9th August, 2015 Beachy Head Fine sunny and hot. SW 1

Another beautiful calm morning with a small arrival of night migrants. Spent 5 hours birding a number of sites on the headland with the highlights being Cuckoo, male Redstart and 2 Nightingales.

Little Egret 1
Common Buzzard 4
Kestrel 1-2
Peregrine 1
Mediterranean Gull 1 juv. on East Dean playing field (First time a juvenile plumage bird has been seen in our area).
Black-headed Gull Party of 27 W chiefly immature type birds also good numbers present in the Cuckmere
Cuckoo 1 in Shooters Bottom
Sand Martin 15 chiefly S
Swallow c100
Meadow Pipit c30
Nightingale 2
Common Redstart 1 male Shooters Bottom
Wheatear 2
Song Thrush 1
Sedge Warbler 6
Reed Warbler 10
Lesser Whitethroat 2
Common Whitethroat c60
Blackcap 2
Willow Warbler 20
Raven 3 juvs.
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 50
Linnet 50
Corn Bunting 5

Good selection of common downland butterflies on the wing including good numbers of Chalkhill Blues, 2 Walls, 1 Clouded Yellow, 2 Painted Ladies, still the odd Marbled Whites and Dark Green Fritillaries also our best count of 50 Silver Spotted Skippers (probably if we had done a survey we would have seen in excess of 100).

 

Reed Warbler in Shooters \bottom

 

Cuckoo in Shooters Bottom

 

Sedge Warblers at Birling

 

Two Nightingales in Shooters Bottom

Meadow Pipit

Swallows and Sand Martin at Birling

Common Whitethroat at Birling

Gulls feeding on the road

Wall Butterfly

Record numbers of Silver-spotted Skippers seen today

 

BEC trying to find a Prothonotary Warbler for JFC