Paul Matson's Birding Blog: Thursday 3rd September

Thursday, 3 September 2015

Thursday 3rd September - Blackdown again

The last couple of weeks have seen a similar routine to this morning when I've not had to travel to London and the weather hasn't been appalling. Arriving at Blackdown at 7am again it was distinctly chilly with a brisk NW wind, the cloud cover then thickened before it brightened up just as I left around 10.30.

Apart from the usual Goldcrest/Coal Tit/Nuthatch/Marsh Tit flock that is frequently around the Car Park, it felt very quiet as I walked the normal route. I was starting to think there had been a big clear-out of migrants as I only heard one Chiffchaff calling in the first 45 minutes. A Whitethroat skulked on the ridge and Stonechat and a Dartford Warbler were seen briefly but I didn't encounter a bird flock until I was on the Sussex border path ridge around the scattered pines. I first noticed several willow/chiffs and then several Spotted Flycatchers. In fact the number of Spotted Flycatchers was incredible (well at least for an inland site) - I could only estimate there must be at least 20 birds. They were very flighty and would vanish in the pines so accurate counting was fairly tricky. I then saw a female Redstart and after 15 minutes, the best bird of the day, a Pied Flycatcher which sat out on a pine branch before disappearing. I spent quite a time with this flock and added 3 Tree Pipits and a further male Redstart, c35 Chiffchaffs, with at least 5 Willow Warblers. Further around the trail I saw a single Crossbill, which looked like a young male just coming into plumage, and a flock of 10 Siskin , with a total of 18 Swallows overhead.

I bumped into Dave Burgess, who was excited about the Pied Fly prospect because as far as he was aware it was a first record for the site, we hadn't seen it again by the time I left but I understand he caught up with it later which was good news. So a pretty good list for this site.