Easterlies

Vagrants and scarce migrants are bombarding the east coast with Rufous-tailed Robin, Black-faced Bunting, Isabelline Wheatear, Red-flanked Bluetail and loads more at Spurn yesterday and other vagrants elsewhere along the North sea coastline.

Meanwhile round here it's a long way from the action. There have been tens of thousands of Redwings on the move across the country (including along the east-west North and South Downs flyways)  but the best I could muster here was 31 over the garden on a Sunday morning skywatch HERE. Also had the autumn's first Fieldfare that day and my first 1000+ Woodpigeon day this autumn. 

Yesterday there wasn't even much in the way of garden vis-mig and it got down to 5 C at night in the north east airflow so nothing noteworthy in the moth trap either. A visit to Church Norton in the afternoon wasn't much better HERE with an increase in Brent Geese being the main observation. 

Today the north east wind was accompanied by heavy rain so with limited options I decided to do Selsey Bill from Hillfield Road carpark using the van as a hide. Mass migration was picked up over the North Sea from radars last night and indeed there was some passage of waterfowl off the bill HERE with 21 Brents, 5 Greylags, 5 Shelduck, 44 Wigeon, 38 Pintail, 277 Teal, 3 Common Scoter and 4 Red-breasted Mergansers mainly moving east. There was also a Red-throated Diver offshore and a few incoming passerines including a very frustrating probable Lapland Bunting that failed to call and also my camera wouldn't focus on it in the rain. 

With the rain still persisting I then went to Ferry hide to get some shelter there HERE. An increase in duck numbers there too with the first flock of Shoveler for the winter and more Wigeon too. 

A few more moths last night as the cloud keept the temperature a bit higher but nothing that noteworthy.

So basically the only fallout from this easterly invasion was the probable Lap Bunt - and we blew that too. The south coast in autumn is really not the place to be based- fortunately we are off to Bulgaria on Thursday. 

Juvenile Red-throated Diver (above and below) 

Ducks on the move in the murk 

Red-breasted Mergansers

Sandwich Tern

Green Brindled Crescent 

Back to the patch and the fifth wave

It was a bit topsy turvy coming back from the holiday rain and cool temperatures in Scotland to the hot and dry conditions back home, exaggerated by the beginning of the fifth heat wave this summer. It really has been an extreme summer this year with several serious wildfires and droughts across the country. Our local area is on an extreme fire risk warning. 

Thanks to Kath and Kyle our plants and pets were kept alive while away (apart from our Mexican Red Knee that mysteriously died despite having all it should need). I got on with watering everything as soon as I got back yesterday.

So yesterday afternoon was spent just catching up in the garden. It was quite lively on the bird front HERE with a nice flock of mixed hirundines on the front garden phone wires and one or two juvenile Sparrowhawks playing cat and mouse with them. 

This morning I headed over to East Side and walked to the Spit and back and then went over to Mill Lane and Ferry HERE. 74 species of over 2500 individuals. Mill Lane Marsh has dried out but fortunately the RSPB have partly flooded Ferry again. Highlights included an influx of autumn wildfowl with 18 Teal, 3 Shoveler and 8 Gadwall, huge numbers of Med Gulls (I estimated 1500), 9 Yellow Wagtails in White's Creek and my first 2 Wheatears of the autumn. A nice little selection of waders on the rising side with 14 species including 4 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 7 Whimbrel and 6 Knot. An adult Peregrine was out hunting over the spit at high tide. Oystercatcher numbers have gone up to nearly 90 HERE where as Black-tailed Godwit has dropped right off HERE. 

The moth traps were quite lively with 90 species inlcuding 8 Portland Ribbon Wave and 2 Blair's Mocha which have been scarce this year so far.  Also a few NFYs, now on 494 for the year and a Delplanqueia dilutella/inscriptella - a first for site. Straw Underwings have appeared now too. Other 'migrant' species included two Cydia amplana, four Silver-Y, four Rusty-dots, 2 Dark Sword Grass, a single Diamond-back and Vestal, two Delicates, about 25 Small Mottled Willow, 9 Rush Veneer, six European Corn Borer and a handful of White-points.  Derek over in Bracklesham has had extremely high numbers of Small Mottled Willow over the last week- no obvious increase round here. Also a couple of Yellow Belles. 

