Saturday 1st December 2012

Sharp frost this morning. New Blackies continue to trickle through the site along with the odd Chaffy. 2 Woodcock also on site this am. 7 Waxwing flew south early on with another on site later on in the morning. 41 Goldies & 15 Siskins also went south. Offshore 26 Teal, 13 Goldeneye, 4 Redshank & 3 Great-crests south with 7 Brents, 7 Common Scoter & an Eider north plus a few Red-throated Divers & Cormorants coming & going. It's now drizzling with odd bit of sleet. Will regular readers please note that throughout the winter there may be odd days when this blog is on the drag due to various other commitments.

November Ringing Totals

Blackbird	201
Lesser Redpoll	70
Chaffinch	33
Goldcrest	18
Song Thrush	13
Robin	15
Greenfinch	12
Goldfinch	9
Wood Pigeon	4
Redwing	4
Blue Tit	3
Jay	2
Woodcock	2
Firecrest	1
Grey Wagtail	1
Wren	1
Bullfinch	1
Dunnock	1
House Sparrow	1
Sparrowhawk	1
Blackcap	1
Swallow	1
Total	402

Friday 30th November 2012

Still new Blackies arriving with 8 new birds ringed out of todays total of 12. 4 Waxwings dropped in briefly mid-morning. Also new in today Redwing, Fieldfare & a new Blue Tit. A new Blue Tit is notable for us at this time of the year but i don't suppose it's come very far. Not a lot moving offshore with 3 Goldeneye & a Merg the highlights. A Sanderling was out on the beach with the Turnstones & the Water Rail was heard calling ounce the sun started shining on it's favoured bushes.

Thursday 29th November 2012

A fresh arrival of at least 50 Blackies along with 2 Woodcock, single Fieldfare, Redwing & a fine male Bullfinch. Of the dozen Blackies ringed a couple were young males of the "stockamsel" variety suggesting they have come a fair old way to get here. Offshore not spectacular but did include a Great-northern Diver & 18 Eider north, 2 Goldeneye, Merg & Guillimot south plus 5 Gadwal sat on the sea for a while. A Skylark came in off the sea & a Snow Bunting was whizzing round over the obs mid-morning. Autumn should be grinding to a halt at this time of the year but obviously no-one has told the Blackies that as they just keep on coming. Later news concerns 2 male Goosanders south early pm - the 1st of the autumn.

Wednesday 28th November 2012

A skein of 96 grey geese heading north miles out were presumably pinkies or white-fronts heading for the Alde-ore complex but were nearer the Dutch coast than Suffolk ! Not a lot moving offshore but sightings included 19 Shelduck, 13 Brent, 11 Wigeon, 9 Teal, 2 Goldeneye, a Merg & a Guilly south with 22 Brent, 4 Pochard, 3 Eider & a Common Scoter north plus a handful of Cormorants & Red-throats coming & going. A handful of new Blackies in the bushes plus single Fieldfare, Redwing & Brambling. On the move 16 Goldies south with 2 Redpolls & a Siskin paying us a brief visit. Finally 30 Starlings came in off the sea at 1115hrs presumably having set off at first light from the other side.

Tuesday 27th November 2012

Still the odd new Fieldfare, Songy, Blacky & Chaffy showing up at what is now the very tail end of autumn migration. Also still a few Goldies & a Mipit heading south in the vis mig department. Offshore movements very quiet with 33 Common Scoter, 15 Shelduck, 11 Wigeon, 7 Teal, 4 Brents, 3 Red-throats & a Merg south with 7 Scoter, 6 Brent heading north. In the bushes at least one Goldcrest looks like it is going to attempt wintering here - only once before has a Goldcrest successfully overwintered here. Finally the pair of Peregrines were strutting their stuff over the docks & the local pair of Little Owls came out of their hole to sun themselves.

Monday 26th November 2012

100 Common Scoter, 38 Knot, 24 Wigeon, 5 Shelduck, 3 Teal, a Merg & a Guilly south offshore plus a handful of Red-throats, Cormorants & Kitts coming & going. Two groups of Siskin totalling 46 birds went south as did a couple of Mipits. In the bushes just a new Robin plus the reappearance of the Jay ringed here 11 days ago which must surely be trying to survive somewhere near here. Finally, just prior to siting down to write this blog, 2 Swallows have started feeding around the observatory.

Sunday 25th November 2012

Blowing a south-westerly gale. 108 Kitts south along with 22 Cormorants, 14 Wigeon, 9 Golden Plover, 8 Shelduck, 7 Common Scoter, 6 Dunlin, 4 Curlew, 3 Mergansers, 2 Tufteds & a Goldeneye in a fairly protracted sea watch. 6 Waxwing went south with another dropping onto the bushes next to the observatory watch point later in the morning. It's a record autumn for Waxwing for us in terms of the number of records here.