5th August, 2016 Beachy Head Fine sunny and warm. W 0-1

A beautiful calm morning with just a very early morning autumnal chill. Met up with RKH  and SL who was covering much of the Headland. Bob Sarah and Paul were ringing in Whitbread Hollow. We covered Birling lane and the scrub opposite, Belle Tout area, Shooters Bottom, The Old Trapping Area, Hotel Garden and Icky Ridge. A reasonable fall of night migrants including our largest fall of Willow Warblers so far this autumn, although with the wind recently been in the west there was no sign of any continental migrants.
Overhead migration mainly consisted of Swifts and Sand Martins chiefly moving W

Following are combined totals:
Common Buzzard 3
Peregrine 1
Swift 174 W
Sand Martin 40 W
Nightingale 2 Whitbread Hollow
Song Thrush 1
Cetti's Warbler 1 Whitbread hollow
Sedge Warbler 6 chiefly Birling
Reed Warbler 12 (4 in the Hollow and 8 on the Headland)
Lesser Whitethroat 2 Whitbread Hollow
Common Whitethroat 19
Garden Warbler 2 Whitbread Hollow
Blackcap 4
Chiffchaff 2
Willow Warbler 80 (40 in the Hollow and 40 on the Headland)
Greenfinch 2
Goldfinch 40
Linnet 40

Silver Spotted Skipper 5 (our first this year)
Small Blue 1 Old Trapping Area
Plus good numbers of Chalkhill Blues plus the usual common downland butterflies

Fox 1

Movement of Swifts 

 

Eighty Willow Warblers recorded today

 

 

Sedge Warblers at Birling

 

Some of the twelve Reed Warblers seen today

 

Our first Silver Spotted Skippers

Hercules over Belle Tout