31st August

Highlights today were seven Whinchats and seven species of warblers, a Grasshopper Warbler, a Reed Warbler, five Blackcaps, 36 Lesser Whitethroats, 31 Whitethroats, three Chiffchaffs and 12 Willow Warblers. Also around the area were six Grey Partridges, a Grey Wagtail, four Yellow Wagtails, two Wheatears and two Ravens.
Phil, Jack.

29th August

Still a relatively good number of migrants with c. 60 Swallows, 550 House Martins moving W and in the area four Whinchats, 13 Wheatears, 17 Blackcaps, 24 Lesser Whitethroats, six Whitethroats, two Chiffchaffs, 15 Willow Warblers and six Grey Partridges.
Brendan, Phil, Jack.

28th August

A good arrival of birders this morning, a sure sign of autumn progressing with seven observers on site, possibly a peak count! Most of yesterday's Whinchats had moved on with only four seen today along with a single Wheatear.  19 Willow Warblers were seen, mostly fresh bright first calendar year birds, which are always nice to see. In contrast many of the 14 Blackcaps on show were very worn adults. Other Warblers included 25 Whitethroats, 19 Lesser Whitethroats and single Chiffchaff,  Reed, Sedge and Garden Warblers. Overhead there were five Yellow Wagtails, 43 Swallows and 12 Turnstone, which flew through the Paddock shortly after dawn

Brendan, Jack, Phil, John Cantelo et al

27th August

A very hot day again with quite a number of new birds most notable 11 Whinchats and five Wheatears. Apart from that we had three Reed Warblers, 15 Lesser Whitethroats, eight Whitethroats, four Blackcaps, three Chiffchaffs, three Willow Warblers and a Spotted Flycatcher.
A count of butterflies showed excellent numbers of Adonis Blues (21) but the Painted Lady Butterflies have dropped greatly.
Brendan, Isaac, Jack

26th August

Another hot day in which it was tough birding after about 9.00.  For the first time this autumn Chiffchaffs outnumbered Willow Warblers ( three and eight respectively). This is a pattern repeated annually and we would expect Chiffchaff numbers to build up into September, with daily totals up to 300 birds. Other warblers were scarce with 15 Whitethroats, eight Lesser Whitethroats, and 11 Blackcaps.  There was a Pied Flycatcher at McSwiggans, single Redstarts in the Gun Emplacement and Freedown and two Whinchats ( Freedown and Hope Point). Overhead there was a single Tree Pipit and four Yellow Wagtails

Quite a few Adonis Blues were on the wing at Kingsdown Leas, where there was also a Clouded Yellow.

Brendan, Jack and Julian Russell

Adonis Blue- Kingsdown Leas

Kestrel- Freedown 

25th August

Unfortunately Bockhill missed out on yesterday's influx of Pied Flycatchers because no one actually went out! Tony almost saved the day by having one in his garden but how many did we miss?

An early start today 5.40 am to make amends and a Pied Flycatcher was duly found on the edge of the Farm Wood before it flew into the Freedown. Numbers of warblers were generally down although a Grasshopper Warbler showed well at Hope Point, our 9th of the autumn and there were four Reed Warblers nearby. Other warblers included five Willow Warblers, eight Whitethroats, 16 Lesser Whitethroats and seven Blackcaps. Four Wheatears were seen and overhead there were 11 Yellow Wagtails and the first Grey Wagtail of the autumn. Two Greenshank and three Whimbrel flew down channel. At 10.30 an adult male Honey Buzzard flew over the monument giving stunning views. Sadly no one had a functioning camera with them.

Brendan, Jack and John Cantelo

23rd August

Clearly there had been a small arrival of Lesser Whitethroats which seemed to be everywhere and at least 31 were counted. Other than that it was quite with 29 Whitethroats, nine Blackcaps, 4 Willow Warblers and a single Chiffchaff. Overhead there was a single Yellow Wagtail.

Brendan

22nd August

Today there were six Lesser Whitethroats, 18 Whitethroats, seven Blackcaps, one Chiffchaff and five Willow Warblers. The Redstart was still in the Paddock and a Spotted Flycatcher arrived in the Wood.
Jack

21st August

A few more warblers today with five Reed Warblers, six Lesser Whitethroats, 13 Whitethroats, six Blackcaps and four Willow Warblers. Also had a Redstart in the Paddock, a Little Owl called from the Empty Wood and two Ravens patrolled the clifftop.
Jack

20th August

Very few birds of note today apart from four Wheatears, two Whinchats (one an adult male), three Reed Warblers, five Lesser Whitethroats, six Whitethroats, two Chffchaffs and three Willow Warblers. In the big field a flock of c.180 Linnets has built up in the last few days.
Phil, Jack

19th August

A real struggle today with a reduction in the numbers of warblers present. I managed to cover the Paddock, Gun Emplacement, Farm Wood and Freedown but could only muster six Willow Warblers, 18 Whitethroats, four Lesser Whitethroats five Blackcaps and a single Chiffchaff.

