New birds at Beachy Head

We went to Beachy Head on this sunny September Sunday, ill-prepared for the heat. We walked from Burling Gap up along the cliffs and heathland and from the start we could see lots of little birds swooping and fluting around. There were acrobatic swallows slicing up the air. There were hundreds of seagulls noisily harassing a fishing trawler out at sea. There were some yellow/grey wagtails hopping around and what I thought were wheatears. And there was one bird sitting on the toppermost branch of a bush. I watched it through binoculars for a while. It was brown with black and white stripy bits, a finchy beak and quite a long tail; one of those fairly nondescript browny small birds. I thought it was a bunting maybe.

Further on we saw a middle aged couple in matching walking gear looking out over the heather and gorse through binoculars. We went over and asked them what they  could see. They were looking at stonechats and directed us to the spot. It was a smallish bird with a red-orange breast, white collar and black head. My binoculars are broken and you have to almost cross your eyes to focus and wiggle the two sides and sometimes it can't be done in time, so I don't think I can say I saw the stonechat as efficiently as the others but I definitely saw something red-orangey.

(Photo taken at Beachy Head, by someone else in this blog)

The birdwatching man of the couple seemed knowledgable. He told us the wagtails we saw were yellow wagtails, because grey wagtails don't generally like this type of landscape. He told us that there were wheatears about too. And he told us that the stonechat is the symbol of the Sussex Ornithological Society (SOS). I just looked up the SOS and we're thinking of joining. To go on bird outings with middle aged people would be a new geeky level of devotion to the birdwatching cause, but I think the amount of knowledge we could absorb from such experienced enthusiasts would make it worth it. 

I later looked up the browny bird I saw. I'm almost sure it was a corn bunting. They are quite rare though, it seems - on the RSPB website their status is RED. Maybe I should tell the SOS. Maybe it's a important discovery.

Corn Bunting: Even the RSPB website describes it as non-descript.

There have been sightings of ospreys over Sussex, as recent as Saturday. We might go and look for some at the weekend. There is no bird I'd like to see more than an osprey.