Tuesday 17th July 2018

On the move southbound 135 Black-headed Gull, 12 Swallow, 8 Med Gull, 5 Sand Martin, 3 Oyk, 3 Common Tern, 3 Common Gull, 2 Whimbrel & 1 Curlew plus, rather helpfully, on the observatory rough pad someone has written 4 B T Godwit south !

Rhodophaea formosa only visits us on odd occasions so was good to see (although originally thought to be a different species as we forgot it existed). Pima boisduvaliella is a red data book species mostly on Sea Pea.

Ringing: 1 Chaffinch.

Monday 16th July

Bit of a surprise to get a young juvenile Cetti's Warbler considering how low the population is this year in East Anglia following the "beast from the east" back in March which resulted in an almost total wipe-out at many sites. This is only the 8th Landguard record with previous records being in April/May & September/October. Strange that we should get a summer dispersing youngster this year as this phenomena never occurred when populations were higher. Other migrants were southbound 93 Black-headed Gull, 10 Swallow, Curlew & Redshank with northbound 10 Common Scoter plus a Grey Wagtail doing some loitering. Of greater note than the above is Mrs Shelduck with 16 tiny ducklings heading from the reserve out to the sea as, although Shelduck are present on site from March to July, we very rarely prove that they breed successfully.

Species diversity in the moth traps is large at the moment with several species turning up that we only see occasionally including the Drinker & White-spotted Pug. The Drinker likes damp areas so understandably is not here very often whereas the food plants for the pug are on site but its population size is unknown.

17 birds ringed: 5 House Sparrow, 5 Linnet, 4 Whitethroat, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Goldfinch.

Sunday 15th July 2018

Its getting to look a bit parched out there although the brambles & Elders on the reserve are of a hardy variety.

On the move southbound 3 Curlew & a Sand Martin apart from which its down to the local breeders. A dispersing juvenile Blackcap paid a visit on its pre-migration wanderings.

Always pleasing to get a visitation from a Pale Prominent which lives on Poplars so, in theory, we should see more off them.

19 birds ringed: 8 Linnet, 7 House Sparrow, 2 Wren, 1 Blackcap, 1 Goldfinch.

Saturday 14th July 2018

Second emergence of Common Blues are now out and about.

Todays migrant birds are 4 Swallows & a Brent Goose southbound plus a Redshank headed inland.

Marbled Green is a Lichen specialist that is extremely variable.

Friday 13th July 2018

Young Kes is still begging for food from dad despite catching its own food.

Nothing of note to report bird wise with a chunk of the morning spent on essential on site maintenance.

Dark Arches is one of the commonest macro moths in the traps at the moment - it is present throughout the entire country with its larvae feeding on a wide variety of grasses.

July Litter Pick

Litter Pick this Saturday 14th July 0930 hrs start. Further details on the Events page of www.lbo.org.uk

Thursday 12th July 2018

This pair of Ringos are on their fourth clutch this year with the other three attempts having failed. You have to admire their perseverance.

A Chiffchaff sang briefly is suggestive of a non-breeding adult loitering furtively on site as spring migration should be done and dusted and its to early for autumn migration in this species. Offshore northbound 11 Teal & 4 Sandwich Tern. A Gadwal flew over the observatory heading out and a Swallow going south are the only other movements noted. Nice selection of Med Gulls of assorted ages and plumage's knocking about in recent days. One only has to look back at the paucity of records in the mid 1980's to when we could identify the Med Gulls as individuals by plumage characteristics as there were that few of them in the local area in the "good old days" - how times have changed.

Euzophera pinguis is an Ash tree specialist so not sure why it bothers to disperse down to here.

Ringing: 2 Starling, 1 Chaffinch, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Linnet, 1 Whitethroat.