TR23 N (Copt Point, Capel Battery and Folkestone Warren West)
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Folkestone and Hythe Birds Tetrad Guide: TR23 N (Copt Point, Capel Battery and Folkestone Warren West) It is known that bird collectors were active in Folkestone Warren in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries though the details that support their records are not sufficient to allocate them to a specific tetrad. Norman Ticehurst in his “A History of the Birds of Kent” mentions a Woodchat Shrike caught in a clump of brambles in the Warren in 1888 (the specimen is now in the Canterbury museum). He also notes a Great Grey Shrike in the Warren in 1893 and records that Folkestone Museum contained a White- fronted Goose, a Scaup and a Shore Lark that were obtained in the Warren. On the 22nd September 1959 David Musson found the fourth county record of Yellow- browed Warbler in Folkestone Warren and also saw a Bluethroat there on the same day. Also in the 1950s John Perrot recorded 12 pairs of Nightingale breeding in the Warren. Looking east from Copt Point along the cliffs to Samphire Hoe Looking west from the Warren to Copt Point Looking south-west from Copt Point to Folkestone Pier In about 1980 Rob Lee (formerly Rob Hollingsworth) began watching the Copt Point area, being joined by Paul Howe from 1985, though both left the area in the late 1980s, Rob moving to Norfolk, and Paul to Thanet (though he later returned to live locally again). They began to systematically record movements at sea and diurnal overhead passage, as well as grounded migrants. A regular up-channel spring passage of Brent Geese, Common and Velvet Scoter and other wildfowl, waders including Bar-tailed Godwits, skuas including Pomarine, Little Gulls and the regular terns became evident, as well as autumn movements also involving Manx Shearwater and Black Tern. In the winter months there were records of Bewick’s Swan, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Northern Diver and all three scarce grebes. Visual passage included swifts, hirundines, pipits, wagtails, finches (including Twite), buntings and some good counts of Tree Sparrow, whilst passerine migrants mainly comprised crests, warblers, thrushes (including Ring Ouzel), flycatchers and chats. Rarities included the first area record of Lesser Crested Tern, a Cory’s Shearwater, a Roseate Tern, several Wrynecks and a couple of Icterine Warblers. A flock of Eider used to summer off Copt Point, with a peak of 34 there in June 1983. Mediterranean Gulls became a regular feature at Copt Point from the late 1970s and it soon held the greatest concentrations in the country. From the early 1980s until his death in 2007 Raymond Henson recorded the gulls around Copt Point and his study of colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls was published in the Kent Bird Report for 2001 and provided a very valuable insight into their movements and life histories. He also logged a number of Glaucous and Iceland Gulls. A couple of pairs of Marsh Warblers bred between 1987 and 1991 (but there have been no sightings since) and Steve Broyd saw a Caspian Tern offshore on the 5th June 1988. Brent Goose at Copt Point Mediterranean Gull at Copt Point Dale Gibson and Ian Roberts watched Copt Point regularly from the late 1980s until about 2006, with less frequent visits since. A brick shelter and the adjacent undercliff below Wear Bay Road provide a good vantage point for seawatching (the shelter is in TR23 I but most seabird records have been included in TR23 N as they passed at a distance from the shore). A significant number of record area counts were made here and those that continue to stand include 2,800 Brent Geese passing east on the 9th March 1996, 49 Shoveler east on the 10th Mar 1995, 13 Garganey east on the 15th April 2003, 29 Velvet Scoter east on the 21st April 2003, 111 Fulmar east on the 20th April 2003, 230 Whimbrel east on the 8th May 2001 and 366 Dunlin east on the 12th May 2002. During an unprecedented influx into the county a record count of 11 Storm Petrels passed west on the 24th May 2006 and a total of 36 Manx Shearwaters heading east on the 2nd Jun 1999 was also a local record. From the autumn period an exceptional 560 Black Terns west on the 6th September 1992 and seven Little Auks east on the 14th November 1996 are still record totals, as are counts from around the point of 15 Shags on the 7th February 2004 and 16 Common Sandpipers on the 8th August 1994. Rarer species involved the first only records to date of Gull-billed Tern (in July 1997) and Ring-billed Gull (in 1999 and 2001), with Long-tailed Duck, Smew, Balearic Shearwater, Leach’s Petrel, Spoonbill, Montagu’s Harrier, Goshawk, Red-footed Falcon, Spotted Redshank, Long-tailed Skua, Sabine’s Gull, White-winged Black Tern and Puffin also of