Author: Jamie Partridge

Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights since I last posted. Strong winds have dominated, mostly from the SW. A little Auk flew down channel, close in at st Margaret’s on the 31st Oct. Phil had another the next morning just before I arrived, also that morning a Short–eared Owl over the sea, Bonxie and Red Breasted Merganser all down channel. A woodlark over Foxhill down early on the 30th and another two with Rich B over the valley the same day.

This morning I spent the first hours of light on light house down, where 20 Skylark, a Mistle Thrush 105 Crossbills in 6 flocks, c40 Redpoll, 2 Brambling, 15 siskin, 3 House Martin 5 Swallow flew SW.

At 08.45 a Glossy Ibis appeared over the cliffs above the bay and flew SW over head, a Scarce bird here.

Almost every visit up the cliffs recently I have encountered a Merlin, this juv was hunting as the light faded today.

A similar story each day since Tuesday this week, bar the strong winds on the 23rd where a Seawatch from the Bay was highlighted by a single pale phase Arctic Skua plus a Male Marsh harrier & 2 Kestrels arrived in off. Most days have seen presumably the same juv Merlin, up to 4 Ring Ouzels across the patch, Hirundines more obvious today with c75 House Martin and 30 Swallow. Firecrests round 10 per day and Redpoll & Siskin dominating Finch numbers, today with the addition of 3 Groups of Crossbill, a Woodlark, a 1st winter Caspian Gull all SW.

Ive been including the woods up to and around the Bleriot Memorial this week in my walks, adding extra mileage and until today only hearing the Yellow browed warbler thats been up there since before I got back from Scilly. Today, along with Phil and Jack I got some nice views of it. Love seeing these birds close to home.

Back home after 2 weeks on st Agnes, more on that later. A clear and calm start to the day with a light SW wind.

A walk of the entire patch yielded a Yellow–Browed Warbler in the pines Garden, 6 Firecrest, a juv Merlin hunting at Fan Bay, a single Ring ouzel, 5 Reed Buntings, 25 House Martin & 40 Swallow SW. Siskins and Redpolls over occasionally and a Brambling over Top wood.

Very light S winds and a bright start, with a similar theme to the past few mornings here; Hundreds of Chiffchaffs 10+ Firecrests decent Hirundine and Meadow Pipit passage but nothing to really get overly excited about. Ive been averaging about 20km per day in walking up and down this past week and despite enjoying the numbers of common birds, I’ve had little to show for it in terms of scarcity untill an afternoon trip up onto Foxhill down today took an unexpected and thrilling turn, with a Pallid Harrier appearing above the hairpin bends and coming straight over head.

My camera was packed away in the bag and settings were all wrong for shooting into the sky plus the shock of seeing a dream bird up here set me back abit but I had great views of it for 20 seconds before it dropped below the trees. I did my usual trick of legging it after the bird and had more nice prolonged views as it gained height to avoid the crows towards the radar station and continued just above hunting height and out of sight towards Langdon and the top fields of South Foreland.

More running whilst putting out the news simultaneously. I arrived at the Top fields in a breathless mess but after 20 mins or so the bird circled up above Fan bay and moved towards the lighthouse. It zigzagged at hunting height over the fields and was lost to sight towards Sherley’s farm.

Perhaps/likely the same bird Jacob Spinks had a Dungeness this am, which apparently flew North. A dream patch find here for me and a bird I’ve wanted after always.

A Merlin chased a Skylark whilst I waited for the Harrier but other notables in the past few days dont get much beyond 4 Tree Sparrows W on the 30th and 2 small flocks of Crossbill SW today.

A week of moderate NE winds saw me otherwise engaged until the morning of the 25th, a slightly lighter wind but from the same direction. 6 Ring Ouzels, a Redwing, 100 Siskin, 5 Redpoll, 2 Reed buntings & 25 Brent Geese downchannel were the notables. This morning (26th) with a light Easterly was more encouraging, the morning started with 2 Firecrests in the ornamental flowerbed at the end of my road, a further 6 throughout the day +5 Goldcrest, 4/5 Ring Ouzels & another Redwing in Langdon hole, a 1CY Caspian Gull NE along cliff tops, c4,000 Swallow, 200 House martin, c10 Sand Martin, c300 Siskin, 20+ Stonechat, Whinchat, Redstart, Black Redstart, Whitethroat, lesser whitethroat, 2 juvenile Hobby, up to 3 Grasshopper warblers – 2 in the same bush on the edge of the cliffs at langdon. (below)

A quick check of the harbour on the 25th also produced a smart 1CY Caspian Gull on the Harbour arm near my house.

