4th August 2013 Beachy SW1 Clear

Nice near-calm conditions at dawn produced a small but varied fall of migrants albeit somewhat patchy. In the hollow RDME only recorded a single Whitethroat but conversely recorded three-quarters of the Willow Warblers seen on the headland. We met RKH and PN was also walking the top. Crossbills made an overdue first appearance of the autumn, but as they seldom land at Beachy, it is perhaps just as well that no trumpeters were heard amongst the two overflying flocks. Birds ringed in Whitbread Hollow appear in brackets:

Buzzard 2+
Sparrowhawk 1
Hobby 1
Cuckoo 1
Swift 25
Great Spotted Woodpecker 2
Sand Martin 15
Nightingale 2
Black Redstart 1
Song Thrush 2 (1)
Blackcap 14 (3)
Whitethroat 55
Lesser Whitethroat 1
Sedge Warbler 2 (1)
Reed Warbler 5 (3)
Willow Warbler 40 (14)
Chiffchaff 1
Raven 2+
Crossbill 5 NW over the hollow during the morning and 3 WNW over the Old Trapping Area at 2.40pm including one male

Comma 2
Peacock c.15
Painted Lady c.15
Red Admiral c.5
Silver-spotted Skipper c.15
Chalk hill Blue c.200

Nightingale in Chat Vale

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker above the Lighthouse

Willow Warbler in the Hotel Garden

Painted Lady in the Hotel Garden

Peacock in the Hotel Garden