Monday 15 July 2019

15th July, 2019 Beachy Head Overcast cool NE 2

We covered Birling lane, Birling scrub, Shooters Bottom, Radio mast bushes, Hotel Garden, Icky Ridge, Old Trapping Area and Belle Tout wood and scrub.  With the cool overcast conditions, butterfly numbers were very low. RE was ringing and watching in Whitbread Hollow. Met up with RB who was also covering some of the sites on the Headland.
A small arrival of migrants which included a Grasshopper Warbler, 4 Sedge Warblers and a Reed Warbler.
On our way home we had a Red Kite soaring over the road at Cooksbridge.
Combined totals:

Fulmar 1
Common Buzzard 1 Belle Tout
Peregrine 1 pair
Green Woodpecker 1 Hollow
Swallow 2
Pied Wagtail 4
Nightingale 1 calling in Shooters Bottom
Stonechat 8 (6 Headland and 2 Hollow).
Grasshopper Warbler 1 juv. Hollow
Sedge Warbler 4 (3 Birling scrub and 1 Hollow)
Reed Warbler 1 Hollow
Common Whitethroat 18 (15 Headland and 3 Hollow)
Blackcap 10 (2 Headland and 8 Hollow)
Chiffchaff 15 Hollow
Willow Warbler 1 ad female trapped Hollow
Long-tailed Tit 4 (at least 2 juvs ) Hollow
Corn Bunting 6

Grey Seal 3 together off Birling

An evening visit to the Headland by LP found 3 juv Yellow-legged Gulls in a gull flock behind Hodcombe and another Reed Warbler in Shooters Bottom.

Three Grey Seals off Birling

 



 

Four Sedge Warblers were seen today.

Common Whitethroat on Icky Ridge

Male Chalk Hill Blue at Belle Tout