Monday 14th October 2024

A wet and blustery morning was predictably quiet for migrants, both insect and bird. A few duck flew south, 21 teal and 2 wigeon, along with 18 Brent geese, with 8 common scoter heading north. On the reserve a turnstone was still on the jetty, 2 Cetti's warblers were still singing around the observatory and singles of firecrest and goldcrest were in the compound also. 2 red-throated divers headed south, with another 2 sitting on the sea, and singles of gannet went both north and south. 

Rusty-dot Pearl is a migrant whose numbers vary hugely year to year. 

Birds Ringed: Nil. 

Sunday 13th October 2024

Hard work with disapointingly few migrants for mid-October. On site migrants included 2 Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting & Rock Pipit plus a visit from a Jay. Southbound 30 Goldfinch, 18 Mipit, 12 Skylark, 9 Chaffinch, 7 Swallow, 3 Grey Wag & a House Martin. Offshore southbound 4 Common Scoter, 3 Wigeon, 2 Red-throated Diver, 2 Shelduck, Brent & Curlew with northbound 3 Gannet. 2 Purps on the point early morning moved off north, presumably, to groynes along the Felixstowe seafront. 

Moth numbers & variety have plummeted in recent nights.

Ringing: 1 Wren.

Saturday 12th October 2024

A very quiet morning, despite a brief thrush rush as the sun rose. The rest of the mornings observations were hard work, with a lot of the interesting records being out to sea. A few duck passed, with a tufted duck heading upriver, 3 pintail and 7 shelduck south and 14 common scoter north. A red-throated diver was present on the sea in the afternoon, and a snipe was on the reserve in the morning, along with 2 purple sandpipers on the jetty, 2 ringed plover and 3 sanderling. 

7 redwing and 10 song thrush were a nice sign of some passerine movement, as was a fresh blackbird and robin in the observatory compound. 2 chaffinch flew south and another was present in the observatory compound. 33 goldfinch flew south along with 19 swallows and 10 meadow pipits. A few new great tits have ventured down from the town and a solitary goldcrest was on site.

Red-green Carpet is another mid-October specialist in low numbers this year.

Birds Ringed: Blackbird 1, Goldcrest 1, Great Tit 2, Redwing 3, Robin 1, Song Thrush 1. 

Friday 11th October 2024

Woodpigeons have had a dire breeding season, this
being one of a handful of juveniles encountered all year 

A much quieter morning, with little movement. The brief highlight of the morning was a Lapland Bunting flyover that was heard by a few observers, though never seen. Amongst a movement of 41 skylarks a single woodlark headed south along with 32 meadow pipit and 155 goldfinch. 1 brambling was noted during the morning as was a somewhat late reed warbler. 2 blackcaps, 6 chiffchaff and 4 Cetti's warblers were the only other warblers noted through out the day. Another buzzard headed south and a peregrine made one of their irregular visits, heading towards the docks. A rock pipit was on the jetty, along with 3 turnstone.

Birds Ringed|: Chiffchaff 4, Great Tit 1, Grey Wagtail 1, Wren 1. 

 

Thursday 10th October 2024

Another quiet morning. 2 redwing were present early morning, we've had less than 10 records of the species so far this autumn, so these were very welcome. A handful of warblers were around the compound, 5 chiffchaff and 1 blackcap, along with a single goldcrest and firecrest. 4 house martin went north, getting late for this species now. Southward were 2 jackdaw, 5 skylark, 1 buzzard, 121 goldfinch and 18 meadow pipits. 

Brindled Green is another October specialist in low numbers.

Birds Ringed: Cetti's Warbler 1, Chiffchaff 1, Great Tit 1, Grey Wagtail 4. 

 

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Wednesday 9th October 2024

No numbers of real note but an interesting assortment of migrants including 20 Mipit, 6 Chaffinch, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Stonechat, 2 Wheatear, Firecrest, Grey Wag, Jay (probably hadn't come far), Redstart, Reed Warbler, Woodlark & Yellow Wagtail. Southbound 94 Goldfinch, 44 Mipit, 39 Swallow, 31 Siskin, 13 Skylark, 4 Pied Wag, House Martin & Sand Martin. The trapped Chiffchaff had a lot of features of tristis but was probably a fulvescens from the western part of the races range where the races intergrade with each other. 

Green-brindled Crescent is a classic October species in small numbers here.

Ringing: 2 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Jay, 1 Wren.