28th February, 2012 Beachy Head Cloudy & misty W 0-1

RDME sea-watched from 07.25-08.25 and then met up with PN and they covered Birling lane, onto B/T lighthouse and the wood and then back to Birling:

Red Throated Diver 5 on the sea
Great Crested Grebe 1 on the sea
Gannet 10
Brent Geese 11 E
Shelduck 1 W
Wigeon 8
Auk sp. 6 W & 11 on the sea
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 B/T wood
Redwing 1

Porpoise 1

26th February, 2012 Beachy Head Sunny, frosty becoming warm. N 0-1

Sea-watched from 07.30-08.45. We then walked the lane at Birling the gully behind Belle Tout wood and the wood itself and walked the whole of the field:

Red Throated Diver 19 (6 E & 13 on the sea).
Great Crested Grebe 10
Gannet 20 E
Grey Heron 1 W off Birling
Common Scoter 11 E
Med Gull 2 E
Auk Sp. 36 E
Guillemot 2 on the sea
Skylark 15 in the field
Linnet 13

21st February, 2012 Beachy Head Overcast mild WSW 2-3

We sea-watched from 07.30-09.15, met up with PN and we then covered Birling lane, PN walked up and behind B/T wood. we covered the field, B/T wood and the Old Trapping Area:

Red Throated Diver 20 (18 E, 1 W & 1 on the sea)
Great Crested Grebe 1 on the sea
Gannet 291 E & 27 W
Brent Goose 14 E & 1 W
Shelduck 1 E
Common Scoter 3 E
Velvet Scoter 2 E
Red Breasted Merganser 5 E
Med Gull 5 E (All adults 2 in full s/p - our first for the year)
Kittiwake 30 E
Auk Sp. 167 E & 30 W
Guillemot 2
Razorbill 1

Skylark 30
Linnet 5

20th February, 2012 Beachy Head Sunny periods cold SW1-3

RDME sea-watched 07.30-09.00 and then birded the lane at Birling and around to B/T lighthouse and wood, the Old Trapping Area & Whitbread Hollow:

Red Throated Diver 35 (13 E, 8W, 1 on the sea & 13 moving E & landed on the sea)
Gannet 209 E & 32 W
Brent Goose 22 E
Common Scoter 4 E
Red Breasted Merganser 5 E
Auk Sp. 32 E & 28 W
Blackbird 13
Song Thrush 7
Bullfinch 1

17th February, 2012 Beachy Head Dull, Cloudy & mild W 1-2

Sea-watched with RDME from 07.30-09.00. We then covered Birling Lane, B/T wood, Old Trapping Area & the field, briefly meeting up with RHC. RDME covered Whitbread Hollow:

Red Throated Diver 11 ( 7 E, 3 W & 1 on the sea)
Gannet 40 feeding
Common Scoter 7 E
Smew 5 redheads E @ 08.15 (Our 2nd record since 1960)
Woodcock 4 (2 Birling, 1 B/T wood & 1 Hodcombe)
Curlew 2
Auk Sp. 135 (40 on the sea, 50 E & 45 W)
Razorbill 10 on the sea
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Skylark 3 arrived in off the sea.
Blackbird 13
Song Thrush 8
Raven 4+

15th February, 2012 Beachy Head Cloud 1/8 mild NW 2-3

RDME covered Birling lane, Belle Tout wood, Cow Gap & Whitbread Hollow:

Red Legged Partridge 1 calling
Woodcock 2 Whitbread Hollow
Peregrine 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 drumming in Whitbread Hollow
Long Tailed Tit 1 B/T wood
Song Thrush 3
Blackbird 17

14th February, 2012 Beachy Head Sunny periods cool N 1-2

Sea-watched 07.55-08.55 and then walked the lane at Birling, the rough field, Belle Tout wood and the Old Trapping Area:

Red Throated Diver 21 (19 E & 2 on the sea)

Great Crested Grebe 1 on the sea

Common Scoter 3 E

Sparrowhawk 1

Golden Plover 3 in rough field

Turnstone 1 W

Auk Sp.7 E

Skylark 6 in field

Song Thrush 7

Tree Creeper 2 in B/T wood

Linnet 2

Three Golden Plovers in the rough field at Birling

Tree Creeper in  Belle Tout wood

13th February, 2012 Beachy Head Overcast cool NNE 1

Sea-watched 07.30-08.45 and then covered the lane at Birling, the rough field, B/T wood & the Old Trapping Area:

Red Throated Diver 152 (12 on the sea & 140 E including a flock of 67)
Great Crested Grebe 1 on the sea
Gannet 9 E
Common Scoter 2 E
Sparrowhawk 1 male
Peregrine 1
Woodcock 4 (3 B/T wood & 1 Old Trapping Area)
Auk Sp. 141 E
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Song Thrush 5
Blackbird 12

