Beachy disappoints (again)

Sunday 2 October. I met John King at Birling at 07:00 and we spent two hours in that area before relocating to the Hotel Garden and walking down to Shooter's Bottom and back. A cold NW wind wasn't very encouraging and so it proved. We saw 28 Sky Larks, 120 Swallows, 410 House Martins, 11 Pied Wagtails, a Redstart, 2 Whinchats, 5 Stonechats, Wheatear, 3 Whitethroats, 7 Blackcaps, 38 Chiffchaff, 5 Ravens and 19+ Corn Buntings. Slightly better than recent visits to Mill Hill but we had hoped for more.

Saturday 1 October. A pleasant walk around Mill Hill between showers produced 80 Swallows, 2 House Martins, single Whinchat and Stonechat, 3 Whitethroats, 34 Blackcaps and 24 Chiffchaff. Later, soon after high tide, Megan and I walked around the Adur seeing 8 Turnstone roosting on boats and 2 Kingfishers.

view west from Mill Hill

rain clouds over the Adur

rainbow over Mill Hill

Friday 30 September. A walk around Mill Hill produced 70 Swallows, 16 House Martins, 8 Song Thrushes, a Whitethroat, 16 Blackcaps and 26 Chiffchaff. Later Megan and I visited Rackham and Parham Park seeing 15 Mandarin, 3 Buzzards, 30 Swallows, 50 House Martins, 5 Goldcrests, 4 Coal Tits and a Nuthatch. On the Adur at low tide were 25 Ringed Plover, 24 Dunlin and single Greenshank and Kingfisher.

Greenshank on the Adur

Wednesday 28 September. A Peregrine was seen on Southwick Power Station as I cycled home from work.

Tuesday 27 September. A windy hour or so at Shoreham Fort produced just 13 Gannets offshore, a Common Scoter flying east, 21 Turnstones, 9 Sandwich Terns and 65 Swallows heading south or east.

a few of the Turnstones roosting out of the wind on the west arm of Shoreham Harbour