Saturday 3rd May 2014

The north-westerlies continue to blow resulting in few new birds arriving on site. The only birds of note today were a Reed Warbler that was singing on Icky Ridge, 14 Wheatear on the reserve, 3 Common & 2 Little Terns heading south and a Sandwich Tern heading north offshore.

6 Birds Ringed; 2 Blackbird, 2 Linnet , 1 Chiffchaff & 1 Willow Warbler.

Friday 2nd May 2014

An overcast morning with a north-westerly wind. Very quiet again and apart from a Yellow Wagtail, 14 Wheatear, 4 Stock Dove south, and 9 Common Tern offshore there was little about.

Ringing; single Woodpigeon & Chiffchaff.

Thursday 1st May 2014

A light southerly breeze first thing but rain had arrived by mid morning. Very few migrants in this morning with 18 Wheatear, 5 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Whitethroat and single Yellow Wagtail, Garden Warbler & Willow Warbler. Overhead 11 Swallow and single Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail & our first Swift of the year all flew south. Offshore 133 Barnacle Geese and 2 Sanderling headed south.

10 Birds ringed; 2 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Linnet and single Magpie, Blackbird, Wheatear & Lesser Whitethroat.

April Ringing Totals

The low numbers of migrants during the month is reflected in the totals with only 264 of 31 species being ringed.

Sparrowhawk	2	Song Thrush	8
Woodpigeon	1	Redwing	3
Collared Dove	1	Robin	9
Magpie	1	Nightingale	2
Firecrest	2	Black Redstart	2
Great Tit	2	Redstart	2
Swallow	1	Wheatear	11
Chiffchaff	66	Dunnock	2
Willow Warbler	33	Chaffinch	2
Blackcap	48	Brambling	1
Garden Warbler	2	Greenfinch	2
Lesser Whitethroat	15	Goldfinch	1
Whitethroat	7	Siskin	1
Reed Warbler	1	Linnet	20
Wren	7	Common Redpoll	1
Blackbird	8

Wednesday 30th April 2014

A nice calm misty start to the day. A nice selection of migrants had arrived overnight with the highlight being a Hawfinch that unfortunately did not stick around, other birds new in included 6 Lesser Whitethroat, 6 Willow Warbler, 23 Wheatear, 3 Chiffchaff, 5 Whitethroat, a Female Redstart, a White Wagtail and a Blue-headed Wagtail. Overhead 30 Swallow, 2 Sand Martin, 3 House Martin & 2 Yellow Wagtail flew south.
Non-avian species of note were our first records of the year of Green Hairstreak, Brown Argus & Large Red Damselfly.

18 Birds Ringed; 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap, 3 Willow Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Wheatear and single Robin, Blackbird & Linnet.

Tuesday 29th April 2014

A wet but fairly calm morning. Despite the weather a few migrants were about including 23 Wheatear, 6 Whitethroat, 2 Fieldfare, a Firecrest & a Jay, a Sedge Warbler was also heard singing at Customs. Overhead 3 Yellow Wagtail, 7 Swallow, 2 House Martin & 2 Sand Martin flew south. Offshore 37 Bar-tailed Godwits headed north as did 13 Common Terns.

Ringing; single Wheatear & Firecrest.

Monday 28th April 2014

Hard work for the end of April not helped by the northerly air flow. Very few migrants on site with the highlights being single Jay, Tree Pipit & Blue-headed Wagtail. Also noted 15 Wheatear, 5 Yellow Wags, 3 Whitethroat, 3 Lesser 'throat, 2 Willows, 2 Chiffs & Garden Warbler. Offshore a small handful of terns, 4 Turnstone & single Whimbrel noted. Probably of greater significance for us is the ringing of 3 juv Song Thrush which are obviously from the same brood and have been reared on site - songies struggle to rear young here and when they do it is often only one young surviving out of each nesting attempt.

Ringing: 3 Song Thrush, 1 Wheatear, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Chaffinch.

Sunday 27th April 2014

A stiff easterly wind and sunny at times. Our first Reed Warbler of the year was the highlight this morning, other migrants about were a male Brambling, 16 Wheatear, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Whitethroat and a Yellow Wagtail & 15 Swallow flew south overhead. Offshore was also fairly quiet apart from 17 Common Tern, 4 Little Tern and a Great Skua heading north.

5 Birds ringed; single Robin, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Brambling & Whitethroat.