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Saturday 19th April 2014

An overcast day with a stiffening northerly. A fairly quiet day apart from 6 Wheatear, 5 Whitethroat (4 at the north end), 3 Blackcap and single Chiffchaff & Lesser Whitethroat. Offshore highlights included 90 Common Scoter & a Whimbrel heading north.

6 Birds ringed; 3 Linnet and single Chaffinch, Chiffchaff & Blackcap.

Friday 18th April 2014

A bright day with a stiff north-westerly and a light shower mid morning. Migrants continue to trickle through the site, the highlights being 4 Wheatear, 4 Blackcap, 3 Lesser Whitethroat and single Whitethroat, Black Redstart & Chiffchaff, whilst overhead single Swallow & Yellow Wagtail headed north. Offshore 2 Sandwich Terns & 2 Whimbrel headed south and 16 Common Scoter, 7 Curlew & 2 Whimbrel headed north.

10 Birds ringed; 5 Linnet, 4 Blackcap & 1 Chiffchaff.

Thursday 17th April 2014

A nice overcast start to the day with a slight southerly breeze. A selection of migrants had arrived overnight including 7 Willow Warbler, 4 Blackcap, a Chiffchaff and a Yellow Wagtail, 13 Swallow & 2 Sand Martin south. On the reserve were 4 Wheatear, a female Redstart, a male White Wagtail, a couple of Lesser Whitethroat and a Sanderling on the beach. Offshore 58 Barnacle Geese, 2 Whimbrel & 7 Curlew headed south.


11 Birds ringed; 4 Willow Warbler, 3 Blackcap, 2 Wheatear and single Song Thrush & Sparrowhawk. Plus a control Blackcap.

Wednesday 16th April 2014

Visible migration was the order of the day today as very little was noted on site except for 3 Wheatear. 4 Swallow and a Skylark flew south, whilst offshore 33 Curlew went north along with a group of 4 Commic Terns, whilst south there was 5 Gannets, 2 Mediterranean Gulls both adults,2 Brent Geese and a movement of Gulls that included 78 Black-Headed and 5 Common Gulls.

The highlight on the insect front was a splendid male Orange-Tip, a Butterfly that is sadly rarely seen these days at Landguard.

Only 3 birds were ringed today, 1 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Linnet.

Tuesday 15th April 2014

Another clear night with light westerlies. Spring seems to have stopped here with the only migrants being 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 6 Wheatear and 3 Swallow that headed south. Offshore the only movement involved 40 Common Scoter heading south.

Ringing; 2 Chiffchaff & a Linnet.

Monday 14th April 2014

A stiff westerly wind today. After the clear night most migrants had departed with the only ones still present being single Lesser Whitethroat & Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap and 7 Wheatear. Other birds noted today were a Snipe near the Butts and 8 Swallow and a Yellow Wagtail heading south. Offshore southerly movement included 190 Black-headed Gulls and 27 Barnacle Geese, whilst 47 Common Scoter & 60 Brent Geese passed north.


Sunday 13th April 2014

Despite the overnight cloud cover there was not a great deal around on site except a few Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and the odd Willow Warbler, Common and Lesser Whitethroat. Whilst overhead a Marsh Harrier drifted south along with Siskin, Rook and Yellow Wagtail, and a White Wagtail went north.
Offshore was a bit more interesting with the star bird being a Great White Egret that flew south high over the Harbour mouth into Essex. Also nearly 300 Black-Headed Gulls south along with a smaller number of Common Gulls, plus 2 Whimbrel also south and 4 Curlew north.
The first Grass Snake of the year emerged from the vegetation by the top pond.

Birds ringed today was a mere 10,half of which were Blackcaps along with 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler a Blackbird and a Linnet.