31st July 2011. Beachy Head Calm Sunny & clear

We met up with RJF & JK at Birling and later saw RES & RKH, and we

covered most of the siteson the Headland.

RDME was ringing in Whitbread Hollow and the following are the combined totals with ringing numbers in brackets:

Fulmar 2

Gannet 12

Yellow Legged Gull 1 Juv/1st W. in rough field.

House Martin 1 (our first for the Autumn!!)

Nightingale 1 croaking in Shooters Bottom

Common Redstart 1 female in Shooters Bottom

Grasshopper Warbler 1

Sedge Warbler 2 (1)

Reed Warbler 8 (2)

Lesser Whitethroat 2 (1)

Common Whitethroat 56 (14)

Garden Warbler 5 (2)

Blackcap 5 (4)

Chiffchaff 2 (1)

Willow Warbler 31 (9)

Tree Creeper 2 (1 B/T wood & 1 trapped Hollow) Also another bird was trapped in the Hollow yesterday.

Raven 2

Corn Bunting 2

Bank Vole 1 Belle Tout wood.

Juv. Yellow Legged Gull in rough field.

In the field this large barrel-chested individual appeared heavy-billed with obvious gonys angle, square-headed with dark mask complete with dark underwings all combined to suggest nothing other than a standard michahellis...

Yellow Legged Gull (as above)

... but taken out of context the above two images apparently showing fluffy-white axilliaries, a long slender jizz with an apparently more pear-shaped head and snouty and longer-billed appearance could all mislead into suggesting a close relative!

Grasshopper Warbler in Shooters Bottom

1st W. Reed Warbler in the Hotel Garden

Tree Creeper in Belle Tout wood.

Record shot of a Bank Vole in Belle Tout wood.

Essex Skipper in the Old Trapping Area (RKH)

Small Cuckoo Bee - Melecta albifrons (RKH)

Hoverfly - Sphaerophoria scripta (RKH)

30th July, 2011. Beachy Head. Sunny & warm N1

We met up with JK at Birling and covered most of the sites on the Headland. RDME was ringing in Whitbread Hollow and the following are our combined totals with ringing numbers in brackets:

Fulmar 3

Cormorant 27 W.

Kestrel 1

Peregrine 4+ (3 were attacking a juvenile Peregrine for several minutes).

Sandwich Tern 5 E

Sand Martin 32 mainly E.

Swallow c40

Blackbird (1 re-trapped in Whitbread Hollow was first ringed in 2003).

Grasshopper Warbler 2 (1)

Sedge Warbler 1 (1)

Reed Warbler 4 (3)

Lesser Whitethroat 2 (1)

Common Whitethroat 63 (10)

Garden Warbler 2 (2)

Blackcap 4 (4)

Chiffchaff 3 (1 re-trapped was first ringed in 2010).

Willow Warbler 38 (8)

Corn Bunting 1 singing near Cornish Farm.

Brown Argus 1

Painted Lady 1

Comma 1

Red Admiral 2

Migrant Hawker 1

Juvenile Peregrine

Willow Warbler at Birling Gap.

Sub-adult Lesser Black Back Gull.

Sub-adult Lesser Black Back Gull with juvenile Herring Gull.

Clustered Bellflower

Male Linnet taken by RKH on the 29th.

Male Chalk Hill Blue taken by RKH on the 29th.

Adonis Ladybird taken by RKH on the 29th.

Harlequin Ladybird taken by RKH on the 29th.

29th July, 2011. Beachy Head Fine with mist out to sea.N 1

After a brief sea-watch we visited several sites on the Headland and met up with RES & RKH.

Doreen and myself then drove down to Holywell and we walked into Whitbread Hollow down into the Gully and then walked through the rough field in Cow Gap and back to Holywell before returning to Belle Tout wood.

Fulmar 2

Gannet 6

Whimbrel 1 calling over Whitbread Hollow.

Swift 9

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 in Cow Gap

Sand Martin 7

Swallow 5

Wheatear 1

Sedge Warbler 1

Reed Warbler 1

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Common Whitethroat 27

Chiffchaff 1

Willow Warbler 30

Chalk Hill Blue An estimate of 400 with large numbers present in Cow Gap.

Dark Green Fritillary 1

Comma 1

Plus the usual butterflies.

Migrant Hawkers 4

Ringing Hut in Whitbread Hollow.

Looking along the run into Whitbread Hollow.

View looking from Whitbread Hollow along the promenade at Eastbourne.

Sedge Warbler in the Old Trapping Area.

1stw. Willow Warbler

Common Whitethroat.

Migrant Hawker in the Gully.

Pair of Chalk Hill Blues

Six-spot Burnet Moth

Red Tailed Bumblebee

27th July, 2011 Beachy Head. Cloudy & clear. N2-3

After a short sea-watch we covered a number of sites on the Headland, and RDME was ringing in Whitbread Hollow. Following are the combined totals with the number of birds ringed in brackets:

Shag 1 juv. on the sea a short way out off Birling.

Peregrine 2

Sand Martin 3

Swallow 12

Wheatear 1

Nightingale 1 (1)

Sedge Warbler 1

Reed Warbler 1

Common Whitethroat 30 (6)

Lesser Whitethroat 1 (1)

Garden Warbler 4 (4)

Blackcap 7 (5)

Willow Warbler 45 (11)

Chiffchaff 2 (1)

Raven 2

1stY. Common Whitethroat

Some of today's Willow Warblers