17 August 2012 Beachy Head Overcast humid S1-3

The rain forecast overnight and early morning never really materialized, and the number of night migrants present on the Headland was very poor, and again no sign of any diurnal migration with the number of hirundines virtually in single figures. Met up with RDME at Birling and between us we covered virtually all the sites on the Headland from Birling Lane to Icky Ridge. We also met up with RKH & GG briefly. Pete & Mim were also birding the Headland.

Met Office view

Tightly-spaces isobars over the UK bring breezy conditions. A series of fronts associated with a depression in the Atlantic will move northwards during the day. The warm front over southwest England will introduce warm, humid conditions as air is drawn up from the Azores.

Peregrine 2
Swift 3
Swallow 30
Wheatear 3
Sedge Warbler 1
Reed Warbler 2
Common Whitethroat 20
Willow Warbler 13
Tree Creeper 1
Raven 1

14 August 2012 Beachy Head Overcast humid SW 1

With rain during the night and an overcast humid calm early morning, we had hopes of a decent fall of Willow Warblers and other night migrants, but after meeting up with both RK & PN and covering all sites on the Headland only small numbers of migrants could be located and once again no diurnal migration was seen.

Met Office view

A large area of low pressure lies over the near-Atlantic to the west of the UK, bringing unsettled conditions. This system continues to feed warm and humid air up from the south. Heavy and thundery showers are developing locally, particularly over areas marked by trough lines:

Swallow 10
Nightingale 1 Shooters Bottom
Common Redstart Ad. male still in Shooters Bottom
Wheatear 3
Sedge Warbler 1
Reed Warbler 1
Lesser Whitethroat 1
Common Whitethroat 28
Blackcap 2
Willow Warbler 30
Tree Creeper 2 Belle Tout wood
Raven 1

Wheatear showing well at Birling

13 August 2012 Beachy Head Cloudy and humid S-SW 1/2 - 4

With the high pressure now drifting away bringing in cloudy humid conditions, this unfortunately didn't produce a noticeable fall of migrants, with Willow Warbler numbers still very low. Bob was ringing and watching in Whitbread Hollow and had just a slightly better morning than yesterday. Birds ringed are shown in brackets.

Met Office view

The area of high pressure that brought the recent warm and settled conditions to the UK now lies over Scandinavia. A distorted area of low pressure will remain in situ to the west of the UK for much of this week, bringing increasingly windy and unsettled conditions, as humid air and spells of rain are drawn up from the south.

Tawny Owl 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Nightingale 1 considered to be the same bird which has been present in the Hollow since the 5/8.
Common Redstart 1 (1)
Reed Warbler 4 (4)
Lesser Whitethroat 2 (1)
Common Whitethroat 6 (1)
Garden Warbler 6 (6)
Blackcap 5 (1)
Chiffchaff 1
Willow Warbler 5 (1)
Bullfinch 4 (1)

On the 10th August, Roger Haggar visited Shooters Bottom and recorded a large influx of various species of hoverflies. He was able to identify 12 different species during his visit and the following are some of the photographs he took. This large influx only seemed to have occurred on this one date as he had visited the site the previous day and also the day after and no noticeable numbers of hoverflies were seen.

Scaeva selentica is considered rather scarce and is a partial migrant.

Helophilus trivittatus is widely distributed although never common.

Eristalis arbustorum

Eupeodes corollae

Myathropa florea

Syrphus vitripennis

All these hoverfly pictures were taken by Roger Haggar

12 August 2012 Beachy Head Fine & warm E 3-4

Although still a good easterly wind, there appeared to be very little in the way of new arrivals overnight with probably most of the migrants were left-overs from the previous days. Also diurnal migration was virtually non-existence. We covered the Headland sites including the rough field, with JK & PN and we also saw RK and RKH briefly. Bob was ringing and birding in Whitbread Hollow. Birds ringed are shown in brackets. 

Met Office View:

The UK sits between an area of low and high pressure, with a couple of troughs in between lying across Northern Ireland and southwest England. These troughs are associated with lines of heavy showers and local thunderstorms. Weather fronts out to the west behind these troughs are expected to move eastwards for tomorrow:

Cormorant A flock of 15 E
Sparrowhawk 1
Common Buzzard 1
Peregrine 4
Common Sandpiper 1
Arctic Skua 1 juv. off Birling
Swift 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Sand Martin 1
Swallow 10
Common Redstart 1 ad male still in Shooters Bottom
Wheatear 26 with 20 still in cut-grass field.
Sedge Warbler 1 (1)
Reed Warbler 2 (2)
Lesser Whitethroat 1
Common Whitethroat 43 (2)
Garden Warbler 3 (2)
Chiffchaff 1
Willow Warbler 19 (1)
Raven 1
Bullfinch 1 in the Hotel Garden departed high to the E until out of sight.

