Better late than never (it does take a while to compile these): a roundup of my October birding Hastings and surrounding area. October was all about vismig as diurnal migrants started to move in numbers along the Sussex coastline. On the ground thrush and crest numbers increased while warbler numbers dwindled. The month was also marked by odd contrasts, with my first four Redwing seen on the same (unseasonably warm) day as three Hobby.

Feel I should give a shout out to this amazing Sound Approach article [6/8/24 update: now sadly offline] on flight calls. It uses audio samples and annotated spectrograms to give thorough coverage of the flight and social calls of regular (and less regular) UK vismig species. It’s been an invaluable reference as I’ve learned to pick out the various species by call.

Hastings Country Park migration report

This will probably be my last migration report for the year at Hastings Country Park (HCP), as things begin to slow down there and I turn my attention to seabirds and now (over)replenished wetlands.

The first half of the month was notable for heavy Great Black-backed Gull passage with a peak count of 50 on the 16th.

On the 13th I broke from my usual early morning routine and seawatched for an hour mid-afternoon. There’s a great vantage point below the radar station, albeit not particularly sheltered. The sea was quiet bar 19 Common Scoter west but gulls were coming through close-in against the cliffs, presumably taking advantage of the updraft created by the strong SW wind. Watching these for an hour or so yielded my first Sussex Caspian Gull, a 1CY bird which flew past at eye level — and a 1CY Yellow-legged Gull too.

Kestrel and Sparrowhawk became much more active and apparent this month, the latter presumably making the most of diurnal migrant activity. On the 10th I was surprised to find three Hobby hawking around the radar station in fine conditions. They looked to be young birds and were regularly scuffling with both corvids and each other. Not sure if they hung around but on the 12th another Hobby went west along the cliffs at Warren Glen. The only other raptor of note was a Marsh Harrier flying east over Firehills on the 24th.

Barn Swallow and House Martin were regular throughout the month but started to dip towards the end. My first and last Sand Martin of the month was a single bird on the 2nd. Views of a Swift sp. moving east over the radar station on the 22nd were painfully brief and it was lost to view before I could identify it (or get photos of sufficient quality to identify it). A composite of what I was able to capture below for anyone interested.

Common Chiffchaff were present throughout the month but double figure counts had tailed off by the 10th. A single late Willow Warbler was present on the 4th. A Common Whitethroat on the 2nd was my first and last of the month while Lesser Whitethroat went unrecorded. Blackcap were present throughout the month but no double figure counts.

Goldcrests became a fixture of bush-checking, with an obvious arrival on the 12th when I counted eight across the site on a foggy and drizzly day. I only recorded a single Firecrest on the 8th, although I haven’t been checking their favoured haunt of the Firehills woodland.

Thrushes began piling in over the course of the month. Blackbird were first with a peak count of 20 on the 12th, followed by Song Thrush with a peak count of seven on the 24th. It was exciting to catch up with a few Ring Ouzel, a new bird for me, sometimes giving themselves away with their distinctive clock-winding tock tock calls. They were seen on two dates, with a flock of five on the 10th and four present on the 20th.

My first Redwing of the year were four on the 10th and I didn’t see any more until another four on the 24th. Redwing and Fieldfare always seem to be scarce at HCP, seemingly preferring in-land sites. Mistle Thrush was the least frequent of the thrushes, with four on the 18th in the churchyard (perhaps more favourable for them than other HCP habitat?) and one on the 22nd.

Stonechats were present throughout the month in small numbers, typically frequenting the fields around the coastguard cottages and Bale House — my highest count was six on the 8th. I noted a high count of 26 Robin on the 24th (typical counts <15), and 19 Hedge Accentor (ok, fine: Dunnock) on the 2nd (typical counts of <10). Whether the latter are dispersing from surrounding areas or arriving from further afield I would love to know.

My only Northern Wheatear of the month were two on the 4th, one of which perched up on telephone wires briefly in an odd break of character.

The viisst viisst of calling Meadow Pipit was a soundtrack to visits and counts were frequently 50+ during the first half of the month, tailing off towards the latter half. Pied Wagtail were also regular throughout the month but only ever in single digit counts (hard to ascertain if these are migrants or wintering birds at this point in the year).

Finches were the real highlight of October with their presence constantly felt through the calling flocks moving overhead in all but the wettest conditions. Goldfinch were the most frequent and present in reasonable numbers throughout the month, with a peak count of 409 on the 20th. Linnets peaked early in the month with 78 on the 8th, followed by a sharp drop off in numbers down to single digits by the end of the month.

Flocks of Siskin (high count of 185 on the 20th) and Lesser Redpoll (high count of 51 on the 22nd) were regular throughout the month and much enjoyed. Other finch species were much scarcer. Chaffinch movements were erratic, generally amounting to single figures but with seemingly random spikes of 20-45 counts throughout the month. My first Brambling of the year came earlier than I expected with two east over the radar station on the 8th. The only other bird was one in exactly the same place on the 24th.

Buntings were scarcer still with no more than one or two Reed Bunting seen on each visit and no Yellowhammer (although I suspect I need to work on tuning-in to their unassuming flight calls). Perhaps there’s still hope for a Lapland or Snow Bunting this year.

Other highlights

The only other site I spent any significant time at this month was Pett Level, which always makes for interesting birding with its combination of multi-habitat convergence and interplay of tides and water-levels. On the 23rd was a Razorbill bobbing around close-in off the beach — a species I rarely get a good look at here on the Sussex coast.

For reasons unknown to me, overall numbers of duck were very low on all my visits, in contrast to last year. There was some interest on the 15th when a female-type Goosander flew east along the shoreline and an excellent looking presumed Mallard x Pintail hybrid was present.

Grey Plover were back along the foreshore from the beginning of the month with one on the 1st and two on the 23rd and four Golden Plover, my first of the autumn, flew east on the 23rd. Finally, on the 1st there were a flock of at least eight Bearded Reedling buzzing around in the sun.