Saturday 16th November 2013

Fairly typical mid-November fare with a small arrival of Blackies, Chaffinchs, 6 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Redwing, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush, Chiffchaff & Woodcock. The most notable sighting of the morning is of 11 Pink-feet in off the sea & north - strangely enough this species has become a lot rarer here since writing an article about it's exponential increase over the years. On the move offshore either coming in off the sea or going south 373 Starling, 61 Common Scoter, 37 Goldfinch, 29 Red-throats, 32 Wigeon, 19 Shelduck, 14 Brent, 12 Gannet, 12 Chaffs, 7 Skylark, 7 Turnstone, 6 Mipits, 3 Teal, 2 Tufteds & a Linnet. Going north 24 Common Scoter, 15 Gannet, 10 Brent, 2 Lapwing & a Shelduck. 3 Porpoise put in an appearance on what can only be described as a cold morning.

23 birds ringed: 16 Blackies, 5 Chaffs, 1 Songie & 1 Chiffchaff.

JOHN SMITH

It is sad to hear of the passing away of John in his mid 30's. John originally became involved with the observatory doing work experience here whilst still at school. Our deepest condolences to his wife, Sarah, daughter Poppy aged 2 months plus his family & friends. His passing at such a young age is a great shock & loss to us all.

Friday 15th November 2013

A cold north-west wind today. A slow day with southerly passage including 723 Starling, 20 Goldfinch, 16 Skylark, 29 Brent Geese, 9 Red-throated Diver, 15 Canada Geese, 11  Gadwall and 23 Teal, with northerly passage including 4 Eider and 3 Guillemot. Late morning 41 Chaffinch arrived in off the sea before heading inland.

Ringing; 7 Blackbird & 1 Chaffinch.

Thursday 14th November 2013

A cold day with a westerly wind. Most birds were passing off shore today with southerly passage including 174 Lapwing, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 8 Pintail, 15 Teal & 14 Wigeon, northerly passage including 65 Common Scoter, 20 Brent, 9 Red-throated Diver & a Guillemot along with single Great Skuas north & south.

19 Birds ringed; 8 Blackbird, 4 Chaffinch, 3 Song Thrush and single Starling & Blackcap.

Wednesday 13th November 2013

A cold sunny day with a slight westerly breeze. Another quiet day with a Woodcock, a couple of Reed Bunting 3 Long-tailed Tits and a few Blackbirds amongst the few grounded migrants. Southerly passage included 13 Meadow Pipit, 119 Goldfinch, 31 Redpoll, 18 Skylark, 320 Starling, 23 Brent, 50 Wigeon & a Snow Bunting.

13 Birds ringed; 9 Blackbird, 3 Long-tailed Tit & 1 Song Thrush.

Tuesday 12th November 2013

A cool westerly wind this morning with rain until late morning. After yesterdays great passage today was a bit of a let down with the only birds of note being 634 Brent, 302 Common Scoter, 5 Goldeneye, 11 Turnstone, 2 Sanderling, a Goosander and 2 Red-necked Grebes. A sunny spell at noon enticed a Red Admiral out.

Ringing; single Chaffinch & Greenfinch.

Monday 11th November 2013

A southerly wind with light showers in the morning and light rain from midday. Good numbers and variety of wildfowl & waders headed south offshore including 3206 Dunlin, 1858 Brent Geese + 2 Pale-bellied Brent, 602 Wigeon, 507 Common Scoter, 435 Knot, 459 Teal, 32 Pintail, 24 Shelduck, 23 Goldeneye, 18 Mallard, 10 Red-breasted Merganser, 9 Gadwall, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Tufted Duck and single Long-tailed Duck, Eider & Pochard.

28 Birds ringed; 25 Blackbird and single Redwing, Chaffinch & Brambling.

Sunday 10th November 2013

A sunny but cold day with a strong north-west wind. A very quiet day with the only birds of note being 2 Snow Bunting, 2 Blackcap. Few birds were passing through apart from 4 Swallow, 7 Redpoll and 2 Rock Pipit, Offshore 166 Black-headed Gulls, 52 Common Scoter and a Red-throated Diver heading south were the highlights.

Ringing; 2 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Redpoll & 1 Chaffinch.