particular note. Whilst attention was mainly focused on the sea, the first area record of Melodious Warbler was singing from bushes on the point in May 1995 (with another at Capel Battery the same day) and a Stone Curlew was seen on the beach on three dates in September/October 1990. Sabine’s Gull at Copt Point Pomarine Skuas at Copt Point Continued watching of the site has seen the numbers of Mediterranean Gulls continue to increase with a new British record count of c.3,000 present in December 2019. Scrubland at Capel Battery Looking east over Folkestone Warren from Capel Battery Looking west towards Copt Point from Capel Battery Capel Battery (also known locally as the ‘Gun Site’) has also been regularly watched since the late 1980s and the former Battery Observation Post is an excellent vantage point for observing visual migration, whilst the surrounding scrub and trees provides cover for grounded migrants. Highlights here have included Alpine Swift, Bee-eater, Golden Oriole, Red-rumped Swallow, Tawny Pipit, Serin, Hawfinch and Common Rosefinch. Purple Sandpipers formerly wintered in some numbers at the apron in Folkestone Warren, peaking at 27 in early 1986, and the first area record of Desert Wheatear was seen there on the 28th March 1998. A Spotted Crake frequented the small pond in Folkestone Warren in November/December 1982. Access and Parking Copt Point can be accessed via Wear Bay Road where there is free on-road parking. To reach the Warren head north from Copt Point and take the first turning on the right onto the unnamed road that passes by Martello Tower number 1. Follow this track to its end where there a couple of small car parks (currently free). The Gun Site is most easily accessed by parking on the eastern end of Crete Road East and taking the footpath that runs alongside the Valiant Sailor pub to the cliff-top. The main Folkestone to Dover bus route passes the Valiant Sailor where there are stopping points. Other Natural History Folkestone Warren has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) as it is of considerable biological, geological and physiographical interest. It encompasses the range of marine and terrestrial habitats associated with the chalk cliffs, and with the underlying Gault clay and Lower Greensand exposed at the western end of the site. These habitats support outstanding assemblages of plants and invertebrates, together with individual species which are nationally uncommon. On the cliff top there is a small area of chalk grassland, whilst on the chalk cliff ledges and slopes are plant species with a preference for maritime or calcareous habitats. Several are rare nationally and some with mainly continental distribution reach their northernmost point in Britain at this site. Their survival on this stretch of coast may be largely attributable to its warm, south facing, sheltered climate, which is comparable to that of regions several degrees latitude to the south. Many rare invertebrates breed within the site, representing several taxonomic groups and also including species with a preference for warm climates. The site is also a major landing place for migrant insects from the continent which may form temporary colonies. Chalk is exposed for much of the length of the site, the underlying gault clay creates instability in the chalk and landslips occur from time to time resulting in a mosaic of cliff ledges, scree, bare faces and undercliffs, of varying slope and aspect. The cliff vegetation is predominantly calcareous grassland but scrub is present on the more stable undercliffs, and there is a characteristic assemblage of plant species at the spray-line which includes such national rarities as Sea-heath, Curved Hard-grass and Golden Samphire. Above the sprayline, plant species typical of calcareous grassland and of maritime habitats grow side by side, resulting in plant communities which are considered rare in Europe. Several nationally scarce plant species are represented here, including Wild Cabbage and the Dover variety of Nottingham Catchfly (var. nutans), whilst the humid climate favours the growth of species which inland are restricted to woodlands on calcareous soils, such as Stinking Iris and Wood Spurge. The area of chalk grassland on the cliff top is chiefly dominated by Sheep's-fescue and Upright Brome, and a variety of herb species characteristic of chalk soils are present. These include Early and Late Spider-orchids, and Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa, food plant of the larvae of the Adonis Blue butterfly, which breeds within the site. The Gault and Lower Greensand cliffs at the western end of the site are unstable and sparsely vegetated. In the Warren, landslips have given rise to a succession of steep, broken slopes where scrub and woodland is developing and there are several small ponds.