Welcome to the Bockhill and Kingsdown Home page. You will find photos of this season’s birds and Diary pages which inform you of what has been seen each day.
Bockhill is an area of National Trust farmland to the north of St. Margaret’s village, and the cliff top stretching from The Leas to Kingsdown beach. Very few birds are actually resident here and therefore more or less all are migrants. The area by the Monument is best for visible migration but anywhere on the cliff top can be good for birds arriving or leaving the country.
The fields attract Pipits, Larks and the occasional wader whilst the farm wood or any of the hedgerows can be excellent for warblers especially in the autumn. Birding started seriously in 1994. Ten years later, in autumn 2004, 242 species had been recorded.
Bockhill is also very good for moths, butterflies, dragonflies and other insects as well as being excellent for much chalkland flora. Parking is available at the Monument and refreshments can be had at the cafe there or at the kiosk in the Bay car park.
Please note: all photos of birds on this site will be or have been submitted to the relevant records committee for consideration where necessary.
November 2015
8th November
Three Short-eared Owls were flushed from the cliff top, where there were also 5 Stonechats and 2 Corn Buntings. Overhead 12 Bramblings, 3 Swallows and 32 Redpolls were seen and there were around 18 Goldcrests in the Farm Wood and Paddock. In the afternoon there were another 2 Stonechats along the Undercliff at Kingsdown where the Dartford Warbler was still present. 29 Mediterranean Gulls and a Chiffchaff were also seen around Kingsdown
2nd November
A Yellow-browed Warbler was found along Oldstairs in the afternoon. A Chiffchaff was also in the same area
1st November
While most of Kent seemed to be emerged in thick fog, Bockhill enjoyed a glorious morning with blue skies and light winds. Sadly that’s where our good fortune ended. What few birds there had been the previous day seemed to have moved on. A new Dartford Warblerwas located on the undercliff at Kingsdown, however in an extensive search we couldn’t locate either of yesterday’s birds along the clifftop. Had they re-located? a total of 6 Stonechats were seen along the clifftop/undercliff as well as one Short-eared Owl. Only 3 Goldcrests were located in the Farm Wood and 2 Firecrests were found in the Kingsdown area. At least 3 Bramblings went over plus a single Swallow.