I’m lucky to have some great places to witness bird migration on my doorstep in Hastings. One of these is the open parkland of West Hill, a green ridge rising between the two urban sections of Hastings town. The park section is a small area, about 0.1 km², most of which is open ground frequented by dog walkers and as a result pretty useless for birds. However the area known as Castle Rocks, consisting of the rocky cliffs and scrub surrounding the ruins of Hastings castle, can be quite productive.

I had a couple of hours before work on Friday 25 August and with northerlies overnight and into the morning I wondered if migrants grounded by the previous days storms might be making use of the lee side of the hill. Indeed they were, with the most spectacular fall of migrant birds I’ve witnessed, I think largely because they were concentrated into such a small location and in such incongruous surroundings.

I arrived to the promising sound of Yellow Wagtail tsreep-ing low overhead. Walking further up the hill and out into the Ladies Parlour at the top, I immediately noticed a few Wheatear perched up on the ruined castle walls. Individuals would come and go from the wall sections, dropping down to the hidden interior of the castle grounds, presumably to feed on the (dog-free) turf. At one point they were joined by two Whinchat.

Skirting the east side of castle rocks and down to the sheltered south-facing section below the cliff, there were yet more Wheatear moving around as well as a few Willow Warbler and Common Chiffchaff flitting about on the rocks. As you can see from the photos, the birds use of the rocks made it look more like Fair Isle than the south coast at times!

From below the cliffs the extent of bird activity was clearer, with loads of warblers and tits flitting about amongst the rocks and scrub, as well as a single Spotted Flycatcher catching insects in the morning sun.

Final migrant totals for 1.5 hours of effort were:

• Barn Swallow: 8
• Willow Warbler: 6
• Common Chiffchaff: 4
• Eurasian Blackcap: 3
• Lesser Whitethroat: 1
• Common Whitethroat: 2
• Spotted Flycatcher: 1
• Whinchat: 2
• Northern Wheatear: 10
• Western Yellow Wagtail: 3
• Pied Wagtail: 1

While these may not seem like spectacular totals, and I’m sure are a shallow imitation of falls past, they are notable for West Hill where I’ve been lucky to have a handful of migrants on any given morning. It’s also insight into how West Hill can act as a migrant trap during certain conditions, potentially attributable to the combination of vegetated high-ground in a largely urban area and the sheltered zones provided by the cliffs and castle ruins.