Back from working in Scotland and hoping for some migrants on the headland I headed up the cliffs first thing. A moderate NE wind had brought in 10 Willow Warbler, 2 Reed Warblers and a Wheatear to Langdon and Foxhill down area.
60 Swift and a few Swallows were circling high above the Castle and 2 Juv Yellow Legged Gulls flew West along the cliff edge where 2 Juv Black Redstart were flitting around in their usual late summer creche spot.
A time of year that I greatly look forward to has begun.
A change in the weather, much cooler temperatures and a light NW wind delivered 3 Cuckoos, 5 Yellow Wagtails, c60 Swift, 15 Swallow to the headland this am. A Black Redstart was also near the lighthouse whilst 6 Med Gulls flew west out to sea including my first juvs of the year.
Probably days away from my first Willow Warbler of the Autumn though Im off to Scotland for another round of Surveys on Monday so it will have to wait till the first week of August.
Probably my latest date for a number of years but an anticipated moment in the birding calendar for me. This years approach to searching for juv YLGs has been very much laissez-faire and today I had 2 birds fly past us on whilst swimming at st Margarets beach.
I chased after the second bird and caught up with it on the water a kilometer or so East of where we’d pitched up, though it remained at distance on the water.
Very little else to report other than my first Yellow Wagtail over west of the ‘Autumn’ this morning along with c30 Swallow and a handful of Swift. 2 Black Redstart were along the cliff tops first thing, in fact; Im seeing them everywhere at the moment!
I continue to obsess over Honey Buzzards and have been looking on Google Earth and OS maps for vantage points overlooking habitat in an attempt to find unknown summering or even breeding birds. Today it paid off and I watched a dark, unbarred female circling over woodland before sparring with a Red kite and moving off. 3 Hours later it returned, showing very well and perched in a tree, preening for 10 minutes; Not the behaviour of a migrant, I will therefore be keeping an eye on the area and not sharing its whereabouts except with the county recorder.
Moderate SSW winds, a clear view over to Calais and I had Honey Buzzards on my mind. I even texted Jacob S at Dunge to say today is ‘Perfect HB conditions’, if only it was a little earlier in the month I thought. But despite the late date Colin J and I had 3 fantastic Honey Buzzards arrive at South foreland during the space of an hour after the first at 10.01 am (right on queue)
The First bird, a partly unbarred pale female came in low from the direction of the lighthouse cliffs, circled and gained height then flew WNW.
The Second bird came almost exactly an hour later, picked up out over the sea it flew along the cliffs and inland at st Margarets, circling over John N on his balcony. An intermediate female with more barring than the first bird. It got some hassle from the gulls and a Peregrine too.
The third bird came in just after this one, and a little closer, a darker female which again was picked up out over the water and came in, circled and flew North, which is pretty much what they all do here.
A thrilling bit of birding and brings my personal total of HBs this spring here to 5 aswell as equalling my best day count locally of 3 in June 2020 just before we moved down here. I have continued to obsess over them and seeing them arrive over the water is exactly the views I crave. Always leaves me wanting more though!
June is coming to a close and we’ve mainly been locked into SW airflow, things have been quiet in terms of birds. With very little to report despite daily ventures up the cliffs, an increasing number of Swifts and smaller numbers of Barn swallows all moving west on each visit but little else.
Local Peregrines have fledged 2 chicks this year, with another pair down the cliffs also rearing 2, all noisily learning about life.
Im seeing good numbers of Hummingbird Hawkmoths, there were 3 in my garden yesterday and i counted 5 feeding on vipers bugloss near fan bay.
Orchids too are providing entertainment with many Spotted, Pryamidal amd Fragrant Orchids and only a few Bee Orchids all of the latter are over now.
So until the bird situation changes (perhaps with the SE wind this coming week) This blog will remain a little dull Im afraid!
My annual work trip to Basel concluded with a pleasant morning spent looking for Honey Buzzards from Castle Landskron just south of the city.
A few HB sightings of mostly distant birds except a nice barred male that gave good views.
Just as I was about to leave I picked up a Short Toed Eagle heading my way. Not quite the species you’d expect in such a lush and forested area and it seems its a scarce bird in Switzerland, especially north of the Alps with less than 10 records per year.
The blog has sat quietly since I found the Sardinian Warbler and now I am about to go away with work for 2 weeks. I have neglected to mention that Hawfinches have been seen in small numbers in the valley and just west of the lighthouse recently, also 2 Turtle doves and 1 or 2 Spotted flycatchers have also been recorded. 165 Swifts flew west a couple of days ago but things mainly seem to have slowed down. June is still a fantastic month so it ‘aint over yet but Im happy to have moved some attention to butterflies/flowers and moths plus the local breeders: a Pair of Peregrines along the cliffs have fledged 2 chicks with another pair still feeding large and demanding little ones, surely days away from making the plunge.
Ill be back late june for a final throw of the dice!
At about 10.15 this morning I heard a distant sylvia warbler singing from a line of bushes 30 ft from the cliff on Lighthouse down . At first it sounded like a small syliva singing with a rolling momentum punctuated by pauses, I could hear it wasn’t any of our common breeding sylvias but also not unfamiliar to me. At this point not distinguishable from a number of other options in that family. As I got closer and the bird continued I began to pick out the Sardinian warbler type call notes scattered within the song; stuttered harsh and rapid rattling ‘tt-tt-tt tzek’s which are audible in the video link and recordings below. The bird then went quiet and after an hour of searching I relocated it 150m down at the bottom of the valley, where it called straight up like a Sardinian Warbler several times. It was this call that I found most useful and my moment of confirmation although I still hadn’t seen the bird. I spoke to a couple of friends before putting the news out, to say the words out loud and this helped alot.
UPDATE 31/05/22. It took over a day to get decent enough views but Ive seen the bird in flight several times and moving on the front of a bush aswell as perched a couple of times. It is a nightmare to try and photograph but a fantastic male Sardinian Warbler all the same. To my knowledge, It showed its best on Monday to myself, Rich B and a crowd of 10 or so. Most visiting birders (which there have been many due to the proximity to the Falcon) have either only heard it or seen it in flight (or nothing at all). It has been vocal at periods throughout each day until today (Tuesday 31st) where it seems to have disappeared.
Below are some recordings of the call, recorded on Sunday 29th by Andrew E.
A bright & sunny morning and a light NW met me as I climbed the cliff path. With nothing of note until I reached the Lighthouse and picked up a Caspian Tern out to sea.
It was moving North East and circling lazily about. Presumably the recent Pegwell Bay bird out on an excursion, Very exciting to come across it though, a real “Fucking ‘el!” moment.
Lighthouse down held a Spotted Flycatcher and a common Nightingale, which sang on and off from cover but also came to a ‘between the teeth’ whistle and showed it self briefly.
The rest of the afternoon was taken up by two twitches; the first was to see Tony M’s 3rd Striped Hawkmoth of the year, the second was to see the Eleanora’s falcon which was incredible, along side a female Red–footed Falcon and a few Hobbies. Really Glad I went. Great to catch up with some really nice folk.
PERDIX BIRDER 