Peacock 1
Small Tortoiseshell 1
Wall 2
Essex Skipper 1
Dark Green Fritillary 1
Red Admiral 2

Late news for yesterday was of a Merlin seen in the fields at Birling by RK. This is our earliest Autumn record since regular watching was commenced in 1960 with our previous earliest was on the 14 August, 1996.

 

Essex Skipper in the Old Trapping Area

Shows the black underside of the antennae also the

more distinct black and white outer borders from Small Skipper

Wall in the Old Trapping Area

 Peacock in the Hotel Garden



Adult male Common Redstart in Shooters Bottom

11 August 2012 Beachy Head Fine & sunny E 3-4

Although the high pressure remains over the country the isobars were closer together over Southern England resulting in stronger E. winds. Generally fewer night migrants were seen today although Wheatear numbers had increased with 32 being counted in a single cut-grass field.

We covered all the areas on the Headland, JK. joined us at Birling and we also met up with Pete and Mim as well as RK.:

Grey Heron 1 W off Birling

Sparrowhawk 3

Collared Dove 1

Great Spotted Woodpecker 3

Sand Martin 2

House Martin 1

Swallow 40 E

Common Redstart 2-3 in Chat Vale

Whinchat 1 in Chat Vale

Wheatear 40

Sedge Warbler 2

Reed Warbler 1

Common Whitethroat 31

Blackcap 1

Willow Warbler 20

Wall Butterfly 2

Silver Spotted Skipper 2

Marbled White 1 

 1st W. Whitethroat at Birling

Fewer Willow Warblers seen today

Sedge Warbler at Birling

 

One of Forty Wheatears present on the Headland 

 

Wall Butterfly on Icky Ridge

10 August 2012 Beachy Head Fine hot & sunny SE-E 1

With the continuation of the fine settled weather, there was another small fall of common night migrants on the Headland during the first couple of hours, but as the temperature increased migrant numbers dropped away sharply and with the Eastbourne airdisplay week-end, the number of tourists increased rapidly. We met up with Peter at Birling and birded all the sites from Birling lane to Icky Ridge.

Met. Office View:

High pressure sits across the UK bringing dry, settled weather. A low pressure system in the Atlantic, to the west of Spain, will deepen over the coming days and head towards the UK, bringing a change to much more unsettled weather into next week.

Marsh Harrier 1 Juv. E over Icky Ridge @ 11.05. (Our first for the year)
Peregrine 1 ad male
Greenshank 1 E over Birling
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 near Belle Tout wood
Swallow 50 E
Nightingale 1 E side of Belle Tout wood.
Common Redstart 2 in Shooters Bottom
Wheatear 18
Sedge Warbler 8
Reed Warbler 1
Lesser Whitethroat 6
Common Whitethroat 60
Willow Warbler 70
Raven 1

Brimstone 1
Brown Argus 1
Chalk-hill Blue c100
Small Copper 2
Silver Spotted Skipper 2
Comma 1
Red Admiral 4
Gatekeeper 20

Migrant Hawker 2

Silver Spotted Skippers near Belle Tout

A rare sight at Beachy an Autumn Brimstone in the Hotel Garden

Green Woodpecker trapped in Whitbread Hollow

on the 3rd August. (Picture by Sarah McKenzie)

9 August 2012 Beachy Head Fine warm & sunny with sea-mist by mid-morning. N to E 1

A reasonable fall of common night migrants probably due to an old weather front which lies across southern parts of the UK. However with high pressure dominating, the weather front has become very weak and is now just a band of higher moisture and humidity, bringing a little more cloud as well as some mist, fog and low cloud in places. 

We covered all the Headland sites from Birling to Icky Ridge, and  Bob was birding and ringing in Whitbread Hollow. We also met up with Geoff G. who kindly provided me with some numbers of migrants which he has seen earlier today: Birds ringed are in brackets.

Sparrowhawk 1

Swift 60

Green Woodpecker 4 (1)

Swallow 40

Wheatear 16

Grasshopper Warbler 1 (1)

Sedge Warbler 7 (3)

Reed Warbler 9 (7)

Lesser Whitethroat 3 (2)

Common Whitethroat 50 (15)

Garden Warbler 12 (11)

Blackcap 11 (5 with 1 re-trap from 2007).

Chiffchaff 1 (1)

Willow Warbler 107 (19)

Spotted Flycatcher 1

Bullfinch 3 (1)

Common Blue 6

Chalk-hill Blue Hundreds

Small Heath 1

Silver Spotted Skipper 1

Meadow Brown Hundreds

Marbled White 1

Migrant Hawker Dragonfly 2-3

A selection of some of today's Willow Warblers at Birling

Sedge Warbler at Birling