Seems like more butterflies around (Common Blues and Brown Argus are in the garden meadow) and there was a Ruddy Darter in the garden yesterday too. 

Sand Martin( above) and Swallow and Sand and House Martins on the front wires

Sand and House Martins

Juvenile Sparrowhawk

Whimbrel- a few more of these today

Autumn ducks- Gadwall and Shoveler (above) and Teal (below). Oddly the Teal were out on the sea/harbour entrance. 

Wheatear- my first of the autumn . There was a small influx today on the Peninsula with 3 at the bill, 2 at Norton, one on the wall and the 2 on the spit.  Despite the clear blue skies and high pressure there was a brisk south east wind today which could have held up migrants. As usual all the local bird news HERE. 

Huge numbers of Med Gulls were out on the Spit 

The Pagham Harbour Common Seals have peaked at 10 individuals (9 here and one by the harbour entrance) 

Delplanqueia dilutella/inscriptella- retained for critical examination. Either species would be a first for the garden. 

Rosy Knot-horn- NFY at last  

According to I-Nat AI this is Common Groundhopper. Latest pan species observations from the garden HERE

It must be August not just because Wheatears have returned, hirundines are gathering on the wires and the first autumn ducks have arrived but also because there is an abundance of food ready for harvst in the garden now

Roseates reappear

Monday's are supposed to be all day in the field days but TBH I couldn't muster up much will considering it's pretty much the summer doldrums out there. So after the moths I did a bit in the garden and after the school run popped out and checked Ferry, the Tramway and Mill Lane. 8 Little Ringed Plovers on Ferry were the highlight (4 adults, a juvenile and the three chicks), with the 5 Shelduck chicks, the Oystercatcher chick and still a few Avocet chicks too. Three Teal on Mill Lane was the best thing there. On the way back I went through Yeoman's field which was full of butterflies.

After lunch I waited for the high tide and then went to Church Norton and checked out the colony and the mudflats down to the middle reedbed. Roseate Terns were constantly on view amongst the Sandwich Terns on the mud with at least two together and probably a third bird seen a distant from the first two that went out to sea. There were thousands of terns and hundreds of young terns and gull with my first juvenile Med Gull for the autumn too. The wader numbers were up again, with nearly 40 Dunlin now but the heat haze was pretty bad. 

70 species in total of over 3000 individuals HERE. 

Adult Roseate Terns (above and below)

The Oystercatcher chick on Ferry is growing well although sadly seems to have lost it's sibling

Seems like it's mainly Med Gulls on Tern island now. I've only one juvenile Med so presumably the young fledge later than the Sandwich Terns and Black-headed Gulls

Gatekeepers were everywhere today, well over 100 on my route. Also lots of Small/Essex Skipper, Meadow Browns, a few Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock, three Small Copper, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood, Small Whites, Green-viened White, the odd Large White and a single Brown Argus.

Female Migrant Hawker. A few of these around, also Blue Emperor, Broad-bodied Chaser and Common Blue Damselfly.

Buff Arches was the best in the moth trap. A NFY. Now on 396 for the year.

Black-banded Masoner, Blastobasis rebeli- the first this year

Coastal Buff, Agonopterix yeatiana

Obsidentify reckons this is Slender Rufous Tortrix, Lathronympha strigana? Doesn't look red enough for me. I've kept it for critical examination. 

20 years visiting Bulgaria

It's been twenty years since I first visited Bulgaria in 2006. My brother Paul, his partner Sophie and two kids, Dylan and Archie had decided to leave the UK behind and start a new life in Shipka at the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. After a few years of finding their feet they established the Balkan Ecology Project HERE and I did my best to visit as often as I could to help out on the project and also explore Bulgaria from there.

