Saturday 16th August 2014

Very quiet again on site again, 2 Wheatear on the reserve and 4 Willow Warblers in the bushes were the highlights. Southerly passage included 72 Swallows, 10 Sand Martins, 4 House Martins and single Swift, Tree Pipit & Grey Wagtail.

A Wild Pear, a fairly rare tree, that was first noted on site in 1986 has a good crop this year although the fruit does not taste all that pleasant.

Ringing; 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Whitethroat.

Friday 15th August 2014

A nice selection of migrants in today with 6 Wheatears, 2 Tree Pipits & a Whinchat on the reserve, the latter two species being the first of the autumn. Elsewhere on site were 10 Willow Warblers, 5 Lesser Whitethroats and a Sedge Warbler. Southerly passage included 132 Swallows, 6 Sand Martin, 5 House Martin & 4 Swift. Other birds of note were a Little Egret in off the sea and 18 Oystercatcher south.

Two Clouded Yellows and a Painted Lady were the highlights amongst the butterflies this morning.

13 Birds ringed; 4 Willow Warbler, 3 Wheatear, 2 Greenfinch and single Sparrowhawk, Dunnock, Robin & Sedge Warbler.

August Litter Pick

Litter Pick this Saturday 16th August 0930hrs start. Usual arrangements - please see the events page on www.lbo.org.uk for further info.

Thursday 14th August 2014

Mid August and still only a few migrants about, although there are more than there has been over recent days with 12 Willow Warblers, a Blackcap and a couple of Wheatear along with a hand full of Whitethroat & Lesser Whitethroat. Overhead 62 Swallow and 9 Sand Martin flew south and offshore 4 Black-tailed Godwit & 16 Redshank also headed south.

13 Birds ringed; 5 Willow Warbler, 2 Robin and single Wren, Dunnock, Blackcap, Sparrowhawk, Whitethroat & Blackbird.

Wednesday 13th August 2014

With the skies clearing overnight and a brisk westerly wind blowing, little was expected, so it came as a pleasant surprise to see a few migrants. Most were the expected Willow Warblers with the odd Common and Lesser Whitethroats keeping them company. The odd surprise visitor in the form of a Black-necked Grebe drifting south close inshore, 14 Black-tailed Godwits in off and into the river, other waders included 2 Ruff out of the river then north. Also on site were 3 Wheatear, a Green Woodpecker and a female Sparrowhawk.
2 Clouded Yellow were also seen on site today.

Ringing totalled 7 birds, of which were 4 Willow Warbler, and 1 each of Green Woodpecker, Greenfinch and Blackbird.

Tuesday 12th August 2014

A small arrival of migrants today with our first Wood Warbler of the year along with 4 Willow Warblers in the bushes at the Obs and 3 Swift flew south overhead. On the reserve 3 Wheatears were feeding out on the grass as was a Whimbrel before it flew off south. Offshore 2 Redshank, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Little Egret & 1 Turnstone headed south.

Despite the wind several butterflies were about including another Clouded Yellow by the Obs.

3 Birds ringed; Willow Warbler, Robin & Greenfinch.

Monday 11th August 2014

The morning was just as windy as yesterday but warm and sunny. It was a lot quieter today with the only species of note being 1 Wheatear and a Clouded Yellow at the point and 6 Swift south overhead. Offshore was also disappointing with 5 Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Curlew heading south.

Ringing; 1 Greenfinch.

Sunday 10th August 2014

The x Hurricane Bertha duly arrived bringing strong SSE winds and rain showers this morning. This made for rough seas and onshore winds ideal for sea watching at Landguard. We were not disappointed, although numbers could have been better there was still plenty to see, including well over 500 Swifts south, along with a number of wader species including 14 Whimbrel, 9 Bar-tailed Godwit, 9 Greenshank, 12 Turnstone, 16 Grey Plover, 3 Golden Plover and 29 Oyster Catcher. Also noted were several Gannet moving offshore along with 4 Fulmar, 4 Great Skua and 2 Arctic Skua. A Corn Bunting was also observed in the compound briefly this morning.

Only 1 Greenfinch was ringed .