PERDIX BIRDER

Back from a long work trip to Korea. High temperatures and high pressure for the past 2 days with favourable South Easterly wind direction though not much to write home about. Over 1000 Hirundines on the 15th, heading no particular direction, lots of ChiffChaffs and no Willows,numbers of Siskin over, a Juv Hen Harrier hunting over the top fields, 3 Golden Plover, 5 Ringed Plover and my first numbers of Meadow pipits of the Autumn.

Much the same for the next couple of days with the Hen Harrier still in situ, a couple of Tree pipits, the odd and Yellow Wagtail and up to 6 Whinchats, single Spotted Fly, Firecrest and Reed warbler. Nice to be home.

Light North Westerlies with much the same smattering of common migrants, 2 Redstart, single Pied and Spotted Flycatchers plus a tree pipit over near the light house. a flock of 18 Yellow wagtails flew west while 6 were along the path and cliff top near Langdon.

The highlight of the morning was an Osprey that cleared the large gull flock under the cliffs at the light house before being chased west by a resident Peregrine. A marsh Harrier flew in off the sea just after. 3 Whinchat on the top fields. A nice visit from Young Dante y’day was highlighted with a Nightingale on the farm but not much else.

Thats it for me for the next three weeks i’m working in Seoul, South Korea. Back mid September, i hope i dont miss much but leaving the patch in capable hands.

Clear skies with a light Westerly and it was seemingly quiet for Rich and I at the western end of the patch but numbers of migrants built from Fan bay onwards, with highlights being Pied fly, 22 Yellow Wagtails , 2(ish) Tree Pipits and a good number of hirundines moving predictably into the wind.

A marsh Harrier and 14 Black Tailed Godwits flew over top wood just as we bumped into Colin & Kevin Johnson who were out and about as were John Clements and Chris Cox who had caught a Fantastic Wood Warbler in the valley.

A new bird for me on the patch, as were the godwits! Seems to have been a decent few days for the former species in the south east, I came across on on Beachy head with Laurence P a few days earlier.

A juv Hen Harrier flew in from the direction of the sea and over us in the valley.

2 Redstart, 8 Whinchat, 9 Wheatear and 20 odd willows plus common and lesser whitethroat in slightly less numbers than recently. John Clemants had 2 Crossbill over and Rich had a brilliant flyover Osprey after id gone for lunch, the 4th I know of locally this year.

Thick fog first thing (the fog horn in the harbour had been blasting all night) and I woke to the sound of Willow Warblers calling in the garden.

Numbers of birds seemed high with calling willows and a Common redstart on Foxhill down though the visability was poor. I moved East and the fog thinned slightly, a Turnstone flew around calling in the murk. By the time I reached the Valley the fog was almost gone and 2 of each Pied and Spotted flycatchers were feeding along the sheltered side of the enclousure.

Colin J called to say he had a Honey Buzzard flying west from Top wood towards the farm at 11.40, I ran to higher ground in an attempt to see it and eventually picked it up distantly moving away, low over upper Road towards Dover. He also had a Marsh Harrier and a Common Redstart in the farm area.

2 Common Redstarts, a Tree pipit, a Whinchat and 2 Wheatear were in Broadless bottom as were the recently released Red–billed Choughs which have been feeding and flying around for the past couple of weeks.

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.