14th October, 2020 Beachy Head, Widewater and High and Over. Sunny becoming overcast. NE 2 increasing to 3-4

We met up with RB and then covered Shooters Bottom, Old Trapping Area, Icky Ridge, radio mast bushes, Hotel Garden and Belle Tout wood. LP was also covering sites on the Headland. ME visited late morning and found the Lammergeier in a field near East Dean.  SL and JG  from 08.25 to 13.30 walked from Michel Dene covering various birding sites to Hotel Garden.                                                An arrival of Ring Ouzels which included a party of 12 in Icky Ridge, 2 Common and 1 Black Redstarts, 1 Short-eared Owl, and 1 Dartford Warbler which was singing. These were all eclipsed with the finding of the Bearded Vulture in a field towards East Dene.                                                      Diurnal migration  was chiefly finches which included 650 Goldfinches E, 40 Redpolls E 32 Siskins E also 4 Woodlark E.                                                                                                                                        Combined totals:                                                                                                                                          Brent Goose 15E, Lammergeier 1 (ME plus many observers), Sparrow Hawk 2, Kestrel 1, Peregrine 2 Lapwing 9 (1 Michel Dene and 8 E), Stock Dove 14, Short-eared Owl 1 (Michel Dene) (SL, JG), GreenWoodpecker 1, Great-spotted Woodpecker 1, Wood Lark 4 E over Birling (SL,JG), Swallow 60, House Martin 70, Pied Wagtail 6, Black Redstart 1, Common Redstart 2 (male and female), Ring Ouzel 15 (1 Birling, 2 Old Trapping Area, and a party  of 12 in Icky Ridge), Fieldfare flock of 200 E high up during early afternoon, Mistle Thrush 2 (1 E over Headland and 1 at Birling), Dartford Warbler 1 in song, Blackcap 1, Chiffchaff 12, Goldcrest 5, Starling c2,000 Headland, Chaffinch 25, Goldfinch 645 E, Siskin 32 E, Redpoll 40 E, Common Crossbill 2E (LP),                                                                              

Butterflies: Clouded Yellow 1, Red Admiral 1, Wall Brown 2, Common Blue 2, Speckled Wood 1.                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Poor record shots of Ring Ouzel in the Old Trapping Area.

Ring Ouzels on Icky Ridge.

At  least 6 Ring Ouzels in this one small bush.

                                                                   Taken by John Gowers

Short-Eared Owl at Michel Dene

The following three photographs were all taken by Matt Eade.

Lammergeier over the field near East Dean.

On our drive home we called into Widewater and saw the Grey Phalarope. It wasn't looking too well.

Grey Phalarope at Widewater.

We had just returned home, when Laurence kindly phoned to advise us that the Lammergeier had been found in a field near East Dean by ME. Another fast drive back to Beachy, only to learn that it had flown off. We decided to quickly head towards the Cuckmere only to hear that it was showing from High and Over. We quickly made our way there and soon joined several other observers looking for it. We made our way to the look-out over the reed-bed and forest and it was quickly picked out at close quarters. It then made its way across the Cuckmere to Litlington area. It sat in a field for some time and also flew around often quite high in the sky. Stunning.