Saturday 29th August 2026

WFY and WFZ are the Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) youngsters from the museum roof that fledged 12 days ago and are doing fine so far. 

A mostly dull morning with moderate wind. 40 Willow Warbler passing through before rain setting in and 3 Redstart. 8 Wheatear and 14 Pied Wagtail and a Great Spotted Woodpecker, out on the reserve. A Turnstone out on the beach.  

Seawatching produced: south: 20 Teal, 4 Dunlin, 4 Shelduck, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Cormorant, 2 Sandwich Tern, a Cattle Egret, a Grey Plover, a Little Egret and a Mediterranean Gull . North: 5 Sandwich Tern, a Common Tern and a Gannet. Feeding offshore: 14 Black-headed Gull, 9 Sandwich Tern, a Common Gull and a Guillemot.   

Hirundine movement included 222 Swallow and 6 Sand Martin. 

Moth trapping: 36 Moth species recorded between our 3 traps. Moth of the morning is the Antler Moth. A moth very occasionally seen here.  

Antler Moth (Cerapteryx graminis).

Bird ringing: 26 Willow Warbler, 2 Redstart, 1 Chiffchaff. 

Friday 28th August 2026

Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis).

A sunny morning with wind changing to WSW. A lot of visible hirundines migration. Inside the compound a Garden Warbler, Redstart, a Pied Flycatcher and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. A Reed Warbler inside the compound and one on Iccy ridge. Out on the reserve a Whinchat, a Yellow Wagtail, 2 Wheatear, 16 Pied Wagtail. A Turnstone on the Jetty.       

Seawatching produced: South: 11 Shelduck, 2 Sandwich Tern, a Cormorant, a Greenshank and a Redshank. North: 1 Cormorant. 

Hirundine migration included some 800 Swallow, 12 House Martin and 10 Sand Martin flying South throughout the morning.  

Moth trapping: 55 moth species recorded this morning between our 3 traps. Moth of the morning is the European Corn-borer, individuals we get here could be immigrants or from resident populations.

European Corn-borer (Ostrinia nubilalis).  

Bird ringing: 3 Robin, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Redstart, 1 Reed Warbler and 1 Sedge Warbler.  

 Lunar eclipse this morning with the Earth's shadow crossing the moon. 

RINGING RECOVERY

Linnet ringed LBO 5th August 2009 was recaught 1360 km away at Laguna de San Juan, Madrid, Spain on 13th March 2010. We have seven previous movements to & one from Spain. The dates are correct & it only took the Spanish ringing scheme over 16 years to let us know. Difficult to know whether fewer of our Linnets are going to Spain than in the past or not when it's taking this long to get information back. On the plus side, better late than never & a big thank you to whoever is ploughing through the backlog of outstanding data !

Thursday 27th August 2026

Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis) 5 Tree pipit is the highest day count since 2015.

A cloudy morning with wind dropping as showers progressed closer around 10am. Redstart within the compound. Out on the reserve 5 Tree Pipit with 4 near the cottage and 1 on the Butts making our highest day count since 2015. Some 24 Pied Wagtail, 3 Wheatear and a Yellow wagtail on the grass area. A Sanderling and a Purple Sandpiper along the beach on the reserve.   

Seawatching: South: 111 Teal, 24 Cormorant, 8 Shelduck, 4 Shoveler, 2 Gannet, a Curlew, a Little Egret, a Sanderling and an Oystercatcher. North: 5 Sandwich Tern, 3 Common Tern and a Sooty Shearwater. Feeding offshore: 4 Black-headed Gull, 3 Sandwich Tern. 

moth trapping: 53 moth species recorded between our 3 traps last night. Moth of the morning is the Wax moth (shown below). This moth lives on honeycomb in beehives. It is just about annual here with us.  

Wax Moth (Galleria mellonella).

bird ringing: 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Redstart. 

Wednesday 26th August 2026

 

Small arrival of migrants on a warm muggy morning with 6 Willow Warbler, 5 Wheatear, 4 Whitethroat, 2 Pied Fly, 2 Yellow Wag, Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler, Lesser 'throat, Tree Pipit & Whinchat. At least 1 Black Red on the Fort, 2 Sanderling on the beach & a Purp was on the groynes on the Butts. Southbound 124 Teal, 20 Swallow, 10 Common Scoter, 10 Dunlin, 8 Turnstone, 6 Shoveler, 2 Sanderling & Oyk with northbound 12 Sandwich Tern, 5 Common Tern, 3 Common Scoter & Gannet.

Feathered Gothic puts in an appearance about one year in three.

Ringing: 4 Willow Warbler, 2 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Garden Warbler.

Tuesday 25th August 2026

Good to see ZXX doing well. Ringed on the museum roof as a chick in 2023. Not long after it fledged it got a discarded fishing hook through its bill and entangled in fishing line. Hook and line removed it survived its ordeal to reach adulthood. 

A sunny bright morning with a strong E wind producing some hope, large movements of Teal south and a Pied Flycatcher late morning. 3 Wheatear present out on the reserve and a Sanderling out on the beach.  

Seawatching produced south: 226 Teal, 25 Common Scoter and 5 Gadwall. North: 12 Sandwich Tern, 2 Gannet and 2 Shelduck. Feeding offshore: 6 Sandwich Tern.   

Moth trapping: 25 moth species present between our 3 traps. Moth of the morning is the Flounced Rustic (Luperina testacea), a moth that should be common at this time of the year but numbers are very low, presumably to drought conditions. 

Flounced Rustic (Luperina testacea).

Bird ringing: 1 Robin, 1 Sparrowhawk. 

Monday 24th August 2026

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). 

A bright morning with a small amount of drizzle late morning. Our first Meadow Pipit of the season ringed. A Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Jay flying around the compound. Out on the reserve we had Nightingale briefly seen near the boardwalk. A Turnstone out on the beach and Yellow Wagtail.

Seawatching produced: South: 14 Teal, 3 Little Egret, 2 Common Scoter and 2 Redshank. North: 2 Common Tern and 2 Great Black-backed Gull, a Mediterranean Gull. 6 Sandwich Tern feeding offshore.

Moth trapping: 47 Species caught between our 3 traps. Moth of the morning is the Feathered Ranunculus, our 3rd record for this month, a regular in small numbers at this time of the year. 

Feathered Ranunculus (Polymixis lichenea).

Bird ringing: 2 Robin, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Willow Warbler.