PERDIX BIRDER

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

2 Weeks away in Switzerland with work and a week back home with daily coverage and not an awful lot to report.

I returned to find that my local Peregrine pair had impressively fledged 5 chicks, a noisy summer ahead. One of the other pairs that I keep an eye on have successfully fledged a single chick whereas another seem to have failed.

A flock of 21 Crossbills flew over the garden the morning of the 26th and I came across a Large Tortoiseshell in Langdon hole later the same day. A brief encounter with a fast moving butterfly, covering a large area so only record shots only were taken, nice though!

A Turtle Dove was purring somewhere in the valley on the 27th, I couldn’t pin down its exact location but heard it several times, perhaps a failed breeder from elsewhere? The same day an unseasonal juvenile Yellow wagtail was feeding along the cliff top path, where from I wonder?

Swifts, and Swallows have been moving SW in small numbers, the breeding season seems to have gone well for local Yellowhammers, Skylarks and Corn Buntings.

Still no change to the wind direction but an interesting day on the headland. three small flocks of Crossbills moved North up the coast, 2 Spotted flycatchers and a Reeling Grasshopper warbler at Langdon were the supporting cast to a Serin which was darting around the area under the Radar station, very mobile but came back to the same area a couple of times. A Hobby was over the valley and c20 Swift and similar numbers of House martin were noted.

Juv Crossbill

Yet another day of moderate North Easterlies to add to all the others this month but an unexpectedly good one! Joined By Rich B, our walk to South Foreland was only interrupted to look at a Hobby over the vinyard but 2 Hawfinches over lighthouse down were certainly a nice surprise. Both birds were adults, they appeared to fly in over the cliff and continued to the North East calling. An unfortunately blurred photo of the male below. This comes on the same date that 4 Hawfinches (2 ads 2 juvs) arrived on last year and also marks the anniversary of last year’s Sardinian Warbler.

an Hour later as we walked along the western edge of Top wood 2 Bee–eaters appeared above us, coming in fairly low. A brief ‘loop-the-loop’ and then over the wood and out of sight. 20 seconds of multicoloured mayhem and very satisfying it was.

Similar numbers of Swift, House martin and swallow to previous days this past week and the odd Siskin too. John N had an Osprey come in off the sea at st Margarets around midday which typically headed inland.