18th August

After overnight rain there were more migrants today with a Tree Pipit, 12 Wheatears, a Whinchat and two Common Redstarts. Eight species of warbler were recorded with two Sedge Warblers, two Reed Warblers, 17 Lesser Whitethroats, 48 Whitethroats, two Garden Warblers, six Blackcaps, 36 Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff. Also of note were 17 Mediterranean Gulls in the fields.
Brendan, John C, Phil, Richard, Jack

17th August

A few migrants today with five Wheatears, one Redstart, three Reed Warblers, seven Lesser Whitethroats, 14 Whitethroats, two Blackcaps, one Chiffchaff and eight Willow Warblers. Also a trickle overhead of 26 Swallows, 34 Sand Martins W and 49 Mediterranean Gulls in the Fields.
PJC,JRC

15th August

Fairly quiet this morning with less warblers than late. Nine Willow Warblers, 23 Whitethroats, two Blackcaps, seven Lesser Whitethroats and two Reed Warblers. Overhead 13 Swifts and two Sand Martins passed through. Highlight of the morning was a Redstart in the Freedown, probably different from Phil's bird in the Gun Emplacement two days earlier.

Jack and Phil were out later and added two Grasshopper Warblers, a Hobby, a Whinchat and two Wheatears. and a Greenshank.

Redstart- Freedown

Reed Warbler -Hope Point

Lesser Whitethroat - Hope Point 

13th and 14th August 2019

14th August
An early dog walk before the rain clamped down yielded a Quail by the 9th Tee on the Golf Course. The bird was heard for 10 minutes from 05.50 and appeared to be in the field adjacent to the Golf Course. Unfortunately it was never seen and there was no further sign before I had to head home 20 minutes later.

Later on Phil and Jack had three Reed Warblers, seven Lesser Whitethroats, 32 Whitethroats and 25 Willow Warblers. Also in the area were singles of Turnstone, Golden Plover and Raven.
Number of Yellowhammers seem to increase daily and we counted 28.

13th August

Phil had a walk around the area and had reasonable numbers of Warblers  most notable being singles of Grasshopper Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, 10 Lesser Whitethroats, 35 Whitethroats, two Chiffchaffs and four Willow Warblers. Other migrants were a Tree Pipit, a Common Redstart, a Whinchat and two Wheatears.

12th August

A small arrival of Willow Warblers was evident this morning with 32 counted, mostly around the Paddock. 2 Reed Warblers were enticed out from cover at Hope Point. Other warbler numbers included 24 Whitethroats, nine Lesser Whitethroats, nine Blackcaps plus a single Chiffchaff.

Overhead 19 Swifts flew down channel over the sea and Greenshank and Green Sandpiper were heard but not seen. Three Yellow Wagtails and a Tree Pipit went SW.

The Whinchat was still along the clifftop along with four Wheatears

Brendan

Whinchat on clifftop. Present for 8th day, assuming that it is the same bird

Wheatears increased to four on the clifftop 

Yellowhammers seem to be everywhere this autumn

9th August

A three hour seawatch this morning provided us with an interesting assortment of birds moving down Channel. We had 73 Gannets, a Shag, 35 Common Scoter, a Teal, seven Shelduck, three Dunlin, seven Whimbrel, two Curlew, 21 Knot and five Oystercatchers. Also 26 Kittiwakes and 18 Mediterranean Gulls of different ages flew W with 45 Commic Terns and four Black Terns. There were two Arctic Skuas in the area and up to three Harbour Porpoises feeding offshore.
Phil, Brendan, Jack

8th August

Warblers today were represented by 27 Willow Warblers,  35 Whitethroat, three Lesser Whitethroats, three Blackcaps and a single Reed Warbler. The Whinchat and two Wheatears remained along the clifftop. 110 Swifts were feeding over the golf course mid morning and a single Yellow Wagtail and three Sand Martins went over.
Phil, Brendan and Jack

Wheatears 

Whinchat 

Willow Warbler 

7th August 2019

Next to nothing today only 22 Sand Martins, 15 Swifts, two Wheatears and one Whinchat.
Phil

6th August 2019

Very few birds of note today only three Wheatears, two Lesser Whitethroats, 21 Whitethroats, two Chiffchaffs and 5 Willow Warblers. Still good numbers of Painted Lady Butterflies and our first Clouded Yellow of the year.
Phil, Jack

5th August 2019

In a brisk South Westerly there was a steady movement of Swifts into the wind and in five hours we had in excess of 1100. Around the area were three Wheatears, one Whinchat (first of the autumn), one ReedWarbler, six Whitethroats and four Willow Warblers.
Phil. Jack

3rd August 2019

Very little today with only 2 Sedge Warblers, a Reed Warbler, 3 Lesser Whitethroats, 30 Whitethroats and 12 Willow Warblers. Apart from that there were 3 Grey Partridges, a Wheatear and 16 Yellowhammers.
Gerald, Brendan, Richard, Phil, Jack

2nd August

Fairly quiet day with just 25 Whitethroats, one Blackcap, six Lesser Whitethroats, eight Willow Warblers, one Sedge Warbler, one Yellow Wagtail and at least 50 Swifts moving NE mid-morning. A good selection of butterflies including at least 15 Painted Ladies.
(Jack, Phil, Brendan and Julian Russell)

1st August 2019

Still many Swifts feeding in the area, c.1900. Other notable birds included a Grasshopper Warbler, 32 Whitethroats, 10 Lesser Whitethroats,  5 Chiffchaffs and 12 Willow Warblers. Also of note has been the increase of House Sparrows at Hope Point and the Paddock, there are now at least 50 birds where there have been no more than 10 over the last five years.
In the evening a sea watch at Kingsdown Cliffs produced very little apart from a few Mediterranean Gulls, Sandwich and Common Terns and two Harbour Porpoises.
PJC.JRC.