields above Fan bay.

I ran as fast as I could in an attempt to get closer but I needn’t have bothered as the bird came right over head, circling over the cliff edge for a few minutes before heading straight out South East towards Calais, I lost it as a speck way out over the Channel, a failed breeder perhaps? had enough of England!

One of the better encounters here with one of my favourite species. The Last days of June and into July seem to be an ok time to see migrant HBs along the coast here. In other news just under 200 common Swifts and my first 11 Sand Martins of the ‘Autumn’ headed South West along the cliffs. A Curlew flew low over the Valley and a White Wagtail went West along the cliffs on Lighthouse down.

Looking South West over Fan Bay