Saturday 6th June 2026

Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum)

A good day to be a snail, a wet morning with strong winds up to beaufort scale 6 (25-30mph). Most interesting observations coming from the shelter of the observatory with 2 Curlew, 9 Swift, 5 Gannet and a Cormorant south. 29 Common Scoter north. 

Moth trapping: 37 Species across our 3 traps last night, with strong winds owing to a slightly smaller catch once again. Today's colourful pick of the bunch is the Elephant Hawk moth, on the wing from May to early August, seen across the uk in gardens, scrub and sand dunes. Caterpillars feed on willowherbs, fuchsia and bedstraw, and the adults feed on nectar.

Elephant Hawk moth (Deilephila elpenor)

Bird ringing: 1 Dunnock (Young caught in our Heligoland trap). 

Friday 5th June 2026

        Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) eating a thistle head near the cottage.

A bright morning with a cold wind coming from the WSW. Another day of Swift movement with 25 seen flying south low over the observatory first light as nets were being opened. 2 Blackcap present within the compound, a male and a female both had brood patches, likely failed breeders from elsewhere. 3 Reed warbler were scattered around the reserve with one of them within the compound. 3 Black-headed gull South and a single Swallow. Late morning our first Cetti's Warbler fledgling this year hopped into one of our nets. 

Moth trapping: 30 Species across our 3 traps. Todays pick of the bunch is the Broad-barred White, which are more regularly seen in the south and east of England. The caterpillars feed on flower buds of Hawkweed and Hawk's-beard - Uk moths.  

Broad-barred White (Hecatera bicolorata) classified as 'near threatened' on the IUCN red list due to 'significant long-term decline'. 

Bird ringing: 5 Great Tit (Juveniles), 2 Blackcap, 1 Blackbird (Juvenile), 1 Cetti's Warbler (Juvenile) , 1 Linnet, 1 Reed Warbler.

Thursday 4th June 2026

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)

A windy and mostly sunny morning, feeling quite autumn-like, most notable movement was that of Swifts today, with 23 flying south over the duration of the morning, joined by one Swallow flying south also. A Reed Warbler was once again calling from Iccy ridge (the shrubs to the left of the fort entrance onto the reserve). 

Seawatching: an Oystercatcher south and 2 Cormorants from the sea to port only. 

Moth trapping: A windy night so once again fewer moths, with 14 species recorded between our 3 traps. Today's moth of the day is the Privet Hawk-moth, a fairly regular visitor to our traps this time of year in small numbers, as the name suggests the the larvae feed on Privet, but also Lilac and Ash. We have plenty of Privet on site so the moth is here to stay, these shrubs along with many others were once planted during construction and occupation of the fort to disguise it as gardens. The moth has one generation each year with adults in flight between June-July. - uk moths. 

Privet Hawk-moth (Sphinx ligustri). A little delve into the scientific name reveals a bit of interest, with Sphinx relating to resting posture of the caterpillar resembling the Great Sphinx of Giza in this family of moths, and ligustri (no surprise) refers to ligustrum.... privet!      

Bird ringing:1 Blackbird, 1 Great Tit, 1 Woodpigeon.

Wednesday 3rd June 2026

 

At least 3 or 4 pairs of Whitethroats on site.

Wind increasing throughout the morning. Two skeins of Canada Geese totalling 83 heading south then into the river are presumably on moult migration but with the two largest moulting sites in the UK at the Beauly Firth & Windermere they are going the wrong way so presumably they are heading to a nearer moulting site at somewhere like Abberton Reservoir. 2 House Martin flew south. New Chiffchaff & a brood of baby Blue Tit is about as exciting as it got apart from the geese ! Our first site bred Blackbird fledged this afternoon. 

It's been a reasonable year for Mottled Pug which are, presumably, on the few Hawthorns we have.

Ringing: 5 Blue Tit, 1 Blackbird (juv), 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Magpie (pulli).

Tuesday 2nd June 2026

Blackbirds (Turdus merula) are struggling to rear any young in the current drought conditions, with worms being deep in the ground and fewer caterpillars around. 

Wet overnight, briefly stopping and then becoming more sporadic showers. A Blackcap singing and a single Chiffchaff calling within the compound this morning. Our Ringed Plovers with two chicks are trying their best to keep them dry!. We had one Goldcrest - unusual for this time of year at this site ... possibly a failed breeder and a Reed Warbler both on Iccy ridge. Our Blue Tits also fledged once the sun burst through in the afternoon. 

Seawatching produced a handful of movements with 6 Scoter, 2 Black-headed Gull, a Cormorant and an Oystercatcher all south. 

 Moth Trapping: With rain only settling in late night we still managed 45 species of moths. We did however have our first site record of Eastern Bordered Straw which we have been hoping for as there is a nationwide influx at this very moment. The moth was only first recorded in Britain in 1958 with singles in the 1990s -  uk moths. The previous influx resulted in egg laying attempts producing fresh individuals, possibly happening again this year. 

Eastern Bordered Straw (Heliothis nubigera)

Bird ringing: Na

Monday 1st June 2026

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), now numerous around the site, a little look into the scientific name reveals a bit of a mythical interest ; Maniola refers to manes, a Latin term for the "souls of the dead" due to the dark appearance and jurtina loosely connects the butterflies to water springs.     

A bright morning becoming hazy later, small increase of migrants and continuing increase in juvenile birds around. Perhaps most notable were 4 Blackcaps within the compound, unusual for June, not seen since 2012 with 5 individuals start and mid June. 2 of our failed Ringed Plovers have started nesting in other locations around the site and one pair still remains with 2 chicks!. 

Few movements seawatching; 7 Barnacle Geese out and north and 2 Oystercatcher towards the port. 

Moth trapping: 97 Species of moth this morning across our 3 traps. Moth pic of the day is the Small Marbled, an immigrant species previously recorded in 2015 and 2025. The moth is mostly found in good migration years with a tendency towards the south.   

Small Marbled (Eublemma parva) 

Bird ringing: 6 Goldfinch, 5 Great Tit, 4 Blackcap, 3 Linnet, 2 Woodpigeon, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Whitethroat. 

May 2026 Ringing Totals

On the 30th May, a juvenile Coal tit, which must have just fledged further North towards to town, looking very yellow, like a Great Tit.  

May 2026 has been yet again anouther good month ringing total wise with 215 birds ringed, compared to recent years of around 150 birds ringed each may, with you having to go back to 2015 with 271 birds ringed to surpass this mays total. Chiffchaffs remain our most ringed species, with Linnets and Great Tits producing a reasonable number of young supplementing the ringing total. Our 10th site record of Melodious Warbler this month has to be also worth mentioning again!.  

Species	Ringed
Chiffchaff	45
Linnet	25
Great Tit	25
Blackcap	20
Goldfinch	17
Lesser Whitethroat	15
Willow Warbler	13
Reed Warbler	13
Robin	9
House Sparrow	6
Spotted Flycatcher	6
Whitethroat	5
Starling	4
Blackbird	3
Firecrest	1
Wren	1
Chaffinch	1
Garden Warbler	1
Pied Flycatcher	1
Melodious Warbler	1
Coal Tit	1
Dunnock	1
Woodpigeon	1
Total	215