a good day at beachy. started off with a beachy (minor) celeb tick in the form of the two christines (choccywoccydoodah) driving through. juv red-backed shrike found in shooters and a good show of raptors with honey buzzard (pale male), osprey, 2 marsh harriers, short-eared owl, merlin and hobby. always good to see a mixed kettle of raptors in the uk - in this case osprey, 4 buzzards, sparrowhawk and kestrel. i watched the osprey till it went stratospheric above the hotel. should be a good autumn for siskins - frequently heard going over this morning but the only flocks that i saw were of 10 and 17 birds. amongst the commoner stuff there was a flock of 10 wheatears at the hotel and a trickle of swifts through the day

looks a bit flat winged, i'll just get it in the scope dad

marsh harrier hunting at west rise which put up a dunlin. notable arrival of shoveler and teal

couple of garden ticks - curlew over today and family party of ravens on 28th.
waders on the lower cuckmere this morning - 23 ringed plover, 7 dunlin, 5 common sand, 3 whimbrel, 1 greenshank and 1 barwit

short seawatch this morning before the rain, spent more time walking to and from cow gap than i did looking at the sea, but 7 balearic west. another watch after the rain produced 1 sooty, 1 manx and 5 balearic but was so boring I had to go, oddly very few gannets and no variety. checked west rise for black tern and found a juv - my first species of tern here and really close views. never seen the place so flooded hard to believe it's August

on 10th a ruff and lrp at west rise. next day a green sand and 2 shoveler

on 17th year ticked pied and spotted flycatchers and grasshopper warbler at beachy