10 February, 2012 Beachy Head 6/8 Cloud cold NE 2

RDME covered the lane at Birling and onto B/T gully and wood, Shooters Bottom, Hotel Garden and Whitbread Hollow:

Peregrine 1
Golden Plover 1
Lapwing 9
Woodcock 5 possibly 8 (3 Birling & 2 possibly 5 in the Hollow)
Skylark Approx. 400 in field
Blackbird 25
Song Thrush 3
Redwing 6

9th February, 2012 Beachy Head Overcast becoming sunny & mild NE 1

 Sea-watched from 07.40-08.55. We then covered the lane at Birling and onto Belle Tout lighthouse and wood, the field and the Old Trapping Area:

Red Throated Diver 29 (27E)
Great Crested Grebe 4 on the sea
Gannet 42 E
Brent Goose 5 W
Common Scoter 15 E
Peregrine 1 pair displaying
Golden Plover 3 in field
Lapwing 10 in field
Woodcock 6 (4 at Birling & 2 B/T wood)
Auk Sp. 520 E
Razorbill 30
Skylark 200 in field
Song Thrush 35

More views of Beachy in the snow

Not Scott of Antarctica but Doreen of Beachy.

8th February, 2012 Beachy Head. Overcast, cold with snow NE 3

Sea-watched from 07.45-08.50 and we then covered virtually the whole of the Head:

Red Throated Diver 23 (10 E, 9W & 4 on the sea)

Great Crested Grebe 3 on the sea

Shelduck 2E & then W

Peregrine 2

Golden Plover 25 (10 in off the sea & 15 in the fields)

Lapwing 43 (14 in off the sea & the rest in the fields)

Snipe 1 flushed at Birling

Woodcock 12 (5 in the Birling Area, 4 B/T wood, 1 Hodcombe & 2 Old Trapping Area).

Curlew 6 in the fields

Auk Sp. 80 (62 E)

Guillemot 1 on the sea

Razorbill 53 E

Skylark 300 in field

Stonechat 1

Fieldfare 1

Redwing 8 E

Song Thrush 40

Raven 1

 Beachy in the Snow

Golden Plovers at Birling

Lapwing near Hodcombe

Woodcock 1 of 12 seen today, a record day!!

Beachy Head 2011 Ringing Summary

 Many thanks to Bob and the other members of the BHRG for kindly forwarding their ringing totals from Whitbread Hollow for 2011:                                

                                  Full Grown      Pulli        Total
Sparowhawk                    1                                 1
Wood Pigeon                   2                                 2
Great Sp. Woodpecker    1                                 1
House Martin                197                             197
Wren                              29                               29
Dunnock                        26                                26
Robin                             84                                84
Nightingale                       1                                  1
Redstart                           4                                  4
Blackbird                       61                                61
Song Thrush                   15                                15
Redwing                           1                                  1
Grasshopper Warbler     23                                 23
Sedge Warbler               11                                 11
Reed Warbler               106                               106
Melodious Warbler           1                                   1
Lesser Whitethroat          45                                 45
Common Whitethroat    597                               597
Garden Warbler              80                                 80
Blackcap                     1079                             1079
Chiffchaff                       470                               470
Willow Warbler             210                               210
Goldcrest                        24                                 24
Firecrest                            2                                  2
Long Tailed Tit                  8                                  8
Blue Tit                            32             31               63
Great Tit                          11             22               33
Tree Creeper                     4                                  4
Chaffinch                          22                                22
Greenfinch                        10                                10
Goldfinch                           2                                   2
Lesser Redpoll                261                              261
Bullfinch                            13                                13

Total                             3433            53             3486
      
      

Beachy Head 2011 Summary No.27

I will now complete the 2011 summaries:

CROSSBILL
2011: Recorded on 9 dates from 4/6 (7) to 5/11 (heard only) as follows:4/6 – 7 North and then West, after landing briefly in Belle Tout wood, 19/6 3 W., 24/7 1 calling over Whitbread Hollow, 5/8 11 W over Whitbread Hollow @ 06.10, 7/8 1 W over Belle Tout wood, 13/10 12, 16/10 1 E over the Hoetl Garden, 23/10 5 W over the Hotel Garden, 5/11 heard calling over Birling. Per B.H. Log.

(An excellent Autumn and our best since 1997).

CHAFFINCH

2011: Upto 15 recorded during Februay and 20 logged on the 2/4. No breeding estimate made but probably didn’t exceed 10-15 pairs in the whole area. Autumn movements: Between 8/10 & 6/11 on 4 dates a total of 170 birds were logged moving West, including 50 West on the 6/11. On the 13/11 17  E with 20 E on the 19/11.  Per B.H.Log.

