Saturday 15th August 2015

A cool westerly wind during today produced a small scattering of migrants. Niceties today came in the form of 2 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Male Serin, 27 House Martin, 10 Swallow, 1 Green Woodpecker, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Sparrowhawk, 8 Goldfinch, 4 Sandwich Tern, 3 Common Tern and 2 Little Tern. Also, 9 Willow Warbler, 2-3 Wood Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Common Whitethroat and 1 Lesser Whitethroat.

This female Southern Hawker was found egg laying this afternoon in our pond, a little beauty.

Plenty of migrant moths in the traps, the red data book species Pediasia fascelinella showed up for the first time since 2001, presumably a dispersing individual from up the coast, unless a small population still exists here.

Ringing: 25 birds ringed during the day including 20 Starling, 3 House Sparrow, 1 Linnet and 1 Lesser Whitethroat.

Friday 14th August 2015

Overnight easterly winds and heavy fog until dawn and continuing throughout today, produced a small arrival migrants to the observatory.

New migrants on land today came in the form of 10 Willow Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 9 Robin, 14 Goldfinch, 10 Swallow, 10 Swift, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Common Redstart and an exceptional 3 Wood Warblers with 2 trapped and ringed during the morning.

Migrants offshore came in the form of 27 Teal, 16 Common Tern, 7 Sandwich Tern, 3 Little Tern, 17 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Sanderling, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Curlew and 1 Grey Plover.

Another migrant found it's way into a moth trap this morning in the form of this Dark Crimson Underwing, a rare migrant here and only the 2nd site record for the observatory so very welcome.

Ringing: 14 birds ringed during the day including 5 Greenfinch, 3 Willow Warbler, 2 Wood Warbler, 1 Robin, 1 Wren, 1 House Sparrow and 1 Common Whitethroat.

August Litter Pick

Litter Pick this Saturday 15th August 0930 hrs start. Further information on the events page of www.lbo.org.uk

Thursday 13th August 2015

The continuing easterly winds produce migrants, however not in huge numbers. Heavy cloud and windy conditions today proved difficult for recording with a quiet feel to the observatory.

New migrants today include 39 Teal, 9 Cormorant, 6 Common Tern, 4 Little Tern, 3 Sandwich Tern, 5 Gannet, 1 Lapwing, 5 Willow Warbler, 2 Swallow, 1 Nightingale, 2 Pied Flycatcher and 1 male Common Redstart.

This juvenile Kestrel is currently hanging around the site with it's other sibling and parent, most likely bred locally.

Ringing: 6 birds ringed during the morning including 3 Willow Warbler, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Goldfinch and 1 Pied Flycatcher.

Wednesday 12th August 2015

This Holly Blue butterfly (above) is a not uncommon site at Landguard, although it is unusual to see one attracted to the lights of a moth trap. 

Toadflax Brocade (below), is a red data book species, breeding in a few places, mainly in south-east England, as well as a very rare immigrant to other parts of the Country, as is probably the case with this individual.

The overcast conditions, along with some rain overnight, backed up by north-easterly winds, gave us some hopes of good birds. As it happened this was not too far of the mark as the first birds of the day were 2 lovely Pied Flycatchers. There were still 2 or 3 Willow Warblers on-site, along with a couple of Common Whitethroats, 2 Reed Warblers and a Lesser Whitethroat for good measure. Offshore waders and terns are still being seen, with 3 Arctic Terns (an adult and 2 juvs), at least 15 Common Terns lurking, plus 3 each of both Sandwich Terns and Little Terns. Also 9 Sanderling, 4 Turnstone and 3 Grey Plover all south.

9 birds were ringed, they were 2 Greenfinch and 1 each of Pied Flycatcher, Reed Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Robin and House Sparrow.

Tuesday 11th August 2015

An interesting day for Autumn migration today with a few niceties turning up throughout the day. A westerly wind to begin with, then swinging around to an easterly direction for the rest of the day. Let's hope for an interesting week ahead!

New migrants today came in the form of this stunning Wood Warbler that was trapped and ringed late morning. A Roseate Tern also flew out of the river early morning and headed North, both very welcome visitors.

Also 5 Oystercatcher, 1 Ringed Plover, 11 Common Tern, 10 Sandwich Tern, 2 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Kittiwake, 9 Common Whitethroat, 8 Willow Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 8 Swallow, 3 Sand Martin and 6 Goldfinch.

Ringing: 18 birds ringed during the day which included 5 Willow Warbler, 4 Greenfinch, 2 House Sparrow, 2 Linnet, 1 Robin, 1 Starling, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Common Whitethroat and 1 Wood Warbler.

Monday 10th August 2015

A warm wind today and a slight breeze produced several new migrants in the form of 1 Hobby early morning, along with 43 Swallow, 6 Willow Warbler, 2 Common Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Nightingale, 5 Goldfinch, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 19 Common Tern, 6 Little Tern, 1 Sandwich Tern, 4 Dunlin, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Curlew and 1 Bar-tailed Godwit. 

The nationally scarce Aethes dilucidana has not been seen here since 2001 and does not appear to have been photographed very often in the UK, (above).  

Continuing the ''Prominent'' theme of recent days, here is a Swallow Prominent!

Ringing: 18 birds ringed during the morning including 5 Willow Warbler, 4 House Sparrow, 3 Linnet, 2 Blackbird, 1 Wren, 1 Robin, 1 Starling and 1 Lesser Whitethroat.

Sunday 9th August 2015

Pebble Prominent(Notodonta ziczac), found in the moth trap this morning, is common and widespread in suitable habitat, though it is not regular at Landguard despite Poplars, the normal food plant being present. 

A beautiful day, weather wise,but not so good for bringing in tired migrants. Nevertheless, small numbers are turning up including 4 Whitethroat, 3 Willow Warbler, 2 Reed Warbler and a Lesser Whitethroat. Offshore small numbers of common waders are going south, the best today being a Spotted Redshank.

13 birds were ringed today including, 4 Linnet, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Whitethroat and 1 each of Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler, Wren and Robin.