Saturday 13th June 2015

A light south westerly breeze with intermittent rain this morning produced a fair bit of movement out to sea with a few new migrants on land also. New migrants included 203 Swift, 27 House Martin, 2 Swallow, 20 Sandwich Tern, 8 Common Tern, 2 Little Tern, 14 Gannet, 1 Fulmar, 8 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 10 Canada Geese, 30 Avocet, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin and 1 Tree Pipit.

With a milder night the moth numbers and variety is finally picking up, including several Small Elephant Hawk-moths (above), and one exception worth a mention is the first Rusty Dot Pearl of the year.

Ringing: 18 birds ringed during the morning including 8 Linnet, 3 Greenfinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Starling, 1 Blackbird, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Great Tit and 1 Dunnock.

Friday 12th June 2015

Hunt the migrant. Apart from the stuff breeding here today's migrants are 13 Sandwich Tern out of the river then north, 4 Swallow south, Hobby plus a juvenile Mistle Thrush. Hard graft to find any Mistle Thrush's nesting in the Felixstowe area so who knows where this one has dispersed from ? Lizard's are not easy to see here but must be in fairly good numbers as the Kestrel's that hunt on the reserve seem to find plenty of them particularly at the Butts end of the site. Today's featured moth is Coxcomb Prominent - we only note a small number of these little beauties each year.

5 birds ringed: 4 linnet, 1 greenfinch.

Thursday 11th June 2015

The North Easterly wind didn't let up today and continued to produce very few birds on land, apart from our breeding species on-site. A sea watch during the first few hours of the morning produced 8 Gannet, 2 Kittiwake, 2 Fulmar, 2 Razorbill, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 23 Common Tern, 15 Little Tern and 4 Sandwich Tern, which was the best of the rest available to us today. 

New migrants came in the form of 4 Goldfinch and 2 Swallow. 

Despite the cool windy conditions and low number of moths, a few more species are starting to appear including the first Light Brocade of the year. 

Ringing: 7 birds ringed during the morning including 6 Linnet and 1 House Sparrow.

Wednesday 10th June 2015

The continuing strong north easterly wind proves to be unproductive for anything scarcer or rarer, there's still time yet though. New migrants today included 6 Swift and 5 Goldfinch. Very quiet otherwise on land. Apart from our breeding Common and Lesser Whitethroats, the bushes are quiet.

Offshore, 13 Common Tern, 11 Little Tern, 2 Sandwich Tern, 10 Gannet, 3 Razorbill, 4 Sanderling and 12 Common Scoter were the best of the rest.

Out on the nature reserve, the Bird's-foot-trefoil is putting on quiet a show at the moment, covering certain areas of the peninsula - well worth a look at.

A good day for ringing, if nothing else.

Ringing: 21 birds ringed during the morning including 16 Linnet, 2 Greenfinch, 2 Goldfinch and 1 Dunnock.

Tuesday 9th June 2015

At stupid o'clock early this morning someone had stolen half of the moon - must be an omen or has the Soup Dragon changed it's diet? A cold start with a northerly wind degenerated into a minor north-easterly gale. Migrants few and far between but included 2 Hobbies together early on, Spot Fly & Great-spotted Woodpecker. The Great-spot is presumably an early dispersing juvenile bird. Apart from these sightings it's baby bird time of year. It is pleasing to see the young Mipits towards the point are still doing ok despite the fact they are now totally independent from mum and dad.

11 birds ringed: 4 starling, 2 dunnock, 2 linnet, 2 greenfinch, 1 spotted flycatcher.

Monday 8th June 2015

A north westerly wind blew during the morning allowing several new migrants to be found. New migrants today included 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 1 Hobby, 5 House Martin, 3 Swallow, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Lapwing, 3 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 2 Sandwich Tern, 1 Little Tern and 3 Barnacle Geese. 

Painted Lady butterflies are becoming a more regular sight at the moment, in-and-around the observatory and nature reserve. This individual above has just recently arrived on our shores after its long migration from its warmer climate further South. As you can see this is a rather tatty and worn individual which is due to travelling such long distances to reach us here in the United Kingdom. 

Ringing: 13 birds ringed during this morning including 4 Starling, 3 Linnet, 1 Woodpigeon, 1 Blackbird, 1 Dunnock, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Great Tit and 1 Blackcap.

Sunday 7th June 2015

Male Red-rumped Swallow stayed around the observatory giving stunning views from 1035 to 1050 ish was a pleasant surprise and was even heard calling. Grounded migrants typically in short supply but included both Reed Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher. Also noted 5 Swift, 3 Little Egret & a Jackdaw north plus 6 Swallow, 2 House Martin & Swift south bound. A couple of House Martin also came in off. A Buzzard & a Kestrel were soaring high over this end of the docks mid-day. Small Heath put in an appearance for the first time this year and in the moth traps another Small Mottled Willow this morning. Of greater note than the above was the finding yesterday afternoon of the first site record of the day flying "Nationally Scarce" Epichnopterix plumella on the Butts. Have we overlooked this in the past ?

Ringing: 71 birds ringed today including 64 Starling, 4 Linnet, 1 Dunnock, 1 Great Tit and 1 Reed Warbler.