(An average Autumn with no large movements logged. Our largest movement to date was on the 14/10/71 when a total of 4,000 were recorded coming in and moving NNW in two hours from Birling).

BRAMBLING

2011: Unusually scarce this Autumn with just 4 records : 20/10 (1), 28/10 (3), 5/11 (2), & 6/11 ( 1 heard). Per B.H.Log.

(Not every Autumn are reasonable numbers logged and our largest movement recorded was on the 5/11/2005 when 1,206 moved West, which to date is the largest movement recorded on a single day for the County).

YELLOW HAMMER

2011: Just two sightings: 26/3 1 male in the scrub under Belle Tout lighthouse, & 1 seen moving W on the 6/11. Per B.H. Log.

(Another disaster year for this species on the Headland. In 1972 a breeding census was made on the 11/5 when an estimate of 120 breeding pairs for the whole area. In past Autumns some large flocks were recorded, on the 27/9/1970 150 were seen mainly around the Cattle Field, and in 1971 a flock of 120 were seen on the 11/9).

CORN BUNTING

2011: Feb: 18/2  2 up Long Down. 20/2, 1 in song Long Down, & 27/2 2 in the field opposite Belle Tout wood.

Spring: Recorded on 22 dates between 6/3 (9) & 22/4 (1) with daily maximums of 9 on the 6/3, 5 on the 13/3 and the 2/4. Most occurred in the field opposite Belle Tout wood.

Summer: 2-3 pairs present.

Autumn: Recorded on 18 dates from early August to 17/10. Most records came from or near the vicinity of the rough field opposite Belle Tout wood with daily maximums: 10/9 (18), 14/9 (10), 22/9 (9). 15/10 (10). On the 8/10 16 with 10 moving W. & 6 in the field, with a further 2 W on the 9/10. Our last record was on the 17/10 with 2 in the field. Per B.H. Log.

(On the 23/3/1970, 25 singing males were located between Beachy Head Hotel and Belle Tout wood with good numbers also breeding in the Birling Gap Area this compares to just 2-3 pairs now present. Although this year has been our best Autumn this century, in past years very good numbers were recorded with daily counts of 200 were not unusual and our daily maximum was on the 17/9/1967 when 350 were logged).

ORTOLAN BUNTING

2011: 23/4 A female at Birling first found feeding just beyond the scrub at the top of the lane departed N. (D. & J.F.Cooper, R.D.M.Edgar & B.Kay). Per B.H. Log.

(This is our 42nd record, since 1960, with the majority being seen in the Autumn, with this being our 5^th Spring record).

Female Ortolan Bunting at Birling.

REED BUNTING

2011: Recorded on 9 dates from 20/2 (1 at Long Down), to 13/11 2 E. In total 36 birds seen with a daily maximum of 21 W on the 8/10. Per B.H. Log.

(Our maximum daily count was of 40 on the 10/10/1971)

LAPLAND BUNTING

2011: Spring: After last Autumn’s influx, two singles were recorded both in the rough field opposite Belle Tout wood on the 6/3 (D.Cooper), & 27/3 (D. & J.F.Cooper & B.Kay).

Autumn: Just one record of 2 calling as they flew E low over the cliffs leading upto Belle Tout lighthouse.(D. & J.F.Cooper, P.Netherway & J.W.King). Per B.H. Log.

(Winter & Spring records are very scarce from Beachy Head, since 1960, with a female in summer plumage on the 15/4/1968 & 1 in Hodcombe on the 1/1/1991. No repeat of last Autumn's irruption, although the previous record logged during the Autumn, was in 1998 although in the 1960's it was almost recorded annually).

SNOW BUNTING

2011: 6/11 3 W over Birling @ 07.15 (D. & J.F. Cooper, J.W.King & B.Kay) & 13/11 1 male flushed in the rough field opposite Belle Tout wood (D. & J.F.Cooper & B.Kay). Per B.H. Log.

(Our first sightings since 2007 when 4 were seen in Cow Gap on the 30/10. Again in the 1960's it occurred almost annually with 1967 being an exceptional year with a daily maximum of 24 on the 19/11).

HOUSE SPARROW

2011: Upto 15 were again present during the Spring at Birling Gap but by the Autumn numbers had decreased to just 8 in September, 5 in October and only 4 by December.

On the 11/3 1 was seen along the Cliff Path & a pair was reported during the breeding season in Hodcombe, the first time for several years. Per B.H.Log.

(The House Sparrow at Beachy is still in decline and is now just holding on to its former stronghold at Birling).