Saturday 28th September - Maybe Autumn

With a single day drop in the relentless stormy rain for the last few days I went to Black Down this morning with the hope that there might be some autumnal autumn migration. It was a nice morning, but again quiet, but I did see 2 Woodlark, the first returning ones of autumn and 4+ Mistle Thrush with more Blackbirds and Song Thrush around but no sign of Redwing or Ring Ouzels which were reported from elsewhere this morning. 8 Meadow Pipits and singles of Grey and Pied Wagtails were the only other offerings and even the Chiffchaffs reduced to a mere couple of sightings.

Rowan berries

Woodlark

Mistle  Thrush

Mistle Thrush

Mistle Thrush

Roe Deer

Tuesday 24th September - Misty Misery

 A couple of days of torrential rain made it annoyingly un-birdable. I had returned to Selsey  on Saturday morning, for an odd mix of birds, without anything exceptional but enough to keep a bit of interest, about 100 hirundines were seen, mainly Swallows, but a few House Martin and Sand Martin. 15 Yellow Wagtails , 7 Pied Wagtails and 111 Meadow Pipits was a small increase in vismig. A Grey Plover flew over calling first thing and 7 Bar-tailed Godwits were seen with 1 Teal and 4 Wigeon and 2 Little Egret. The surprise bird was probably a Spotted Flycatcher sitting on the roadwork fencing. Church Norton had very little to offer, probably as quiet as I've seen it.

This morning I rather doggedly went up to Black Down having been side-lined by the weather the last couple of days. I was sure that there would be some sign of migration. Despite the low cloud having lifted at home, at 8am when I arrived on Black Down it was covered in a thick mist and other than a couple of Robins giving their rather wistful autumn tunes, there was little to no activity being seen. Taking my normal route through the site it was deadly quiet, I barely saw a calling Stonechat then nothing. I took to photographing the cows, and then cobwebs on the gorse, when it gets to this stage you know that birding has hit rock-bottom. I was boldened when I found 3 Blue Tits and a Great Tit and then I had poor views of a small flock that passed through the tops of trees. I made out Long-tailed Tits, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Goldcrest and c10 Chiffchaffs, so some improvement. With little visibility and no more birds I walked down Cotchett Valley where there are quite of number of Rowans in berry.... no birds in them but 3 Bullfinch flew over. I made my way back, another small flock had a Spotted Flycatcher, again the highlight of the morning, and 8 Meadow Pipits were counted flying over. That autumn migration moment will have to wait, hoping the next few weeks will hold some improvements.

Spotted Flycatcher - Selsey

A quiet Mist

definitely an autumnal feel

No birds, so the Belted Galloways had to be photo fodder

The Rowans were berry laden but they didn't seem bird-ripe and had started to drop them already

Friday 20th September - A sunny Super Moon

 The weather got stuck into a strong North-Easterly wind and clear skies through the week boosted by a Super Moon peaking on Wednesday. The result of this seems to be to  have halted proceedings as far as migration is concerned, perhaps with the exception of hirundines.

On Monday 16th I returned to Selsey, thinking there maybe an improvement in migrants there after the bonuses at Black Down yesterday. There were bits of interest which combined 2 Arctic Skuas on the sea at the same time as a Peregrine, a Black Tern moving East, a flock of 9 Shags, then on the move were a minimum of 200+ House Martin, 150+ Swallow and 10+ Sand Martin, with numbers probably underestimated due to swirling groups of birds. a couple of Yellow Wagtails, 5 Grey Wagtails, 2 Pied Wagtails and 2 Chiffchaff were the highlights of passerine, although a 20+ flock of Linnets was probably a newish arrival.

Moving on to Church Norton, it proved very quiet, with the highlight probably 5 Mistle Thrushes that flew over. Otherwise a Whinchat, 3 Stonechat and the same number of Whitethroat were all that were seen in the bushes and the harbour was pretty quiet for waders a small group of distant Grey Plover, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, Whimbrel , Curlew, Ringed Plover and Redshank were all fairly scattered.

The bonus arriving at home was yesterdays Turtle Dove was seen again, although this time for a shorter period.

Inland movements of hirundines and pipits tend to be a more limited event compared to what occurs on the coast, but yesterday was a bonus day at home. Very low cloud and a North Easterly were still blowing and visibility was poor but it wasn't quite raining. A large group of hirundines had gathered over the house and trees an estimated 200+ House Martins, 50+ Swallows and at least 2 Sand Martin. Quite an unusual event here. There were birds around and moving through for the first couple of hours, difficult to establish whether these were the same birds swirling around or new ones. Meadow Pipits are more infrequent, the most I've had in a morning this week is 11, so no big movement here yet this autumn. Still a couple of Chiffchaffs around with the odd Blackcap, 2 Firecrest and plenty of Jays stealing the acorns.

Swallow

House Martin

More hirundines - difficult to photograph a swirling mass spread out in the sky.

Sunday 15th September - Autumn migrants

 A very autumnal feel earlier in the week with a couple of days of heavy rain and cold northerly winds has switched at the end of the week to calmer conditions but with clear skies and much colder nights.

I went to Black Down this morning without too much promise, but it was very picturesque at 7am with the sun just rising and very quiet too !. I did hear plenty of Chiffchaffs and over the next couple of hours saw up to 30. In the central area of the site, I saw 2 Spotted Flycatchers in with a Tit flock containing many Chiffchaffs and some of the local Stonechats and Dartford Warblers put in an appearance as did 3 Tree Pipits. Walking to the Southern end which is normally my best bet for migrants was extremely quiet I saw one more Spotted Flycatcher at the southern end with 2 more Stonechat but nothing else until I had returned back to the central area of scattered Pines.

