Tuesday 7th July 2026

Warm and sunny, with a W wind. Loads of dragonflies on the wing and some birds!. A Black Redstart calling again from the fort and a Coal Tit again drifting down from Felixstowe as well as a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies and Emperor Dragonfly all on the wing as well as the second wave of Brown Argus butterflies. 

Seawatching produced 10 Black-headed Gull, 6 Mediterranean Gull and a Curlew south. 4 Sandwich Tern and an Oystercatcher North. 2 Common Tern and 2 Shelduck south and towards the port.   

Hirundine movement included 41 Sand Martin and 11 Swallow, all south. 

Moth trapping: 124 species caught last night in our 3 traps. Todays pick of the bunch is this unassuming moth, the Fen Wainscot, noteworthy due to it being a Reedbeds specialist that occasionally blunders down here.  

Fen Wainscot (Arenostola phragmitidis).

Bird ringing: 4 Great Tit, 3 Linnet, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Lesser Whitethroat. 

Monday 6th July 2026

 

Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) seen first thing today around 4am, an irregular visitor to the site with the area being so dry. 

A small amount of cloud first thing, with it then clearing and wind slowly picking up from the NW. A Greater Spotted Woodpecker seen flying around the compound as well as anouther Coal Tit. Black Redstart calling from the fort once again with anouther individual seen out on the reserve. 

Seawatching produced 5 Black-headed Gull, 4 Mediterranean Gull, 2 Curlew and 2 Oystercatcher South. 2 Oystercatcher North only. 

Hirundine movement included 17 Sand Martin, 13 Swallow and 4 Swift south. 

Moth trapping: 107 Species of moth caught in our 3 traps last night. Most of note out of the selection was this Sallow moth, mainly as the moth is recorded as emerging at the end of August, making this one 6 weeks early!. 

Sallow moth (Cirrhia icteritia)

Bird ringing: 4 Linnet, 2 Robin, 1 Blackcap, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Dunnock, 1 Great Tit, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Wren.   

Sunday 5th July 2026

 

Gatekeeper's are now out.

On the move 4 Shelduck flying directly out early doors are probably heading for Waddenzee to moult. Southbound 5 Sand Martin, 3 Swallow, Curlew & Oyk. A juvenile Little Egret came straight in off & inland. Juvenile Sedge Warbler was the first of the autumn, a tad earlier than expected but with the climate changing birds habits are changing. A couple of juvenile Song Thrush in recent days will have been reared fairly locally. Black Red still singing. 4 young Ringo's chicks on the beach that were a week old now look like its down to one. The big chick has not been seen since Thursday at 36 days old so will have fledged to pastures new.

Second site record of  Dark Umber with the first only two years ago. It is a species known to wander in warm conditions.

Ringing: 6 Linnet, 1 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Song Thrush.

Saturday 4th July 2026

Whitethroat (Curruca communis). 

A Sunny morning with winds increasing from the west. Quite within the compound. Starlings are starting to build up in numbers with around 250 seen out on the nature reserve and our Ringed Plover chicks are still running around the beach area. The Black Redstart remains calling from the fort. 

Seawatching produced: 5 Black-headed Gull, 3 Dunlin, 3 Mediterranean Gull and a Curlew southbound. A Sandwich Tern north. 

Hirundine movement included 25 Sand Martian, 12 Swift and a Swallow all south. 

Moth trapping: 86 Moth species recorded between our 3 traps this morning. Todays pick of the bunch is the Digitivalva pulicariae (pictured below), this moth is a rare species in Suffolk with two previous records here. The larva mine into common fleaban and form inflated brown/whitish blotches - UK Moths.     

Digitivalva pulicariae.

Bird ringing: 3 Linnet, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Whitethroat.  

Friday 3rd July 2026

With the majority of birds ringed today being Linnets (Linaria cannabina) here's a potentially proud father. 

A bright sunny morning, once again quite within the compound with a Chiffchaff singing and the Black Redstart on the fort. A Grey Wagtail briefly flew over and turned around and headed back to Felixstowe. A Reed Warbler was calling from behind the 'Aggregate Yard' near our river entrance onto the site. All 4 of most recently fledged Ringed Plover survive. Dragonflies on the wing include Emperor, Southern Migrant Hawker and Norfolk Hawker. 

Moth Trapping: 88 moth species between our 3 traps last night. Moth of the day is the Dewick's Plusia, this moth is an immigrant that is attempting to colonise Suffolk, with the moths first county record coming from Landguard in 1997. In 2018 there was an explosion of records in Suffolk and then in 2021 confirmed breeding by a Larve case found in Ipswich. The larvae feed on common nettle and yarrow as well as other herbaceous plants including lavender in Suffolk. - Suffolk moths. 

Dewick's Plusia (Macdunnoughia confusa)

Bird Ringing: 3 Linnet, 2 House Sparrow, 1 Blue Tit, 2 Dunnock, 1 Great Tit.     

Thursday 2nd July 2026

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba) seen out on the reserve. 

An overcast morning with the wind picking up and cloud clearing by noon. Quite early in the morning within the compound, but a few young birds emerging with our first juvenile Song Thrush being caught in the Heligoland trap and ringed. Out on the reserserve all 4 of our recently fledge chicks survive. Black Restart calling from the fort late morning.   

Seawatching produced south movements: 30 Bar-tailed Godwit, 23 Swift, 14 Black-headed Gull, 10 Sand Martin, 7 Curlew, 6 Common Scoter, 4 Sandwich Tern. 2 Mediterranean Gull and an Oystercatcher north. 

A mix of insects around with our first Migrant Hawker seen at the front of the observatory, notably early in the summer. Common Blue, Small Copper, Comma, Peacock, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Small White and Painted Lady all out on the wing.    

First Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) of this spring. 

Moth Trapping: 75 moth species across our 3 traps last night. The Gold Triangle is a species that lives on dry vegetable matter, the moth is not annual, appearing roughly two out of every three years at Landguard. 

Gold Triangle (Hypsopygia costalis).

Bird Ringing: 3 Blackcap, 2 Linnet, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Dunnock, 1 Greater Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Lesser whitethroat, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Woodpigeon.    

Wednesday 1st July 2026

 

This Ringed Plover youngster is now 5 weeks old, flying, but still being watched over by its parents. Another pair have 4 tiny chicks that were starting to hatch on Saturday so are still very vulnerable.

Migrants include southbound 9 Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Swallow, 3 Curlew, 2 Swift & Sand Martin. Mistle Thrush is still here otherwise it's baby bird time with several dispersing juveniles heading off on their own.

First noted in 2004 & annual in small numbers over the last ten years the Coronet has, apparently, shifted its foodplant from Ash to Privet.

Ringing: 2 Blackcap, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Dunnock, 1 Linnet, 1 Pied Wagtail.