In 2016 Paul and I purchased about 14 hectates of land in the Shipka area for the project and in 2020 I also purchased a plot on the Black Sea coast at Kamen Bryag and since then have also been visiting that area regularly to focus on migrant birds and lepidoptera of this part of the Via Pontica flyway. 

So basically Bulgaria has become a second home/holiday home over the last twenty years. In total I have visited 26 times! - in July 2006 to Shipka with Kate, January 2009 to Shipka before embarking on a six week road trip to the Middle East with Paul, December 2010 to Shipka and then with Dimiter for wild geese, May 2011 with Dimiter, Darryl and Greg for a Spring tour with Neophron, June 2013 to Shipka, February 2015 with Wise Birding for Geese in Romania, July 2015 to Shipka with Maria and the girls, September 2015 for autumn birding with Dylan, April 2016 to Shipka, July 2016 to Shipka (met Anton for first time),  May 2018 with Holly and Jacob to Shipka and herping with Dylan and Anton to the Eastern Rhodopes, November 2018 with my dad to look into Black Sea purchase, August and September 2019 with Holly and Jacob on a road trip through Europe to Bulgaria, February 2020 to complete the Kamen Bryag purchase, April/May 2021 to Kamen Bryag and then herping with Dylan and Anton to Kresna, May 2022 to Kamen Bryag and herping trip to Burgas region with Dylan and Anton, July 2022 to Kamen Bryag to work on the plot with Dylan and Anton, November 2022 to Kamen Bryag for more work on the land, May 2023 to Kamen Bryag and then herping at Kresna and Baba Vangas, July 2023 to Kamen Bryag for moth recording, September 2023 with Arjun for his Cambridge University dissertation and the boys and Roger also visited as we started the pond, October 2024 with Kojak to Kamen Bryag, June 2025 with Kojak to Kamen Bryag to complete the pond, September 2025 with Kojak to Kamen Bryag, October 2025 to Kamen Bryag on my own for some epic migration and now May/June 2026 with Holly and the boys and later visiting Shipka and natural history exploring. 

Far too many highlights to even begin listing them but found several megas for Bulgaria on both the birds and moth fronts. In total I've had 306 bird species HERE (23 in Ebird Top 100) and 582 moths and butterflies HERE and most of the herps in Bulgaria plus loads more with over 700 species on I-Nat HERE which is incomplete as doesn't include botany, herps or mammals. My butterfly list without the moths is on 92 HERE. 

Still loads more to do out there. The next plans include to target the remaining Butterflies, I still need Cat Snake, to keep up the migration recording on the Black Sea Coast and hopefully find more megas for the country and to expand the land purchasing to create a new nature reserve in Kamen Bryag. 

Dylan in 2006

Me mincing in the woods

Dylan and Anton

Paul, Dylan and Archie

Dimiter, Marina and Dylan in Burgas September 2015

Bulgaria Day 11: Eastern Rhodopes

Today (2nd June) we met our guide Nikolay and targeted several butterfly specialities in the spectacular Eastern Rhodope region around the town of Madzharovo. We covered a few sites so I kept Ebird running all day HERE with the birding highlights being a few Bulgarian lifers including Black Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Chukar and Blue Rock Thrush (now on 306 for Bulgaria). Also nice to see all the Griffon Vultures, Rock Buntings and Sombre Tits which I haven't seen in Bulgaria for a while.

Latest butterfly and moths observations HERE with so many highlights. A few photo highlights below.

Egyptian Vulture (above) and Griffon Vulture (below)- it was about time I visited the famous Vulture region of Bulgaria

Black Stork

Butterfly of the day was the localised Kruper's Small White

Southern Small White

Eastern Bath White

Chequered Blue 

Little Tiger Blue

Eastern Knapweed Fritillary

Lattice Brown

Small Pincertail

Sinuated Spoonwing

The Eastern Rhodopes (above and below). Between the Danube plains and Dobrich Plateaux, the Balkans, the Black Sea Coast, the Burgas lake complex, the Via Pontica migration route, the passerine migration hotspots around Cape Kaliakra, the Rhodopes, Pirin and Rila, the Strandzha Forests and the various central valleys- Bulgaria is stunningly complex and diverse.