Author: Jamie Partridge

Light NW winds and sunshine with a cloud bank moving in from the East and my first Yellow Wagtail of the year in off the sea first thing. 2 Swallows and 3 House martins did the same thing followed by the highlight – a Serin which came straight over the cliff right in front of Michael Mcnaghten and I as we walked east from Fan bay.

The bird dropped into the gorse then flew another 100m and perched in the blackthorn above the entrance to the deep shelter. Brief views of it here before if carried on West, a dull female but nice still.

3 Brambling flew North, small numbers of Siskin and perhaps 150 chaffinches. 4 White Wagtails and a Red kite were also noted.

Before he moved to Dorset Ian Hodgson told me that the first day of a North westerly here along the cliffs was ‘not to be missed’. A water pipit over langdon and 3 Swallows in off the sea were my first notable birds of the day, a relatively small number of Chaffinches (240) were moving North but the morning kicked into gear when I caught a glimpse of a Treecreeper sp on the edge of Fan bay. It was initially seen in flight but then perched in a low gorse bush and It looked to have a long decurved bill and brownish flanks.

It flew down into the dense scrub of Fan bay with me in pursuit, running over the features in my head from the bird I’d found less than a km to the west in 2019. I was able to see it again and took some distant photos. The initial shots showed a nice gradual primary wing bar made up of pointed, not blunt, blocks with a small spot on p4. The primary tips showed nice, clearly demarcated white tips rather than the washy looking diffuse crescent shaped tips of eurasian treecreeper and seemed to have the correct spacing between p6, p7 and p8. I could see a pale unbroken fringe to the outer web of the alula and a pale buff coloured (rather than white) super, that didnt extent down the nape, a clean white throat with slightly grey breast sides contrasting with brown flanks.

Everything was looking good for Short toed treecreeper and the bird showed well despite being mostly obscured but at this time was making the high pitched waxwing like call, reminiscent of eurasian treecreeper. It flew up again to the gorse and continued along a line of small isolated bushes, it was at this point I first heard it give the coal tit-like call as it flew between isolated bushes near the main path, confirming it as a Short–toed Treecreeper. The news went out and the bird flew back into the shelter of Fan bay. more close views and photos revealed distal darkening to the tail tips and an all pale lower mandible, the hind claw also appeared to be shorter than the toe.

Local legend Phil Smith and visiting birder Micheal Mcnaghten were the first to arrive and after 20 or so minutes saw it moving about within the blackthorn aswell as perched. After this it flew to the very edge of the cliff and wasn’t seen again despite 5 or 6 birders looking.

I did a quick loop of the valley and had a superb male Common Redstart plus 10 Swallows flying into the NW wind.

Click here for short toed treecreeper id notes, (based on 2019 Langdon bird)

A moderate Easterly wind, clouds clearing to sunshine by mid am and the morning’s highlight was a smart summer plumaged Water pipit that flew along the cliff tops calling. Id suspected hearing one yesterday but the bird was too high to get views of which made todays bird all the more satisfying.

My first swallows of the year also, with 12 counted throughout the morning including the birds that breed at the office buildings in the car park, singing overhead. 2 Sand martin over the valley, c1,000 Chaffinch (I didn’t pay full attention as many birds were high up and moving on a broad front) Id counted 2,015 on Saturday. A single Brambling, 340 Siskin, 3 Black Redstart (including a singing bird) 6 Firecrest, 11 Chiffchaff and 2 Grey Partridge. A male Marsh harrier came in high off the sea over the lighthouse just before 11am, my third in the past month.

I’ve been looking for Alpine swift locally since the day after the first birds in Ireland last week, desperate not to miss out on the influx as its a bird I’ve obsessed over alot! Checking the castle eveyday aswell as the whole patch, I Even ventured as far as Kingsdown looking for cliff faces out of the raging and constant SW winds we’ve had.

Today was a blessing though as I received news of an Alpine Swift seen at the neighbouring headland-Bockhill, Luckily I was well situated and climbed up the old Gun Emplacement assuming I’d probably missed it zip through. 25 Minutes later however it appeared over the trees at the top of the valley and fed along a line of leafless sycamores giving great views at times.

The bird fed for an hour and a half over the valley, occasionally venturing over the village but mostly staying fairly low and showing well in varying light. A crowd of locals arrived and all saw it, nice to see everyone. Thanks to Gerald S and Richard H for texting the Bockhill news, found there by Simon W at 10am.

Other than that its been fairly quiet, ones and twos of White wagtail with the cattle in the Harbour field, Chiffchaffs, Firecrests here and there, a smart 1W Caspian Gull (below) along the cliffs on the 23rd, a Marsh Harrier in off the sea y’day, light chaffinch movement throughout the week mostly South and nothing over 200 per morning, (I missed nearly 10,000 last sunday whilst away working) 3 Brambling and a few siskin. 2 Black Redstarts and a Wheatear but no hirundines yet.

2 days of southerly winds and the first Wheatears have arrived along the cliffs. Both Lucy and Colin had 2 males on Lighthouse down and I had my first (and personal earliest here) near the old airfield on upper road, it flew to the fields to the East but showed well, a moment to savour.

I also saw the two males on Light house down before the fog set in. Lucy had seen a Short Eared Owl there early morning.

