Thursday 15th September 2011

Weather consisted of a light north-westerly wind. It was cool and dry. Migrants observed passing through were 8 Brent Geese, 2 Shelduck, 1 Teal, 3 Eider, 54 Common Scoter, 1 Velvet Scoter, 1 Red-throated Diver, 1 Great Northern Diver, 4 Gannet, 11 Cormorant, 15 Little Egret, 4 Oystercatcher, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 Turnstone, 63 Black-headed Gull, 5 Sandwich Tern, 4 Common Tern, 10 Sand Martin, 103 Swallow, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Grey Wagtail, 7 Pied Wagtail, 92 Meadow Pipit, 20 Chaffinch, 2 Greenfinch, 6 Goldfinch, 4 Siskin and 8 Redpoll. Grounded migrants found were 50 Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, 15 Blackcap, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 8 Common Whitethroat, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Northern Wheatear, 1 Black Redstart and 2 male Common Redstarts. A Peregrine Falcon was recorded. 64 birds ringed today; 36 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest, 12 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Reed Warbler, 4 Meadow Pipit, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Starling, 3 Dunnock, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Great Tit and 1 Common Whitethroat. Several butterfly species were recorded including Comma and Small Heath.

SEPTEMBER LITTER PICK

Litter Pick this Saturday 18th September 0930hrs start. Further details on the events page of the LBO home page. This one is part of the MCS beachclean event. All welcome.

Wednesday 14th September 2011

Weather was a moderate to fresh west south-westerly wind, there was no cloud cover. Migrants seen passing through were 3 Mute Swan, 2 Pintail, 1 Gannet, 1 Kestrel, 7 Dunlin, 1 Common Gull, 6 Sandwich Tern, 32 Sand Martin, 1086 Swallow, 644 House Martin, 12 Tree Sparrow, 36 Yellow wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 13 Pied Wagtail, 2 Tree Pipit, 875 Meadow Pipit, 44 Chaffinch, 14 Greenfinch, 24 Goldfinch, 352 Siskin, 30 Linnet and 4 Redpoll. It was an excellent day for raptor migration waith 4 Marsh Harrier seen passing through, also 1 Hen Harrier, 1 Common Buzzard and 1 Hobby recorded. Grounded migrants were 25 Chiffchaff, 8 Willow Warbler, 25 Blackcap, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 14 Common Whitethroat, 9 Northern Wheatear, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Black Redstart and 2 Common Redstart. The first Firecrest of the autumn was also recorded. 61 birds ringed today; 14 Blackcap, 15 Chiffchaff, 16 Meadow Pipit, 4 Willow Warbler, 1 Chaffinch, 2 Robin, 1 Firecrest, 2 Blue Tit, 3 Common Whitethroat, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Great Tit and 1 Dunnock. Several butterfly species were found including Comma, Small Copper and Small Heath.

Tuesday 13th September 2011

Weather consisted of a west south-westerly wind, it was cool. Migrants seen passing through were 1 Tufted Duck, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret, 3 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hobby, 4 Ringed Plover, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Whimbrel, 5 Black-headed Gull, 4 Common Tern, 1 Swift, 27 Sand Martin, 1394 Swallow, 420 House Martin, 3 Tree Sparrow, 15 Yellow Wagtail, 5 Pied Wagtail, 182 Meadow Pipit, 11 Chaffinch, 16 Greenfinch, 21 Goldfinch and 65 Siskin. At 09:40 hours a Red-throated Pipit came in from the north-east along the shingle with a small group of Meadow Pipits. It called three times before pitching in towards the cottage, seen briefly on the deck at a distance before being lost, presumably departing to the souh-west. This is the fourth Red-throated Pipit to be noted here in the last thirty years but we have still not managed to get the species on the site list due to a failure to get good views to document the records properly. 16 birds ringed in total today; 4 Blackcap, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Reed Warbler, 3 Willow Warbler, 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Wren, 1 Dunnock and 1 Great Tit.

Monday 12th September 2011

Weather consisted of a strong south-westerly wind. There was complete cloud cover and it was warm. Birds seen migrating through were 3 Wigeon, 3 Gannet, 1 Hobby, 5 Oystercatcher, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Pomarine Skua, 1 Common Gull, 1 Kittiwake, 1 Sandwich Tern, 11 Common Tern and 35 Swallow. Grounded migrants found were 1 Whinchat, 5 Wheatear and 2 Chiffchaff. 2 birds ringed; 2 Chiffchaff.

Sunday 11th September 2011

A dead Manxie being eaten by a Great Black-backed Gull is an unfortunate casualty of the weather conditions. 359 Swallows & 12 Sand Martins going south counted so far. Offshore a selection of waders & ducks going past in low numbers plus 76 Common, 8 Sandwich & a Little Tern. At least 25 Wheatears on the reserve with a selection of migrants in the bushes including 4 Lesser 'throats & singles of Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler & Goldcrest. A Gadwal in the river out the back is of interest to us despite them being common enough up river.