Beachy Head

 With the news that the, Lapland Bunting at Beachy Head that has been tormenting me at work for the last few days was seen on Friday afternoon, the decision was made to get there as early as possible on Saturday morning, to my surprise Margie announced she would be coming as well, yeah right!! So imagine my surprise when the alarm goes off and Margie leaps from the bed like a young Gazelle and beats me to the bathroom 😲, ok it didn't quite happen like that but suffice to say we were on our way reasonably quickly arriving at Beachy by 7 o'clock, we scoured the area around the Trig point but there was no sign😧another person present said she thought she had heard it but no sign😢 we were however treated to a superb flypast by a pair of Peregrine Falcons they put on a great show!!

The Trig Point

Me giving off an impressive golden glow as I use all my super powers to try and find the Bunting (Margie says next time she will try to get all my head in)

Me: "are you looking for the bunting?" Margie: Takes picture of sun

Me: "are you looking for the bunting?" Margie: takes picture of Eastbourne

Me: "are you looking for the bunting?" Margie: takes picture of Clouds

Me: "are you looking for the bunting?" Margie: takes picture of random fence!!

Peregrine Pair

So impressed by the Peregrine but disappointed we dipped the Bunting we head down to Shooter's Bottom in the hope of an Ouzel or 3, It is fairly quite here a few Stonechats, Goldfinch and the Peregrines appear again but overall very quiet as we walk all the way to the Horseshoe Plantation and beyond😴. Things improve slightly after this with several singing Corn Bunting, one of which posed nicely ,several small flocks of Swallows and even more flocks of Meadow Pipits are also observed.

Largely Birdless Bushes by Margie

The Lighthouse from Shooters by Margie

Mushrooms by Margie

Belle Tout by Margie

Chiffchaff

The returning Peg

Goldfinch

Swallow ,maybe the last one of the year😭

Blackcap

Posy Corn Bunting

Meadow Pipit, one of the few that touched down!

Robin having a singsong

We headed back along the cliff ,I heard a loud commotion and noted a lot of corvids giving a bird grief for a moment I assumed it was the Peregrines but on closer inspection turned out to be a Short-eared Owl!! Which after much trying Margie actually saw whoop!!😀

Short-eared Owl and friends

The Lighthouse from Belle Tout by Margie

We were then treated to a flypast by a Spitfire, found a reasonably confiding Green Woodpecker and a large charm of Goldfinch , I then checked my phone to find that the Lapland Bunting had materialised out of thin air and was showing well, route march back to the car!!

Spitfire by Margie

Yacht on the Sea by Margie

Green Woodpecker

Goldfinch

We reached the car slightly out of breath, 😏 a quick drive ,whilst obeying all the speed limits ,rules of the road etc and we were back on site where the Lapland Bunting was indeed showing exceptionally well ,although it's ability to hide behind a single stem of grass was second to none, it is a stunning little bird, you don't realise how many shades of brown there are til you have seen a Lapland Bunting up close!! A few 😁😁😁😁😁😁 pics below from hidden to full view . I think I got it from every possible angle if not , there are another few hundred pics so just ask if you want more😃😃😃😃

Well eventually fatigued from all the picture taking , we decided we would leave on a high and headed for home, overall a quiet morning saved by some quality birds showing well and of course the star was the Lapland Bunting though the Peregrines pushed it hard for top spot with an excellent display of aerial mastery!!