Theyre great arn’t they, and mark a turning point in the year, one which myself and presumably alot of other birders have been waiting for.

The previous day had been strong southerly wind and several flocks of Brent Geese were noted moving North East, including a flock of 100+ over the harbour as I climbed the cliff path first thing. I counted 400 during the morning and most were high above the water.

The cliff path also played host to 4 Chiffchaffs, seeminly fresh in, feeding in a sheltered spot.

At least one of the 2 wintering Black redstarts is still along our street, it hopped out of my mates cellar stairs. Another bird is currently frequenting the light house area but i havent seen good numbers yet, perhaps next week onwards.

Strong winds led to zero up the cliffs first thing but a second helping of the Glaucous Gull at shakey was enjoyable mid afternoon, it seems to be feeding well enough despite its damaged bill.

A first Winter Caspian Gull (below) eventually turned up in the melee and there was a first winter yellow legged gull too.

While walking back home I scanned the harbour and was surprised to see a Brent Goose sitting alone on the water.

Face on and at a distance I could make out its complete collar and it looked to be very Black and white. It turned out to be the Black Brant! that has been seen at a few sites in East Kent in the past couple of days.

Lovely bird and the only Brent goose Ive seen in the harbour. I wonder where it will be seen next.

After a tip-off from regular visitor Richard Berridge about a Dartford Warbler first thing this morning at Langdon hole I scurried up the cliff and watched it shadowing a pair of stonechats along the path above the harbour field, the first dartford I’ve seen here on the patch so I was happy about that.

A male Marsh Harrier flew high and west and a white wagtail was briefly on the tramway before flying west along the cliffs whilst i looked for the warbler.

Shakey beach was back in action after so long with nothing of interest, A visit after lunch produced the adult Glaucous Gull that Russ and Mark had seen there during the week, it came to bread and performed very nicely.

Its upper mandible is damaged, but it managed to feed so perhaps will be ok.

My first Caspian Gull in months came to bread at shakey too along with 2 first winter YLGs. A check of the harbour this evening produced another 2 different 1st Winter YLGs but nothing else of note.

A work trip to the Netherlands took a brilliant turn when I met up with Mars Muusse to look at Caspian Gulls on my day off. Mars met me at the Amsterdam Centraal and took me to a few sites just west of the Caspian Gull Breeding grounds in Lelystad. The first large gull of the day was a Casp and every group we looked at held many individuals, I think we saw over 100 during the day. the sound of so many long calls and casps calling in general was a sound bath of joy for me. My host was very generous driving me around and great fun to be around, thanks Mars! It was beyond my expectations and the breeding birds had only just began to return to the area.

Much like the thames sites in London the birds were moving between a few locations, back and forth, which we checked during the day. The most productive perhaps was some kind of processing/recycling plant which we gained access to by buying Donuts for the staff and just being friendly, It just wouldn’t work like that in the uk!

The weather was wet and cold and I mostly pointed the camera at 1st winters but all ages were in present in good numbers. Later We were joined by Thijs Horst and all together clocked 20+ Rings, including birds from Germany, Poland, Belarus and Czech although I didnt see a Dutch ringed Casp!

Enjoy the photo dump.

Above and below images Mars M

I missed out photographing so many birds, i just didnt know where to point the camera but also didnt want to be looking through a viewfinder all day. Hopefully this group of images gives an impression.

Im going to return at some point, id love to see the breeding colony in full swing but also to see numbers of juveniles too. The record I think is 800 Caspian gulls counted in a day in late summer, presumably the entire 108 breeding pairs plus juveniles, non breeders and migrants, mostly feeding on dead and dying fish with a few white tailed eagles here and there. Must have been a sight.

For info on the breeding colonies and the work that Mars etc are conducting follow link http://www.gull-research.org/cachinnans/01holland01.html

Verbazingwekkend!

A noticeable increase in Common gulls around at the moment, especially in the evening harbour roost but also at Shakey beach. Among them a 2nd Winter heinei – A subspecies I’ve looked for for ages and have seen many lookalikes and ‘almosts’.

The bird shows one of the diagnostic primary patterns and in conjunction with limited head streaking contrasting against a nice boa of fine neck streaks and a brighter bill. Darker mantle tone along with a long winged appearance and flight style plus dark marks on the outer greater coverts, all indicative of heinei.

A bird showing a P9 mirror that extends onto the outer web must also show a black band on p4 and no white tongue tip to p7.

Im sure Russian common gulls are present in winter in larger numbers than we think and February is a good time to look at common gulls as numbers build so i will put some effort into looking at them and perhaps see another before spring.

With no work to go to at the moment I’m making the most of the Gulls, which seem to be abit hit and miss. I drew blanks at Shakey beach for almost 2 weeks only to see 5 Caspian Gulls in one day on the 31st December, the same can be said for Deal which seems abit better at the moment. Perhaps a little influx of gulls is upon us.

Below are a few 1st winter from Shakey on a very windy day, hence the sea spray all over the lens!

Below: 2 caspian and 1 YLG (bottom bird), the left hand Casp is a Czech yellow ringed individual 03C:U

A couple of Casps from Deal in the past few days. Gerald S has seen a half a dozen or so recently.

Above a large 1st Winter and below a delicatly plumaged 2nd Winter. Lovely stuff