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Saturday 12th April 2014

Migrants continue to trickle through the site the highlights being 5 Blackcap, 8 Chiffchaff, 10 Swallow (9 south, 1 north), 4 Wheatear and single Marsh Harrier (north), Willow Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Black Redstart, Sand Martin (south) & Tree Pipit (south). Offshore a Common Tern headed south before turning up river and a Whimbrel headed south were new for the year, other birds of note were 2 Shoveler & 7 Curlew south and 8 Curlew and a Pintail north.

14 Birds ringed; 6 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap and single Dunnock, Linnet, Woodpigeon, Robin, Willow Warbler & Black Redstart.

Friday 11th April 2014

A warm but overcast morning with a north-west breeze. A nice selection of migrants today with 5 Willow Warbler, 6 Blackcap, 20 Chiffchaff, 6 Swallow (3 north, 3 south), 7 Wheatear, and single Common Redpoll, Brambling, Lesser Whitethroat (our earliest by 2 days) & Yellow Wagtail (south) seen. The second Nut-tree Tussock was the highlight of the moths in the traps this morning.

21 Birds Ringed; 11 Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, 2 Robin, 2 Blackcap, and single Common Redpoll, Lesser Whitethroat & Wheatear. A control Chiffchaff was also caught.

Thursday 10th April 2014

A pleasant selection of early April migrants this morning including 15 Willows, 15 Chiffs, 10 Blackcap, 3 Wheatear, 2 Swallow, White Wag, Skylark, continental Songie & Redwing. Offshore 130 Black-heads & a Med went south but next to nothing else out to sea apart from a couple of Porpoise off the point. A Speckled Wood was the first of the spring amongst an expected selection of butterflies. In the moth traps a Shoulder Stripe is good for us.

27 birds ringed: 11 chiffchaff, 6 blackcap, 5 willow warbler, 2 great tit, 1 song thrush, 1 wren, 1 linnet.

Wednesday 9th April 2014

Very little on site today in the way of migrants, just 6 Wheatear, 4 Blackcap and a Willow Warbler being the most noteworthy. Swallows passed through in very small numbers, whilst offshore around 100 Black-Headed Gulls passed through south along with 7 Common Gulls and 5 Canada Geese( an unusual occurrence for the site). Also, this time going north were 2 Red-Throated Divers, 15 Dunlin and a Shoveler.

A total of 9 birds were ringed . 4 Blackcap, 2 Wheatear, and one each of Blackbird, Linnet and Wren.

Tuesday 8th April 2014

A sunny day but with a strong south-south-west wind. The only grounded migrants were 3 Willow Warbler and single Blackcap, Chiffchaff & Fieldfare. However there was a reasonable numbers moving with 2 Sand Martins in off and a southerly passage including 93 Black-heads, 49 Knot, 27 Grey Plover,15 Shelduck, 10 Gannet,  4 Swallow, 11 Goldfinch & a Marsh Harrier with another heading north.

Ringing; 2 Willow Warblers & a Blackcap

Monday 7th April 2014

A breezy day with rain most of the time. Despite the weather 2 Wheatear, 2 Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler, 2 Swallow & a Sand Martin (the latter two heading south). Offshore an adult Little Gull, 2 adult Med Gulls also headed south.

Ringing; 2 Chiffchaff & a Willow Warbler.

Sunday 6th April 2014

With the early morning rain clearing by dawn, high hopes were had that more migrants than of late would be found. We were not to be overwhelmed by numbers, but there was a good sprinkling of common migrants lurking around. Highlights included a male Common Redstart, a sprinkling of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs, Blackcap, Song thrushes,Redwing and a Fieldfare, 4 Swallows over and a female Merlin hunting around the docks and over the common. Over the sea small numbers of waders,ducks and seabirds were noted including 17 adult Mediterranean Gulls south, 3 Tufted Duck and 1 Red-Breasted Merganser also south, and a Bonxie hanging around offshore.

13 birds were ringed, 5 Willow Warbler, 4 Chiffchaff and 1 each of Song Thrush, Common Redstart, Blackcap and Wren.