It's back to weekend birding again unfortunately now as I'm back to work so I had a couple of early sessions yesterday and this morning. A brief look at the sea Saturday morning produced 2 Common Scoter, 3 Whimbrel, 4 Bar tailed Godwit west, 32 Black headed Gull, 50 Herring Gull, 4 Great Black backed Gull, 35 Sandwich Tern, 8 Cormorant, 1 Little Egret, 1 Kestrel and 1 Peregrine. I was out early this morning at 05:35 where I spent some time listening into the darkness for anything calling. I did hear 2 Grey Partridge, 1 Grey Heron and 2 Golden Plover but no Owls seen or heard. I then moved on to the sea for a look before taking a walk along the seawall and back. Birds noted included 4 Shelduck, 4 Common Scoter, 10 Oystercatcher, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Redshank, 9 Turnstone, 1 Knot on the beach, a good bird to get here. There were 2 Arctic Skua including 1 pale phase bird east, 44 Black headed Gull, 4 Mediterranean Gull, 120 Herring Gull, 2 Great Black backed Gull, 2 Common Tern, 76 'Commic' Tern east, 83 Sandwich Tern east, 1 Great crested Grebe, 7 Cormorant, 2 Little Egret, 1 Common Buzzard and 1 Marsh Harrier circling over the sea together, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Hobby in off the sea, 2 Peregrine, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Whitethroat, 24 Starling, 5 Dunnock, 32 House Sparrow, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipit and 4 Goldfinch. I also saw a few Migrant Hawker, 1 Common Darter and 3 Clouded Yellow butterfly. 

Knot - juvenile

I only had a couple of hours this morning so I had a quick look at the sea and then a brief look at some of the bushes at Bishopstone. Birds noted included 12 Teal, 25 Woodpigeon, 3 Collared Dove, 4 Oystercatcher, 3 Turnstone, 28 Black headed Gull, 11 Mediterranean Gull, 45 Herring Gull, 1 Great Black backed Gull, 102 Sandwich Tern east, 2 Cormorant, 3 Little Egret, 1 Hobby, 1 Magpie, 9 Carrion Crow, 9 Blue Tit, 2 Great Tit, 7 Swallow, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Wren, 73 Starling, 1 Blackbird, 4 Robin, 1 Whinchat (134), 4 Dunnock, 15 House Sparrow, 2 Chaffinch and 7 Linnet. 

With an ENE wind this morning, I decided on a few hours having a seawatch where early on, there was a bit of movement over the sea. Birds noted today were 81 Teal west, 5 Shoveler (133), 2 west with Teal and 3 landed on the sea, 51 Common Scoter east, 13 Oystercatcher, 1 Curlew, 1 Bar tailed Godwit east with an Oystercatcher, 2 Common Sandpiper, 6 Redshank, 10 Turnstone, 4 Arctic Skua flew high west, 1 Kittiwake, 99 Black headed Gull, 13 Mediterranean Gull, 71 Herring Gull, 8 Great Black backed Gull, 19 Common Tern west, 230 Sandwich Tern east, 1 Gannet, 12 Cormorant, 2 Peregrine and 20 Starling. 

I was out at 5:15 this morning where I had a look at the sea for an hour before walking the bushes along the Downs and then returned to look at the sea again. Birds noted included 1 Teal, 2 Common Scoter, 6 Collared Dove, 12 Oystercatcher, 12 Turnstone, 1 Knot (132) flew west, 40 Black headed Gull, 5 Mediterranean Gull, 130 Herring Gull, 38 Common Tern, 29 Sandwich Tern, 14 Cormorant, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Peregrine, 90 Swallow west, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 6 Whitethroat, 39 Starling, 3 Robin, 3 Dunnock, 20 House Sparrow, 1 Grey Wagtail, 2 Yellow Wagtail and 1 Pied Wagtail. 

A look at the sea yesterday morning from first light for an hour and then a walk along the Downs produced 2 Teal, 13 Oystercatcher, 1 Grey Plover west, 1 Golden Plover west, 2 Ringed Plover, 5 Whimbrel west, 1 Common Sandpiper, 5 Turnstone, 8 Dunlin west, 49 Black headed Gull, 6 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Common Gull, 58 Herring Gull, 4 Great Black backed Gull, 1 Common Tern, 3 Sandwich Tern, 17 Cormorant and 1 Little Egret. There was 1 Peregrine, 1 flock of 28 Blue Tit moving through the bushes, 2 Great Tit, 30 Swallow west, 3 Whitethroat, 150 Starling, 40 House Sparrow, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Meadow Pipit and 20 Linnet. 

A catch up over the past few days. Highlights on the 11th were 14 Mediterranean Gull, 191 Sandwich Tern east, 1 Great crested Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 8 Whitethroat, 1 Wheatear, 90 House Sparrow and 4 Linnet. A look at the sea this morning in hot calm conditions and then a walk at Bishopstone produced 7 Common Scoter, 7 Grey Partridge, 10 Oystercatcher, 3 Whimbrel west, 1 Curlew, 4 Redshank, 3 Turnstone, 15 Mediterranean Gull, 73 Sandwich Tern, 5 Cormorant, 3 Little Egret, 1 Marsh Harrier in off the sea, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 17 Sand Martin, 2 Swallow, 2 House Martin, 1 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 9 Whitethroat, 82 Starling, 1 Wheatear, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Meadow Pipit, 2 Chaffinch, 3 Linnet, 3 Goldfinch and 3 Corn Bunting west over the Downs. Whilst watching the solar Eclipse at Bishopstone Wednesday night. 2 Golden Plover flew in off the sea. 

I was out and about at 05:15 this morning where after collecting the recorder from last night, I spent a few hours looking at the sea before walking along the Downs to Bishopstone and back. Last night, as there was a chance of the Northern Lights (which I didn't see), I spent an hour or so on the clifftop. I had only been there 10 minutes when I heard a Barn Owl and turned to see it flying over, lit up by some security lights. This is the first time I have actually seen one on the patch. Back to this morning where in hot conditions I noted 10 Common Scoter east, 2 Stock Dove, 9 Swift, 28 Oystercatcher, 6 Whimbrel, c30 Bar tailed Godwit (131) flew high west with a Whimbrel at the front giving a good size comparison and presumably the same birds were seen 30 minutes later at Seasalter. There were 3 Common Sandpiper, 3 Turnstone, 12 Black headed Gull, 21 Mediterranean Gull, 2 Great Black backed Gull, 2 Lesser Black backed Gull, 201 Common Tern flew east, 72 'Commic' Tern east, 103 Sandwich Tern east, 1 Gannet, 6 Cormorant, 3 Little Egret flew in from the north and continued inland and 4 small Egrets flew west distantly. There was 1 Grey Heron, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 3 Sand Martin, 2 Swallow, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 7 Whitethroat, 66 Starling, 6 Robin, 1 Stonechat, 49 House Sparrow, 1 Meadow Pipit, 3 Chaffinch, 5 Linnet and 2 Goldfinch. Also seen were c8 Migrant Hawker, 1 Common Darter and 4 Clouded Yellow butterfly.