The first day of light winds after over a week. An almost still SE morning and an early start. My highlight of the day came over the Windmill garden just at tree height and flew towards the lighthouse where I stood – a dark juvenile Honey Buzzard just before 9am.

Nice views of it as It flew out over the channel but stayed parallel with the coast and continued SW towards Dover, Later a 2cy male Marsh Harrier flew out to sea over fan bay.

Meadow pipits were moving with c500 counted in the first 3 hours of light, 4 Spotted flycatchers, 5 Whinchat, Wheatear, Willow and Sedge warblers, c150 Chiffchaff and 100 or so blackcap.

Hirundines were pretty spectacular especially into the afternoon, a rough estimate would be c10,000 birds. I counted almost 1k several times and at one point the sky was full of hirundines as far as I could see with perhaps half that number Swallows and the rest Sand and House martin + 3 Common Swifts.

The strong SW winds continue, thus more seawatching. Sharing the shelter at st Margaret’s with Brendan and Jack for the most part.

Highlights from the 17th: A juvenile Long–tailed skua early on down channel, 10+ Arctic skuas throughout the day, 52 Sooty shearwaters (between 07.00 – 13.15), a single Manx, 1CY Caspian gull, a tight flock of 7 Black terns first thing and a single later on all also down channel. 

Today’s sea watching (18th) began with 2 Ospreys (below) out and south over the water within 5 minutes of each other, a Hobby did the same shortly after, more close Arctic skuas both passing and lingering, again 10+ and later a Little tern came past down channel close in.

A return tomorrow to some more ‘birdable’ weather.

Gusting 60 mph SW winds in the channel on the 15th and some decent seawatching to be had (by st Margaret’s Bay standards) lately almostt all my efforts have been focused on the sea.

Two significant highlights were a summer plumage Black Guillemot (significant Kent rarity) that Phil picked up on the 14th, and today I had up to 5 European Storm Petrels in the Bay. Poor quality video below of 4 birds feeding in a slick, I later saw presumably the same birds again a little further out then a single closer bird once Rob & Virginia arrived.

The Bay continues to be good for Skuas, presumably due to the current tern passage with multiple birds through down-channel and also sat on the sea, occasionally harassing passing terns.

c15 Arctic Skuas (above) on the 15th, a single sub adult Pomerine Skua and 6 Arctics on the 16th, No LTS for me so far this autumn.

Other Seawatching notables across a the past few days have been 3 Baleric Shearwaters on the 14th, an Osprey South and low over the water on the 15th, both juv Kestrel and adult Hobby arriving in off, and a few Black Terns across yday and today.

The cliff top has been fairly quiet as expected but an Osprey South Along the cliffs on the 13th, and today – 3 Tree pipit 6 Whinchat, 4 Willow Warblers, 100+of each Blackcap and Chiffchaff and a Spotted Flycatcher were counted despite strong winds.

Daily coverage but a disappointing start to September. Numbers of Chiffchaff on the rise and a couple days with masses of Blackcap, the 10th held c2,000 Hirundines SW, largely Swallow.

Firecrests are appearing all over the patch with 8 counted on the 12th along side 3 Spotted flycatchers and 2 Grasshopper warblers.

Strong winds have meant more seawatching here, highlights have been 5 Balearic Shearwaters on the 11th and a wet morning on the 13th with Jack, Phil and Brendan was fantastic for st Margaret’s standards – 42 Arctic Skuas, many close in, good fun!

A last minute decision to fly to Tarifa for the weekend of my friend Laurence’s birthday, excellent dates for raptor migration and thousands of birds seen, with Sunday particularly the best day. I heard the numbers 8,000 5,000 and 15,000 pertaining to Honey Buzzards counted but how many we saw I dont know. It was a mega day in many ways with an unexpected event during abit of a lull in the afternoon . Co-finding a Blue cheeked Bee–eater, initially picked up calling but not to be seen anywhere (Its a call I have lodged into my head in the hope of one day finding back home). Amazingly Laurence picked it up perched distantly on wires in the valley below where we stood.

A nervous dash over to a tour group to borrow a scope and we got others onto the bird.

These photos were taken from the track alot closer to the bird, which after 15 mins of us getting down there joined a group of Bee-eaters and flew over the ridge out of sight.

Not sure how many records for Spain exactly, Im told less than 20. Hopefully the start of a great Autumn to come.