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Winter 2023-24 birding roundup
A lamentable absence of blog posts this winter, more due to a lack of time than a lack of good birds seen. In fact, it’s been a great winter for birding locally and in this post I’ll do a highlights roundup of birding Hastings and area from December 2023 through to end of February 2024.…
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Gull vismig, Hastings, December 2023
I spent much of my December birding time watching gulls as they drifted along the cliffs in Hastings. There seems to have been a near constant stream moving west here and the process of scouring them for rare species is quite addictive. The first clue that something was happening came in the first week of…
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Snow Bunting, Hastings Country Park, 1 December 2023
I’ve had Snow Bunting on my mind on recent visits to Hastings Country Park after a couple of flyovers reported in the area in November. Having burned the flight call into my brain, expecting this is how I’d pick one up, I was surprised to almost trip over one on the footpath in front of…
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Sabine’s Gull and Grey Phalarope, Norman’s Bay, 11 November 2023
On the 11th I made the short trip west to Norman’s Bay to catch up with the 1CY Sabine’s Gull which had been hanging around there since the 5th Nov. In the end this came with the very nice bonus of a Grey Phalarope and at least 7 Little Gull. These storm blown birds have…
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October 2023 birding round-up
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…
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Storm-Petrels from West Hill, Hastings, 2 November 2023
With Storm Ciarán still making its way east across the south of England, Hastings was pretty wet and windy on the 2nd and by midday I hadn’t yet dared to venture outside. That was until I got a call from David Campbell to say he had just had 3 Leach’s Storm-Petrel past West Hill. Fortunately…
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Convolvulus Hawk-moth at Pett Level, 1 October 2023
At Pett Level on Sunday 1st October I was enjoying a coffee with my partner at the Red Pig food truck in the layby near the pools, when something fluttered past in my peripheral vision. I knew it wasn’t a bird due to the erratic flight style and my first thought, given the size, was…
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September 2023 birding roundup
A busy month with a bit of time away meant less time for birding, but nonetheless there was some great variety and highlights in the best birding month of the year. Particularly exciting has been the increase in visible migration (aka vismig) of many diurnal migrant species, most notably House Martin, Meadow Pipit and Siskin.…
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Honey Buzzard at Hastings Country Park, 15 September 2023
After a morning circuit of Hastings Country Park, dominated by Meadow Pipit and House Martin vismig, I was walking back to the car park from the Quarry and clocked a group of raptors circling over Lower Coastguard Lane. Through bins they all looked to be Common Buzzard but backlighting made viewing difficult. Fortunately they started…
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August 2023 birding roundup
Early autumn passerine migration was the highlight of August, with a nice variety of species present at the local migrant hotspots. I’ve been spending most of my birding time at the enigmatic Hastings Country Park, a local nature reserve which extends along the coast from eastern edge of Hastings to Fairlight. I often hear it…