Saturday 7th December 2013

Jolly morning picking up loads of rubbish along the tide line most of which has come down the river from Ipswich - tons of small bits of polystyrene still to clear up if anyone out there has any spare time that they are looking for something useful to do. 6 Snow Buntings flying around this morning were not seen to land. A Snipe was flushed from the reserve & flew inland. Offshore apart from Cormorant and Red-throated Diver movements going south 5 Shelduck, Red-breasted Merganser, Oystercatcher & Grey Plover plus going north 1 Shelduck.

Friday 6th December 2013

Storm surge last night brought water onto the reserve in a couple of places plus damage to the sea defences & the board walk near the point. The beach has also been re-shaped. 7 Sanderling on the beach's is a reasonable count for here. Offshore apart from Cormorants and a handful of Red-throated Divers the only offshore movements were 2 Gannet, Velvet Scoter & Oystercatcher north plus 4 Wigeon, Shelduck & Eider south. A single Skylark south is the only passerine movement noted.

December Litter Pick

Litter Pick this Saturday 7th December 0930hrs start. Usual arrangements on the events page of www.lbo.org.uk

Thursday 5th December 2013

An increasing wind as the morning went on. A Pom Skua put in a couple of brief appearances amongst the distant gulls. Otherwise fairly tedious with a shortage of shipping movements to liven up the gull watching. Also noted 5 Brent, 3 Red-throated Diver, Common Scoter north & 2 Red-throated Diver plus a Snipe south. Abandon ship !

Wednesday 4th December 2013

More seagulls following ships with Kitt numbers up to at least 115 and 2 adult Gannets following the fray behind the dredger coming in. 4 Long-tailed Ducks going south not far offshore past this mellee is a goodly sized gang for us. Apart from the gull entertainment a few bits heading north including 3 Common Scoter, Gannet & Red-throated Diver plus going south 4 Gadwal, 3 Gannet, 2 Red-throated Diver, Brent Goose & Lapwing. Passerines moving south were 8 Linnet, 2 Redwing & a Skylark.

Tuesday 3rd December 2013

It must be getting colder somewhere as evidenced by 11 Lapwing on the reserve that departed south early on and 2 Snipe flushed later on that departed inland. 2 Mipits & a Skylark went south overhead but offshore movements poor. If we ignore the comings and goings of Red-throated Divers, Cormorants & Seagulls the only movements were 12 Brents, 2 Common Scoter & a Velvet Scoter heading north. Interestingly after lunch 3 new Blackies appeared in the Helli with no sign of any new ones on site earlier in the day.
Presumably these have been attracted to the apples put out for them. We no longer have a supplier of apples so if anyone out there is able to deliver us any free apples then please get in touch as not only do the Blackies like them in the winter but any knocked to the ground are instantly gobbled by rabbits. We have ample storage space but unfortunately are not able to collect.

Ringing: 3 Blackbird

Monday 2nd December 2013

Mist nets taken down & the moth traps packed away for the winter this morning. Offshore going north 13 Common Scoter, 10 Eider, 8 Red-throated Diver, 3 Brent & a Great-crested Grebe plus going south 8 Common Scoter, 4 Red-throats & an Oyk. 5 Gannets following ships plus the usual Cormorants coming & going. Overhead 21 Mipits heading south have probably seen the forecast for later in the week and decided to make a move. Late morning a Rock Pipit flew over the obs presumably heading for one of the groynes along the prom. Finally a late Diamond-backed Moth was in the traps.

Sunday 1st December 2013

Leaving late yesterday afternoon a crest was heard calling & lone behold a new Goldcrest was trapped this morning. After catching a new one during the week it's a surprise to get another new one today which is the first of it's kind to be ringed here in December. 2 Marsh Harriers came from inland & went north at 0750hrs which is also a bit odd - but then again in the good old days we never used to see this species in the winter anyway. Plenty of Cormorants about but the only other offshore movements were 62 Common Scoter N 15 S plus 9 offshore, 8 Brent N 4 S, 4 Shelduck S, 3 Gannet N & 1 Red-throated Diver N 3 S. 17 Snow Buntings flew in for about five minutes before departing over the river towards Essex & 3 Skylarks came in off and headed inland. Finally, carrying on with the odd theme, 3 Common Darters sunning themselves in a brief period of sunshine, were the first ones ever noted here in December.

Ringing: 1 Goldfinch, 1 Goldcrest.