Light westerly wind Sunny spells

Fairly typical early autumn day at Bockhill with 13 Willow Warblers, 25 Whitethroats, 12 Lesser Whitethroats, seven Reed Warblers, one Grasshopper Warbler and single Wheatears and Redstart. 

Highlights included an immature Cuckoo in the Freedown and a Marsh Harrier 

A lack on northerlies in the wind probably accounted for a slow down in the passage of Crossbills which have dominated the autumn so far 

https://ebird.org/checklist/S265361796  

https://ebird.org/checklist/S265371099 

Brendan, Jack and Phil 

Cuckoo- Freedown (Brendan Ryan)

Willow Warbler -Hope Point 

Reed Warbler - Hope Point 

Northern Wheatear (Brendan Ryan) 

23rd March 2025

A walk along the clifftop from Kingsdown to Hope Point and back, in a light drizzle, we had 30 Meadow Pipits, 2 Rock Pipits, 50 Siskins, 4 Brambling, a Hawfinch and 5457 Chaffinches flying south.

Grounded migrants included a Black Redstart, Blackcap and 2 Chiffchaffs.

Phil, Richard, Jack.  

22nd March 2025

 At sea 337 Brent Geese, 153 Red-throated Divers, 2 Great Northern Divers, 1 Arctic and 1 Great Skua moved upchannel whilst a Mute Swan and 3 Slavonian Grebes sat just off the beach at St Margaret's.         Elsewhere overhead were 7 White-fronted Geese, 40 Meadow Pipits, 8 Rock Pipits, 8 White Wagtails, several hundred Chaffinches with some Siskins and Bramblings flying south. Around the area were 2 Woodcocks, 2 Stonechats, 8 Black Redstarts, 3 Chiffchaffs and 2 Firecrests. 

A 1st winter Iceland Gull circled the big field before moving off north. 

15th February 2025

For three hours in bitterly cold weather Simon and I had a seawatch that produced 236 Red-throated Divers, 1 Black-throated Diver, 20 Oystercatchers and 16 Curlews all moving upchannel.

As we were about to give up we were joined by Gerald and Nigel who threw some bread out which  fortunately attracted this 2nd winter Caspian Gull.     

17th January 2025

A sea watch from 09:30 till 12:00 produced very little apart from 385 Cormorants flying N in three flocks and 42 Red-throated Divers flying S.

At least three Grey Seals feeding in the Bay.

Simon, Jack.

17th November 2024

 A day of herons with 2 Grey Herons, 8 Little Egrets and 2 Cattle Egrets.

Also in the area were 3 Firecrests, a Pied Wagtail, Brambling and our first Lapland Bunting of the autumn.

Brendan, Nigel, Phil, Simon, Jack.

16th November 2024

In the Bay amongst the many gulls were 3 Caspian Gulls, an adult and 2 first Winters.

 

Also 4 Shag feeding offshore.

Gerald, Nigel, Simon, Jack.

10th November 2024

 Still good numbers of flyovers today with 2060 Woodpigeons, 6 Swallows, 8 Mistle Thrushes, 75 Redwings, 60 Fieldfares, 10 Pied Wagtails, 66 Meadow Pipits, 180 Chaffinches, 17 Bramblings, 40 Redpolls, 610 Goldfinches, 30 Siskins, 8 Woodlarks and 2 Hawfinches.

Grounded migrants included 4 Stonechats, 1 Black Redstart, 14 Chiffchaffs, 30 Goldcrests and 9 Firecrests.

In the Bay, whilst having a coffee, there were 3 or 4 Seals and many hundreds of large Gulls feeding on what appeared to be spratts.

Brendan, John C, Phil, Nigel, Jack.   

9th November 2024

This morning we stood at the Monument and did a viz.mig. for a couple of hours from 07:00 recording flyover birds moving north. We had 3 Golden Plovers, 6 Stock Doves, 226 Starlings, 6 Song Thrushes, 31 Redwings, 35 Fieldfares, 8 Pied Wagtails, 150 Meadow Pipits, 520 Chaffinches, 150 Linnets, 45 Redpoll, 2 Greenfinches, 60 Siskins, 2825 Goldfinches and a Serin.

Elsewhere around the area were 4 Stonechats, 3 Chiffchaffs and 11 Goldcrests.

Richard Jenkinson saw at Lesser Whitethroat at the Monument

Brendan, Phil, Jack/

6th November

 "Highlights" included 12 Goldcrests, seven Firecrests, three Chiffchaffs three Fieldfares. Stonechat numbers continue to decline with only one seen today. A single Teal flew up channel. 

3rd November

 A brisk easterly wind prompted some movement over the sea including 64 Wigeon, seven Teal, 72 Common Scoter, five R-b Mergansers, four Red-throated Divers and the first two Fulmars for over a month. 

2nd November

 Another uninspiring day in which flyover Snow Bunting and Hawfinch were the only birds of note. Chiffchaffs numbered seven and Goldcrests 12 

1st November

 Overnight news of a Rose-coloured Starling on a feeder in a garden in at St Margaret's meant that Team Bockhill were in place in the village at dawn. The target was located soon after it left its roost and gave brief views in a tree at the end of Reach Road before dropping into the gardens.  It was seen on and off for the rest of the morning but seemed to disappear during the afternoon. 

Mission accomplished we returned to the Monument where it was clear that there was a reasonable overhead movement of finches. In the next hour and a half we counted 1810 Goldfinches, 55 Siskins, 22 Redpolls  and 12 Bramblings. 

Thereafter the day went downhill a little with a Woodlark along the clifftop and a Black Redstart around the Bluebird Cafe being the only decent birds of the morning. 

Rose-coloured Starling