In the same area as earlier, a larger number of Chiffchaff seemed to be around with even more Spotted Flycatchers which I counted 9 and were possibly more and the bonus of a nice Pied Flycatcher which gave some good views before seemingly melting away, always a nice bonus bird here inland in autumn. I found a single Willow Warbler with all the Chiffchaffs but the flock soon moved away but I did catch 4 Crossbills before I left, so a decent morning.

Another surprise at home in the afternoon when I found a Turtle Dove under the feeders, it seemed to hang around for 2 or 3 hours. It wouldn't surprise me if this is one of the same birds I saw in May when I think it just dropped into feed having just arrived, so I'm assuming this bird is filling up before its long flight to Africa.

A view to the South West

Spotted Flycatcher

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Willow Warbler

Turtle Dove at home

Turtle Dove

Friday September 6th - Norfolk

 As with the same time last year, we had a couple of days in Norfolk to start the month. Leaving home rather later on Tuesday morning to assess the aftermath of Adie's 21st birthday on Monday night. To be fair there was little of concern . It did mean arriving on the north coast later in the afternoon was limited to a walk around Holt rather than any birding spot.

Wednesday 4th September,

Pre-breakfast I went to Cley, firstly for a walk around Walsey Hills, where there was little evidence of any migrants other than Chiffchaffs and then a walk to the end of East Bank. A Kingfisher flew past me as I started the walk then then a few Bearded Tits, Reed Buntings Reed and Sedge Warblers were seen in the reeds. The pools were not exactly teeming with wildfowl but a couple of Snipe and a Common Sandpiper showed themselves. Arnolds Marsh was almost impossible to view as it was directly into the low morning sun, but I could make out Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Ringed plover and Avocet amongst the roosting Sandwich Terns. There were 4 flyover Great Egrets together followed by 8 Little Egrets then 2 Spoonbill, which was a nice display and small flock of Golden Plover were roosting on  the wide expanse of shingle known as the desert, 

The only surprise walking back to the car was a Whinchat sitting out in the reed bed on a tall stem. Thinking this might be a sign of a few passerines moving I  went to Salthouse to check Granborough Hill, but the only birds seen were a Stonechat a Wren and a number of Goldfinch and Linnets. I did have a warbler sp, fly directly over my head and dive into a bramble patch but never revealed itself again, my initial thoughts were Garden Warbler, but I will never know.

After breakfast we went to Wells Woods were I spent a couple of hours walking around the Dell area and with the Tit flocks picked up c 5 Pied Flycatchers, 3 Redstart, 3 Garden Warblers, 4 Blackcap and plenty of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs.

We diverted to Creake Abbey, and then Burnham Market before a late afternoon visit to Titchwell. I knew there had been a White-rumped Sandpiper seen in the last few days but was surprised when I walked out towards the Island hide that the first bird I found people looking at was an American Golden Plover, still in a summer plumage. I must have timed it perfectly as the waders there showed really well including the White-rumped Sandpiper, as well as 2 Little Stints, 3 Curlew Sandpipers, 30+ Ruff, Little Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, and there was also a Black-winged Stilt at the back near the reeds, which I was reliably informed was thought to be an escape, although I could not see that it had been ringed.

Thursday 5th September

The weather was blowing a strong north-easterly this morning so the only option pre-breakfast was to do a sea-watch from Cley Coastguards.  I had plenty of Terns all flying east close to shore with over 150 Sandwich Terns and 15+ Common Terns. 5 Arctic Skua and a single Great Skua were the highlights of the morning. I have seen very few Great Skuas this year following the devastation of the HPAI effects of last year. 

After breakfast we went for a walk at Holkham along the beach as far as the start of the Burnham Overy dines and then back through Holkham pines. The weather was awful, as well as the strong North Easterly, there was a thick mist which meant visibility was very poor. I didn't see a single bird long the dune edge, and very little on the walk back through the pines with perhaps a Great Egret, Greenshank  and a few Lapwing being noted.

We spent some time at Holkham Hall including a walk around the impressive Walled Garden and mid-afternoon ended up at Titchwell. The worsening weather had depleted the waders on site, but I still managed to find the White-rumped Sandpiper and 2 Little Stints, but nothing new from yesterday.

I also ended the day with a rotten cold and we were on the road back home fairly early in the morning having had a good break and just over 100 species in the 2 days.

Reed Warbler

Great Egrets

Whinchat

Sedge Warbler

Spoonbill

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Little Stint

Little Stint

White-rumped Sandpiper

White-rumped Sandpiper

White-rumped Sandpiper

Almost showing it's White-rump

White-rumped Sandpiper

Snipe

Sunday 1st September - Quiet start to the month

Another visit to Selsey in a strengthening north-easterly wind probably produced as expected rather than as hoped.  A sea-watch failed to produce what might have been any seabird surprises until a Marsh Harrier flew down the coast and continued out to sea. The most visible migration was 40+ Yellow Wagtails which are always a good sighting, Sand Martins and Swallows were in low numbers and up to 5 Wheatear alighted on the beach at various times. The best bird was as we were leaving, when an Osprey flew out into the gull flock giving everything a scare.

A walk around Church Norton in breezy conditions, produced very little  in the bushes , a Peregrine was out on the mud with a few of the commoner waders, but autumn passage has yet to hit its peak.

Wheatear

Osprey

Saturday 31st August - End of summer

 The end of summer today, although it has felt as if it never really started this year. It has also felt like the birding has rather stuttered to the end of the month, with a couple more visits to Black Down not really having much in the way of migrants just 2 or 3 Spotted Flycatchers and a few Willow Warblers. On the 28th at home a large group of c100 House Martins had gathered over the trees and there were sightings of Honey Buzzard. Birding generally improves into September.

Rather scruffy male Honey Buzzard