Saturday 11th October 2014

Viz mig was again productive with 847 Goldfinch, 327 Meadow Pipit, 209 Linnet, 139 Swallow, 88 Greenfinch, 54 Chaffinch, 29 Skylark, 23 Pied Wagtail, 13 House Martin, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Kestrel, 1 Grey Wagtail and a Sand Martin all heading south. Offshore 249 Brent Geese, 42 Shelduck, 16 Dunlin and a Purple Sandpiper headed south and 9 Pintail and 16 Brent headed up river. Other birds of note were 2 Wheatear and single Great Spotted Woodpecker, Black Redstart, female Stonechat & Firecrest.

23 Birds ringed; 4 Song Thrush, 4 Dunnock, 3 Blackcap, 3 Robin, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Woodpigeon, 1 Great Tit.

Friday 10th October 2014

A clear and sunny start and with the winds dropping resulted in good viz mig this morning. Southerly passage included 512 Goldfinch, 195 Meadow Pipit, 126 Linnet, 58 Skylark, 55 Chaffinch, 40 Swallow, 28 Siskin, 22 Pied Wagtail, 6 Jackdaw, 4 Rock Pipit, 4 House Martin, 4 Grey Wagtail, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker and 1 Woodlark. Other birds about were 4 Wheatear, 1 Firecrest, 5 Blackcap, 1 Stock Dove, 2 Tree Sparrow and a Jay.

A few butterflies were about again in the sun with at least 8 Clouded Yellows seen.

9 Birds ringed; 3 Chaffinch, 2 Blackcap, 1 Wren, 1 Robin, 1 Starling, 1 Grey Wagtail.

Thursday 9th October 2014

A sunny and windy day. Very quiet day with only birds seen of note were a Corn Bunting and 4 Wheatear on the reserve and 3 Skylark and a Grey Wagtail south. Little was moving offshore apart from 5 Golden Plover a couple of Wigeon, a couple of Brent and a Pintail.

6 Birds ringed; 2 House Sparrow, 2 Robin, 1 Woodpigeon, 1 Greenfinch.

Wednesday 8th October 2014

Another breezy start to the day quickly deteriorated into torrential rain and very poor visibility, making it impossible to see anything. However, a few birds were seen prior to the bad weather arriving, mostly offshore including, 38 Brent Geese, 2 Gadwall, 5 Common gull and 1 Shelduck south, and 2 Gannet north, whilst 2 Mediterranean Gulls and 2 Pintail were seemingly lost and looking for directions. On site, 2 Wheatear, 3 Grey Wagtail and 4 Chaffinch was the best we could muster in the conditions.

Only 2 birds were ringed, 1 each of Grey Wagtail and Robin.

Tuesday 7th October 2014

A wet start before becoming sunny but windy. Offshore good numbers of wildfowl headed south including 1500+ Brent, 154 Wigeon, 19 Teal, 7 Pintail and 5 Shelduck, while 5 Gannet and a Great Skua flew north. Other birds of note were a handful of new Robins in, 2 Blackcap and a Firecrest in the bushes, 4 Wheatear were on the reserve and a Rock Pipit flew south.

10 Birds ringed; 5 Robin, 1 Wren, 1 Blackbird, 1 Blackcap, 1 Firecrest, 1 Song Thrush.

Monday 6th October 2014

A blustery day with the winds from the south-southwest. Seawatching was the order of the day with southerly passage including 112 Wigeon, 129 Dunlin, 27 Brent, 49 Teal, 13 Gannet, 24 Pintail, 3 Turnstone and a Great Skua whilst northerly passage included 21 Teal, 13 Gannet, 2 Brent and 2 Great Skua. Other birds of note this morning were 1 Swallow south and a Wheatear on the reserve.

13 Birds ringed; 4 Robin, 4 Goldfinch, 4 House Sparrow, 1 Great Tit.

Sunday 5th October 2014

Cooler start degenerating into another warm sunny Sunday. Both Whitethroat & Willow Warbler present today need to get a move on as autumn progresses.  4 Wheatear on the reserve as well as a goodly gang of mixed finch's with 3 Tree Sparrow joining the House Sparrows for a while. Also of note today were Snipe, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Jay & Reed Bunting. Visible migration, once again, was nothing to write home about but heading south were 16 Chaffinch, 13 Swallow, 6 Skylark, 5 Siskin, 3 Pied Wag & Rock Pipit. Offshore just a very small handful of Brents & ducks moving. Still several Clouded Yellows on site with the odd Common Blue still on the wing.

17 birds ringed: 3 Dunnock, 2 Robin, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Starling, 1 Wood Pigeon, 1 Jay, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Goldfinch.