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.
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.
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.
In the Bay amongst the many gulls were 3 Caspian Gulls, an adult and 2 first Winters.
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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.
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/
"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.
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.
Another uninspiring day in which flyover Snow Bunting and Hawfinch were the only birds of note. Chiffchaffs numbered seven and Goldcrests 12
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.
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| Rose-coloured Starling |
A fairly quiet day in which a Woodlark over the Freedown was the only highlight. Other birds of note included 22 Barn Swallows, four Chiffchaffs, five Bramblings and 13 Redpolls
Brendan, Jack and Phil
In a light NNW wind (Bockhill's favourite) we enjoyed a better than average viz mig on the clifftop. Highlight was a brief juv Rosy Starling which shot through south with a group of Common Starlings. Equally frustrating was a calling Woodlark heading north that we failed to pick up in the bright sky.
The main feature of the session was a steady passage of Stock Doves with 516 eventually logged. There was no movement of Wood Pigeons which had been reported in large numbers from other sites. Finches were represented with six Bramblings, single Greenfinch and Bullfinch, 12 Redpolls and a number of mostly unseen Siskins. A Tree Sparrow went over the Gun Emplacement later.
At least four Chiffchaffs along the cliff top early morning raised the hope of something arriving from further east but sadly nothing materialised. The end total of Chiffchaffs was 13, along with a single Blackcap. Goldcrests were well down on yesterday but Firecrests numbered five.
The only other notable observation was a Woodcock, flushed from a stubble field early afternoon.
Phil, Brendan, Jack and John Cantelo
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| Stock Doves on the move |
Good conditions for birding this morning, light winds, good light and it was October. The only thing that was missing was birds.
The only things of note were 28 Barn Swallows, six Chiffchaffs, 15 Goldcrests, four Stonechats, five Redpolls and 10 Yellowhammers
Brendan
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| Redpolls have been scarce this autumn but a few have been trickling through in the last few days |
